second full day

Okayama reminds me so much of Taiwan, but there's a bit of Ukraine mixed in, too. They have Ukraine's underground shopping centers and Taiwan's tropical fruits and bugs. Some of the streets I look down look exactly like the street I live on in Li Kang, except without the big temple at the end. It's kind of unnerving to see and taste the same types of things as I would get in Taiwan, except cleaner and prettier. I almost expect to be able to understand everyone around me like I was in Taiwan, so I was pretty confused today when a Chinese couple walked by us at the department store. The first thought that popped into my head was, Japanese is starting to sound like Chinese to me. And then I realized they were actually speaking Mandarin.

I actually didn't expect to be able to understand anything, and I still understand way less than what I'd like, but I do remember much more Japanese than I expected. It's slowly coming back, and I can actually use it so it stays. Food is pretty much the same as it is in Torrance, down to the grocery stores and drinks. I had department store ramen today, and I managed to order it without the green onions, even if the guy was looking at me funny as he took the order. The broth wasn't as good as Hakata, and I didn't order the "extra light" oil I usually get, but the pork was yummy. I also had okonomiyaki for the first time today, but they cooked it inside, which was nice, because we didn't really know how to cook it, but at the same time, I kinda wanted to try making it myself. I remember someone trying to explain what okonomiyaki was to me a while back and drawing a rectangle with two circles in the middle like eyes. It didn't help me at all at the time, but when we split the order we got, it totally looked just like it.

I didn't bring my rebel to training because I didn't think I'd need it (and I still don't think I do, because we've got actual training starting tomorrow), and it's heavy, but I don't really feel like taking pictures of things with my little camera. It's like, I know I won't be happy with the pictures from the little camera, so why take them. But then I'm missing all these moments of randomness and food. Pretty much everyone else is taking picture, though, but I'll be living in this city, so I can wait until I figure out what I want to take pictures of before I take them, I think.

i'm here!

I'm in Okayama, Japan right now at the AEON*Amity training center annex, and I've been assured that I can get wireless internet at a Seattle's Best coffeehouse a little ways away, so I'm typing this up in the comfort of my dorm. (Edit: yay free wireless! We're right next to a convention center with lots of amenities--and signs in romaji which is really nice.

I was up at 5 am this morning with jet lag. Good thing my roommate was, too. We ended up going for a walk around Okayama-eki (station) doing a large loop on both the east side (where I'll be working) and west side (where we're staying) before returning to our rooms. I've been to the combini (convenience store), Lawson's, twice. Been by two McDonald's (pronounced ma-ku-do-NA-ru-do-su), one Starbucks, and a Mr. Donut, all closed.

Even though they told us most people don't have dryers, but there's one here at the dorm, which is really nice. I will probably do more laundry this week just because I can dry my clothes in the dryer... more later. The training's supposed to be really hard, but I think I can make time for free wi-fi.