Day 3: Mahjong and Mao MADNESS

Day 3 began pretty straightforward, as we all jumped headfirst into an orientation at 9AM on setting up some Japan-required paperwork. Normal and necessary materials that have to do with insurance and such, no biggie. It was a good walk in the morning to the Totsuka Ward Admin Office, but we got to spend lunch together after everything was completed, so it was worth the effort. The groups split up a few ways based on those who received the special snazzy JASSO scholarship and those who didn't, as they needed to set up bank accounts to receive the money. So our group hopped back to the Totsukana mall nearby to snag food, eventually deciding on traditional Japanese goodness. I had some ebi (shrimp) tempura udon, which was simply to die for. The shrimp were gigantic and I could barely eat them properly. I definitely felt like I made a mess. I hope no one around me got splashed with udon soup (Fione and Armand)! Everyone else got more fabulous dishes. It seems like you can't really go wrong when eating here. No one's really said their meal was bad (though one of the Max's straight-up doesn't like Japanese food, which blows my mind).

After our fantastic food outing, we ventured to MODI, the other mall in the plaza, to hit up the Daiso (Big Lots of Japan) and UNIQLO, which is similar to Old Navy/Gap (cheap, simple clothes). I spent pretty conservatively so that I wouldn't get something on an impulse buy. Just a couple towels (realized I didn't have a towel to dry myself with last night after my shower =/) and that's it. Though we'll definitely be heading back for school supplies and other various things necessary for life. Oh, and we chipped in for a cheap portable mahjong tile set, which proved awesome later on in the night. Good thing we had people who knew how to play to teach us, because the instructions that came with the game were kind of bum.

A quick jaunt back to MISH to arrive on time for the cell phone orientation and we were free for the rest of the day afterwards. They actually reduced the price of the prepaid cell phone they offer, so we only had to spend 6500 yen instead of the estimated 10,000. Good stuff. I'll receive the phone on Thursday when I pick it up from the Meigaku campus. From there, it became a group funfest (yes, funfest. It's appropriate), dominating the common room for cards, mahjong, and later beer pong for those who decided to play. When it finally came time for dinner, around 7PM, a handful of us ran out to nab discounted スパー supermarket meals. Definitely nabbed some good deals, picking up dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, and a couple drinks, for about $9. Had some good conversation about opinions on the program and our fellow EAP-ers, throwing out opinions and debating kanji on the long walk home (approx. 3 minutes). Once the others got into their beer pong pretty hardcore, four or five of us relocated to my room to play some card games. Hearts ruled the evening, even if I got hated out early thanks to A CERTAIN SOMEONE GIVING ME THE QUEEN OF SPADES 3 TIMES. FML. Mao was introduced later on, but it wasn't as big a smash hit as it could have been, perhaps because of the late hour. I'm sure we'll get some more practice in at some point or another.

And now I enjoy the sweet sound of rain and thunder as a thunderstorm/typhoon moves in to wish us a good night's sleep. How sweet, right? Tomorrow will be a busy day, starting with an orientation, meeting our Meigaku buddies, walking to campus for the first time to sign up for homestay and cultural activities, then lunch with the buddies. We plan to take them out to bowling/karaoke later on in Yokohama, so we'll see how that fares. Wish me luck! じゃね〜