Saturday Night Sushi

Wandering from Shijo eki (station) to the river, through downtown and into the older, traditional area of Kyoto, five new friends and I found an excellent sushi restaurant right by the river. Two pieces of nigiri sushi were only 100 yen! I choose hamachi (yellowtail) and yaki-shitake (grilled mushroom) and a glass of light ume-shu (sweet plum wine). It was delicious and my first sushi in Kyoto! One thing I love about Kyoto so far is the size of the all the restaurants. Nearly all hold less than 10 tables. It is such an intimate and warm environment in which to dine. In addition, nearly all restaurants offer a warm cloth to wash one's hands upon sitting down to the table, (which well makes up for the lack of napkins!)

Orientation Friday Afternoon

Yesterday's orientation was frightening! After the placement test, which was extremely challenging for everyone, the Doshisha International Center staff gave an orientation of the program, all forms that need to be fill out and turned in, how to select classes, how to get an alien registration card, and other very important information. Uneno-san, the director, spoke extra quickly in Japanese for an hour and a half. Two people of the twenty-two who came from the UC's understood. (I was not one of them, in case you were wondering.) Although overwhelmed and a bit scared (as everyone was), it was almost humorous. He ended each set of long sentences filled with necessary instructions babbled especially quickly in Japanese with "iidesuka?" "Is that good?" No, of course that is not good! We were not sure whether to laugh or cry. Afterwards, I spoke with Uneno-san, and he is quite kind. Although he speaks little English, he is clearly very willing to walk through the process with me slowly and one-on-one. He also told me he would help me find a church or temple to go to each week!

Leaving for Japan

I leave for Kyoto, Japan on March 26th with the intention of living there for four months. Please check back after March 30th for new news. Thank you for visiting my blog!