.::* Living and Dreaming *::.

Safe and Sound in Nagoya

After a 13 hour flight to Taipei from Vancouver, then another 2 hours from Taipei to Nagoya, I am finally here and settling in. AIESEC in Japan, Nagoya City University came to the airport last night to greet me. I feel bad because most of them took the train and it's over an hour train ride to get to the airport. Otherwise, it was great to see everyone. I really appreciate them taking me to my host family and answering my questions about how to do the simplest things in Japan. I had to ask my room mate how to use the toilet and the bath. Oh and by the way, my toilet water doesn't spin, it just comes out and down in one big splash.

Some other things that I've noticed is that the cars here are really clean. Maybe I'm the only person in Calgary who doesn't wash their car but here, everything is shiny and new. Also, when people park in a parking lot, they always back into the stalls. I recognise some cars that we have in North America but there are a lot here that we don't have back home. And some of the colors are really cool. Like pearly pastel colors. I'll take some pictures later.

Today I got the day all to myself. My room mate, Satoko, works all day (2 jobs) and I think the AIESECers are busy. So I went exploring. There's a nice park behind my apartment that I intend to explore further. I also found another park that was really beautiful and it almost made me cry when I saw it. Maybe it was too much like a dream than a reality. You have to understand, I have not been to many places in my life. This is my first international experience.

Aside from the parks and seeing what the streets were like, I attempted some shopping. I found a 100 Yen store, equivalent to our dollar stores and got some things to organize my junk with. I also did a bit of grocery shopping and I got lunch from a convenience store. I thought that was the less overwhelming choice for now. They have lots of interesting looking things that I can't wait to try out.

So far, I don't think I've experienced any culture shock or homesickness. I'm sure it'll hit me sometime soon. Everything is okay so far. This is also my first time living on my own, so there's a lot that I am going through at the same time. I do love my new room. It's so uncluttered but we'll see how long that will last. I start my new job tomorrow. I still have no idea what to expect but I'm really happy to know that an AIESECer will be taking me to my first day of work by bus. That relieves quite a bit of stress for me.

There are about a million things I want to point out but I just can't think of them right now. Things are really different here but at the same time, I don't feel out of place yet. Maybe it's because I look like everyone else here or I haven't had the chance to talk to any japanese people. I do have to say, it is still a bit of a struggle talking to the people who do know English, I have to talk slower and keep things simple.

Oh yah, I did almost get hit by a car today. The intersections here are kind of funny. I have been making a conscious effort to look right for cars but because of the angle of the streets, you kind of have to look behind to the right and if you're just not paying attention, things might not be pretty. I think I might have angered a few drivers today.

Some pictures of my first day: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2099282580

posted by ~diana~ @ 10:00 PM