Sorry for the wait! Two days ago I was too tired to post anything. Yesterday I didn't have internet. So today's post is catch-up.
Monday was the first day of orientation. I did the usual stuff, payments, language program walkthroughs, and campus tours. And then came the single most frightening thing of my entire life. I couldn't withdraw funds.
Looking back, it seems such a small problem, since it got resolved so easily, but picture this: You are in the most expensive country on earth and alone. You have already used up most of what you brought with you because you were told you would be able to withdraw from the campus ATM, but now you can't. The bank account you set up with the school won't be active for a month, you don't have enough to get back to the airport and get home, and food, laundry, and soon textbook charges are encroaching upon you. Panic sets in, and you are now at the mercy of the world at large, which is so big that it doesn't have to care about you.
The only thing I could do was keep on trying to find an ATM that accepted my cards. When I asked the people at the dormitory, they not only told me where I might try, but lent me a bike and took me to those places.
Let me say this about Japanese bicycles: awesome (original, Edde Izzard endorsed definition). They are the most simple design I have ever seen, and yet nothing else I have ever ridden could hope to compare. They look flimsy, but they're not. They have one gear, but they work better than any multi-geared mountain or sports bike. And the road system is designed to accommodate them. You have to ride to see for yourself how wonderful it is.
Anyway, after trying a few convenience stores, I managed to get some money inside a 7-11 (go figure). Also, I recently learned how to open the door to the second ATM on campus, a device that was partly the cause of my distress. Some doors have a black plastic thing hanging on them. To open the door, don't push up or down, or sideways, or try to turn it or pull the door open manually, just push the damn thing in!
Yesterday I was rested and refreshed enough to obsessively worry about something else: my language class placement exam. I had restudied every chapter, every page of what I had gone over in two years of class for this. I think I did horribly. The test came in sections, which corresponded roughly to about one section per unit in the Genki series textbooks. It turns out that where I got in two years was the prescribed place to be for that many years of study (Good job, Sensei!). So I took parts A, B, and C of the test, which should have in it material I am able to tackle and have already progressed through. The problem was, it didn't. There was stuff in there that I have never seen before, that I know for a fact was never covered in all my time taking Japanese. And yet, here was this unknown grammar, inserting itself in as it pleased and making a fool out of me, since I had to leave large portions blank in a section I should have had no problem with. And the worst part is, if I place back down in the second class, I'll just be learning from the textbook again, and not whatever it was they randomly threw in there. So frustrating...
Today, nothing major as far as orientation was concerned. I did, however, come across the most awesome vending machine in existence, conveniently located right next to one of the cafeterias. It had ramen, soba, and udon. What you do is this: buy the cup of what you want, open it, slide it into a cubby on the side, and press a button to dispense hot water. Wait three minutes and eat! As simple as that. I tried the ramen for lunch and the udon for dinner, both were good but the ramen was better :)
Observations
In less than one week, I have heard almost every type of cicada noise that I ever heard in anime. It really is all over the place. And the cicada's are huge! One flew right by me and it was half as big as my hand!
The amount of study I have gone through is nowhere near good enough to get by. Forget speaking passibly, I usually have to rely on charity from someone else to help me find the right thing to say.
I am attracted to Japanese females. Whether or not the ones I thought were hot are of an appropriate age will require further investigation (I can't tell! Please don't be a lollita complex!).
When dealing with the Japanese, they are polite and helpful. When just walking passed them on the street, they look at you as if you are something that just isn't supposed to be there.
On the hill behind the city, which I guess leads up to the mountains, are lines of transformers, red and white and peppering the landscape. Images of such a thing were not exaggerated.

That's all for this time. I will try and post the next journal sooner, I don't want to turn this into a 'whenever I feel like it' blog.