Nihongo o wakarimasu ka?

Do you understand Japanese?

This is the first question you are asked upon entry into this lovely country. "A little bit" is maybe not an answer to be very proud of, and indeed the language barrier proved to be the most difficult thing by now. Because even here in Tokyo, no one seems to be able to explain a direction to you in English. And, although I've been out here roughly 6 hours and have read the book a friend gave to me about embarrassing things you can do in Japan, I already feel I have made dozens of mistakes. It's the same as with the language: You think you possess a rather decent basic knowledge, but as soon as you're required to use it, it just disappears. 

But let's be optimistic and move on to the positive experiences. I cannot tell you much about crazy stuff in Japan yet because I have only seen mainly train stations so far - but have immediately noticed how nice and friendly the people are. :) At least at the airport, it's no problem to receive detailed instructions how to get to a station of your choice, and the three ladies with the beige waistcoats and hats who explained it to me thrice and even drew it on a map really raised my spirits after almost 24 hours on the road. 

Speaking of it, the flight itself was not as exhausting as I expected, although I barely managed to sleep. If you care for a review of Cathay Pacific: I have nothing to say against it. The food is okay (there's plenty to eat and drink so you don't need to fear starvation), the staff are nice and there's more than enough entertainment. I even happened to watch a really good movie called "Erased", which is a kind of a Japanese "Butterfly Effect". Highly recommended if you like movies full of plot twists. Oh, just one thing you may have believed to be true (I did and learned my lesson): You DON'T get a free toothbrush on board. :(

After I arrived, I had to submit some forms (apparently, you have to fill out forms for everything in Japan - the application was horrible, but I will tell you about it in another post) and after consulting the ladies mentioned above, I moved on to the station next to my dormitory. This is the view from the monorail (sky train) from Haneda airport:

Changing two times and getting into the right train was easy. Finding the way to the dormitory from the station was where the real fun started. Silly as I am, I haven't printed out a map or anything. As asking for directions mostly failed, I just headed towards the river near the dormitory and hoped to recognise it on my way. I ended up being late for my assigned check-in time, but how happy I was when I finally found the building! In all my excitement, I forgot to take a photo. Please accept this picture from the internet as a substitute: 

The resident manager (I forgot his name, shame on me) and a resident assistant, Yotaro, showed me my room and explained everything. The manager was so sweet, he even made my bed for me :D the bad thing is that he barely speaks English. So we communicate in some mix of languages and gestures - but we're both learning ;)

That's my room directly after moving in. More detailed photos will follow after I will have settled in. Apart from the furniture on the photos, there is a small bathroom and a washing machine inside. The kitchen is only equipped with a fridge and one stove - but it's a super high-speed stove that heats up your water faster than any boiler!

I was told you can even see the fireworks in Yokohama from my window!

As for the dishes, pans and so on, you can take some things from the lounge that former residents have left which is very nice. This is the lounge by the way: 

Here, I had a nice chat with some other students after moving on to go grocery shopping. Luckily, the next konbini (short for convenience store) is literally around the corner so I didn't have to go far. Almost everything is 100 yen (around 1 euro there) so I bought everything I needed for the household for today. (But even here you can make mistakes: I bought some kind of fruit sachet instead of garbage bags and strange tablecloth mistaking it for a towel (but at least I have an excuse - and isn't the frog sponge the cutest sponge ever?)) Now after finally having a nice shower I am enjoying this dinner below, and a good cup of cherry blossom tea I got as a goodbye gift ;)

                                       

Now I will try to get some sleep before the jet lag can get me. Tomorrow morning we are heading to the ward office to register and to open a bank account - two things you should do first after arriving in Japan - together with many other freshly arrived students and the resident assistants.

Thank you for reading, good night and drop by again tomorrow for updates!