Sunday, August 4, 2013

The first week (最初の一週間)

It has been about one week since I flew out of the US.  Since then a lot has happened!  Let's see if I can summarize...

アメリカから出発してから約一週間です。その時から色々ありましたね。省略して書いてみたいと思います!

7/28 - Our flight was delayed almost 6 hours, so instead of arriving in Tokyo in the the afternoon, we arrived about 11 at night Tokyo time.  Straight to sleep!

便が5、6時間遅くなったため、午後11時ぐらい東京へ到着しました。早速寝ました。

7/29 - Orientation all day (the non-mandatory seminars were not very useful or interesting, unfortunately).  After orientation I ventured out by myself (new friends were too sleepy) to go see the full scale Gundam in Odaiba.  Needless to day, it was awesome and totally worth it.

一日中研修会(残念だけどこの日のゼミがあんまり面白くなくて役に立たなかった)。オリエンテーションが終わったら一人で(友達が眠すぎて)大台場のガンダムフロント東京を見に行きました。もちろんすごかった。行ってよかったね。

Opening Ceremony
開会式
View from my hotel room
部屋からの眺め

Gundam!!
ガンダム!!
7/30 - More orientation, this time the seminars were a little more useful (more stuff actually about teaching methods).  Once again at night I ventured out to Shibuya for a much-needed trip to Mandarake and Animate (anime/manga goods stores).

またオリエンテーション。今回のゼミはもっと役立ちました(やっと教育について)。また一人で出かけて渋谷のまんだらけとアニメイトで買い物をしました。

Shibuya
渋谷
7/31 - Off to our prefectures!  We met our contracting organizations in Gunma's capital,  Maebashi City.  Next,  the people from my village brought me to my new home (but not without a quick trip to Gusto for parfaits...haha).  That day is kind of a blur, but we went out for sushi and sake with a couple people from the village board of education.  It was of course delicious, but I was so exhausted and overheated at that point that my brain was having some trouble with both enjoying myself and not sucking at Japanese.

群馬県へ!前橋市で村の教育委員会からの人に会って、村の人に連れて行かれました(途中でガストに寄ってパフェを食べたww)。その日よく覚えていないんだが、夜は教育委員会の4人と寿司を食べに行きました。もちろんすごく美味しかったけど、暑くて疲れていて、脳がOFFになってしまった感じでした。楽しむのと日本語を喋って分かるのがすごく難しかった。

Gunma Prefectural Government Office
群馬県庁
8/1 - Paperwork, paperwork paperwork.  Also a bit of shopping.  Mostly paperwork.

手続き、手続き、手続き。それで買い物。殆ど手続き。

8/2 - More paperwork, more shopping, and I got my car!  I also went to Japanese Denny's for the first time.  The only thing that was gluten free on the menu was this pesto ham rice salad thing.  It was actually really delicious.  Dessert was a matcha/red bean/vanilla parfait.  I basically died and went to heaven.  It was so good.

更に手続き、買い物。それにレンタルカーが届いた!日本のデニーズにも初めて行きました。グルテンフリーのものは一つだけありましたが(生ハムとバジルとライス)、美味しかった。デザートは抹茶アイス・餡子パフェ。美味しくてたまらなくて、まるで天国だった。


My (leased) car
私のレンタルカー

We found wheat free soy sauce (a miracle)
小麦のない醤油発見!(奇跡!)

8/3 - Drove to the station 15 minutes away and checked out the Takasaki festival.  Just your average festival, but it was so hot I could feel the sweat streaming down by back so I left.  The drive and the train ride were really pretty.  I also found an Animate in Takasaki!  Yayyyy

近くの駅まで運転して高崎祭りを見に行きました。普通の祭りだったけど、暑くて汗が川のようだったから帰って来てしまった。電車からの眺めが綺麗でした。高崎市にアニメイトも見つけました。イエイ~

Takasaki Matsuri
高崎祭り
Takasaki Matsuri
高崎祭り

Takasaki Matsuri
高崎祭り
View from the train
電車からの眺め

8/4 - Today I went for a run and did my laundry.  That's it!  Haha

ランニングへ出かけて洗濯をしました。以上!ww

In general...  everyone here is really nice and the village is really peaceful.  There are slightly more urban places relatively close so I think I can be happy here with that balance.

ここはみんな優しくて、平和的な村です。近くに市もありますから、そのバランスがあったら嬉しく生活できると思います。


Hopefully next week things will calm down and I can get back into running and my studying.  I'll keep y'all updated!

上手くいくと今週は落ち着いて勉強とランニングのスケジュールへ戻るつもりです。また更新しますので、楽しみにしてください!

Bonus:  Here are some videos of my immediate neighborhood and my house!

オマケ:近所と家のビデオ!











2 comments:

  1. Sure seem to like recording yourself...

    Glad you're settling in well. Enjoy your time in your community!

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    1. Thanks for your comment and well-wishing!

      Heh, I kind of have a love-hate relationship with recording myself. I usually tend to be a bit camera-shy, unless you're referring to the musical covers on my YouTube channel...singing is kind of a different story. I guess that's one time I feel like I can open up. :)

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