It hadn't hit me
yet that I was no longer staring out of an airplane window of what seemed
to be an endless trip across the sea. When I first arrived in
Japan, my initial consciousness of there being a language barrier didn't seem
to affect me in a negative way at all. I was more excited than nervous to
be out of my comfort zone and was ready to start exploring right away. When I got to Kansai Gaidai University
and moved into housing, I was thrilled to find out that I’d be sharing a room
with a Japanese roommate! She was
so interested in getting to know me while practicing her English, I immediately
felt comfortable practicing my Japanese as well! She explained to me that she was leaving for Hawaii for a
week because she was still on vacation but wanted to cook her favorite meal for
me as soon as she got back.
While my roommate went off on
her own adventure in my home country, I decided to explore Japan on my
own. Well, not really on my own… I
was with several other international students, but none of us were accustom to
the area. I think one of my
favorite introductions into the culture was when we made our way into Kyoto our
second weekend after figuring out how the transportation system worked. We had a beautiful weekend and did a
ton of sightseeing!
Women dressed as Geishas
right outside of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.
I’ve been told that are many
shops in Japan where curious tourists can go and have makeup applied and dress
in traditional Geisha Kimonos to experience the culture first hand.
As promised, my roommate came back from Hawaii and made a
delicious (oishii) meal =) Okonomiyaki !! It’s a tasty Japanese
grilled pancake mixed with ingredients including shredded cabbage, bacon,
vegetables, eggs, flour, dashi, and I can’t remember what else but it was sooooo
good! Japanese food has always been
my favorite and I know that I won’t have any problems while I’m here if I continue
eating spectacular meals like this one!
