Maximum security prison 1 - Jan. 21 2007

Both legs and arms are burning and one of my muscles in my shoulder feels like it has been twisted, my whole body is filled with lactic acid, due to few workouts and little physical activity in the last 2 years AND because I have been moving from the appartment to the Kansai Gaidai dormitories. I have two oversized, bulky and exceedingly heavy suitecases as as well as one heavy handbag that when I strap it over my neck, I feel my collar bone will snap. I also have a laptop case complete with all sorts of wires and last minute papers I stuffed in. On Saturday morning I arrive at Kyoto station and I call my classmate from Canada, Charles to find the Higashiguchi which is almost impossible to spot. We get a ride in a taxi limousine for a modest $20 CAD and 1h later we are checking in at Seminar House II, our direct neighbor. After a few minutes we cross over in seminar house III and I start realizing that we are entering a maximum security prison. Cameras at every meter, spikes at the top of the gates, signs that state that the gates close at 11PM and various indications on how to behave on the premises. We are escorted to our room and one at a time we are shown our studio and into our room. The rooms are traditional japanese rooms (washitsu) 8 tatami mat. Here Japanese rooms are measured in terms of mats. There is absolutely no separation between my roommate and I, we share the room like when I was sharing with my sister when I was five. I start feeling that this will be a long semester. The first night I meet a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Swede and a couple americans. I notice that some students don't know a word of Japanese nor can they eat with chopsticks. I tip my hat to their courage. The dorm neighborhood is very quite and suburban. When it gets dark the surroundings become so silent that a conversation between two foreign students (especially when drunk) can be heard a km away. Japanese homes are not insulated therefore it is cold during winter and sound goes through very easily. There has been many complaints about noise in the past and there is a contract between the residents of the surrounding area and Kansai Gaidai to respect certain regulations to maintain the harmony of the neighborhood. The very same night I want to go back to the appartment and get my second suitecase (it would have been impossible to bring all at once) to end everything on the same day. By the time I arrive at the appartment in Osaka, I am tired and it's approaching 10PM so there is no way I can go back on time, so I stay over at the appartment for one more night than expected. The following day, on Sunday morning, my body is still aching from the previous one, and everything is to be started again, but this time worst because I have to do the whole trip by myself, no limo taxi and with one very heavy bag of kithenware and foodstuff I have been accumulating by living in the appartment in the last month. When I finally arrive in Hirakatashi, I still have to hop on the bus to arrive at the dorms. The problem is that I have no idea what bus to take and the maps are very confusing. I give up even before asking anyone since I am sure I would not understand the directions in Japanese and I feel that I cannot explain where I want to go. After making many calls to Charles, who is with a Kansai student, I finally decide to ask a busdriver who tells me to go at another bus terminal across the trainstation. After 2 hours of wandering around and not knowing what to do, I finally ride the right bus and arrive at the campus, exhausted. I end the day with a nice dinner at a chinese restaurant right across the main campus.