Masters of Materialism

Hello! Jill here. I will be posting photos of our place soon. If you look at the photo at the top, our place is a 29 storey apartment building just to the right of the cylindrical building...didn't make the photo but it gives you an idea of where we live. We are just across the street from the water with a park in between. If you come visit us we'll go on the Ferris wheel, which you can see from our building! :)

See here for info on Yokohama! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama

I am so excited to be living in Japan! I never thought I'd have an opportunity like this, I still can't believe it. I am working on my Japanese in between homework and exploring. I have other projects with me too, but I know I will never get bored. I hope to improve my Japanese greatly by the time we leave.

Already I've experienced a bit of "culture fatigue," at first with figuring out the trains in our area (which is much easier now) and now with grocery shopping. The closest full size grocery store we've found is a 15 minute walk away, connected to the Yokohama train station. IT IS MADNESS. It's pretty upscale with the freshest looking food you've ever seen outside of a real market. It's hard enough that I can't read kanji (only hiragana and katakana), but then they have "yellers"- people who stand by the fish and produce announcing prices and what is for sale in a piercing nasal tone. On top of that you'd think it was Christmas Eve based on the number of people in there- I get elbowed by old ladies every time I go. It's an adventure but I'm definitely excited to learn how to navigate the masses of Japan!

Also, some friends of ours, John and Michelle are here too (John works with Stephen). They live in the apartment below us. Michelle is great and she and I have gone exploring during the day. She helps me to see Japan in new ways, as this is her first time here. I'm glad to have a friend so close!

Something that hit me yesterday is that the Japanese are masters of materialism. It is everywhere. Michelle and I counted and there are THIRTEEN shopping malls (all about 7 storeys high) within one mile of our place- and those are just the ones we've been to. I'll update the tally as it goes up. (And for those of you who like cute clothes, accessories, shoes, bags, hi-tech electronics, etc., imagine the temptation! ...good thing I have lots of homework to do, as I have to walk through a mall just to get to the train station).

Tomorrow I'm going to my good friend Sayo's house, a 70 minute train ride from here. Her mom is going to teach me Japanese cooking once a week. I think I'll ask her to teach me how to grocery shop too. :)

PHOTOS TO COME TOMORROW!

<3Jill