-met my homestay family
-got Oriented at Doshisha University
-arrived in Kyoto after a long plane ride
-met many of the 38 other Associated Kyoto Program students
-became friends with a good handful
-had an epic adventure with two Doshisha girls
-dealt extensively with Japanese bureaucracy
-got drunk
-experienced the wonder of the AKP Welcome Party
-arrived at my homestay family's house
-went up the Kyoto Tower for an amazing 360 degree view of this city I will call home for the next 9.5 months
-walked all over Kyoto, twice
-eaten delicious Japanese food
I could go on like this for a while. Long story short, Orientation was very busy, but not a whole lot actually happened. I am currently sitting in my room at my homestay family's house, on my old (but recently crashed, so also sort of new, or rather, better than new) computer, using the wireless internet this house offers. My homestay family lives in Uji, just south of Kyoto. My commute to school will consist of a 10 minute walk to Ogura Eki (station) followed by a 31 minute train ride north through Kyoto to Imadegawa Eki and Doshisha University. No transfers, just a straight shot. How lucky.....
When we arrived in Osaka after a very long/short plane ride, everyone looked so beautiful. We were so happy to be in Japan that our exhaustion, nervousness, and excitement coalesced together into something marvelous and magical. AKP staff greeted us and of course knew all of our names sight unseen. We were all given cute envelopes that contained 150 yen so we could purchase a drink at the local vending machine. Upon boarding the chartered bus that took us to the Kyoto Tower Hotel, Lofgren-sensei (the AKP resident director this year) proclaimed, "Everything is taken care of! Don't panic!" This was the first thing I needed to write down. And how useful to remember, how my arrival in this place was built on so much preparation and work, not just by me, but by so many others I don't even know about. Who built Kyoto? What is the island? Who are the others?
Life in the Kyoto Tower Hotel was really fun, but so liminal. Wednesday, Thursday, and today, we went to Doshisha for important information sessions, campus tour, cafeteria lunches, et al. Doshisha is beautiful, more like UCLA than like Whitman, although not really like either. After these moments at school, I took off on some walking tours of the city with other AKPers. I am definitely enjoying the crews I have been spending time with--mostly the Wesleyan kids and Kendall, the other Whitman student, and a few others here and there. The group obviously and naturally split into cliques even before we got on the plane, but now that we have broken up geographically (by homestay family) and soon will break up both academically (by our elective classes) and linguistically (by our Japanese classes), the lines between the preformed groups will hopefully blur a little bit.
Yesterday, I experienced the first of probably many ridiculous adventures I will have this year. Because we are staying in this country for longer than 3 months, we needed to register for Gaikokujindourokushoumeisho, aka Gaijin cards, aka Alien Registration cards. We also needed to apply for Kokuminkenkouhoken, or Japanese national health insurance. Both of these are accomplished at some local office--local in this sense being to our homestay houses. So each AKP student was assigned 2 Doshisha volunteers to assist us in this process. I set out with Natsuki-san and Aki-san, both Policy majors, out to Uji. First we stopped at my homestay house, but no one was home. We took the train two stops further south and then got on a bus that went somewhere totally different in Uji. We walked up a hill and then we were at the Uji ward office. Natsuki and Aki had received extremely specific instructions on the forms they needed to fill out for me and how to to fill them out. 45 minutes, 6 forms, and 4 bureaucrats later, I had successfully applied for those things I needed to apply for. I need to return to the office between the 25th and the 1st to pick up my Gaijin card, and I will receive my health insurance card when AKP receives it in the mail. Then Natsuki, Aki and I returned to Kyoto and went to Starbucks (the same things are different and different things are the same).
Today, everything built up to the Welcome Party and meeting my host family, but that story will have to wait until tomorrow. It was really funny, like a lot of things I have seen, but I'm not sure if the humour will translate into English (especially written English). Everything I have discussed already does not even cover the bliss I feel having returned to Japan and to Kyoto, or the majesty of the greens of the trees, or the terrible heat and humidity, or the wonder I feel when I find I can read signs and advertisements. I did not even mention my trip to Gion, the geisha district, where I saw at least two Maiko (geisha in training), and walked along a beautiful tree-lined cobblestone bridge.
4 comments:
David, are you going to be posting any pictures? I'd love to see your adventures.
I miss you David! It sounds absolutely wonderful. (it's caitlin btw not my dad)
David-what an adventure-I just can't imagine it, in such an exotic culture! You will remember so much of this coming year, and we will experience it vicariously through your wonderful descriptions! Thank you, dear one! Miss you already!-Spent several days with Julie et al. Babies are adorable and such fun. It's very hot here, over 100, but sounds like Kyoto is humid!
Love you, Kackeeyyy
David glad you are so enjoying. We will toast to you with Adam Stacey, Julie, David and kids come out later in Sept-big void at the table missing you and Joel but knowing you are in good hands with a wonderful life experience.
All the best and watch out for the saki.
from slooooow reflex better known as uncle monkey
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