Osaka Sunday / aliens and typhoons
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Albert
30 September 2012 | Japan, Osaka
Today was going to be the day that I would finally explore Osaka beyond the nearby Umeda Station. But then there was a typhoon.. Ugh, East-Asian weather is up & down. The rest of the week was one long hot summer day, but now the winds and rain blow me away.
Not wanting to be inside all day, watching online series, I decided to fight my way to a nearby coffee place, the Kohi-Kan. The road looked like the back scene of one of those tornado reports, where the reporter has to struggle in the horrible weather to keep talking into the camera. The rice fields were rustling (there are little rice fields instead of grass here!), people behind car glasses were shaking their heads at me, orphaned umbrellas were flying through the air.
The Kohi-Kan is a warm and dry haven, where the personnel greet me pleasantly, and the tune of 'Take My Breath Away' is played on some generic keyboard-produced cd. Welcome to Japan! The coffee is okay, and at 4 euros a cup, it's cheaper than most other coffee places here.
I've spent most of my days here figuring stuff out together with Jojanne, who's in Kyoto with Temilja today. We went to City Hall together to register as aliens (hihi), and to campus for an exchange student orientation. We invited some people over for dinner and tried to buy phones that actually work in Japan. We failed.
The area we live in, Minoo, is very pleasant and nice. We're at the edge of Osaka, nearby Kyoto and Kobe, next to the mountains where the monkeys reside. The neighborhood is enlivened by rice fields, second-hand stores, little streams of water and, not least importantly, the Mr. Donut store. There's a little train that takes us to university in 20 minutes, and to Osaka main sttion in 30. The supermarkets play easy jazz and sell huge living crabs. Everything's expensive, so we mostly eat at small restaurants or cafeterias, which are actually quite cheap. There are very little foreigners here. Getting by with English is difficult, but everyone tries, or, smiling patiently, they tell s stuff in slow Japanese. We smile and nod.
Yesterday, I joined a student basketball team. As the only foreigner there, I stand out, especially because I'm the tallest one there. My height raises expectations, but I'm quite disappointing as I'm not very good. However, when I do score a point, everybody cheers loudly. After practice, some of my team members asked me to join them for lunch, which was really cool. I think being in a sports team gives me an opportunity for diving into Japanese culture, to at least get a grasp of why the Japanese are the way they are, act the way they act.
Tomorrow, we'll have our first class at university. I'm quite excited: it's right about time I get some structure in my life. For now, I send you my love and greetings. Sayonara! I'll put up pictures later!
PS. Walking home after writing this, I heard some music, and ended up at a free music festival. I love Japan! There's stuff happening!
Not wanting to be inside all day, watching online series, I decided to fight my way to a nearby coffee place, the Kohi-Kan. The road looked like the back scene of one of those tornado reports, where the reporter has to struggle in the horrible weather to keep talking into the camera. The rice fields were rustling (there are little rice fields instead of grass here!), people behind car glasses were shaking their heads at me, orphaned umbrellas were flying through the air.
The Kohi-Kan is a warm and dry haven, where the personnel greet me pleasantly, and the tune of 'Take My Breath Away' is played on some generic keyboard-produced cd. Welcome to Japan! The coffee is okay, and at 4 euros a cup, it's cheaper than most other coffee places here.
I've spent most of my days here figuring stuff out together with Jojanne, who's in Kyoto with Temilja today. We went to City Hall together to register as aliens (hihi), and to campus for an exchange student orientation. We invited some people over for dinner and tried to buy phones that actually work in Japan. We failed.
The area we live in, Minoo, is very pleasant and nice. We're at the edge of Osaka, nearby Kyoto and Kobe, next to the mountains where the monkeys reside. The neighborhood is enlivened by rice fields, second-hand stores, little streams of water and, not least importantly, the Mr. Donut store. There's a little train that takes us to university in 20 minutes, and to Osaka main sttion in 30. The supermarkets play easy jazz and sell huge living crabs. Everything's expensive, so we mostly eat at small restaurants or cafeterias, which are actually quite cheap. There are very little foreigners here. Getting by with English is difficult, but everyone tries, or, smiling patiently, they tell s stuff in slow Japanese. We smile and nod.
Yesterday, I joined a student basketball team. As the only foreigner there, I stand out, especially because I'm the tallest one there. My height raises expectations, but I'm quite disappointing as I'm not very good. However, when I do score a point, everybody cheers loudly. After practice, some of my team members asked me to join them for lunch, which was really cool. I think being in a sports team gives me an opportunity for diving into Japanese culture, to at least get a grasp of why the Japanese are the way they are, act the way they act.
Tomorrow, we'll have our first class at university. I'm quite excited: it's right about time I get some structure in my life. For now, I send you my love and greetings. Sayonara! I'll put up pictures later!
PS. Walking home after writing this, I heard some music, and ended up at a free music festival. I love Japan! There's stuff happening!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
