September 18th 2012

      Today we had our new student orientation :)


Jycan helped us (soo nice)

All the Exchange students met at AP House I Lobby to go to the orientation building. I did not know that we needed a copy of our landing passes... so many of us had to make copies right before going to orientation. It cost 10 yen to copy. (cheap :) = 12cents. I met some more cool people... one who's name is Diana, she is from Finland :) we talked only a little. Then we headed out to the orientation building which was in the student organization center.
   When we walked into the orientation we were all given a chart to look at that had our assigned seating. Each row was composed of 3 people and 3 packets which were infrount of each seat. The packets were cute, (it had a picture of a Cherry Blossom tree on it <3

(shout out..LunaFLORCITA :) )

Inside the packet we were given the slides to the powerpoint, our ID CARD :)))), and lotttssssss of information and forms to fill out!!! :P

BIG PACKET :P

      The new student orientation was fun. We had icebreaker games and also split into groups. I was the light green group :). each group consisted of maybe 15-20 people? We also talked and hung out with our AP Buddies ( they are like mentors, they help us and show us around and hang out and are language partners too!!).
I got to see AYA :)!!!! It was good!!{ But she had to leave  had to prepare for dinner early for the orientation dinner party.} But i think it was OK because that way I made new friends too :)


---- Side note: By the way... Japanese people are not very short at all (at least not to me.. i am 5'4)!!! :P ... most of them are taller than me!! But they are not as tall as tall americans, like they are not usually 6'3 and things... :P! Only the older ladies and men I think are short and small but... we all begin to shrink once we past 60 don't we?----------------

APU Buddies are mostly composed of older Japanese students, but there are some that are not Japanese but are fluent in Japanese. From what I have seen, all the buddies are extreemly kind and caring :). I was so worried that they would not talk much or get annoyed at us foreigners whose Japanese is not so good. But it was the opposite :)




Lunch TIME ! Ittadakimasu! Our group was so FUN :)

Ice breaker game, Monica was the winner, she is the 2nd from the right.

       We had lots of breaks and we later ate lunch together at the cafeteria! We ate Kuro-A -ge Curri. ( totally butchered that spelling ... sorry... gomenasai:P) It is deep fried chicken with a curry sauce which came with shredded lettuce? (sooo yummy, and the skin is thinner than in the US and.. the chickens are smaller too!.. maybe no hormones? ). I also ate a miso soup. (YUMMY Too) The food was really filling.  We all ate in our groups, the light green group; I think we became very familiar with eachother. I talked alot to Yu (or Yurim), she is Korean, she was also in my row, my group durring the new student information meeting, and I first met her briefly on my first official morning! When Elena spoke to me, she was one of the friends that met up with her for breakfast. :) We also hung out with a guy from Hong Kong named Kit, he was also in our row. So from the left it was Yu, Kit, and I. To my right sat all the APU buddies.
     After lunch we had to meet up at the orintation spot again. They had a video for us, which was about an even where we could go down town all together (the 23th and 29th) and then we could pick our huge seafood pot and then we stick it in a hole and top it. It gets cooked by the hot springs's steam!! :).. and then you can relax your feet in a hot spring water pool. :) SO .. it was only 500 yen, so i signed up :)! (=$6.41 cents) :))( that is cheaper than a movie!! ).. Yu is going on the same day as I, which is the 23rd of September :)

After orientation finished, we went back to AP House II and hung out until dinner (were we would have a dinner party).


SO many kinds of YUMMY PIZZA!

The dinner party was really fun!! :) We ate Japanese PIZZZAAa!!!! :) SOO Yummyy!! . (It had seafood on it, and vegetables... soo manny things! But it was delicious. There was a Japanese food too, but.. I did not like it very much :(. I usually like ginger, but there was a juice also mixed with noodles and seeweed, I did not care for it much :(. We all talked and I took lots of pictures...
actually it is funny, a camera for some reason gets people to talk with you? ...Or at least.. it is an icebreaker and convo starter :)... especially for other photographers.
I saw Aya!!! SHe was working soo hard!! :) I really like her alot! She is soo sweet! She gave Yu an I pizza to take back, and chips, and little treats :)

We soon left and headed back to the dorm, I knew I was going to be late to the hall party:/



On left: Kit And Sunyoung GOt surpirsed by soda So funny!

      When I tried to go to our newstudent floor party, but i didnt see it, I asked some girls in the kitchen, and they invited me to go with them :)! So.. we all tried to find M building ( in AP House One, there are many buildings connected by the first floor and a stair case. (it is like sections, but you cant get to a different section with out going to the first floor). So we looked and looked!! We could not find it! So we asked an SA (Systems assistant --- they are computer assistants... AKA.. tech support) they were in the lobby and the guy was kind enough to help us! We found the party ( i was not hungery) ... But they gave us food and told us to take it... = food for tomorrow!!! :)) (I told you God constantly provides!! )


Yu ---> Yurim with pizza!!

(Ohh yea by the way.... I live on the 5th Floor room 518 :)!


Our table at the welcome party :)!

It shocked me that at the party there were people talking in circles, the chairs were set up in a huge open U formation, there was music playing... (american music!!:P) but .. .no one dancing... to PARTY MUSIC!!! I was soo shocked!!! I asked my friends why, and if they want to dance with me... but... they all said no nonooonooo noo!!! :P.. I guess in Indonesia you don't do that?? ... Sigh.. it was very strange for me.
 I soon later went to bed because I was very tired.

Verse of the night : Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.



Shower :) (green thing= no mess~ :)

I like that he did not use his power to his own advantage, any thing and everything he used to love us. HE used to serve others! Now that is amazing!!! .. LOVE to its trueness!! ... It is so strange to our natural way of thinking. I know especially here and even in business i am told, use others use others.... make contacts.. connections... so that you can have back ups.. or things later... :(((.
How do we change from thease down ward, tiering ideas and habits? EEEhhh... Thought for the night.
~*~ Raquelita~*~
Stay tuned for pictures to come----- SORRY :( I am behind....)
<3 lets learn to live by love, and love like Chirst :)



How to turn on the shower... turn left knob up or down for hot or cold, turn right knob up for shower and down for faucet. :) also the floor has a corner where it catches and drains all the water!! soo cool!! :)

Bible reference : Philippians 2 sections 6 and 7