始まりThe Beginning

It's still hard to believe that I'm really in Kyoto. (Well, technically, Joyo... I'll explain in a sec.) Let's see, what's happened so far...

京都にいるのがまだ信じにくいね。（まあ、城陽市にいる．．．後で説明する。）何があったんですか．．．

Trains here in Japan are really awesome. I mean, I already knew that, but it's one thing to know that, and entirely another to actually ride them. I took the Haruka train from Kansai International Airport to Kyoto after I arrived. They actually cleaned the train before we could get on, at the airport station. And I've ridden on Kyoto's Karasuma line, which is a subway line that's really useful for getting to Doshisha.

日本の電車はすごいよ。もう分かったけど、分かるとこの電車を乗るのは違う。日本に着いた後に、「はるか」と言う電車を乗った、関西国際空港から京都まで。空港駅で、乗る前に、電車の勤務者は電車を掃除しました。そして京都の烏丸線も乗った。それは同志社大学に行くためにとても便利な地下鉄線だ。

And now, I've been out to Joyo, south of Kyoto. Well, that's where my host family lives. So now I've been out on the Kintetsu Kyoto line, to Okubo Station. I'm sitting in my room as I write this. Later tonight, once I've unpacked, I'll take a few pictures.

そして今、僕は城陽市に行ったことがある。まあ、ホストファミリーは住んでいる場所だ。だから、近鉄京都線に乗ったことがある。これを書きながら、僕の部屋にいる。今夜で、荷解きした後で、写真を撮るつもりだ。

But that's today. I haven't said anything about yesterday. Yesterday was... interesting. We took a placement test in the morning. That was, I think, the single hardest test I've ever taken. I did passably well on the kanji questions, I suppose, but the reading ones were nearly impossible. I don't yet know the results, but I doubt I did all that well, at least on the written portion of the test.

これは今日だ。まだ昨日のことは話していない。昨日は．．．面白い。朝は、プレースメント試験を受けた。それは、受ける試験の中に、一番難しい試験だと思う。漢字の問題はまあまあけど、読むの問題は難しすぎた。まだ成績を知らないけど、成績は悪いだと思う。

There was also an interview portion of the test. That was actually, somehow, fun. Well, since I said that I liked magical girl anime, I ended up explaining Sailor Moon. I've said so many times that the words I learn from anime aren't ever going to be used, but when you have to explain anime...

そして、面接試験があった。それは何だか楽しかった。まあ、魔法少女のアニメが好きって言ったから、セーラームーンを説明した。何度も「アニメから習った言葉は全然使わない」と言ったけど、アニメを説明する時は．．．

The evening was also great fun. Why? I went out with some of my friends to a karaoke place. I've been wanting to do karaoke for a long time now. And it was amazingly fun. I repeatedly sung anime songs, like Hare Hare Yukai and Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis. I also sang some Nana Mizuki songs, and topped it all off with Caramelldansen. (And I did the dance to that last one.) I can't properly express how much fun I had.

夜も楽しかったよ。なぜって？友達とカラオケをしに行った。絶対にカラオケをしたい。そして、すごく楽しかった。僕は何度もアニメの歌を歌った。たとえば、ハレ晴レユカイや残酷な天使のテーゼ。そして、水樹奈々の曲を歌って、Caramelldansenも歌って。そして、Caramelldansenの舞も舞った。うまく言えないけど、すごく楽しかった。

So yeah... this is the start of one hell of an adventure.

これはすごい冒険の始まりですよね。