Promise in Protection Star: Autumn in IUJ

It's almost two months since I've stepped foot at International University of Japan in Minamiuonumashi in Niigata, Japan. I would have written sooner but this is the first time I've been away from home (excluding vacations and assignments); settling in takes time. When I first arrived the weather was transitioning from summer to autumn so it was still pretty warm. It's been gradually getting colder since last month. I've bought a ceramic mobile heater, which is a speaker size heater that can only directly heat whatever's in front of it. Now I know why its called "mobile" heater. My Uniqlo heatech undershirts are now a daily necessity. I decided not to wear one yesterday because I was wearing double layers and I regretted it; can't live without my heatech shirts now.

I'm taking five subjects this term, including Elementary Japanese. The first month was kind of overwhelming due to the amount of readings required for most of the subjects. I was always struggling to finish the weekly readings but I think I'm getting better at keeping up with it. Whatever spare time I have, I do my readings. I can't just rely on specially designated times.

There are many clubs here at IUJ and after initially joining the kendo, basketball and iaido clubs, I've decided to continue with basketball and iaido. What I like about basketball is that eventhough there are guys and girls, we play mixed matches and the guys are pretty supportive. It kinda reminds me of my futsal days. Iaido is the art of drawing the katana (Japanese sword). It's not as physical as kendo as we're basically learning how to draw and use the sword (we use bokuto, wooden sword) in any kind of situation and against varying numbers of opponents. It's a lot harder than it sounds because your footwork has to be right and it relies on speed rather than strength. I hope I can keep up with these two club activities.

The university is located in a rural area full of rice fields in Minamiuonumashi, so there aren't any big departmental stores here. You do have a supermarket, 7-11, hardware store and other standalone shops. So every weekend, we have a bus service that takes us to Aeon department story and Rara which is another shopping area, in the next town. My friends and I went to Aeon today. We would usually have to queue up half an hour before the bus is scheduled to leave because the bus can only fit 32 people. If the bus is full, you have to wait for the next one. Upon reaching Aeon, we went to McDonald's which was like a 5-minute walk away to have something to bite. I miss eating pancakes so I ordered the hot cakes. It was soft and warm and smelled soooo good. Of course, it tasted good too. It was worth walking all the way from Aeon. We did some shopping after that and then headed back around noon.

The weather was really nice today; the sun was shining and the clear blue sky beckoned to me. I suggested that we go for a walk around campus. So after putting our the stuff we bought in our rooms, we went for a walk. Truth to be told, eventhough I have been here for almost two months, I haven't fully explored the campus grounds. I'm glad I did today. There was a breathtaking scenery every step of the way and there was nobody else there (probably because it was lunchtime). It was like taking a walk in a spacious, private garden.