There are usually always extra slippers for guests to use. There are also a separate pair slippers meant only for the bathroom, since the bathroom is considered dirty. In the picture, the cabinets on the left are extra storage for shoes, and next to the door are our mailboxes, opened with a combination (like a high school locker).
Right next to the genkan is the little room for the kanreinin, an older lady or man who makes sure we're safely home, that guests sign in on that clipboard and leave before 11pm, etc.
This is the kitchen we all share. There are like 4 rice cookers, a machine that boils water, a gas stove, and cupboards that we use kind of as a pantry, plus trash cans. In Japan, we have to segregate our trash into burnable and non-burnable trash. It takes some getting used to (I still get confused sometimes where to put what), but I heard that the system followed in Nagoya is more complicated when compared to other parts of Japan.
This is one of the common rooms; it acts as both a dining room, study room, or simply a place to sit and talk. We joint the tables for that welcome party last week and never put them back to how they were. =)
This is the wall that separates the kitchen from the common room. The shelf has communal stuff, and those cupboards are the same ones in the kitchen, so you can actually open them from both sides, instead of going all the way into the kitchen to get something! Also I love that little window into the kitchen, it's like what you find at a restaurant or something; today someone was cooking dinner in the kitchen, and when she was done, she slid it through so that her friends could take the food and sit down with it =)
We have three fridges, and each person gets to use one. The papers list the names of those that use that particular fridge. We have 2 microwaves, and 1 toaster (can only use one at a time or something might explode lol) I still get confused on how to use the microwave, since there are different units you can use; for example you can heat according to how many minutes, or how many degrees.
The trash cans in our common room. You can probably see 'unburnable' and 'burnable' written on them. I still don't know what the one on the left is......
This is where we put our communal calendar, important notices, schedules, everyone's birthdays, etc.
Our other common room: has a TV, video games, movies, etc, basically a place to hangout and chill when we're not studying.
The stairs to the bedrooms. The second floor houses guys, and the girls live on the third floor (I'm guessing it's so that guys don't have an excuse to pass the girls--there's actually a sign on the stairs leading to the third floor saying 'women only' =P) That's the downstairs bathroom that anyone can use, and more trash cans! Our dorm segregates plastic bottles, cans, and other things too.
I forgot to take pictures of the laundry and shower room; there is one on each floor, so all the guys share one and all the girls share one.
A few of us decided to go to the supermarket again, but by foot this time. There's one close to our dorm, but we decided to go to the mall which is farther away, probably 20 minutes by walking? We could have taken a train, but we didn't want to spend the money. We saw this little lake on the way, so I stopped and took a picture:
I bought some more groceries: okra, carrots, tomatoes, salt, and bananas. By this time I was already hungry, so the first time I tried Japanese style McDonald's. I wanted to get something that you don't get in an American McDonald's, so I ordered this ebi (shrimp) filet burger. The burger was tiny (compared to American burgers of course) but really good. It was also from this experience that I finally learned how to give money when paying. In Japan there's usually something to put money in, since you're not supposed to hand it over directly into their hand. Although I didn't give the coins in the cashier's hand, I put them on the counter, and realized my mistake almost immediately when he had difficulty picking them up from the flat surface. Even though I said sorry, he looked annoyed haha. Also Japanese almost always use numbers to call on customers, whether it's at an eating place, or a service place like when I went to get my resident card (they gave me 3 different numbers!)
On the way home, we stopped at the 100 yen store again so I could buy some handkerchiefs. It is so incredibly humid here, I have to wipe my face like every hour. Also most bathrooms in Japan do not provide towels to dry your hands, so everyone carries a handkerchief for that reason as well.
I finally went to go get a working phone today (went to Sakae again!). SoftBank gives the cheapest prepaid phones, so they're extremely popular with foreign exchange students. However though the texting is extraordinarily cheap, the minutes used for calling are really expensive, so it might not be worth making any calls unless it's an emergency.
Remember yesterday I ate takoyaki? Well I went to the same place again today, just to see the ladies working there. They are super nice, and kept telling me to come often. They are so cute:
After I got my phone, I was hungry again, so I went to this cafe.
I ordered something similar to a crepe, but the chocolate and banana was contained within waffles instead. I was sooo good, but one of those foods that you feel a guilty pleasure while eating it.
We were all tired by this point, and decided to go home. On the way to the train station, I took this picture. It's a TV basically in the middle of an intersection!
At home, I ate the rest of my potato creation for dinner. There were some Chinese girls visiting who I became friends with.
We had a lot of fun. We all played Mario kart (made up our own tournament with 8 people)
Then I taught everyone how to play Kemps =)
After the Chinese girls left, one of my dorm-mates really wanted to teach me how to play Super Smash Brothers on Nintendo 64, so my training began. I had know idea I could do so many moves with just a few buttons. We played till midnight, and then people went up to bed. These two were still in the other common room, the girl on the right teaching Chinese vowel sounds to the guy next to her. I joined in, and I got them all right on the first try!
By this time it was 2am, and exhausted, I decided to go to bed. Oyasumi~ (good night)
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