9/30~10/6

9/30

I don't remember what I did for this day.   :(

10/1

I had great breakfast at the dining hall this day! Most Japanese meals are served as "teishoku" which means "set/decided meal" with several side dishes. The entree for today was mackerel.

Today was the day I could recieve my results for the Japanese Language Placement Test. They apparently recommended most people the same classes if there wasn't too much different in the results. I guess they were predominantly looking for the absolute beginners and those who are very fluent. Everybody inbetween was recommended the same classes it seems.

One of the professors is Hidding-sensei, the Dutch professor who assisted us when we visited in January. That will be a fun class.

I think I went to visit my professor, Tokuoka-sensei, but I'm not sure. Afterward I went and tried the special tsukimi burger and tsukimi pie from McDonald's. It was great! Tsukimi means moon-watching, and it's an event in Fall based upon a traditional Chinese holiday. The tsukimi burger was way better than anything McDonald's USA has. It was a burger with egg and bacon as well. The tsukimi pie had mooncake filling and bean paste. It was so good!

10/2

Today was a very rainy day! It was hot but suddenly got cooler due to rain. The 84 degree and super humid south-Japan climate is worse than peak heat in Sacramento, but once it rained it got much cooler! For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about the movie Ponyo.

I'm sure I did something important today, but I'm not too sure.

Later we went biking around at night and found a shrine that may be where the upcoming local Fall Festival will be held.

10/3

Today was the day me and my tutor went to apply for my bank book. Basically a passport like object that you insert into a machine to be able to withdraw money from an atm. It's like a precursor to a debit card but more complicated and unneccesary. My tutor Rin helped me with the process but it turns out as an American I have to go through more paperwork. The US government makes all foreign bank accounts send information to the IRS to help combat fraud. Stupid that the IRS still wants my money even when I'm out of the country. I was made fun of by the Europeans for this. Because of that, I had to wait until the next day to go complete the application.

Later, we went to campus to the "Life Skills Orientation" where we were taught things regarding natural disasters and mental health. It was mediocre. There's a nuclear power plant named "Ikata" or something like that 70 kilometres away that sits on a fault line. But in general Matsuyama is said to be a very safe place to live in cases of disaster.

After that, I went to a Japanese music store to buy a music stand for practice! It was probably around $45. I get the feeling that Matsuyama is like a mix between San Francisco and Sacramento. It's flat and quiet like Sacramento, but when you get into the city center the building are at least 2-3 floors and it gets more crowded.

10/4

In the morning I finished the bank application and it went well! I wasn't with my tutor so I had to try to do everything on my own, in Japanese.

Later, the Korean student I met at the test, Kim, wanted to go visit the tourist district, Dogo, with me. We had fun! We biked from the dorm through the backstreets to Dogo where we walked through the main shopping area and over to the massive Isaniwa shrine that I visited in January. We got some great pictures of the Dogo Onsen hot spring, especially now that renovation is completed. We went and watched the Karakuri Clock Tower show which is inspired by the book Botchan. Afterward we went and ate Japanese fast food at a place called Sukiya, which is known for its beef bowls. How it works is that you go in and sit anywhere, and at the tablet you order your food. Someone comes and brings you your order after a couple minutes with a receipt for how much to pay. When you are done you go up to the counter and ask for someone to come over so you can pay. It would never work in the US!

Afterward the westerners and I went to the Okaido main shopping street and visited Don Quixote, an absolutely massive discount store that is known for being too crazy. Depsite how I ate already, the rest of the group hadn't so we went to eat at Yoshinoya. It's very similar to Sukiya. (Nice to know ya Yoshinoya).

10/5