Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I Like Sports


So that was pretty much my little speech I made when asked to introduce myself. That and my name, where I'm from, and what my major is. I was really happy when we didn't play a name game like in high school. That was humiliating the first day of school....and awkward. And I sweat a lot back then. And I didn't know how to do my makeup. And I still ate at McDonald's.


It was almost tempting to try a strange hamburger from the McDonald's here just for the experience. Then I was like KAT, IT'S STILL MCDONALD'S. JUST 'CAUSE IT'S IN JAPAN DOESN'T MAKE IT AUTOMATICALLY COOL OR GOOD FOR YOU like most of the stuff here.

Anyways! Today was Day 1/3 of orientation. GYM MEMBERSHIP RECEIVING DAY. Oh, dumbbells, how I've missed you. Dumbbells, dumb phones, it's been a long time.

We went over the basic stuff, safety, insurance, payments, etc. All of the exchange students were there, so it was nice meeting everyone and awesome hearing all of their different accents. We're all pretty different levels of Japanese but one thing for sure is that we were all really confused about filling out the paper for the gym membership. Instead of taking, eh, like 3 minutes to fill it out, (AND NOT "ACCIDENTALLY" CIRCLING "MALE" AND HAVING TO SCRIBBLE IT OUT, BETH) it took about 10 minutes and felt like forever.
So I was like well...I usually circle no to all of these...which was pretty much everyone else's thought process. Well, I did try to read them. Mostly. Sort-of. GENGHISKHANGENGHISKHANGENGHIS KHANGENGHISKHAN (That's for Shawn).

So we got a tour of the gym and Asato san said again how not a lot of people use it. I asked why and she said Japanese people aren't very into exercising. I was like WUT. And she said a lot of students would rather sit in their room on their computer and I was like WUT.

You know, I never imagined myself this into fitness.

The pool floor can rise and go down! TECHNOLOGY.

Then, we had a lunch break while some of the other students had a meeting to get their phones here. Kirsty, me and Sabrina from Germany, went to the convenient store and they picked up lunch and then went back to our place so I could cook something up. We talked for a bit and headed back to finish orientation.

Some students from the university gave a presentation and some maps to places we could go for supplies and food around town that were close by. They also gave us a few tips on living. So, it was pretty much any kind of introduction to the school, but in Japanese.
Then, we were given a tour of Seijo University, which is really only about 5 or 6 different buildings in a box shape, so it's pretty small compared to UWM.
One of the mentors, Takuya, was asking me some questions on the way around the building while we were led by another mentor. He asked me if I was from America and since I had already said I was when we had introductions, I'm like noOoOo, he couldn't be asking me again...so I was like "Am I married?!" But then he really did actually ask me if I was from America...lololol.

After the tour, we had a party waiting for us. Oh jeez. XD So we get there and there are about 20 Seijo students there. We introduced ourselves again (I like sportz) and then it begun. We were all approached by Seijo students who were eager to practice their English with us. I tried talking in Japanese if I could, but was overwhelmed by all of the attention. There were usually 3-6 students staring and listening to what you had to say and asking you questions. Many students want to become better at speaking English and learn about America. We agreed we would help each other learn our native languages.

Woof, honestly, it was really fun and really scary. I didn't know what to say after awhile (shocking, I know), but everyone was so nice and really kept the conversations going. And if there was silence, they were staring at me and I was like omgg, what do i do? I think I did the Ashlee Simpson jig a few times.
The girls said they liked my outfit though! One called it sexy. I was like lolwutnono.
 I got to finally meet Mao! We've been Facebook chatting each other. She's on the way right.
They asked what an American pose would be. Somehow Megumi (on the right) busted out the spiderman pose, so I said it was pretty American. lolol.
I didn't get to take a picture with everyone I met. It's still hard to remember everyone's names right now, but I'll get them soon. ^____^
A few people had never seen stretched ears before so they were pretty fascinated by them. I took the plug out and put my pinky through my ear and some gave a very "Mrs. Mark" reaction (not so much gagging Courtney, lolol). A few thought it was pretty cool though. Shota put his pen through my ear and got freaked out XD. I was really surprised they had never seen it before 'cause I saw some plugs in a shop in Shibuya so I know it exists here..

So yes! Everyone was extremely nice and extremely interested in America and stuff. It's weird to respond to "Where are you from (or some say Where from you, Where you come)" with "America" instead of with my state or hometown.  
Everyone else returned to the Mansion in Ikuta while Kirsty and I walked home in Seijo. I feel really lucky to live in Seijo instead because as much as I love hanging out with people, I also love my alone time. AND THIS KITCHEN! Apparently the kitchens in the mansion only have 1 burner and no space for anything. And because of the gym being closer. Yeah, probably just for that reason.

I was feeling more settled after a week and then after going to the orientation, there was suddenly 10,000 more things to learn, which is really exciting.
I made some dinz. This is what a typically dinner I make here is...
Potato (still trying to figure out this microwave....it has all automatic settings so you can't heat it for as much time as you want that I know of. So I keep having to heat it and heat again and try again, lolol), broccoli, egg, sprouts, lettuce, mustard, sriracha, and pepper with a bit of olive oil. Oh, there was a huge apple there too.
 And I'm trying to figure out which club to be in. There's another side to this and 2 booklets with better explanations (in Japanese, of course). We were given 6 or 7 novel-sized syllabi too.
Anyways, I've narrowed the clubs I want to take to Karate, Women's Basketball, Track and Field, and Dance. They're all about 4-6 days of practice each week, so I really will only be able to take one. Anyone have any suggestions?
I took a break from trying to decide and went to the grocery store and bought this guy without really knowing what it was. I was hoping it didn't have salt in it though and that it was like the cayenne pepper seasoning we've been using at restaurants.
Score! I looked it up and it's Shichimi, which doesn't seem to have any salt, but does have chili pepper. w00t!

Today we'll be setting up the internet on campus for our own computers and having an individual 15 minute interview (HALP). Then, they'll be helping us decide what classes to take.

I'll let you know how it goes ^___^.

Oh yeah, here are the people from the party with all of the exchange students and some Seijo students (I stole this from Facebook):
 I like how my Pebbles hair is covering Daan. Oh gosh, oops.

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