Aug
30
Ahead on Our Way
Filed Under Newspost
We had to vacate the hotel by 10 am on Saturday morning so it was time for an early wake up once again. When I got to the reception to return my keys Visa was already sitting in front of the computer near the entrance. It was raining outside, but with the stagnant weather in Osaka, rain was very welcome. After overcoming the difficulties in finding the right bus to the seminar house we were finally able to check in into what just might be our accommodation for the whole school year. The check-in itself went somewhat like this: I shuffled through the same rules and regulations that I had already read and agreed to prior to coming to Japan, and signed them. This has been considered a bad move, as I recall it opened a magical trapdoor in the ceiling, out of which fell dozens of new registration forms and agreements to be signed. In the end it might have been worth it since hidden under the bureaucratic load was a key to my room.
Lookie! It's a key!
Seminar House III
At this point in time, the seminar house at which I am staying was in a state of cleanliness bordering on sterile. The common kitchen provides up to five different trash cans for recycling purposes although we’re not even allowed to cook during the first week. Meh. Visa, my new temporary roommate Chris and I had lunch at a nearby… lunch restaurant… maybe? I’m not really sure it only had like one table. Nevertheless, the Kimchi Okonomiyaki was cheap and probably tasted close to Okonomiyaki as well. After lunch we met up with some other students in the nearby park and went for a walk around the Katahoko campus area and seminar houses in order to get acquainted with the new surroundings.
In the afternoon, local Kansai Gaidai students organized different tours to several key areas around Hirakata. Our group went on to discover important locations, such as the post office, the city hall, stores, a supermarket and a 100-yen shop. We ate dinner (à ¥900) at Asiandays, a nice restaurant located in front of the Hirakata station. Due to some odd twist of fate, all the student groups that had been walking around the city wound up waiting for the same bus that was later filled with Kansai Gaidai students rambling in half-English half-Japanese. I would write more but I have better things to do here currently. Ah, so busy, so busy.
-Antti