Natives

I've finally developed the ability to sleep in past five in the morning, but am still getting up in the six o'clock hour.  Same old, same old for breakfast and on down to being a slave to the Interwebs.  Three in the afternoon seems to be a good time to talk to people back home via Facebook.

I left a little late but managed to catch up to the group and enjoy the massive (and by massive I mean like five) amounts of butterflies amidst the houses.  There was also a massive (and by massive I mean like 50) amount of spiders on the wall along the East Gate entrance.  They were all larger than a half dollar coin with legs and looked like orb weavers, though the webs weren't right.  There was a maintanance worker just coming around the corner whose job appeared to be to knock all those webs down.

We arrived just in time to grab seats for the general orientation meeting.  It was much the same as yesterday, only this time I could escape because I didn't need to take a placement test again.  I wandered back over to the CIE and sent Miho a text to try and meet up for lunch.  In the mean time, I met with Paul Scott, my adviser--who actually knows Pacific.  Like, has actually been on the campus and knows the presidents by first name.  He seemed pretty willing to help despite the fact I likely won't be in any of his classes.

I still hadn't heard from her at noon and ended up giving in to the evil and checking out the Japanese McDonald's.

Pretty much the same.

Except they have an ebi-o-filet.  Shrimp!

So I had to try it.  The drink was grape Fanta, which wasn't impressive (give me my melon soda back!).  The fries tasted like potato and Japan.  I don't know if they fried it in the same oil as the fish selections, but the fries definitely tasted Japanese.  And the burger itself was awesome.  Not only did it look like it belonged in a commercial, the shrimp tasted amazing and had this awesome pink-tinted sauce on it, not just tarter sauce.

Ten minutes before the afternoon sessions were scheduled to start, I heard from Miho and arranged to meet with her afterward.  The first part of the afternoon introduced the faculty, most of whom seemed competent enough.  One looked like Tom Hanks, one reminded me of Lorelle Browning, one was a lawyer, one was a journalist, one was able to say BL without being daunted by the giggling that immediately overtook the auditorium...  Interesting group.

Next was the safety section.  It focused mostly on walking, biking, drinking and drugs and how doing any of these may end up in death or deportation.  Walk on the left, don't drink or talk on your phone while biking, don't drink in public, just say no.  Oh, and avoid those one-foot-deep gutters while on your bike.  The best quotes out of the whole thing were, "stay away from creepy, sleazy bars" and "if you go to Kyoto, you're going to get hit by a bicycle.  Not hard, but you will get hit."

Then freedom and meeting Miho!  Neither of us speak each others' language very well, but we managed to convey basic information.  We figured out that we could both speak French and proceeded to use it for a few minutes before agreeing that would defeat the purpose of the speaking partner program.

Daniel and his unofficial partner Arisa joined us for a bit and followed when we moved to the computer lab to show each other pictures and videos.  We went our separate ways after that, agreeing to meet for lunch tomorrow.

Daniel and I headed back toward the seminar houses and stopped for dinner at a yakitori shop.  All the chicken was cooked on skewers on the grill and was delicious.  I couldn't convince Daniel to be adventurous and try the chicken hearts, but maybe in the future there will be another visit to the shop.

We stopped at Top World and I picked up some chocolate chip melon pan (on sale for 86 yen!) for breakfast before heading back and to our respective houses.  My roommates were headed out to sushi when I arrived, so I had the room to myself for a bit.

I've also determined that if you want to text me, you can!  Through email.  If you send an email to ari.sky15@softbank.ne.jp I will receive it on my phone as a text.  Better, I can respond and you'll get an email back!  (I totally wasn't testing this out by sending myself mails earlier, I swear.)  The only thing is that I think there's a 30kb limit, so keep in mind that it's meant to be text-length, not a full-length email.

EDIT:  Also, do note the time difference.  Best time to send me messages is your 3 p.m. until you go to bed (for west coast).  Your 3 p.m. is my 7 a.m.  ^^;