5 Reasons I Know I'm In Japan, Not Texas

1. The doorsThis is the entrance to my room! It's separated from the rest of the apartment with sliding glass doors. And the quilt on my bed is made entirely by my mother, who is fantastic and knows me all too well. :)
2. The kitchen
This is all the kitchen I have, which is a little depressing. As you can see, it consists of a stove with 2 burners and a tiny broiler for cooking fish. Off to the right is a fridge and a convection oven/microwave. Which means if I want to bake, I have to get creative. And I will! Just...not tonight.
3. The signs
Obviously, all the signs are in Japanese. This is on our bathroom door (the Japanese is "Otearai", which means washroom. The two characters are te, meaning hand, and arau, meaning wash). I will get more pictures of the city at large later - too much rushing around today!
4. The food
This was my lunch today! It was ramen - the real kind. It was delicious! I don't actually know what I ordered...I just pointed at something on a menu and hoped it would turn out okay. I believe it had a soy-based broth (as opposed to salt or miso) and had some kind of meat and green onions. Not sure what the orange stuff is - the theory was some sort of fish roe but it was spicy, so I have my doubts. Also, the little white and blue thing that looks like a tamagotchi? It's the order button! You press it and the waitress comes to you. :) So you can take all the time you want to decide.
5. The snow!
It's the view from my window! I didn't encounter any snow, but there was a lot of snow that fell on New Year's that has yet to melt completely. So cool. :D

I've accomplished a lot today! :) And last night - I totally unpacked so my room feels a little more homey, if lacking in wall decorations. Definitely should have brought my Nightwish flags. :) Here's a picture of the nifty closet thing on the other side of my room. I also have a desk, chair, lamp, and a bookshelf. It's all pretty empty right now! Also, the little gray thing on the bottom shelf is my space heater. We don't have central heating in the dorm, and keeping the room heater on is expensive, so the space heater is the cheapest way to keep things warm. I don't mind the chill too much - it just means I have to snuggle up under a ton of blankets, which is fine with me!I also met my roommate - her name is Amanda, and she's a visual studies/Japanese/political science major at Michigan State (MSU). She's really cool, and we have so much in common it's frightening. The same shampoo, toothpaste, and deoderant, the same winter coat (in different colors), and we like the same authors (including China Mieville) and bands. I think we'll get along really well! I also met her friend Jade, who is a Japanese major at MSU also (at least 40% of the students here are from MSU). I think I'll be seeing a lot of them both. :) I've met plenty of other people, too - we've been mixed up with a lot of different people so I'm starting to get everyone's names.

Today was orientation day! We learned about all the rules and regulations, which was a lot to take in. Mr. Kanagawa then talked to us, praising the glory of Shiga prefecture. It's apparently responsible for 43% of all of Japan's manufacturing though it's only 1% of Japan in terms of land mass and population. What's even more impressive is the fact that the lake nearby (Lake Biwa) is so pristine. This area is really environmentally-conscious, so they put a lot of work into keeping their cities clean.

After orientation, we received our bikes and checked out a lock and helmet. Mine is named Angevine. :) We then went on a bike tour of the city. I was a little nervous because I hadn't ridden a bike since probably middle school, but it ended up coming pretty naturally to me. We were out on the town for a total of 5 hours, including stopping for lunch and getting groceries. It was probably 2.5-3 hours of solid biking, so I am sore and exhausted, but triumphant. I didn't crash or cause others harm, and I kept up with the rest of the group! And I managed a Japanese grocery store pretty well. They're huge! It's hard to tell at first glance what an aisle has because all the packaging looks the same. I really just need an afternoon to wander around. I did, however, get some of my staples - garlic powder, Golden Curry mix, and gyoza. And Frosted Flakes. XD

I'm not sure how much of the map knowledge I'll remember from the tour, but it was nice to see everything(or, glimpses of it, at least). Hikone is gorgeous, and the weather was clear and not too cold! And by not too cold, I mean I was in jeans, tights, tall socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and a coat and wasn't freezing. XD And now I'm back inside and relaxing for the night - made curry for my roommate and her friend, and had a bit of a music exchange party. I'm sharing my symphonic metal knowledge in exchange for some J-rock. Good times. :)

We have our placement test tomorrow! I'm hoping to test into Level 3. Interestingly enough, the books JCMU uses are the same as the ones at A&M, so I've already covered most of the Level 3 book. But I have a feeling I've lost a LOT of the language skills I had at the end of last year, so I'm just hoping I held onto enough. :)