Last week-end

Last week-end was just awesome! It all started on Friday morning. Ola,a Polish girl, Jonathan (boy from Manchester) and Siiri we all met to go to Tokyo by Tsukuba Express. At Tokyo Akihabara we were supposed to meet Ola`s friends who has a high position at Sony electronics. We were invited to visit the Kawasakis, a couple living in Tokyo. The Kawasakis are befriended with the girl from Sony electronics as Mrs Kawasaki was her piano teacher.
Mr. Kawasaki is the head of a big beverage company and his wife is a famous pianist. They both are big fans of Polish culture and their house looks very European.
When we arrived at their house, we went on a summer festival with Mr. Kawasaki, while Mrs. Kawasaki was preparing dinner. The matsuri was awesome but we couldn`t stay long. However I took many photos which I`m going to upload here soon.
At dinner Mr Kawasaki was impressed that I am able to eat Natto. Siiri, who was sitting next to me, was appalled and couldn`t stand the smell of natto. I can`t understand her. I think it`s not that bad. I heard many horro stories about natto and therefore I expected somthing worse. So I think it`s alright. Sure it`s not gourmet food but it`s edible.

After dinnerer Siiri, John and me went on a private birthday party in Tokyo Shinkuku! My friend, who I met in my dorm in Manchester, made a huge party for her 25th birthday. She invited everyone from her junior high and high schools and rented a night club. It was awesome. We 3 were the only foreigners because she is actually a Japanese girl. Well, clubbing in Japan is a bit different than in Europe. The drinks tasted like juice although they were supposed to contain alcohol and the party ended at 11 pm! In Germany and England the parties just get started at 11! On our way back to the couple`s house, where we could stay over the night, we got lost in Shinjuku station. My fee hurt that bad so that I was walking without shoes through the station ~.~

The next day we were heading to Hakone, which is the Japanese answer for St. Tropez. Many rich people have their vacation houses. So you can imagine how we all freaked out when we heard about the invitation for spending the week-end in the Kawasaki`s vacation house.

Tsukuba

Tsukuba is a great city! And I`ve never seen so many bikes in one town. Every student owns a bike (who knows maybe even more than one ^^). And it was a sure thing for me to get a bike too. On the 3rd day after my arrival I bought a nice bike. But as I had a bad cold I could ride it 3 days later.

The weather here is tropic! It now coooled down a bit and there is even a typhoon warning for my prfecture since Friday, but 2 weeks ago the weather was just awesome! It felt like I am spending my vacation in a tropical country and my dorm is my holiday resort. Everyone was complaining but I was like "yaaay I can enjoy summer now." Summers in Germany suck! It`s cold and it rains very often so I was delighted to see that the weather is sooo good here.

I am wondering about the typhoon. It should have arrived by now but there are only grey clouds and hot temperature. I am really excited because I`ve never experienced a typhoon. Wooohaaa...

Here I am

So this is my first post. It`s been 3 weeks since I came to Japan. And many interestig things happened.
First something about me. I am a molecular biology student from the University of Manchester. I`ve been studying Japanese language at university for 2-3 years. Fortunately I am not alone here in Tsukuba. 2 friends from my language class also joined my adventurous trip to such a distant country. Together we`re rocking Japan!

So let me first summerize my first 3 weeks in Japan.

When I arrived at Narita I first had to go to the Fruit Quarantine Section because I had a kaki, which I brought from home, in my backpack. Unfortunately I had to hand it out to the officers at the section. It`s really sad because I actually brought it with me as I knew that no one at home will eat it and now this! I tried to convince the officer to eat it because it`s oishii but she just laughed and said that she can`t do it. Poor kaki....
Because of this kaki incident I missed the baggage claim and therefore had to look for my baggage throughout whole Narita airport. After finding it in a remote corner of the airport I rushed to the bus stop. I was supposed to meet my friends from Manchester at the bus stop but I was too late and now I had to wait for the bus on my own.
While waiting for the bus a little girl and her mother approached me. The mother asked me if she could take a picture of me and her daughter O.o# Well I said yes and the little girl was so happy. In the end she tried to talk in English with me. It was sooo cute!

After arriving at Tsukuba bus station my tutor and Hiro, a friend from her lab, picked me up to bring me to my dorm. At the dorm I met Beej, my friend from ManU. She lives upstairs in the same building! After unpacking we met Hiro to go to a Japanese style restaurant. We ate Sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is cooked at the table in a pan. Tofu, shiitaki mushrooms, beef and veggies are then added into the pan. It was soooo good.

The next day we went shopping. And I met my lab team. My lab consists of several undergrad students, an associate professor and my professor who is 59 years old but looks like 45-50. He still plays softball with the boys from my lab. I am really happy to be in this lab. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly.
On Sunday they gave a welcomg party and we all went for a BBQ in the woods of the Ibaraki prefecture. There were many other people making BBQs and I even could observe the famous custom to bash a watermelon with a stick. I`ve seen it several times in anime and now I could witness it in live. I`m happy.