Updates 1: Dear Canada...

It's time to spread our wings, thrust out our elbows, make ourselves visible! For that, we gotta just jump into the fray of Kyoto, rub elbows, and make some friends as we make space for ourselves for our blossoming new life as residents NOT toursists.

Dear Canada,

"We`re doing well.  Ben`s classes started this week, so he`s been doing that every day till 12 30, and then he sometimes has a class in the afternoon.  The classes are going well for him.  They started with pretty basic stuff but they really move along quickly so he`s already into material that we never covered in our course at Uvic.  The teacher said I`m not allowed to audit the class, but I`m trying to study along with Ben in the afternoons so I can keep up and learn the same material.

I found a piano to practice on.  Its 2 stations north from our place, and to save money by not taking the subway, I`ve been walking there.  It takes about 20 min each way. Its a piano studio where they give
private lessons and rent out rooms by the hour.  The price is really expensive, so I`m limiting myself to 2 hours per day for now, although I would love to practice more.  Its about the equivalent of $13 per
hour, but they have grand pianos which are really good, and its really the only place I`ve got for now.

I`m trying to arrange something with Doshisha women`s college because they have a whole building with pianos there.  I found the Janitor on Monday morning and he let me into one of the rooms.  I was able to
practice there for 3 hours until the security guard came and asked me if I was a student.   At that time it had been 2 weeks since I`d touched a piano and I was getting really frustrated with not being able to find a place to practice.  This all happened before we found the piano studio where I`m practicing 2 hours a day now.



The security guard took me down to the office where the secretary spoke English.  She was really sympathetic to my situation of not being able to find a piano.  She said that in October they might have a job for me as an English conversation supervisor for the students at the women’s college.   I think my interactions with them could lead to me being able to practice there, but for now I have to
wait.  I can`t start lessons with the teacher Bruce arranged for me until I find a reliable place where I can practice.  $26 a day for only 2 hours of practice is going to make us broke pretty quickly if I don`t find another option for practicing, so I hope we can find something soon.

We finally got cell phones yesterday and a Japanese bank account today.  The real estate people were really wanting us to get those things asap cause we were actually required to have them in order to rent our apartment.

That's all for now."
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Day 9(Initial Cultural Observations)<<<Previously                   Continue reading>>>Updates 2: Japanese class, weather

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Ben and Kailey lived in Japan not too long ago and also visit Kyoto every year.

Ben is developing a Japanese Practice site. It's current main functions are:
1. a Flash Card system that features a leveling system where you must answer correctly and "level up"to gain new cards, receive money and buy new decks - anime decks included!
2. Fill in the Blank system where you can choose to focus on particle practice or verb practice etc.

Japanese Practice Blog is here. Check out the Japanese Practice site here