1st Day in School

I woke up "early" today - around 8 or 9am local time..?  My Manila body clock is still working, I usually wake up there around this time.  Better than my wake up time the day after the last time I went here - 2pm.  But I also had a reason to.  Or two.  First, I had to tidy up my (42kg of) stuff and my apartment (or apaato, pronounced apah-toh).  Second, there was a "seminar" in school at 2pm.  The Japanese are very punctual people.  Actually, I would call them normal people.  I would call perenially-late people extra-normal.  Anyways...

I finished taking some breakfast, tidying up, taking a bath, and getting ready by around 12:30pm.  I was starving.  For lunch I was able to score some Japanese "lunch box" food, but since I was too late I didn't have a choice - it was an all-fish meal with mushrooms, pickled ginger, and seaweeds on the side.  One of my Japanese seniors said that I might not find that meal to be nice.  I said I don't think so; I love Japanese food in general.  Indeed it wasn't great, but I liked it still, nonetheless.  I really like Japanese food in general, except for that very bitter soy bean dish.  I'd have that dish again!

So the seminar went.  Because of some exhaustion from my 13-hour door-to-door trip yesterday, I felt a little sleepy at one point in the seminar.  But I was able to battle it out.

After that, one of the senior researchers accompanied me to teach me how to use the bus, and around some stores in the Midorigaoka area.  I bought a rice cooker, rice, breakfast food and drinks, and my dinner for the night.  Make that dinners for the night.  I had a 10-piece mixed sushi dish, and some kind of teriyaki chicken, and microwaveable rice.  Sorry, I can't figure out yet how to use the rice cooker!

And I was able to Skype back home.  I'm lovin' it.

Speaking of lovin' it, there is a McDonald's nearby, just a 15 to 20-minute walk away.  And it's open 24-hours.  Pap-parap-pap-pa, love ko 'to!

P.S. I saw some cherry blossom trees around the campus actually.  But their... leaves? petals? are all on the ground na.  Brought down by the rains, perhaps?