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konbanwa, minasan (good evening, everyone)! as per your request, here's my address:

The Japan Center for Michigan Universities
CO Sarah Lindsay Room #226
1435-86 Ajiroguchi, Matsubara-cho
Hikone, Shiga
522-0002 Japan

i can't wait until i start getting mail! hinthint. ;)

I FINALLY HAVE A SPACE HEATER! since the japanese concentrate on heating the actual person rather than the entire house or room, there isn't any central heating in the dorms, but space heaters and leg warmers (which i also now have!) are a great way to beat the cold. i slept really well last night, though i keep waking up at about 4 or 5 am every night and have trouble falling back asleep. hopefully by the end of the weekend i'll be over the jetlag.

today was the first day of classes! or at least, the first day of one of my classes; my history and culture class doesn't start until next wednesday because of monday's holiday. my japanese class (i tested into the level 2 class, by the way!) starts at 8:40 am and lasts for three hours. it sounds a lot more hardcore than it really is. i've got two different sensei (teachers): aizawa-sensei and kitasaka-sensei. kitasaka teaches the first two segments of 50 minutes and aizawa teaches the last one. aizawa-sensei happens to be a man, and i'm especially interested in learning from him because i've never had a male japanese teacher before. all of the japanese professors at state are female with the exception of one, and he either teaches the 101/102 courses or used to and already moved back to japan. anyway, i know a few of the people in my class here, so i felt pretty comfortable for the first day. there isn't much homework (so far) and we're covering the material at a managable pace, so i'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and to building a stronger foundation. there are several different friday activities we'll be doing throughout the course, and one of them includes a trip to an elementary school!! i'm so excited and i can't wait to take pictures!!

after class, i decided i wanted to go exploring to the left of the dorms, because so far i'd only been to the right. as i was walking down the hall towards the bike area, one of the other students, jamal, asked me where i was going and then wondered if he could come along. the two of us set out on our bikes and within the first 100 yards, he spotted a cemetery on the opposite side of the road. we pulled in, locked up and wandered into the wooded area the cemetery was built into. there was bamboo everywhere! further back into the cemetery, we found a hiking trail, which we climbed up to find a hidden shrine! there were stone statues everywhere, and several wooden buildings made for praying in. past one of the largest gates, however, was another hiking trail that lead us up for at least 20 minutes until we came to the very top of the hill. the view was spectacular and definitely worth the climb; we could see EVERYTHING. lake biwa was all around us, and beyond the water is an amazing mountain range (i should ask the teachers which mountains they are). the air was so fresh and crisp, the sky was clear and the sun was out; it was the perfect temperature and time of day to find that place. i took so many pictures, and as soon as my camera connector cable makes it here from the usa, i'll be sure to post them. tonight, though, we're going back to the top of the hill to see if we can spot any stars. the japanese don't use street lights (or so jamal says) and therefore the light pollution isn't so bad (in this part of hikone, at least; i don't think tokyo is anywhere near as dark at night).

last night, i made fried rice with two of the girls who live nextdoor, alana and kaitlyn. alana's really cool; she told me all about some places in tokyo i want to see when i finally figure out a weekend i can go. i especially want to visit harajuku, which is one of tokyo's main attractions. harajuku girls are known for their crazy sense of fashion and hairstyles, and i can't wait to see them in person. anyway, we chopped up onions, carrots and broccoli, threw some rice we cooked into a frying pan, added two eggs and stirred them around in margarine, since we don't have any cooking spray. butter is VERY expensive here because there are so few cows in japan, which makes sense because it's such a tiny island and cows need a lot of space. tonight, though, i made rice by myself for the very first time! the rice cooker's buttons are all in japanese, but by following the pictures, i was able to figure it out pretty quickly. 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of water made enough to last me at least two days. i'm pretty excited. :) also, i bought little cups of green tea, vanilla and strawberry ice cream! delicious.

here's a random fact: at a japanese take-out restaurant or any store in general, there is a tray attached to the cash register where you place your bills and coins in order to pay; you don't hand the money to the cashier. i, of course, made the mistake of handing my money to the cashier the first time i bought something on the bus ride to the dorms, but luckily i've figured it out since then and haven't made an idiot out of myself in the check-out lines at kainz.

also, the orange juice here is very watery! i bought a quart to bring back to the dorms, and when i poured myself a glass, i noticed that the consistency of their orange juice is a lot different than that of american orange juice. they put ice cubes in it here! also, bananas are smaller and shorter, but apples are HUGE! they're about the size of both my fists pressed together, like the size of a human brain. radishes--called "daikon"--are white, and about the length and width of my forearm. i'll be sure to take pictures!

hope all is well in the states! i miss you guys. i'm hoping to go to kyoto this weekend; according to lauren moll, it's definitely a must-see. can't wait!

sarah