Tales of the Traveling K

I have internet in my room now! For my first post from home, I'm going to introduce my dorm to you.

To begin, the entrance to Seminar House 1 (where I live):


The doorway with sun shining through is where you enter the dorm. Shoes must be removed before you step on the white tile floor, and they are stored in the room you can see through the door to the left. The window to the right of the entrance looks into Okasan and Otosan's office; if you need to sign in a guest or ask a question, that window is the place to go.

My room is a bit of a mess right now because we have three people living in a room meant for two. Fawn is moving to her homestay family's house tomorrow, so Begum and I will have a bit more space and we'll put our things away in more permanent places.

If you look carefully, you can see Begum's feet peeking out from the end of the middle futon. She was pretty well hidden under those covers; I didn't realize she was in the room until after I'd taken the picture!

In traditional Japanese style, we have bathroom slippers for use in the toilet stalls:


In each stall, Okasan has drawn a cute sign to post above the sanitary products trashcan, reminding us that it is for "Napkin only."


One of my favorite parts of the dorm is how the showers work. They have really good water pressure but are also efficient. You turn them on by pushing a lever, and they automatically turn themselves off as the lever slowly moves back into place. The water stays warm, so you can push it, rinse off, then let it stop while you shampoo, etc., and it will still be warm when you push it again.


It saves so much water! I want one at home. Well, actually I want one that has a stool so you can take a sit-down shower, which they have sometimes in Japan, but now I want it to work on a push-lever.

I'm going out to dinner soon. I think my next post will be about outings and food.

Posted by K. Raila at 10:05 PM Comments

The most important thing I have learned in Japan so far is that, when dealing with Japanese bureaucracy, everything must be exact. If your passport has your name written in all capital letters, that's how you write it on official forms. Opening a bank account requires extreme attention to detail. At home, someone might happily sign with a wild signature. Here, that signature has to match exactly from one page to the next. Luckily, they let me use my initals instead.

I'd like to post pictures of the beautiful campus, but as yet do not have internet access on my laptop. I should be able to post them by early next week.

Posted by K. Raila at 1:44 AM Comments

I got the address wrong in my last post (now deleted). The right one is:
Center for International Education
Kansai Gaidai University
16-1 Nakamiyahigashinocho
Hirakata City, Osaka 573-1001
Japan

I am thoroughly exhausted from the very long set of flights and bus travel. I will post a proper update when I am less jet-lagged.

Posted by K. Raila at 6:08 AM Comments

On January 25th, I will depart from Logan International Airport at six in the morning, on my way to Kansai International Airport. There I will be met by staff from Kansai Gaidai University, and so begins my term abroad in Japan.

This blog will serve as a record of my travels, discoveries, adventures, trials, and triumphs while abroad. Before I leave, I may post one or two things about preparation, but mainly this will be updated once I'm there.

What will become of this blog after I return at the end of May?
I'm not sure yet, but I expect I may use it for trips in the future.

Posted by K. Raila at 1:34 PM Comments