Prefectural Orientation

I've only been here a couple weeks, but man oh man have I been up to stuff! Even "normal" things like driving to school, getting gas, or going to the grocery store are still kind of an exciting adventure for me. I often make observations or think of insightful things I want to put in my blog, but of course when I don't write them down, I forget them. But here's a quick run-down of the past few days, as well as some cultural observations.

Last Wednesday, I visited my friend Stephanie (who's also from San Diego) in Takasaki. She lives five minutes away from a big mall called AEON (the biggest mall in Gunma maybe?) so we walked around the mall and got food. Unfortunately, since we hadn't received our paychecks yet, we didn't buy much. My favorite-Japanese-store-of-all-time FrancFranc is still desperately out of reach. But hey, what are possessions except tangible reminders of how grounded we are to money. I got a pillow for my "couch" (THOUGH I STILL REQUIRE MANY MORE.) Then we walked to Stephanie's apartment, which, don't be fooled, is in the suburbs and *not* in the big city. I helped her clean out her closets, whereupon I had the amazing luck to stumble upon not one, not two, but THREE dream-catchers, MY FAVORITE THING EVER! Stephanie was nice enough to let me have them, so now I have one in my car and two in my house. :)

Thursday and Friday were our newbie JET Gunma Prefectural Orientation in Maebashi. We had workshops and info by day, Karaoke and drinking by night.

CRAZY KARAOKE PEEPS IN THE HOUSE

Practicing calligraphy. This kanji means "flower."

Learning the koto! I didn't think I would really be into it, but I totally was! I would love to take koto lessons if they have them in my city.

A group of Gunma JETs (from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and the US) wearing yukatas (not kimonos, which are only for winter. Yukatas are made of cotton and are lighter for summer.)

Me with Gunma-chan, Gunma's lil' horsey mascot. Gunma means "group of horses" so there you go.