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My lovely host sister led me by bicycle to the university. I think it took us around 20 minutes to get there, but I wasn't wearing a watch, so I don't know for sure. I hadn't ridden a bike for around 3 years (helmets are embarrassing), so we were a little late to the International Students Meeting. My bike has an old-fashioned lock, which I couldn't figure out how to use if my life depended on it. I had to be shown twice. I met the other International students for the first time. Coincidentally, I had already spent time with two girls, Yenta and Lillian, on the Hyogo Floating University last year. Everyone else morphed from strangers to friends in one day.
From the university, four of us who had bikes rode to my Host Family's house to get my passport, which I had stupidly left behind that morning and would need for registration. One guy, Vinnie, has been in Himeji for 6 months already, so he showed us things along the way and seemed very knowledgeable. Anyway, I was mighty surprised to discover that I could remember the way to my house. I had inadvertently noticed landmarks along the way (THE ONLY WAY
TO FIND ANYTHING, AS THERE ARE NO STREET NAMES - Soooo irritating). However, as we got closer and closer, I recognized less and
less, and finally, after much deliberation, we decided to give up looking and to go straight to city hall to meet the others. This took a further 20 minutes to get to. By this time, I was getting very wobbly and my legs wouldn't do what I wanted them to do (pedal). But I tried to keep steady so as not to let the team down.
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When we arrived at the City Hall, I reluctantly told the representative from the University International Office that I couldn't find my own house. It was so embarrassing! I think I made a bad first impression. But he didn't seem to care. He called my Host Sister and offered to drive me home himself. So off we went. When we got there, I was so angry to find that the intersection where we had given up was 100 meters (330 feet) from the house. But I got my passport in the end, and that's all that matters, right? So we talked in the car, and I couldn't just pretend to know what he was talking about, because he was asking me all these questions, and I was absolutely horrified that he would discover that I'm just altogether stupid and can't do anything and send me home. But I think it went ok. I think I passed the test. I was hoping at every set of traffic lights that we would arrive back at City Hall and I could speak in English again to all the Australians. Six of us from Perth!!
I did feel really guilty though, so I told my fellow bike riders that we had been close (partly just to prove that I did have SOME idea of where I was going). They said not to worry, but I know that secretly they were all talking about me behind my back about sabotaging my bike and egging my house. But if I can't even find it, neither can they, so I should be ok for now.
After I wrote my name, address and birthday on a zillion forms, I had to wait an hour for my Gaijin card (foreign student card) and health insurance to be processed. They wanted 5 passport sized photos!
So we headed round the corner to the
combini (convenience store) for lunch. I bought ikaosembe (squid flavored snack), chocolate biscuits (so small I swear I could eat twenty at once, though I haven't tried yet) and chicken
karaage (a bit like KFC). But on the upside, all the cycling I did no doubt
burnt many more calories than the amount I
ingested. I got Lipton Lemon Iced
Tea to drink (no, that isn't product placement, Mum). After gorging on this food, I carried the biscuits back into City Hall (I don't think they were very happy about me eating inside, oh well, I didn't see any signs).
Related article: More
fun with other students
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