Great news!!! I found one corner of my room that actually gets internet!!!! i thing it might come from the doctor's office that we live above but I really have no clue and don't really care that much cuz i'm too happy that i have it!!
So now i guess i can finally update this thing with all that's happened... let's see what i can remember...
So i guess i left off at the hotel when i was going to go find something to eat on my first real day in kyoto. I wandered around cluelessly for a little bit until i saw a sign that said ラーメン so i went in for my first authentic bowl of delicious ramen. I couldn't read most of the kanji (漢字) on the wall so I just ordered oomuri ramen (おおむりラーメン) which i think means "immeasurably big ramen." It was really good and 730 yen（七百三十円）so under the 800 yen（八百円） i'm rationed for each day's lunch. At the ramen shop there was just a metal counter with a bunch of stools and men in suits slurping away at their noodles. When mine came I just followed suit, finished, paid, and left with no major problems or embarrasements.
Then i found the local mall called terramachi (terra町) and explored. It's really extensive with probably everything I could possibly need and multiple arcades and pachinko parlors.
I guess that's it for the first day...
The second day I checked into my real room and met my roommate for the orientation period, tyler. He was really nice and we got along well. His friend Jesse and I have been hanging out a lot, I helped him find his way home today. Ummm... we got free breakfast from the hotel so that was delicious and awesome. Then we walked over from Fujita hotel to Kyodai-Kaikan which is where the KCJS program is centered. It's right next to Kyoto University (京都大学) and it's where we have classes. We had a small orientation that was half spoken in English and half spoken in Japanese. I didn't understand a lot of the Japanese so I hope I'm doing everything right.
Afterwards we met some Kyoto University students and they took us out to dinner. The dinner was really good: a four course meal with udon noodles, some kind of fried meat, vegetables in a broth, and Japanese tacos (?). It was good but it used up all of our stipend for that night (2250￥)<-- 高いですね？？？ Anywho that was it for that day.
Friday?
So yesterday we went back to kyodai-kaikan and took our oral interviews. i did pretty well but everytime i recall it i realize something i screwed up so i don't really think about it. then we basically waited around until our host families came to pick us up. It was this really weird feeling like being an orphan waiting for parents to come and claim you as your friends got taken away one by one. My host mother came to pick me up and she is very nice. The house is above a doctors office about 30 mins bus ride away from kyodai-kaikan and in a pretty cool area. It's decently close to an arcade and the famous Nijo Imperial Castle of Kyoto. I met my host father who is also really nice and part of the house is his workplace which is a fully fleshed out kimono-making... dojo. Anyay, my host mother gave me the key to use their bike （自転車）so once i get used to riding in kyoto, i can use that instead of the bus in good weather. My host family is very traditional and it's clear that my host mother really wants me to study a lot so I'm wondering if she's going to become controlling in that regard... i'm just going to try avoid conflict at all possible times. She's a really good cook however for breakfast we had nato which is fermented soy beans. They taste like feet but i ate every bit of it out of politeness and i guess i'll have to do it tomorrow and everyday until the end of april.
Saturday
I woke up, ate my nato, took a shower (the only source of warmth in the house--it's absolutely freezing) and went over to Kyodai-Kaikan to take my written placement test. It was three hours long with kanji, grammar, essay, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension sections. It was extremely hard but it's supposed to be that way because it's supposed to allow you to score high enough to be placed into a class with people who speak fluent japanese--which i obviously can't do. I'll probably be placed into the class that i expected to, which is towards the bottom of the skill spectrum but that's to be expected with only 5 semesters at bu under my belt and very little practical japanese practice to show for it. afterwards, some of the other students went downtown to shijo-dori which has all the cool shops and places to eat. we walked around taking pictures (i'll upload stuff eventually) and then me and jesse walked home where I ate dinner and am now here.
exhausting days so far but i think it's something i can get used. I am already getting more comfortable using japanese and my homestay family is helping a lot with that. Today i asked someone for change on the bus because i realized i couldn't pay with my 2,000 yen bill. it worked out so that made me feel good. I'll update regularly and try to keep them shorter than this one. I hope everyone is doing well.
:)
