Host Family, Homestay House etc.

On Friday CIEE had us meet our host families, which I must say was a bit embarrassing. They had all the families in one room , and all the students in another. They'd have us walk in and one by one introduce ourselves, and then sit down with our family. Apparently this is some sort of Japanese custom, but it was a bit embarrassing walking into a room full of Japanese people and saying "Hajimemashite, watashi wa Noonan Mike desu" etc. etc. My host family consists of a Mother, two daughters (Haruka 22, Sanae, 19) and another CIEE student(Kevin, who I have yet to meet). After the introduction thing, my host mother took me back to the house, which is about an hour from school via 3 trains and about a 20 minute walk. The house is a bit bigger than I expected, and I have my own room which is very nice. Over the weekend my host mom took me to the park around the house, which is on a lake and very beautiful. There are several shrines and temples along the way as well. Living here entails a great deal of walking, most of which I am not yet used to, but in the end I think it will be good for me. The adjustment would have been easier if I would have came here straight from school, instead of straight from sitting on my butt for 2 months. The food here is good, but every so often the desire for some "normal" American food kicks in. Especially when I'm around other students, we get to talking about local foods back home, who has the best Mexican food (which everyone thinks they have) and other food related anecdotes. At this point I do like it here, despite the sometimes weirdness of the whole place, it is very welcoming at the same time very real, and also can be harsh, which is good for me. Pictures are here.

Tokyo, the Saga continues

When we last left our hero (me, I think?) I was still in Italy. Well, eventually the plane took off and I landed in Tokyo. I had to get from the airport to the hotel by myself. I was very tired so taking the 2 hour bus ride was a bit much. Eventually I made it to the hotel, which was very nice indeed, and met some of the other CIEE students, most of which seem pretty cool. I only missed the beginning part of orientation which was nice. Later that night we took a bus tour of Tokyo, and ate shabushabu, which is thinly sliced beef and vegetables. There is a boiler full of water in the middle of every table, and you cook the food yourself. It was good, but sometimes a bit hard to do with chopsticks and the boiling water. After that we went to Roppongi, which is a district in Tokyo. We went to the top of the Roppongi Hills Tower, about 50 floors and got a great view of the city at night. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, because I thought we were just going to be in the bus, and bus pictures never turn out well.
The next day we had some more orientation and I went to Shinjuku (Pictures here*) with my friend Leah. She has been to Tokyo before and can read and speak Japanese very well, so she was a good guide and we didn't get lost. We ate a curry restaurant which was quite good. I am still getting used to eating large quantities of rice, for some reason I can pile in a whole steak but a bowl of rice gives me trouble. Later that day we all met our host families which will be the topic of my next entry.

*I am going to use Facebook to host my pictures, if any non-Facebook account have any problems viewing the pictures, comment and let me know.

Italy

I may or may not informed anyone of this, but my flight to Japan entailed a layover in Milan, Italy. It seems weird but for some reason it was cheaper than going straight to Japan (go figure). Anyway, I had planned to spend 7 hours in Milan, ended up being almost 2 days. The saga begins:
So I arrive in Milan at around 8 or 9 in the morning Milan time. I decided to take the train into Milan. The airport isn't technically in Milan, like O'Hare isn't technically in Chicago, but Milan is much closer to the airport than in Chicago. I took the train to Milan, which was quite possibly the coolest/scariest thing I had done up until that point. I went to a cafe, had some great food and cappuccino, and went back to the airport in time for my flight. All in all a nice afternoon. Upon waiting for my flight, the weather got sort of overcast but not too bad. A few flights were delayed for about an hour, no big deal, my flight gave me ample time to meet with my group in Tokyo, so as long it wasn't delayed more than 6 hours I would be ok. It was delayed about 16 hours. Apparently there was some technical problem with the plane, so it was delayed for 3 hours, and the airline bought us dinner. After that it became delayed another hour, and then the delay jumped to the next day. The airline informed us we would be put up in a hotel for the night. Very frustrating indeed, but there was an upside. The hotel was very nice and I got to have a great dinner with a few Japanese men and a couple from Germany. The room was very nice, and I got to have a good nights sleep for once. The bad side is I had to arrive in Tokyo a day late. The saga only continues...

Preparation

In preparation for this trip there are countless forms to fill out visa certificates, visas, approvals from SXU, various bureaucratic things that I had to do, but I've also tried to teach myself some of the language, which regrettably, has not gone as planned. I know very little Japanese, but I am told by many people that others have gone to Japan and survived with less knowledge of the language then I already have. For some reason that doesn't fill me with confidence, but alas here I am. The one thing I was able to read up on a great deal was the culture and some of the reasons for the various mindsets in Japan. My limited knowledge of the language but fairly decent knowledge of the 'dos and don't you dares' should keep me out of a fair bit of trouble. I've also tried to become a sponge, and I'll listen to anyone who has been to Japan, whether they were there for 6 months, or for a layover going somewhere else, or if they were there 50 years ago. No matter what kind of books I read, nothing can compensate for the experiences of others. For me, this is going to be an adventure, in the most important sense of the word, because despite all my knowledge, and research (or lack thereof) I am still not completely sure what to expect.