Typical Day

Daily Life in Japan

Hey Everyone! So I've posted some of my adventures, and school has finally picked up, so I've decided to do a post about my daily life here. The following pictures are a montage of photos that I have taken, or stolen from Ashley or Jasmine :)

So I live on an island just off of downtown Kobe, the center is residential, while the outer edges are companies that transport goods. I actually live near an elementary school and a middle school. Here's a typical street view.

In order to get to school, I catch the portliner, which is kind of like a monorail that takes me to downtown Kobe (Sannomiya)

The escalators are magical because they have motion sensors and only start moving when you start getting on :D

Usually you would pay for a ticket at the following kiosk, I bought a monthly pass though, since it was a bit cheaper that way then paying every single time, as well as more convenient

They also have these extremely helpful screen things that let you know when the next train is coming. And it comes EXACTLY at that time. Ridiculous. in a good way :)

In the busies more crowded stops, they have places where you line up so that you're not getting in the way of people getting off the train so that the entire process is incredibly streamlined

After all of that, we finally made it to Sannomiya! :D

I then get on another train, which is probably what you typically think of for a Japanese train

There are women only trains, which I like to ride on since it's less crowded and safer :)

I then take a hike up a residential area before finally making it to school (The pictures were taken the opposite way, so it's actually about a 20 to 30 minute hike uphill, which is really nice, mini-hike, woot!

Here's a campus map, it's pretty decent sized :)

They had awesome cherry blossoms (though I would say the Quad is more epic). here's Ashley and me! :D

I've been eating breakfast and dinner at home, but for lunch, I usually eat in the cafeteria since it's super cheap! I usually spend around 200 to 300 yen, which is pretty good for a decent meal :D Let me introduce some of the friends I've made :D

Me, Amy (my next door neighbor from Korea), and Erica (From Australia)! Hahaha, this photo was taken when I learned how Korean birthday works. And across the table is Manuel (whose name I can never say correctly from Austria), Jin Keun (whose name I can also not say, so I just call him Keun-chan), and Ashley!

On a different day, with Jasmine, who is from Sweden. Her Japanese is AMAZING, and she is my next-next door neighbor :)

School has been great for side adventures! For example, Ashley and I found this silly booth, which turned out not to be soundproof, so we were quite unsure of its purpose... or maybe I'm just too loud, probably a combination of both.

Outside of school, I've been getting along swimmingly with my dorm mates (Jasmine, if you're reading, the swimmingly was for you LOL). My dorm has a communal kitchen per floor, so I decided to cook Okonomiyaki for my neighbors! :D (They named it "Cooking with Crazy Lisa" due to the epicness).

Some people didn't want to be photographed LOL

Well, that's a pretty typical day, wake up, go to class, eat lunch, come home and cook, and then study. I do have a few short cultural stories that I shall share below, but that unfortunately do not have pictures to go along with them. I might try and pick up pictures sometime and upload them here later, but for now, we'll make do :P

#1 Dressing rooms in Japan: So when I came to Japan a few years ago, I remembered that you weren't allowed to try on tops at stores because make up would get on the clothes when you pull them over your head. Now, they have this plastic/foam sheet that you pull over your head to cover your face while you try on clothes so that you don't get make up on them. Only Japan lol. Another thing that I was completely unaware of was that you're supposed to take off your shoes before entering the dressing room. Definitely a faux pas, so remember to take off your shoes!

#2 Groceries stores: You pay at the cash register, and the Cashier will ring you up and put your goods into another basket. After you're done paying, they give you a few plastic bags an you take the entire basket to a table where you self-bag. I'm still amazed at how accurate the cashiers are in giving you the correct number of bags that you need, at the right sizes.

Well, that's all for now!

--Lisa

Trip to Chinatown

Sunday 4/8/2012

So while I was looking up things to do in Kobe, I found out that they had a Chinatown! So of course I had to go! Photo props go to Ashley! The amazing photographer! :D

Ashley and I met up in Sannomiya, and walked about 15 minutes before reaching it (Yay for google maps lol)

There were A LOT of panda themed items, perhaps because it was close to the Zoo which has pandas? 

We tried quite a few street foods, like dumplings (Sui Long Bao? Shyo Run Bao?), regular dumplings, and Peking Duck :D

                       

On one of the street corners, there was actually a Turkish Ice Cream Stand, and it seemed very interesting, so we decided to get one.

I guess since business was slow, he decided to let me try? LOL The pictures say it all lol    

And then he wouldn't give me my icecream....

Overall it was one of the most confusing things I have ever eaten. It was really similar to regular icecream, but it was a lot more elastic-like, like it would stick together and it was difficult to eat it, but once it was in your mouth it would melt. You can see from the pictures that it was sticking to the spatula much more than the cone lol. It was a very fun experience though :)

Afterwards, we still had a lot of time, and we stumbled upon a shopping street called Motomachi, that had over 300 stores along it. It was so endless! We barely made it all the way, and then we had to walk all the way back lol We ended up buying many necessary items, such as blankets, groceries, bento boxes etc that we got since they were all very good deals :D Happy day! lol

It was a very fun and productive adventure with Ashley! Yay! :D

Anyways, catch you all later, I have more city and school to explore :)

                                                  

--Lisa

I'm too loud for Japan

Hey Everyone!

I safely reached Japan about 3 days ago, and it's been a whirlwind of activity! Before I get into any of that, I'd like to say that I hope you're all doing well and that I'm safe and sound. :D

-Day 1-

I arrived at KIX (Osaka Airport) around 3:20PM and went through immigrations and baggage claim without any problems. I slept most of the plane ride there so I was pretty awake. I caught a bus to Sannomiya, which is kind of the downtown area of where I'm staying (at least that's how I view it), it's in a central location to all of my travelling lol. I was then met by the head tutor, Wataru Mima who is a graduate student who helped guide me to my dorm, which is on Port Island (That's right, I live on a man-made island off of Japan LOL). We arrived and the office people gave me my key, explained the rules, showed me a map of close grocery stores etc. By now, it was close to 8:00, so Wataru headed home and Melissa, another student in the dorm, showed me around and took me to the grocery store and 100yen shop so that I could start personalizing my room :) She is so nice! I definitely would've gotten lost without her LOL With that, I unpacked most of my stuff and met some of my dorm mates before I went to bed.

Oh and special shout out to Noel for lending me his password to access internet! Without him, I would be without internet for at least another week! LOL

-Day 2-

I met with my actual tutor, Khulan (Right), who is from Mongolia! :D The picture also includes Amy (Center), a student from Korea who is my next door neighbor, she's super smart and nice!

Anyways, we met up and went to apply for a foreign registration card, an ID card for foreigners that is required. We had to run around a lot to gather the necessary materials, but when that was all done, we were told to pick it up the next day. So off we went and ate lunch, my first actual meal in japan! woot! (I had eaten snackfood/bread before this which I don't count as a 'meal' LOL)

                                           

Anyways, throughout the entire morning, Khulan kept telling me that it was going to rain super hard, but I kept brushing it off since I'm a seattlite (Seattle pride, woot! lol) Anyways, after we left, it was POURING. haha, I had my waterproof jacket so I was fine, but everyone around us was freaking out and running everywhere with umbrellas, which were highly ineffective since it was so windy, the rain was falling at a 35 degree angle LOL

                                    

We were trying to go to Ikea so that I could get some other knick knacks, but the trains were delayed since of the rain. We finally got there and it was so much fun. I love Ikea, I think I could spend the entire day there LOL The kid section was particularly cute! Look at the stuffed plushies! LOL

                                                 

When we came out, it was super sunny! But super windy! We tried to catch the rain, but this time, it was delayed because of the wind. Thankfully my dorm was only about a 20 minute walk, so we walked back :) Here are pictures of my dorm (with the blue IKEA bag that I had to buy LOL for 100 yen), I've actually rearranged the furniture so it looks a bit different, but not by much :) I also have a view of a park outside, people always play soccer in the morning.

After that it was kind of late, so Khulan left to go home (which I later found out took awhile because of the windstorm :/) and I showed some people in my dorm to the grocery store. It was fun, bought some other things that I needed. We then hung out and had a couple of laughs. The TJ's were definitely in effect LOL

- Day 3 -

So we went to school for our group orientation, so we could find out how to register for classes and I met Fujimura san and Hada Sensei. There were 4 new exchange students for the Business School: Myself, Ashley (also from UW who is doing everything the same school-wise as me), Jasmine (who is my next-next door neighbor), and Emanuel who's name I cannot pronounce correctly in the way it is supposed to be pronounced LOL We went and grabbed lunch afterwards with our tutors and were shown around campus, fun stuffs! We were obviously foreigners though, I am way too loud for Japan! lol Khulan had to leave, so I hung out with Ashley and her tutor as they opened her bank account, and got her phone (By the time I got my foreign registration stuff, it was too late to get a bank account since they close at 3, and you need a bank account to get a cell phone). It was so much fun walking around and learning the way from each of the stations. Random clover picture! Lisa wants!

                                             

Getting to school is quite a commute. I have to catch a train from my island to Sannomiya, and from Sannomiya I take a train to get to the base of the mountain our school is on. From there, I can either pay 200 yen to take a bus up to school, or walk for maybe 30 minutes? I obviously opt for the walk, it's like a mini-hiking trip! lol I'm not sure I'll feel the same during the super hot summer months, but right now, it's still pretty chilly and cloudy, very similar to how it was in Seattle when I left, but with a bit more chilly wind :)

Anyways, those errands took all day, so I didn't get back to my dorm until around 10pm. During the past few days, since I didn't have a watch, I just kind of floated around a lot LOL With not many obligations, and still adjusting to the new environment, time flew by.

- Day 4 - Today (finally!) Lol

Today I woke up and found I had a friend on the balcony. I managed to take a picture before he flew away lol.

                                              

Overall, today had to be the most productive day. I got my bank account first thing in the morning thanks to Janice, Ashley's tutor. She is so frickin awesome, she is the cutest, most adorable girl I have ever met! (We hung out a lot yesterday and she gets my humor so she's cool LOL) She's incredibly helpful, her Japanese and English are phenomenal, she also speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and I think malay? She's amazing, I wish I could know that many languages! lol

                                               

Anyways, we then went to campus and looked around a bit more. There's a motorcycle parking lot! They were mostly mopeds but it would be beautiful if they were all motorcycles LOL

                                   

Since Kobe University is on a mountain, it appears that they have wild boars, and if you wander around at night, you might run into some LOL So they have really strict garbage rules. Anyways, there was this sign that used the boar as a mascot, so cute! lol

After that, I finally got my phone!! :D It's been the type I've always wanted ever since I saw Japanese phones, it's a white rectangular brick that is amazing and of which I still haven't had time to fool around with. Ashley took most of the pictures today, so hopefully when she updates her blog/facebook, I'll steal some photos and place them here.

Anyways, that's a brief overview of what I've been up to. It's only been 4 days but it seems I've already been here forever! I hope that this wasn't too dry of a ready, if it was let me know and I'll try to change it up :)

Oh, and random English that doesn't make sense lol

Until next time!

--Lisa