which is that huge tower in the middle if you couldnt tell. its like a 9 floor giant (and expensive) shopping mall just for teenage girls. theres also a shibuya 109-2 thats a little cheaper but its a lot smaller and also is half just for men.

shopping here is pretty different. first of all the stores are all so much smaller, generally the size of like an average bedroom or smaller. and for each thing they sell they only keep one of every size out, and just replace it when someone buys it. shoe stores are the same way too. here they only have 4 sizes S M L and LL and they keep one pair in each size/color and thats the one you try on and take up to the counter. its not just one on display and rows and rows of boxes. its so different. and then of course theres the "いらっしゃいませ！いらっしゃいませ！どうぞご覧下さいませ！” which basically translates to like welcome please look around. back home you usually get the greeting at the door you know "hi how are you" and they tell you about any sales. but here they say that whole thing when you walk by, when you enter the store while your looking around, its like its just playing on repeat every 5 seconds. which can start to get somewhat annoying pretty fast. but its worth it.

mm thats all i can really think of right now i guess. see ya

also as part of orientation we visited an elementary school for a day. we were paired up with another ciee student (though some were by themselves...) and assigned to a specific grade and class to stay with after the general tour of the school. me and my partner, jesse, got a 3rd grade class. by the way, japanese kids are SO cute. anyways, once we split up to our seperate classrooms, we were expected to introduce ourselves, eat lunch with the kids, play with them outside, and then we were kind of in charge of the activities after that. now jesse is really tall. im not sure how tall exactly. but really tall. which obviously stands out a bit here. so of course when we first got there, the kids were all over him and he was lifting them up to touch the ceiling they were so excited. and even when we were doing our introductions, several of the kids asked him how tall he was. i wanna say he said something like 200 cm i dont know if thats right or not but regardless as soon as one of the helping parents translated it for the kids, it was one big "ええー？！　すごい！”　it was pretty funny.

it was really interesting though how different it was from like where i went to elementary school.. i mean for one, all the classrooms were open, as in instead of having a door, the entire side of the room going out to the hallway was just open. so you could all the other classes very easily and there was really no way to make it quiet. we were told this isent exactly typical of japanese elementary schools, but that they find it helps the kids learn to concentrate, but alot of times when kids transfer from another school, they have a very difficult time with it at first. also, and the rest of this is normal for a japanese elementary school, but the kids are responsible for setting up and serving lunch in their own classrooms. and the cleanup as well. obviously the younger grades do have some help, but they really do alot of it on their own. and they are expected to eat everything they are served, it is bad manners not to. another thing that was really interesting, and it didnt really come up while we were there but we learned during a presentation another day during orientation, is that teachers dont really control the kids nearly as much as they do in america. in terms of making sure they are paying attention and behaving during class they do, but interaction with other students is really just between the students and the teachers rarely interfere. the kids are expected to learn from the beginning how to handle others that they dont get along with on their own, instead of having someone else always there to solve whatever the problem may be.

i have to say though that the cutest thing was at the end when it was time for us to leave, every student lined up to get our "autographs" some kids even brought up multiple pieces of paper. i dont think i have ever signed my name so many times.

what next.. classes started! im taking 3 classes: japanese, intro to art history, and japanese foreign policy. nothing exciting really. however i did join a club at school too. beyond jazz dance club. unfortunately, they had already decided last semester who was going to dance in which parts of their performance for the sophia festival, so i wont get to perform in that, but for right now i just go and warm up for the first hour or so of practice. once the festival is over and practice isnt focused on any upcoming performance im sure it will get alot better. and they said i could perform next time at the christmas party, so im excited for that! the girls are all really nice, at least all the ones ive talked to so far. its a pretty big group and they dont all speak english... however i was surprised and how many do. at least 10 probably more. so school is going good so far.

other than that ive spent alot of time just hanging out with friends i guess. usually other ciee students and people from sisec, which is the other club i joined. i forget what it stands for but i wanna say international student exchange is in there.. not sure but basically thats what it is its just a bunch of international students and japanese students and they just plan events like sightseeing things or they had a welcome party and a cooking party stuff like that. and then sometimes going drinking afterwards. i dont really drink alot, cuz it gets expensive but i usually still try to go with. its difficult though because you go thinking ill just sit and talk and have a good time and it wont cost me anything but then they want to do "飲み穂代”　which is basically all you can drink in a certain time period. and everyone at the table has to do it or no one can. or they say you have to order at least one drink and one food item. and then theres always the table charge, where everyone gets charged 315yen just for sitting at the table. so its frustrating sometimes and expensive, but i dont wanna just not go either.. and i always have fun so its worth it. and i have of course done a bit of shopping... (make sure you check out my new outfit in the halloween party pictures coming up!) but lets not talk about that.

hmmm what else.... purikura! basically its similar to those picture booths that you sometimes see in malls maybe not so much anymore but yeah thats what it is a photo booth. except so much cooler. usually theyre found in the game centers, tons of them and all different kinds.

basically you choose several backgrounds first, take a picture for each one, and then choose your favorite 6. then after that you go to the other side and add all sorts of other decorations like borders and words and little designs. theres sooo many options you could spend so much time doing that part. then your done and you have them printed out. we had a couple sent directly to our phones too through the infrared thing, thats why the middle one is alot clearer than the other two.

my host dad also took me to a baseball game a while ago.. we didnt go for the whole thing only the last couple innings. however it was at tokyo dome and so we spend some of the time shopping, and we even went on the huge roller coaster. which of course was expensive. 1000yen for one ride. .. but it was fun of course.
anddd here it is:

and from the actual game:

playing..

the fans were cheering and singing the entire time. not just between plays or anything like that. i havent been to a baseball game back home except like cougars game and even that was a really long time.. but im pretty sure when they are actually playing the fans let them concentrate. here its different. always cheering for their team. and everyone alltogether. the second picture is kinda small i dont know if you can see it but the entire section is all waving around these orange towels. and it was only during one cheer or whatever you want to call it. but it was so cool because it was literally like everyone. a sea of orange towels. except us. we were lame fans i guess.

and then there was the ciee halloween party this past weekend. it was definitely a more child-aimed party all the host families were invited. there was mini pumpkin decorating and a mummy wrapping game and japanese version of duck duck goose and lastly a costume contest (no i didnt dress up). the little kids who dressed up were adorable! oh and japanese duck duck goose im not sure exactly how it works because they made it more halloween version, but same basic concept except instead of hitting everyone on the head saying duck duck duck duck etc until you get to the person you want to chase you, they carried around a mini pumpkin and walked around the circle. when they got to the person they wanted, they as sneakily as possible dropped the pumpkin and as soon as that person realizes it they obviously get up and chase the pumpkin-dropper. of course it was on tatami mats and almost everyone was wearing socks (shoes cant be worn on tatami mats) so it was quite slippery and quite a few people wiped out. and of course there was the ciee student who someone thought it would be funny to hit the ground behind him and have him think he was the chaser. twice. and he fell for it both times haha. heres some pictures though:

finally a picture of my whole host family!

pumpkin decorating

hyumas finished pumkin

all the pumpkins in the pumpkin decorating contest.. i know its probably kind of hard to see again..

that pumkin duck duck goose in action

mummy wrapping game.. they were the winners

watching the games

the kids costume contest! not many dressed up but they were all so cute! (oh and the indian guy on the left is the one that was tricked during the duck duck goose game)

and yushin tied for cutest costume!!

i also went to karaoke.. and actually sang a song too! it was pretty exciting. and expensive. surprise surprise. we said two hours. ten minutes before that was up, they called. and then kept calling saying 10 more minutes, 10 more minutes, etc etc. never once told us we were actually now being charged for a 3rd hour. very misleading, no? yeah well we go out there and suddenly everyone now owes 3000yen instead of 2000. especially upsetting because 10 minutes left means last call for drinks, so we paid for nomihodai for that last hour, but of course couldnt get any drinks because it was always "you guys have 10 minutes left, you guys have 10 minutes left." oh well. just wont be going back to that karaoke again. theres plenty others.

other things ive noticed:

1) people actually wear masks here when they are sick. i feel like if you did that back home you would get weird looks from everyone. i thought it was strange the first time i saw it here too. but apparently its really expected of people here to wear them. which doesnt surprise me at all actually.

2)guys have pink stuff. and its not weird. ive seen tons of guys with pink phones. my host dad carries around a hot pink bag when we go somewhere with yushin. its totally not even given a second thought.

3)comics/cartoons/video games: males and females, all ages. see plenty of business men reading their comic books or playing their PSPs on the trains. teenage girls especially with the PSPs it seems. phones are a big thing too on the trains. and sleeping. i wonder how often people miss their stops with the number of people i see sleeping on the trains.

4)the close door buttons on elevators actually work. its amazing.

okay i think thats it for now. hopefully i will be better about updating this now! peace out

again, ill probably have even more pictures after hyuma gives me the ones he has too. we also did some walking around and shopping too before/after visiting the park area.

those would be the crispy mint m&ms i found in the "american" pharmacy. pretty sure we dont have these in america....

im going to make the cutest lunch boxes ever! (yes thats all animal shaped food on the cover)

and lastly......

heck yes that is a hello kitty shaped waterbottle. quite possibly one of the most awesome things i have ever bought. period.

we also went to dinner where i had pancakes haha. never really liked pancakes all that much before but now i love them ive had them twice now since i got here.. i have no idea why. and for dessert i had a bowl of brownie and toasted marshmallows. it was delicious =]

side note: two things ive noticed...

1)japanese people do not wear flip flops. i have no idea why but i have yet to see anyone outside of our ciee group wearing them

2)there are no fat people. at least no where near what you see in america. which is surprising really with all the rice and noodles that they eat here. i guess it must be all the walking or something? i mean ive seen people slightly overweight maybe. but definitely not fat at all. its amazing really.

actually make it 3)foreigners DO get stared at.. especially when they look relatively young and are carrying around a small japanese boy haha

but yes that was my day today pretty much.. i have a couple more pictures from orientation though! these are from when we had our campus tour by the japanese students. unfortunately our groups tour guides tended to speak in japanese mostly because everyone in my group could understand most of what they were saying. which was fine when they would translate for me. but that was only when they remembered =/ i spent most of the time just following and looking around having no idea what was actually going on. however i got the main points of the tour... that buildings 2, 10 and 11 are the important ones and how the cafeteria works haha. but anyways, pictures:

yay team v!!!!( <- in japan its not a peace sign its a "v for victory" sign)

at the gates

breakfast/lunch

trying out the motorcycle

and the car.. steering wheel on the left side.. weird.


in one of the different booths set up outside the track

spent alot of time walking around... got there at 7 race didnt start until 1. i think yushin was having a fit about something..

hakobori (i think thats what hyuma was calling it).. its like a really good snowcone and then they drizzle this sugary cream sauce on top. it was delicious!

waiting for the race to start. theres that hand gesture.. haha

and it begins!

after a crash. safety vehicles and such. there was one real bad crash the car caught on fire it was scary. the driver was okay though

towards the end.. #3 won! he was from somewhere in south america i think dont remember exactly which country

lets see... for starters, my school:

its about 35-40 minute commute from my homestay.. not too bad, some people have 60-85 minute commutes. the school itself in terms of like campus size is not very big at all basically just a bunch of buildings and its in like the shape of a cross apparently? cuz its a jesuit university i guess

my room! bigger than i expected it to be but still small haha. i live in an apartment on the 12th floor in shinkawa i think.. this picture is of course before i unpacked though since most of my stuff i have to keep in the closet it really doesnt look all that much different now anyways

and idk how well you can really see it but thats the view from my room at night

i dont have any picture of the whole family yet, but its a relatively young family. the mom, yuuko, is like 32 the dad, hyuma, is like 35 and then theres an adorable little boy who will be 3 in december. they dont speak a whole lot of english so communicating is kind of difficult haha but somehow we manage. theyre really great though really nice =]

that yushin.. wearing my shoes.. haha when he and hyuma first came to the school to bring me back home he was really shy and quiet didnt say anything didnt even wanna look at me and then the second we got home he was all over the place talking talking talking trying to help me unpack playing with all my stuff trying on my shoes as you can see haha hes quite a handful sometimes but still just super cute at the same time of course. oh and apparently my name is too hard to say in japanese so my new nickname is "rin-chan" or "jin-chan" for yushin because he can really say r's yet i guess.

and thats me and yushin at the fish market saturday morning (very smelly btw). he makes that little hand gesture thing in every picture haha not sure why or what exactly its supposed to be

for part of orientation one day (i think it was friday) we did a scavenger hunt all around tokyo where we were given an all day train pass, a list of things to find and take a picture of, bring back, and questions to answer and about 4 hours to do it all. It was probably the most exciting/interesting orientation thing weve done so far.

one of the things we had to take a picture of was the view from the tocho observatory in i think it was shinjuku. it was a pretty far walk from the station and we had to ask directions several times but when we finally made it it was so worth it. it was like 45 floors up and that was the view from the top. i didnt get pictures from all the sides of it, but those were the two that i did get

thats just a street in shibuya

akihabara. lots of game centers and anime/manga stuff, maid cafes with the girls dressed up as maids on the street handing out flyers or something. definitely seemed like more of a guy-kinda place haha but still interesting

and then that was our group minus stacey who was taking the picture. obviously not everyone was ready... haha

food here hasnt been as difficult as i thought it would be... been eating lots of chicken and beef and rice and ramen haha. only had 2 meals so far that i didnt like... both were veggies and rice (of course). tried some new stuff too like okonomiyaki and monja at our welcome dinner on weds at an okonomiyaki place in ochanomizu

ochanomizu right outside the station

okonomiyaki before and after flipping. its basically like a cabbage pancake i guess? i dont remember exactly what was in it but one was chicken and one was seafood. it was better than i was expecting it to be though definitely not my favorite. we also made a soba noodle one later though that one was kinda bland haha.

we also decided to try the monja which i have no idea what it is i think its similar but has no cabbage and basically just a bunch of stuff all thrown in together. the one we got had like some kind of fish eggs and squid and cheese and mochi(i have no idea what mochi is though). i didnt really wanna try it cuz of the eggs (i didnt know it had squid in it at the time) but the rest of the people at the table convinced me too. of course the bit i took had a big piece of squid in it and i thought it looked like squid but i didnt remember them saying anything about there being squid in it so i just ate it. it was gross. realized later that it was indeed a large piece of squid that i had eaten. yuck.

hmmmm what else... ive already got a good handle on the train system i think. its actually pretty easy to follow, though theres so many lines and so many similar colors for the JR railways that its hard to follow which trains go where sometimes on the map they gave us. the tokyo metro map is colored too but each line is lettered and numbered at each stop so its much easier to follow. havent been on any ridiculously crowded trains to the point where you get lifted off the ground yet, though i have been on a couple that have been pretttttyyy crowded. and on my way to the school one morning i ended up on one of the women only trains haha a little weird but whatever haha i felt safer anyways even though it was at like 9 in the morning haha

i think thats it though most of the rest of my time has been either spent at home or at orientation. though one night i did go to a pub with a couple friends haha i tried beer (which was gross and i didnt even finish) and then plum wine which was VERY sweet haha but pretty good. oh and i went to an indy car race all day yesterday with hyuma and yushin which was definitely more fun than i thought it would be (up until like the day before it i thought i was being invited to and paying around $60 for a concert haha shows how the communication is i guess haha) like i said though it was better than i thought it would be. long day though, we left at like 5:30 in the morning and didnt get back until almost 10 at night. and it was sunny and hot and i didnt have any sunblock so im a bit sunburnt now haha not too bad though mostly just my face. definitely have some interesting tan lines though from wearing a short sleeve shirt =/ ill have the pictures from that soon hopfully i have to wait for hyuma to give me the ones he took.

i got a phone on friday finally. you cant text me and you probably dont want to call me but just in case the number is 080-3903-3048. not sure you go about dialing that from overseas if you were to call me.. my phone email (probably the best way contact me, if you wanna send me and email, please send it here) is iadoreyou@softbank.ne.jp

and lastly, this really has nothing to do with japan, but if you didnt get a chance to see the going away cake i made.. here it is =]:

and of course it was delicious =]

thats it for now i guess... peace out