Library Orientation, Disaster Preparedness, and Nyan-nyan-chan

I was able to sleep in until 7 today! So exciting! (Of course, our orientation started later so I was able to sleep in, however, last night I stayed up a little late due to picture-sorting and blog-writing).

Anyway, the day started off quite nicely (other than breakfast, of course) when, walking to school, I came across a really pretty sight. A cherry tree up on the hill starting to blossom, with a bird in its branches, pecking at the petals. It was so beautiful! Thankfully, I'm trying to make it a habit to have my camera on me always. Unfortunately, I didn't get any stunning pictures. However, I wish to share the view, so I will post a picture below.

Anyway, today's part of orientation week focused on the library, disaster preparedness, and, for designated students, more testing. Pictures were not allowed in the library, but it was quite nice. It has three levels as well as a basement level and half a level in-between the basement level and first level. So, technically, five floors in all. It is very bright, clean, and well organized and has a variety of subjects. Of course, pretty much everything is in Japanese, but they had some variety of languages, especially in their newspaper archive. They also have movies that students can rent - ones that I actually would like to watch! Apparently, one of the most popular movies at the university to be rented is "Devil Wears Prada" - this shocked me a bit. During the tour, a study abroad student from somewhere else in the US commented "This is so much easier than the Dewey Decimal System, huh?" and I kind of just made a croaking sound and slowly shrugged - this library does use the Dewey Decimal System.......

Next, we had a long but informative lecture concerning disaster preparedness. They kept saying "We know this is long, but it's important so don't sleep!" and "Please don't be scared of Japan." Most of the information concerning the disasters themselves was not new to me, but now I know the procedures. For earthquakes, just like we learn in America, go under a desk. But, they can be so powerful in Japan that there are some different precautions and after-the-fact actions to take.

• Don't set up your house and furniture in certain ways. For instance: no furniture that could block an escape route in case it falls; no furniture by a bed; no TV set by a bed; and try to keep things stabilized and avoid easily toppled, heavy pieces of furniture.
• Open a door before going under a desk. In some cases, the earthquake may damage the door frame, leaving you trapped within the room.
• Fires often occur after an earthquake, so turn off gas and electric. If you see a fire and can't put it out yell "Fire" and call the hotline, answering the questions they are supposed to ask you. This was very important because the yelled "Fire" and all the questions were in Japanese. No one on emergency lines will be able to speak English.
• There are Emergency Evacuation Centers everywhere. In Nishinomiya alone, there are 139 designated areas, most of which are schools and public buildings. We learned how to find these centers and the etiquette of such centers.
• It's human nature to panic, but the Japanese learn how to prepare for and deal with disasters since a young age, so also learn to keep as calm as possible. We must also do this.
• In the case of a tsunami, run or bike inland. Do not use cars because that will create a traffic jam and increase hazards. The most important things to do though are have an emergency supply kit and to find high ground, going at least 3 floors up. 
• The Japanese government has alert systems in place that will alert everyone of an earthquake within 7 seconds of it happening. 
• Typhoon season is August through October and as long as people stay inside and away from windows (in the case of someone going outside with their umbrella and their umbrella becoming a cannon due to high wind speeds), people should be fine.

After the informative presentation, by a Japanese firefighter, we went to lunch, where I tried the Japanese dish curry rice. Apparently, it is much spicier than I anticipated. Next, a group of about nine of us went exploring! We tried speaking primarily in Japanese, but 7 people in the group spoke Chinese, so often chatted in that language. The other Chinese-deficient student and I talked a lot, while still having small conversations with the rest.

We got to see more of Nishinomiya, see a lot of various flowers, and experience walking in the city. It was nice how comfortable and fun it was walking around, just seeing the city-scape. We went to two malls: ACTA and Nishinomiya Gardens. The latter was much bigger and nicer in my opinion. Once I told my host family about it they said it was new and hence bigger and 'nicer.' I was so happy that the Gardens mall has a LUSH! If I had know, I would've waited to buy soap! We were examining this small bottles of tablets that were apparently mouthwash when the saleswoman/employee came over and started explaining the product in Japanese. We were able to follow along pretty well and I truly appreciated how she treated us as customers in her native tongue. We also perused a diverse store called "Loft" that had Nyan-nyan-chan (and now the entirety of the title has been explained). Nyan-nyan-chan is what the three of us named the most adorable pillow/stuffed-animal I have ever seen. Now only was it adorable but it was soft and extremely comfortable. It's hard to describe, but the texture, feel, and give were so unique! I had never felt any pillow like it before. If, by the end of the trip, I still want to buy it and believe I can fit it in my carry on, I will have to go back. 

Tonight, I was able to help make pot stickers with my host mom! We made 50 small pot stickers in total. She had done pretty much all the prep work and I helped make half of the pot stickers. We scooped some of the filling into a spoon, then placed it onto the small circle sheets of dough, and then it got tricky. We had to wet a finger, brush the finer on one half of the circle's rim, and then fold one half onto the other, creating folds as we did so. She was done so quickly! But it was a lot of fun. The theme of tonight's dinner was Chinese food. We had two types of potstickers: yakigyouza (grilled in a pan) and suigyouza or mizugyouza (boiled in water). We also had: a salad with cucumbers, various sauces, chicken, and jellyfish: the best fried rice - the best; a soup with tofu and bok choi: and traditional Japanese rice sweets and tea for dessert. What was nice is that, with dessert, they asked me to show them my light saber videos and photos! It was so much fun! They also listened to me chat probably a bit more than I should have about the different sabers available, various websites, and rules of the club. Each day becomes a little more comfortable (even the daily showers - though I may soon get tired of those).

Tomorrow I should be meeting my Nihongo Partner (part of a program I signed up for within the study abroad program in which I will be paired up with a Japanese student to help me with the language outside of the classroom). Also, on the way back to campus today, we saw that KGU has its own museum (which is apparently new as well). Hopefully, we can check it out tomorrow.

Does anyone remember when I mentioned the name of the mountain behind my school being Kobuta and possibly meaning baby pig? Well I was wrong: the mountain is Mt. Kabuto. I read up on it with the following brief wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kabuto . Apparently Kabuto means "helmet" in Japanese and this remnant of an extinct volcano is kind of shaped like a helmet. It is also part of a Forest Park. I thought that any trips to nature would be much later on and weekend affairs, but this is quite close and might make a nice day trip one day soon. (P.S. Thanks dad for helping me with this).

I will end today with a picture of a bird I have been seeing everywhere in the city, but I want to make it a little fun. Pop quiz! Crow or Raven?