Hello all! My first entry in this diary is mainly to let you know that I have
arrived and so far have managed to avoid freezing to
death or being run over by a little old lady on a motor scooter.
Arrived Narita airport at the ungodly hour of 6am, and thankfully was
able to clear customs and immigration without
being taken aside and locked in a small room and asked questions,
like last time. Narita really doesnt feel like
'Japan', feeling like I'm actually here came a lot later. The first
thing I bought was of course a lovely hot can of
coffee from a vending machine... its stuff like that that we need in
Australia! Made a couple of phone calls and then
found a nice, comfy bench to curl up and sleep on for the four hours
until my flight to Sendai. I probably could have
made it up to sendai on the train before the domestic flight took
off, but hey, it was a good chance to get some sleep
after not much on the flight across, and when the government was
paying for my ticket, who was I to argue? :)
Arriving in Sendai it began, finally, to feel like 'Japan' again.
Then it started to rain, which wasnt that great, but
Saita-sensei, who picked me up from the airport, assured me that the
rain meant it was warm... what she meant of course
was, too warm for snow, so it was at least above zero... and sure
enough, it was a whole 3 degrees... what a heatwave
;)
Spent a few moments in the kenkyuushitsu in the uni, the room I'm to
make my nest for the year, and met the other
students who would be wasting time... er.. studying there with me,
then bundled into a taxi and driven to a youth
hostel - no, theres still no chance of me getting into the
International House until April. I didnt think it was that
good a sign when the taxi driver got lost, but after three phone
calls he finally managed to figure out not only where
he was, but where the youth hostel was too.
Checked in, and fell fast asleep by 7pm.
The next day was spent trying to wear all the tread off my new shoes
- or at least that's how it felt, with all the
walking I had to do. Watanabe-kun (it was days until I found out his
first name) is my tutor for the year, and as such
it is his job to help me whenever I have problems. So he took me to
the city hall where I could register as an alien -
fun! - they give me an ID card to prove that I am green and have
antennae too. Then opened a bank account, then headed
back to uni to fill out 'a couple of sheets' of paperwork. No wonder
the Amazon is disappearing!
It's been snowing on and off ever since the rain stopped, gradually
getting thicker and thicker on the ground. As soon
as I can I'll upload some pictures to this web site for perusal. There are rather interesting things to take photos of...
Getting on the bus in a few hours to go to Nagoya and stay with
people down there for a week or so; catch up with
people I havent seen for ages, and also avoid the creepy weirdos that
randomly turn up in youth hostels when one least
expects it.
That's all from me now, I'll be in touch soon.
Would be great to hear from you all,
179
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