Arrived in Kyoto / Kyoto'ya vardim.

I thought the flight was going to take 13 hours. To my surprise it took less than 11. Nevertheless I'm quite knackered. my body says it is 5.30, the clock here says 12:30. This was my shortest night ever!  This is a quick note to say that I've checked into my apartment without a major hitch at around noon. More to follow, after a quick nap.

Ben ucus 13 saat surecek saniyordum ama 11 saatten biraaz az surdu. Epeyce de yorgunum tabii, benim biyolojik saat sabaha karsi 5.30 diyor; buradaki saat de 12.30. Hayatimin en kisa gecesiydi. Neyse sag salim daireme girdim, onu haber vereyim. Biraz kestirdikten sonra bira daha detayli yazacagim.

Geared-up/ Donandim

Recently I've been looking into some gear to take with me to Japan. This included a 3G mobile phone and a compact camera. I purchased these last week.

My hand-me-down phone would have not cut it, so I used the excuse of travel to get a brand new mobile for the first time in my life. It's a HTC Touch Pro2, with a sliding qwerty keyboard. So far I'm very happy with it. 

However, in order to use the device as a phone, I'll have to secure a SIM card in Japan. That is not as easy as going into a shop and buying the device unfortunately. Michiel wrote an e-mail to Softbank ( provider) and the answer was as follows:

Your phone HTC Touch Pro2 works with our 3G SIM card, but
unfortunately we currently suspend the Sim card to such high end
models due to high data communication charges, so please consider
hiring 703SHf phone (handset + SIM card, 250Yen/day) instead of the
Sim Card rental.

We knew this already but asking doesn't hurt. The answer does. At least what they offer is affordable. I really wanted my maps and everything online. This SIM rental service is advertised as unlimited, but then they would like to cap how unlimited you are.

The mobile phone situation is a bit of a pain if you don't reside in Japan. Apparently, you have to be a resident to buy a mobile phone. SIM cards are not separately sold, so you have to rent one. So I can't buy a dirt-cheap phone sold at supermarkets and I can't rent a SIM for my phone. I'll have to rent an extra device if I want to have a phone. Of course, there's always roaming with 10 EUR per megabyte. Oh well...

The camera is a happier story. It's a Panasonic Lumix ZX3, with a Leica 24mm objective and HD motion picture capability. It's light, it's compact, it's red: I'm happy.

My previous Canon Powershot S3 is still sorely missed, I hope this camera makes me forget the misery of losing the S3 last summer.

I would have bought the camera in Japan only if the sakura were not blooming earlier this year. I'll be just about in time to catch the full bloom and I'd like to take some pics, please. Hunting down a camera on Day 1 would have been too ambitious, so there it is.Hopefully I can hold onto this one longer than the previous.

The battery has a "universal" charger, which supports 110v and up. Since it's 100v in Japan, I may have to hunt for a charger. It's a Japanese camera, even from Kansai, so I don't foresee a problem in finding one quickly. We'll laugh at this statement when the time comes.
 

Japonya'ya elektronik alet alip goturulur mu ama ben aldim goturuyorum. Bir 3G cep telefonu, bir de fotograf makinesi aldim.

Benim emektar ikinci el telefonum boyle buyuk islere kalkisamazdi, onun icin seyahati de bahane edip omr-u hayatimda ilk defa yeni bir cep telefonu sahibi oldum. Acilan klavyeli HTC Touch Pro2. Simdilik cok memnunum.

Bu aleti telefon olarak da kullanabilmem icin Japonya'dan SIM karti takmam gerekiyor. O da oyle kolay bir is degil maalesef.  

Michiel Softbank (servis saglayici)'ya bir mail atti ve (yukaridaki ingilizce uzun lafin kisasi) olumsuz yanit geldi.Cok kullanirmisim, o yuzden hepten cep telefonu kirala derler. Biz sormadan da biliyorduk boyle olacagini ama yine de bozuldum olumsuz yanita. Zaten servisi hem sinirsiz diye reklam ediyorlar, hem de sinirliyorlar.

Japonya'da GSM agi olmadigi icin  "normal" telefonlar calismiyor zaten. Orada ikamet etmeyince supermarkette bile satilan sudan ucuz telefonlari alip kullanamiyormussun. Ee ayrica SIM karti da satmiyorlar, bu durumda bana kiralamiyorlar bile. Neyse onerdikleri cozum cok pahali bir sey degil ama yanimda bi ikinci alet tasimayi da istemiyordum.

Fotograf makinesi isi yaver gitti neyse ki. 24mm Leica objektifli Panasonic Lumix ZX3. Hemi de kirmizi. Gecen yaz kaybettigim Canon S3'un mahsun hatirasini hafifligi ve minikligiyle siler atar umarim. Bataryasinin sarj aleti 110v destekliyor, Japonya da 100v kullaniyor. Calismazsa oralarda kolay bulurum diye dusunuyorum. Bu safligima da bilahare gulecegiz.

Bana kalsa ben makineyi de ordan alirdim ama sakuralar bu sene erken aciyor, zaten tam ciceklenmis halini ancak yakaliyorum, bir de fotograf cekecegim diye ilk gunden kendimi cenderelere sokmayayim dukkanlarda. Aldim gitti, bunu bari kaybetmeyeyim.

Let's see how it goes/ Bakalim neler olacak...

This time last year, I had no real plans of going to Japan in 2010. Occasionally, someone would ask me "So when are you going to Japan?", and I would say "One day...once I've learned enough Japanese". It turns out that there's a limit to how much you can learn by following a class once a week. If I stuck to my original idea, I could do it in ten years.

Gecen yil bu zamanlar Japonya 'ya gitme planim hic yoktu. Vardi da yoktu. Birileri, arada " Ee, ne zaman gideceksin Japonya'ya?" dediginde, "Hele dili bir sokelim de..." diyordum. Dili sokmeyi oyle hafta bir gidilen bir kursa birakirsam on yila belki olurdu.

Caline -my classmate- and I started talking each other into a possible trip. We decided Spring was the best time, and she told me Kyoto was the best place.  Since this is a big deal for us both, we started  looking into it quite timidly. Now it's happening!

Sinif arkadasim Caline ile birbirimizi gaza getirdik. Bahar en guzel zaman olur dedik. Caline de "Kyoto en guzel yer olur" dedi. Ikimiz icin de son derece heyecan verici bir yolculuk oldugu icin, caktirmadan, yavas yavas  arastirmalar yapmaya basladik. Simdi gercek oluyor!

This is not going to be a usual sight-seeing trip. There's no itinerary . All we know so far is :

• We have a  ticket for Amsterdam-Osaka on 2 April, and Osaka-Amsterdam on 10 May.
• A place at Arc Academy Kyoto (although we still have to sit for a level-test)
• A small apartment  to stay in the center.

Bu yolculuk oyle klasik bir turistik gezi olmayacak.  Simdilik emin olduklarimiz:

• Amsterdam-Osaka-Amsterdam  icin 2 Nisan'da gidis, 10 Mayis'ta donus biletimiz var.
• Arc Academy Kyoto'ya yazildik (ama seviye tesbit sinavina girecegiz daha)
• Sehir merkezinde bir bucuk goz kalacak yerimiz var.

  

We'll see how it goes. Therefore, the blog...

Neler olup bitecek, gorecegiz. Blog'u  da ondan actim.

 

I'll try to write both in English and Turkish, pretty much how I've done in this post.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so I welcome all suggestions and encouragement :-)

Bu yazida yaptigim gibi, hem Turkce hem Ingilizce yazmaya calisacagim.

Ilk defa bir blog tutacagim; onerilerinizi ve desteginizi beklerim efem :-)