Typhoon and First Day

Typhoon #18 came from the pacific and headed straight for Okazaki city. It was the first typhoon of the year to hit landfall. Wee! Coming from Florida, and "surviving" Japanese typhoons before, I REALLY wasn't worried about this thing.

On Wednesday was orientation when they told us all the important stuff and gave us a walking tour of the school. In closing, the main English-go-to guy mentioned that opening ceremony, scheduled for Thursday, would be canceled. He said that all of school would be closed due to the typhoon and to please go home immediately and not come out of doors until it had passed. He also made it clear that all grocery stores would be closed as well.

As I was going home (in the pouring rain) I took note of how many sandbags had been piled in front of all the doors. I'll admit to becoming a little worried by this point.

I went home, got my car and booked it to the local grocery store. I stocked up on plenty of food and then I tucked myself in for the night.

Around 2am I was woken by an intense wind that was blowing against my window. Since I was half asleep, I had visions of bicycles flying through my cars' windows and breaking down my door.

But in the morning I woke to a clear sky. I walked outside and found tons of leaves all over the place and a small tree in the front driveway that fell down.

I looked around and thought to myself, "HA! I can finally do the laundry!!!"

And that's just what I did. What a beautiful day it was!!!!

~~~~
Today was my first day of classes! It was AAAAAWESOME!!!!

In my class, there are 14 students ranging from all over the place. France, China, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, The Philippines, Canada, America...I'm sure I'm forgetting a country somewhere in there...

But it was great! I understood easily but really had to think about how to phrase all my answers in proper Japanese. Class lasted from 9am to 2pm. I thought that, for my first day, I'd get really tired quickly since I wasn't used to sitting down for so long and listening to Japanese.

But that's not how it was at all! I had a great time!!! But looking back on it...it might be because it was so easy for me... (I'm not much for enjoying a challenge ;) )

At the same time, this was only the first day. It was a Friday full of introductions. More than half the class didn't even have the textbook. Also, from looking at the syllabus, things are gonna move FAST. If I've learned anything about my Japanese study, I need time to let things sink in so starting from easy is not a bad thing!

After class, I was on such a high, I went straight to the study lounge to do homework! Can you believe it!

It must be because the weather is so awesome (-^u^-)

But now it's the weekend and I have...like...nothing to do. *sigh* We're off to a slow start!

1 comments:

Mary Helen said...

I know it's the the weekend any more and my note is late for this, but you could just check out the city to see what's there. Another adventure!!

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