Well then, the week that was. We had the orientation in Tokyo which, over 3 days, summed up Japanese culture, social norms, food, school life, AFS rules, etc etc, most of which I knew already from my previous trips to Japan over the past couple of years. So we left to meet our host families, all 5 of us in the Shonan Chapter, and were met with a great fanfare of national flags, AFS stuff, whatever. All very international. I'm incredibly lucky in that my host family lived in NZ years ago, so they know a little bit about how we 'tick'
I'm living in Ebina city, about 50 kilometres West of Tokyo, and contains around 125,000 people, so quite small by Japanese standards (still pretty damn big to me), and I must say it feels like I'm the only gaijin (foreigner) in the whole city. I certainly have small children staring at me a bit, but meh, this is how celebrities feel. So for 6 months, I'm a celeb. (I know I am a celeb anyways, but this is extra special)
I've spent my first days in Ebina much like a baby, being shuttled round everywhere, people talking slowly to me, being asked what I want to eat/drink, if I'm ok, etc, etc, which is all very nice, but I want to LIVE! Initially I was chaperoned through town to the Town Hall to be registered as an Official Alien, got a bank account sorted, familiarised myself with the neighbourhood, the train station, the bus stops etc. I met my host mother's sister, who looks after their mother a couple of blocks away, they are very nice people, so I am immensly fortunate to be in such a nice family.
My host mother is an art teacher at a local middle school, and so yesterday she took me along to a preparation session where teachers from all the middle schools in the area were trialling a new art thing out. They had various pottery items and pens that could be used to draw/write on them, and then after being put in the microwave, the images become permanent. So I amazed the teachers with my drawing ability (which to be honest is virtually nonexistant) and with all the New Zealand things I drew (The NZ flag, a Kiwi, a Taniwha, a sheep, a map of New Zealand and a Kiwifruit), and now sitting on my desk in front of me is the Kiwiana bowl that I made.
I was taken along the route I will take to school by my host mum and my LP (liason person), so that I was familiar with where I had to go, times etc. I have a 15 minute walk (or 5 minute bike ride) to Shake Train Station, whereupon I embark on a 20 minute train ride to the adjacent city of Chigasaki, and then have a 10 minute walk to school. School starts at 8.30, and by that I mean sitting in your chair, so if I aim to get to school with 10 minutes to spare, I must be out of the door at 7.30 at the latest. Cripes. Tsurumine High School itself is a relatively bland building, I cannot say much more at this point as I have only seen the outside, so perhaps it will surprise me yet.
Today I was let loose in Ebina by myself, with the instruction to try and come back home by myself on the bus system, but if all else failed, I could ring my host mum and get picked up. Determined not to cause an inconvenience, I memorised my buses number and name, and the name of the bus stop where I would get off. Happy though to be able to explore for a while, I spent my time in the Rambling Terrace, Vinawalk, which is one great big outdoor shopping concourse interconnected with all manner of bridges, stairs, escalators and elevators. Tis a very pretty place, there is a temple like structure in the middle of the main plaza, and it even has a little train. Very cute. While I was there, the clouds began to turn grey and rumbled towards Ebina, so out popped hundreds of kasa (umbrellas) as the rain started to fall. In Ebina, it never rains. Nor does it spit. Or even dribble. It POURS. A great torrent of water cascaded from the skies, and the wind made it sometimes fly horizontally, rendering our kasa somewhat useless. So with slightly damp legs I managed to get to the bus station, board my bus (after asking an old lady if this bus was the Minami Imasato Bus, in Japanese, nearly knocked her over from the shock of me being able to speak Japanese), and then found my way home. When I opened the door, mum was waiting for me and said in English, 'And now starts the life!" I guess she meant so starts my life in Japan, but we'll never know.
And of course, there are the awkward/strange moments of the week. As many of you know from facebook, I did indeed inadvertently use the dog's shampoo in the shower on my first night. But my coat/hair was very shiny and free of knots, so it can't have been all that bad? Also this morning, I opened my window to let some of the soul destroying heat out, and a little something fell onto my bed. Looking at it slightly apprehensively, (the cicadas here are massive and really REALLY ANGRY) it turned out to be a dried lizard. It had been dead quite some time, as it was very very mummified, and it must have been crushed by the window and remained there until I freed it today. So a moment of quiet reflection please, for lizards worldwide who have died in window related incidents.
On a lighter note, I have now watched, for the 3rd time in my life, the Japanese version of Pokemon! And boy is it hectic. So much to take in, so many high pitched voices, so much fast talking, so little time to translate. In short, it was awesome.
That's enough now to get me started, I will add some more photos and stuff a bit later, tis approaching bedtime for me now, hope you find this blog interesting :D
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