日本にいるよ！

So it’s been almost 3 weeks since I first arrived in Japan. There’s already been some downs but mostly it’s been going uphill so far. Probably the most bummer things at the moment is not being able to get a mobile phone and not having a bank account set up yet. For a gaijin to get a mobile phone, you are required to present your alien registration card. However, you don’t get this card until a month after you’ve applied. So what do you do during this time when you need this card for pretty much anything related to signing a contract for something (bank accounts, mobile phones, etc)? Ans: you purchase this green paper document for 300yen from the immigration office, where I hear it’s like a temporary alien registration card. So why didn’t I get this paper when I applied for alien registration? Cos I got screwed over by the ridiculously short trading hours of the Kobe Immigration office, so they refused to give one to me on the spot and told me to come back the next day (when there was still like 30min before closing), whereupon I pretty much wouldn’t be able to get there in time since it takes a little more than an hour from school and the orientation week schedule was pretty full on on information overload. It seems that’s what it’s like here in Japan. If the trading hours state that it closes at a certain time, they will ensure that it actually happens and stop doing services to leave the office at the precise time. So unlike home where you’ve got people running in in the last 10mins and keeping the office/shop/etc open until whenever that case is over. So, now I’m feeling bad for my host mum changing her plans making time for me to come with me to the city ward just to get this piece of paper.

I’ll write up more later when it’s not at such a ridiculous time (currently 4.47am after a 6 hr nap)

UPDATE: i've got the 300yen paper now! but still no phone cos none of the 4 softbank stores we visited yesterday sold the prepaid ones. =[ you'd think that since they sell prepaid ones in a local branch store like Kotoen, you would expect a big shopping district like Sannomiya would have them as well, eh?

only 2 weeks left XD

holy crap! I can't believe that there's only 2 weeks till I leave for Nippon and it just feels like there's still heaps of crap to do before leaving. Most things for the japan trip are organised (i think) except deciding on the method of getting to Sydney airport and getting to the hotel in Osaka (fingers crossed Jetstar won't have a bloody flight delay and screw up our plans on somehow getting to the hotel via public transport before midnight ><). had to go to STA and get my ISIC reissued because they printed my date of birth incorrectly. it wasn't the fact that they couldn't input 10 correctly into the computer that annoyed me, it was the way they decided to fix it up when I visited them. the STA girl seemed really clueless about what to do with ISICs if there was something wrong with it. she asked her colleague what to do, i didn't hear what that other girl said, but apparently the solution was to change the 01 to a 10 with a black marker. are you kidding me??? what kind of ID card would be acceptable if there was an obvious texta mark to modify the details on the card? and this card is supposed to be internationally recognised... such a dodgy solution.... so after a session of annoyance and outrage over this solution, the girl told us to come back in 20 minutes. we came back and the new solution was to reissue me a new card, but it'll take a week to process. jeez... why couldn't they have told me that when I first walked in instead of wasting another hour of my day.... *shakes head* it's just simply incompetence and the failure of double checking data entry of STA staff which has resulted in wasting my time.... which I don't have much of left.

Message received....Destination: KOBE!!!

omohwkjfohefefejf!!! I've finally received some news on where I'm going to be living for (at least) the next 5 months, and as the title summarises this piece of news in a nutshell, yes, I'll be staying in Kobe this semester. Hello Kobe beef, nadagogo*, Iron man no.28 and many more things to explore and experience in this culturally rich city! It seems that I'll be staying with an elderly couple, so hopefully they'll like me and won't be too strict on me with curfews that I've heard some people have received with host families in the past.

I'm writing this up at 2.30 in the morning just because I am simply too excited at the moment. It is such a contrast to how I was feeling this morning when I had just realised that I couldn't completely fill up my VISA application since I still had no idea this morning where or who I was gonna be living with. This has just totally made my day.

So update on the progress of my pre-departure preparation:

• KGU fall semester fees TICK
  
• KGU arrival info form submission TICK
• pick up ISIC TICK
• apply for VISA
• book flight TICK
• change flight itinerary
• book accommodation HALF TICK
• dental check up
• update on wisdom teeth situation
• get remaining three vaccination shots
• revise Japanese
• clean up room
• learn to cook some meals
• organise 21st
• fix up sleeping pattern
  
• continue compiling "To do" list in Japan
  

Looking from this list I've still got a heap of crap that still needs to be done.... gahhh...

*some sort of sake specialty from Kobe

Time to start preparing...

FINALS ARE FINALLY OVER!!!

The one thing that stood between me and Nippon was sitting for that project mgmt exam.

Now that that’s over, it had finally hit me how much stuff there is to worry about before leaving: visa, accommodation, travel insurance, airfare, travel itinerary, money issues, school fees, enrolment etc but anyway, only less than 2 months to go till I can meet the glico man ... =]

Officially accepted!!

YATTA! I am officially accepted as an exchange student at Kwansei Gakuin =] =] =]

Last Friday was the pre-departure briefing that all exchange students for S2 had to attend. Didn't realise that there were sooooo many people going next sem. There's like over 400 UNSW students that are gonna be studying abroad, most of them going to US, UK and Canada. The briefing wasn't anything out of the ordinary I think. It covered the typical talk about the travel insurance cover we've got, enrollment for next sem, and a heads up on coping with settling into the foreign country and settling back when we return. Some interesting questions were raised amongst the students during the insurance talk. Stuff like what if you get pregnant, have a car crash and kill somebody, get HIV, accident from bungee jumping, skydiving or any other extreme sport, etc. But I think the absolute worst part of the day was the crappiness of the heavy downpour. Walking on the main walkway was like going through a carwash tunnel, with the wind and heavy rain. My socks, shoes, jeans up to the knee were just drenched. Also felt a little worried since I hadn't received my acceptance letter then after learning that most people had already gotten theirs.

BUT all that's fine now because I received this in my lovely inbox today =]

I am pleased to tell you that the Kwansei Gakuin University has accepted you as an exchange student. Please come to the Exchange Office to pick up your acceptance material.

Congratulations!

Only bummer is that I have to make the long trip back to uni during stuvac just to pick it up (=___=) why couldn't they have just mailed it to my house and save me the time and money to get it....

application status: c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e

Last Friday was the reading of the mantoux test I had on Tuesday. Kinda regret not seeing the bubble inflate on your arm where the needle is sticking into since I have a fear of needles. oh well. Now the bruising mark from the test has vanished. Now just need to hand in the medical form to the adviser tomorrow (this form is now about 4 weeks late but oh well...you can't help it if it's the state health system process) AND that marks the final step in the Kwansei Gakuin forms. =]

On other news, I seem to surprise myself more and more and how late I can stay up when I need to pull all-nighters. Last Thursday I pulled the second worst all-nighter when I managed to stay up till 8am (worst one ever was till 9.30am when I had literally watched the sunrise reflected against the white wall in front of me and saw my family go the bed and wake up the next morning and left for work) to finish an assignment due 2pm that day. Too bad I couldn't sleep in a bit more like last time since I had to go do the mantoux test reading at 10.30am so only about a 1 hr nap. What I'm amazed even more was the fact that after coming home from uni, I had managed to stay up till about 11, midnight to doze off instantly at a decent hour to wake up in time for work the next day. Seems like I never learn to manage my time.... =S

Application....almost finished!

WOOT!!! This post is a bit delayed now but I've submitted my second stage application forms in back on the 6th April right after the Easter weekend holidays. =) Now the next stage aka. the waiting game begins......

PS. The submission is almost completed because I couldn't hand in my original medical form completed since I have to wait for my appointment for the mantoux test. I remember the lady on the phone saying that I as lucky to get an appointment in a month's time ahead because it would usually need at least 2, 3 months notice. Also, it's such a bummer that you can only get the test done at your closest chest clinic. By the end of it I was thinking.... if it takes 2, 3 months to be able to get a test done to see if your tuberculosis wouldn't your condition worsen even more before you know it if you really did have the illness???? This system doesn't seem to make sense to me...