Takoyaki

Monday was the first day of classes. It was also another holiday, the Autumn Equinox. This meant that there was no dorm cafeteria food. Its so nice having meals that are already prepared and waiting for you to eat! I bought some food Sunday and ate a parfait and some bread crusts. “Bread crusts?” you may ask. Why? Because I was making myself a cute lunch! I made a teddy bear PBJ sandwich with some hearts cut out from the crust, an apple, and a juice box. Of course, I was still hungry after that, those teddy sandwiches are tiny! I bought hotdog, as it was the cheapest and I thought it would be a smaller meal. That hotdog was huge and tasted pretty different from the wieners at Walmart. Speaking of imperialistic businesses, Seven Elevens are EVERYWHERE.

There wasn't really much class time the first day. For Japanese class, we had a proficiency exam, which was very difficult, as well as an interview. Then, later in the evening we had gym class. We watched a video on kendo and then received our Judo gear. Don't we look cool?

Dinner was a cup of Shin Ramyeon. Delicious, spicy stuff! Wish I had kimchi to put in it... My friends Sara and Nazuha then cooked and shared their meal with me. I LOVE Malaysian food! For lunch, Nazuha shared some curry and rice. Dinner was rice,curry, and squash. Delicious! 

On the train ride to and from the University, I see a lot of fathers with their babies or young children, its really adorable. Nice to see dads spending time with their children and sharing the parenting duties.

 For Japanese class Tuesday, we split into groups to create maps of Shibuya with a theme. My group's theme was fast food. This was around lunch time and everything smelled so good! Next, I went to Religion and culture. The class will feature many field trips, which I am excited about. We will be going rice cropping October 6th! Rice holds great importance in Japanese culture, especially in the Shinto religion. I am excited to learn about this connection! Next was Law and Politics class. We just introduced ourselves to the class and then it was time to go home. The train was PACKED tonight! After we got off the train, we noticed a street vendor selling takoyaki(a kind of grilled octopus dumpling)! This is one from a list of food I have wanted to try! Takoyaki is so good! I was a bit apprehensive that the octopus would be hard and chewy, but it was soft and very good! It had a kind of smoky flavor and was sweet from the batter.