Fell pretty fucking far behind on this thing...
I should be studying for the placement test tomorrow morning, but it's been several days and this is my journal basically. I can type a lot more quickly than I can write, so I figure I'll actually get it done sooner this way than writing everything down.
Explored the area around my school. Pretty awesome. Nice little park nearby. Found a little market that sold a lot of american brands and things (including the kind of pasta my family gets!), beer, wine, and cheese. It was pretty swell. Met some other gaijins. Went home.
THEN CAME NIGHTTIME
First nomihoudai! W00T! For those of you that don't know, nomihoudai is where you pay so much to get all-you-can-drink for a certain period of time. The place we went to also had a karaoke machine. Our group consisted of 15 foreigners and 4 Japanese people. 19 people is quite a few for this kind of event (at least I think so, and at least for the size of the room we had that night!). Shit was awesome. A few rounds of beer later, pretty much everyone was getting pretty into the karaoke. I don't think I made too much of an ass of myself, and this makes me very very happy. Already looking forward to the next venture of this.
I keep forgetting I'm legal drinking age. Next time I go to a restaurant I think I'm just gonna order a beer for the hell of it. Just because I can.
Oh, that was two days ago, for the record.
Yesterday was kind of a throw away day. I spent pretty much the entire time in my room convincing myself I was gonna study for the Japanese placement test. Suffice it to say, I didn't get too much studying done. I didn't realize it was for "respect for the elderly day" (a national holiday) so my dorm wasn't serving dinner. This was actually kind of a blessing because it got me to go explore the area around my dorm more than I already had. I just went a different direction than I had walked before and looked around. Cool stuff litters this area, I love it. It's especially magical and mysterious looking at night, making my dinner-time stroll all that much more enjoyable. Found a haircut place. I think I'll probably wander around there again sometime soon and check out the prices for future reference. I'm terrified of my lack of haircut-related vocabulary. Eventually I found a Famima. They're exactly like they are in america, just with more actually Japanese brands and stuff. I grabbed some soba noodles and a milk tea and was on my way. I wandered a little more (took some pictures too!) before heading back home. I found a 7-11 (which was oddly close to the fami-ma), which should be handy in the future, I believe. For a cheap container of soba noodles I got at a famima, that shit was delicious. And there was a lot! I was full (but I still wanted more) when I finished.
Hold on everyone, I'm still wearing my pants and I don't know why...
Having had fun last night, I thought I'd take another stroll this morning to pass the time before my orientation. Took yet another path and explored more of Musashi Koganei. One of the first stores I came across was a Gaming store with a Blazblue poster in the window. Actually, the entirety of all the windows was completely covered in various posters and things. I couldn't see inside. It might've been closed for all I know. I decided I'd go in later because I was just starting my adventure and I actually wanted to see more before inspecting the finer details of the first areas. I don't regret it. This place is so fucking awesome, you guys. Fancy-pants Japanese shops surrounded by small modern apartments, more traditional japanese houses with rusted sheds in the yards, and even a typical graveyard packed into a small space near several houses.
When it was time to go, I finally headed over to school. Orientation consisted of "Hi, we're gonna talk to you for an hour or two, HERE'S A MILLION PAPERS!" My friend and I have decided we're going to take a regular Japanese course this semester, and then we can take the intensive Japanese course next semester (which is an EIGHT UNIT CLASS). But this all depends on how well tomorrow goes. We also made a pact that if one of us places better than the other, we're going to talk to a counselor and tell them "Oh, I think this is a mistake, I'd like to take a lower course" and get into the same class as the other person. We realized today that one of us is better at reading and writing and one of us is better at speaking and listening. If you put us together, WE'RE A FULLY FUNCTIONING NIHONJIN. This may be a SLIGHT (read: POWERFUL) overestimation of our talents, but still. After the tour, we got into, like, group things with some Japanese students of Sophia. They took us on a short tour of the campus and had us introduce ourselves to one another. Shit was fun, met some people from ALL over the place in that group. England, French Switzerland, Italy, Ukraine, England, Korea, America, and Japan all represented in one small group. We exchanged names for facebook and the people with cell phones exchanged information. A group like that will be handy to have later on. It's just another opportunity to make friends too~ (D'AWWWWW)
So I basically cut both my ankles right on the achilles tendon RIGHT before my trip. All this walking has prevented either cut from closing. In fact, today I got blood all over my socks. They hurt like crazy and it's pretty awful... BUT MY BAND-AIDS STAYED ON TODAY! :D
After all our tour stuff was over, my friends and I met up and headed over to a nearby raamen place. This place is famous for its tomato raamen (a dish of raamen with a tomato base broth and tomato chunks in it). THAT SHIT WAS SOOOO GOOD OH MY GOD. If you are ever in the Tokyo area, specifically Yotsuya, FIND THIS TOMATO RAAMEN PLACE. It was delicious, I cannot stress that enough.
I'm still not used to humidity. It's just that sticky feeling at the end of the day that coats your whole body. I don't hate it, it's just something I'm really not used to. Apparently there are only a couple more weeks of it anyway, so I guess there's no real need to get used to it anyway...
I still haven't bought a clock. I also need to get a shit ton of papers and cards ASAP. Classes to sign up for, a test to take... Wait, when did I get so busy? I should also buy a handkerchief or something. The amount I sweat just walking or STANDING is ridiculous. I don't mind it personally, but it's pretty disgusting for other people to see/have to deal with on a crowded train.
I'll upload pictures in another post or something, I should really get to work now...
PEACE (<lol)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Because some of you bitched...
Here's a photographical update of sorts! I took some pictures of my room just to give you an idea of what it looks like! :D
Here's my bed! As you can see, it's very much Western style. Mattress is hard as FUCK, but it's pretty comfy. I LOVE MY PILLOW. It's one of those ones that's full of stuff, so it conforms to your head and neck. I'm yet to have neck pain!
Finally, these are the pants I am not wearing!
Today my friends and I plan to explore our campus and the area around it. I'll take plenty of pictures while I'm out. Camera battery's charging right now! I AM SO EXCITE.
Here's my bed! As you can see, it's very much Western style. Mattress is hard as FUCK, but it's pretty comfy. I LOVE MY PILLOW. It's one of those ones that's full of stuff, so it conforms to your head and neck. I'm yet to have neck pain!
This is my desk. It's very, very messy. That's how you know it's mine! Next to it's the shelfy thingy where I keep a lot of clothes and shit. ISN'T IT EXCITING?!
Next up is my dresser thingy. I ACTUALLY HUNG UP ALL MY CLOTHES! MY MOMMY WOULD BE SO PROUD! Let's see how long that lasts... Sorry it's so blurry...
Finally, these are the pants I am not wearing!
THE FOOD HERE!
I'll preface this story with this: An elderly Japanese woman told me I need to eat more and proceeded to scoop several more spoonfuls of rice into my bowl. WHAT.
For informational purposes I think I should point out I live in Koganei Men's Dormitory (lol I'm a MAN!). Maybe that'll help some confused kid when he tries to google that place he's about to live in. He'll find this blog and have plenty of information on it and be ever so happy. I WISH THAT WOULD'VE HAPPENED FOR ME!
Like I said in a previous post, this place is run by a man and his wife. The man seems to be head-honcho guy and handyman. The wife cooks the meals. AND BOY CAN SHE, OH MY GOD. I'd like to point out how glad I am to not be vegetarian. Dinner was a slab of fish. I don't know what fish. It came with things next to it. I don't know what these things were. They could have been vegetables. They could have also been meat things. Regardless, they were all good. The meal also came with salad. The salad also had some sort of meat in it. I don't know what. It had lettuce and all, but there were also bits of other things (i assume to be vegetables). I don't know what they were, but they were also good. JAPANESE SALAD DRESSING DELICIOUS HNNNNNGGGGHH!!!! Then there was miso soup. OMG MY FIRST HOMEMADE MISO SOUP. SHIT WAS OFF DA CHAIN. It was ALSO full of stuff, the majority of which I did not recognize. Also FUCKING DELICIOUS. At first I thought it had fish in it too (which I thought was funny), but it turns out it was tofu. CAN I GET AN OMNOMNOM UP IN HERE? Of course the meal also came with rice (which I mentioned earlier) and tea. The tea... I couldn't tell you how good it was, honestly. It was a chilled tea. I was so thirsty that I downed the entire first cup in one gulp with the full intent of getting another. However, some guy sat in the seat DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE TEA DISPENSER THINGY, and I was too shy and embarrassed to reach over him to get more. I ATE SO MUCH FOOD.
I LOVE JAPANESE TELEVISION. We watched a show where they interviewed (what I assume to be) celebrities in a van. However the interview was mostly a ruse and a distraction because they were just counting down the time until they hit a giant bump in the road and filmed the celebrities' reaction to being flung up off their seat. This one cute woman made them stop the van and go over it again. The noises she made were priceless.
I went to the vending machine in our dorm. It's very fancy. There's covers for things and directions and diagrams everywhere. I bought my first Calpis Water in Japan~ I also got Japanese change. JAPANESE CHANGE! 100 yen coins make it so seemingly easy to spend a dollar that it kinda scares me... The five hundred yen coins are also scary, but less so because they're bigger and GOLD so that makes them special in my mind and not want to spend them. The fifty yen coins are cute, BUT THE 10 YEN COIN BUGS ME SO MUCH. It's bigger than the 50 yen coin. It's like the nickel of Japanese change: all big and awkward and useless. I think this is also a ploy to get me to spend it as now I want to just so I can get rid of it.
WELL PLAYED, JAPAN. WELL PLAYED.
Showers! I took a shower in our dorm's showers today. SHIT DOES NOT GET HOT, THAT IS FOR SURE. Mind you, it's not cold, but it's definitely not the "Aaaaahhh~" hot that I'm used to at home. This doesn't bother me much right now, but I have a feeling it will in winter. The shower had a mirror in it. I kinda thought this was awkward. Mind you, it went down to just above your waist (at least for my height), but it was very front and center. For the first time ever, I knew what I looked like while taking a shower. IT DIDN'T EVEN FOG UP MUCH, SHIT WAS MAGIC.
Facebook is apparently doing maintenance for the next FEW HOURS so I can't access my account. Fiddlesticks.
I can't wait to hear cicadas and get sick of hearing cicadas and complain about hearing cicadas!
That's all for now, children. More in the future when stuff happens! I can't wait for stuff!
*Still not wearing pants~
Friday, September 17, 2010
I HAVE ARRIVED
Before I say anything else, I feel this is most important to point out:
I DON'T HAVE A ROOMMATE! I DON'T HAVE A ROOMMATE! I'M ALREADY NOT WEARING PANTS!
Let's start at the beginning. Yes, that is a very good place to start.
Wake up> last minute shit> airport. Yay. The security line took for-fucking-ever to get through. On top of that, these two russian douchebags (probably the same age as me) decided to cut in line. To make matters worse, one of them smelled HORRIBLY of B.O. through TWO sweatshirts. Now, in case that wasn't bad enough, when you get to the actual security thingy, you must remove all jackets. He did so, AND THE SMELL WORSENED. Thank god he wasn't on my flight...
Waited waited waited for my plane
Got on my plane
Sat on my plane for 11ish hours.
That's about as eventful as my plane ride was. I napped a lot, I read a lot. I left my DS in the wrong bag, so I couldn't play Witch's Tale. I was really, really (possibly too) sad about this...
I SAW MT. FUJI FROM THE PLANE! I SAW OFUJISAN FROM THE PLANE! I could be making this up, but I coulda sworn I read somewhere that if you see Mt. Fuji while you're flying into Japan, it means you're going to have a great trip... That mountian could have also not been Mt. Fuji, BUT DON'T YOU FUCKING RAIN ON MY PARADE THAT MOUNTAIN WAS MT. FUJI IF I SAY IT WAS FUCKING MT FUJI.
My plane was full of a ridiculous number of attractive people. One of them looked like a taller version of a younger Ninomiya Kazunari. He waited behind me in the line for the bathrooms. I was tempted to tell him he could share mine. There was this other hawt dood within staring distance. AND AT ONE POINT HE FELL ASLEEP BUT THE WAY HE WAS SITTING HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS COLD AND I WANTED TO CUDDLE HIM SO BAD YOU HAVE NO IDEA OH MY GOD.
I had a window and noone sat directly next to me, so I was happy. The guy two seats left of me tried a couple times to make weird, awkward conversation. I responded politely and in a way that killed it and prevented him from saying anything to prolong the torture.
My iPod battery didn't die and I'm unbelievably grateful.
About half an hour before landing, I got that "OH MY GOD IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!" feeling. I kept watching the little countdown thing on the screens that said how long it was until we landed. It went from 31 to 28 to 37. I was pissed.
I tried to study on the plane for my Japanese Language Placement Test. If that was any indication of anything, then I haven't learned Japanese in a year and I'm going to fail.
While in the airport, I kept getting distracted by ridiculously attractive people. Like, no joke, there were multiple occasions where I'd start to stare at someone and then realize a minute later that there were about 10~20 feet between me and the next person in line. I'm going to die in this country.
Furthermore, everyone that worked at the immigrations thing was ALSO ridiculously attractive. And I really really mean that. There were, like, 10 people working it and it was a healthy mix of men and women. They were all REALLY REALLY pretty. Like, this isn't even, "OH, TIM HAS YELLOW FEVER AND HE WOULD BANG THEM LOL." No! Like, if these people were in our high school, they would be the popular, pretty asians and they could bang whoever they wanted only they'd just be banging each other because that's about as well as you can do, really. Also, I had a favorite, and I got placed in his line and I was so happy.
I went and I picked up the bags I checked AND THAT'S WHEN THE TROUBLE BEGAN. Let's focus on my luggage for a minute, shall we? I'll go back and pick apart the other important parts of this story afterward, but my luggage needs special mention. I had two carry-ons. One was a messenger bag. It was of a decent weight because it had my laptop in it among other things. The other was a backpack that was quite full. It wasn't heavy, but it was very full of stuff and so it was large and awkwardly shaped. If that wasn't bad enough, I had two bags I checked. These were both gigantic and weighed VERY close to 50 pounds each. I think one was 45 and the other was 49.5 or 48.5. I mean, yeah, anyone can lift 50 pounds, that ain't shit. But I'm talking, I need to transport TWO fifty pound, cumbersome bags, AND a backpack, AND my messenger bag in a city I've never been to. I threw the lighter bag on top of the heavier bag, raised its pully-dealy and pulled them together. THIS HURT MY HAND. It was easy to pull (WHEELS ARE AWESOME), but it was fucking crushing my palm. It's one of those things where you keep switching hands because it hurts, but then both hands get hurt and by the end of it you just want to curl up in a ball wherever you are and die. I had to carry these out of the airport (which included going through another security thing, which included waiting in line). Then I had to go through a station and board a train. Luckily, this was a seated train (meaning preselected seats based on your ticket) and it had spots for luggage. I gladly put them down, took my seat, and rested my hand. While in this neck of the journey, my muscles in my right forearm were so fucked up from that thing pressing on my palm, that when I was asked to write my email address for a friend, I LEGITIMATELY STRUGGLED (it was a combination of my locked up muscle, the shaky train, and the lack of a hard surface to write on). Of course, this was only the beginning. We disembarked at another station (one of the bigger and more crowded in the tokyo area) and waited on a crowded platform for another train. This train was not the same, preselected seating setup. I had to hold onto those bags in the midst of a crowded train. It wasn't that bad, but there's also a semi-large gap between the platform and the train. TRY GETTING TWO BIG HEAVY BAGS OVER THAT OH MY GOD. We got off that train, BUT THAT WASN'T THE END OF IT! Now we just had one more train to ride to get to where I live. I thought I was in the clear. NO. We passed by the Shinjuku station, ONE OF THE BUSIEST IN THE FUCKING WORLD. UNLESS I'M JUST NOT REMEMBERING CORRECTLY, IT'S THE ONE THAT HOLDS THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS RECORD FOR BUSIEST TRAIN STATION. A shit ton of people got off the train, FOUR SHIT TONS OF PEOPLE GOT ON THE TRAIN. MISERY. We finally got off that train, the last train of the evening. HOORAY, IT'S OVER I thought. WRONG. BATSU. DAME. FAIL DESU. five minute walk to the dorm! Now, a five minute walk is heavenly! That's nothing. I'm really really glad the station is so conveniently close! BUT MY ARMS WERE DYING. THAT WALK FELT LIKE FOREVER. TO MAKE IT WORSE, THE FUCKIN SMALLER BAG KEPT FALLING OFF THE BIGGER ONE. SO I'D HAVE TO AWKWARDLY STOP AND FIX THEM AND CONTINUE WALKING. Finally we get to my dorm. THE ENTRANCE IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF IT, UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS. I can do this. I CAN DO THIS. Get inside. Talk to/greet ryouchou (head of the dorm). He hands me my key. I live on the FIFTH FLOOR. THERE IS NO ELEVATOR. THERE IS NO ELEVATOR. I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but now is just as relevant: TOKYO IS HOT AND HUMID AS FUUUUUCK RIGHT NOW. I SWEAT ENOUGH AS IT IS, BUT I WAS LITERALLY DRIPPING DRIPPING AS I CARRIED THAT SHIT UP 3 MORE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS. But then I was in my room and it was awesome and I was done carrying that shit for ten months and that's the end of that.
Now let's jump back in time and actually chronicle something other than pain and awkward gaijin-dom (well the awkward gaijin-dom is there regardless).
So when I finally cleared all of the lines at the freaking airport, I go out to the meeting/pickup area to find a person holding a sign with my name on it. This person was Nayuta, my new BFFizzle. He was the person I asked for to show up at the airport and guide me to my dorm. THANK GOD FOR HIM OR I WOULD HAVE DIED SO MANY TIMES OH MY GOD. Not only did he know his way around (and really well for that matter!) he also lived 10 minutes WALKING DISTANCE from my dorm! This means I already have a conveniently located friend that can help me when I inevitably need help. On top of that, he really was just an awesome dude. At first I was expecting that they would gather large groups of us at the airports, split us off based on our dorm, and guide us all like a horrible, bumbling herd of terrified sheep to our dorm. When I found out it was one guy just guiding me to my dorm, I was a bit nervous about the awkwardness of the endeavor we were about to undertake (especially when he said it would take a few hours to get there from this airport). BUT IT TOTALLY WASN'T, OH MY GOD. He was really, just the nicest guy. He was talkative, but definitely not annoyingly so. We kept up legit conversation the entire time with very few gaps (and when there were gaps, they weren't awkward at all! I can't even believe it). He offered to show me around. He told me he'd show me lots of restaurants (he obviously really really likes raamen). He offered to help me with Japanese, I offered to help him with English. Fair trades are AWESOME. He's a Spanish major, or at least studying it. He likes languages a lot. WE WILL BE BEST FRIENDS. He turns twenty in less than a month and it should be fun. Now to make this about ME! I HELD UP THAT ENTIRE CONVERSATION WITH HIM FOR HOURS. I SPOKE ONLY IN JAPANESE! I am better at this language than I thought (and much better than I SHOULD be since I haven't really spoken it in about 4 or 5 months). If THIS is any indication of how I'll do on the placement test, then I'm in decent shape!
My dorm is awesome. The ryouchou is AMAZING. He just seems like such an awesome dude. He has his rules, but none of them seem to strict. If you want to go out, you write down when you're gonna be out, when you come back (for multiple nights away), and a number/address he can reach you at. Then you put a red thingy over your name tag thing near the door. It's simple, it's easy, it doesn't seem too strict. It really doesn't seem he's restricting how often you go out, he'd just like to know you're not dead or missing. Laundry is free. You can hang dry your clothes, or you can pay and use a dryer. There's a Japanese style bath (OH MY GOD). There are also two showers (what I will actually be using.). I don't remember seeing toilets. I need to find the bathroom on my floor (if there is one). I think there is, because I think heard sinks. Tonight I will go on an adventure to find one. A pantsless adventure. I am not wearing pants. I have no roommate and I am not wearing pants. I have no stinky roommate that will spill milk in the carpet and not clean it up and let it rot and never leave the room and constantly play robot clicky game in his massaging chair or noise and be nocturnal and I am not wearing pants. I will not have a roommate that hangs a glow-in-the-dark cross and tells me my homosexuality makes him uncomfortable and stink and not do his stinky laundry and do workouts every night to make himself stink more and vomit in the room and try to blame me for it the next day and I am not wearing pants. I am not wearing pants and it is grand. Room's pretty sweet. It's not too small. It's got a desk, a dresser/armoir thing, this standing shelfy thing, and a bed. Under the bed appear to be three large chest things I haven't investigated yet, but I can imagine them being very useful. I have FOUR trashcans. Learning to super sort my garbage will be an adventure on its own. That'll probably be in a later entry...
It's 11:30 and I'm exhausted. You people reading this are just beginning your day, and mine's just ending. Weird. I've only just begun to unpack, and I still have to make my bed up (sheets are in the bag thing still. They look practically new~). I'm pretty sure one of my neighbors is singing. I'm so thirsty. I'm tired. I don't want to take pictures of my place until I've unpacked. I'll edit this (if I can?) post and put pictures in later. I'm gonna go finish unpacking, making my bed, finding the nearest bathroom, and go to sleep.
You guys, I already fucking love Japan
I DON'T HAVE A ROOMMATE! I DON'T HAVE A ROOMMATE! I'M ALREADY NOT WEARING PANTS!
Let's start at the beginning. Yes, that is a very good place to start.
Wake up> last minute shit> airport. Yay. The security line took for-fucking-ever to get through. On top of that, these two russian douchebags (probably the same age as me) decided to cut in line. To make matters worse, one of them smelled HORRIBLY of B.O. through TWO sweatshirts. Now, in case that wasn't bad enough, when you get to the actual security thingy, you must remove all jackets. He did so, AND THE SMELL WORSENED. Thank god he wasn't on my flight...
Waited waited waited for my plane
Got on my plane
Sat on my plane for 11ish hours.
That's about as eventful as my plane ride was. I napped a lot, I read a lot. I left my DS in the wrong bag, so I couldn't play Witch's Tale. I was really, really (possibly too) sad about this...
I SAW MT. FUJI FROM THE PLANE! I SAW OFUJISAN FROM THE PLANE! I could be making this up, but I coulda sworn I read somewhere that if you see Mt. Fuji while you're flying into Japan, it means you're going to have a great trip... That mountian could have also not been Mt. Fuji, BUT DON'T YOU FUCKING RAIN ON MY PARADE THAT MOUNTAIN WAS MT. FUJI IF I SAY IT WAS FUCKING MT FUJI.
My plane was full of a ridiculous number of attractive people. One of them looked like a taller version of a younger Ninomiya Kazunari. He waited behind me in the line for the bathrooms. I was tempted to tell him he could share mine. There was this other hawt dood within staring distance. AND AT ONE POINT HE FELL ASLEEP BUT THE WAY HE WAS SITTING HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS COLD AND I WANTED TO CUDDLE HIM SO BAD YOU HAVE NO IDEA OH MY GOD.
I had a window and noone sat directly next to me, so I was happy. The guy two seats left of me tried a couple times to make weird, awkward conversation. I responded politely and in a way that killed it and prevented him from saying anything to prolong the torture.
My iPod battery didn't die and I'm unbelievably grateful.
About half an hour before landing, I got that "OH MY GOD IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!" feeling. I kept watching the little countdown thing on the screens that said how long it was until we landed. It went from 31 to 28 to 37. I was pissed.
I tried to study on the plane for my Japanese Language Placement Test. If that was any indication of anything, then I haven't learned Japanese in a year and I'm going to fail.
While in the airport, I kept getting distracted by ridiculously attractive people. Like, no joke, there were multiple occasions where I'd start to stare at someone and then realize a minute later that there were about 10~20 feet between me and the next person in line. I'm going to die in this country.
Furthermore, everyone that worked at the immigrations thing was ALSO ridiculously attractive. And I really really mean that. There were, like, 10 people working it and it was a healthy mix of men and women. They were all REALLY REALLY pretty. Like, this isn't even, "OH, TIM HAS YELLOW FEVER AND HE WOULD BANG THEM LOL." No! Like, if these people were in our high school, they would be the popular, pretty asians and they could bang whoever they wanted only they'd just be banging each other because that's about as well as you can do, really. Also, I had a favorite, and I got placed in his line and I was so happy.
I went and I picked up the bags I checked AND THAT'S WHEN THE TROUBLE BEGAN. Let's focus on my luggage for a minute, shall we? I'll go back and pick apart the other important parts of this story afterward, but my luggage needs special mention. I had two carry-ons. One was a messenger bag. It was of a decent weight because it had my laptop in it among other things. The other was a backpack that was quite full. It wasn't heavy, but it was very full of stuff and so it was large and awkwardly shaped. If that wasn't bad enough, I had two bags I checked. These were both gigantic and weighed VERY close to 50 pounds each. I think one was 45 and the other was 49.5 or 48.5. I mean, yeah, anyone can lift 50 pounds, that ain't shit. But I'm talking, I need to transport TWO fifty pound, cumbersome bags, AND a backpack, AND my messenger bag in a city I've never been to. I threw the lighter bag on top of the heavier bag, raised its pully-dealy and pulled them together. THIS HURT MY HAND. It was easy to pull (WHEELS ARE AWESOME), but it was fucking crushing my palm. It's one of those things where you keep switching hands because it hurts, but then both hands get hurt and by the end of it you just want to curl up in a ball wherever you are and die. I had to carry these out of the airport (which included going through another security thing, which included waiting in line). Then I had to go through a station and board a train. Luckily, this was a seated train (meaning preselected seats based on your ticket) and it had spots for luggage. I gladly put them down, took my seat, and rested my hand. While in this neck of the journey, my muscles in my right forearm were so fucked up from that thing pressing on my palm, that when I was asked to write my email address for a friend, I LEGITIMATELY STRUGGLED (it was a combination of my locked up muscle, the shaky train, and the lack of a hard surface to write on). Of course, this was only the beginning. We disembarked at another station (one of the bigger and more crowded in the tokyo area) and waited on a crowded platform for another train. This train was not the same, preselected seating setup. I had to hold onto those bags in the midst of a crowded train. It wasn't that bad, but there's also a semi-large gap between the platform and the train. TRY GETTING TWO BIG HEAVY BAGS OVER THAT OH MY GOD. We got off that train, BUT THAT WASN'T THE END OF IT! Now we just had one more train to ride to get to where I live. I thought I was in the clear. NO. We passed by the Shinjuku station, ONE OF THE BUSIEST IN THE FUCKING WORLD. UNLESS I'M JUST NOT REMEMBERING CORRECTLY, IT'S THE ONE THAT HOLDS THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS RECORD FOR BUSIEST TRAIN STATION. A shit ton of people got off the train, FOUR SHIT TONS OF PEOPLE GOT ON THE TRAIN. MISERY. We finally got off that train, the last train of the evening. HOORAY, IT'S OVER I thought. WRONG. BATSU. DAME. FAIL DESU. five minute walk to the dorm! Now, a five minute walk is heavenly! That's nothing. I'm really really glad the station is so conveniently close! BUT MY ARMS WERE DYING. THAT WALK FELT LIKE FOREVER. TO MAKE IT WORSE, THE FUCKIN SMALLER BAG KEPT FALLING OFF THE BIGGER ONE. SO I'D HAVE TO AWKWARDLY STOP AND FIX THEM AND CONTINUE WALKING. Finally we get to my dorm. THE ENTRANCE IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF IT, UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS. I can do this. I CAN DO THIS. Get inside. Talk to/greet ryouchou (head of the dorm). He hands me my key. I live on the FIFTH FLOOR. THERE IS NO ELEVATOR. THERE IS NO ELEVATOR. I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but now is just as relevant: TOKYO IS HOT AND HUMID AS FUUUUUCK RIGHT NOW. I SWEAT ENOUGH AS IT IS, BUT I WAS LITERALLY DRIPPING DRIPPING AS I CARRIED THAT SHIT UP 3 MORE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS. But then I was in my room and it was awesome and I was done carrying that shit for ten months and that's the end of that.
Now let's jump back in time and actually chronicle something other than pain and awkward gaijin-dom (well the awkward gaijin-dom is there regardless).
So when I finally cleared all of the lines at the freaking airport, I go out to the meeting/pickup area to find a person holding a sign with my name on it. This person was Nayuta, my new BFFizzle. He was the person I asked for to show up at the airport and guide me to my dorm. THANK GOD FOR HIM OR I WOULD HAVE DIED SO MANY TIMES OH MY GOD. Not only did he know his way around (and really well for that matter!) he also lived 10 minutes WALKING DISTANCE from my dorm! This means I already have a conveniently located friend that can help me when I inevitably need help. On top of that, he really was just an awesome dude. At first I was expecting that they would gather large groups of us at the airports, split us off based on our dorm, and guide us all like a horrible, bumbling herd of terrified sheep to our dorm. When I found out it was one guy just guiding me to my dorm, I was a bit nervous about the awkwardness of the endeavor we were about to undertake (especially when he said it would take a few hours to get there from this airport). BUT IT TOTALLY WASN'T, OH MY GOD. He was really, just the nicest guy. He was talkative, but definitely not annoyingly so. We kept up legit conversation the entire time with very few gaps (and when there were gaps, they weren't awkward at all! I can't even believe it). He offered to show me around. He told me he'd show me lots of restaurants (he obviously really really likes raamen). He offered to help me with Japanese, I offered to help him with English. Fair trades are AWESOME. He's a Spanish major, or at least studying it. He likes languages a lot. WE WILL BE BEST FRIENDS. He turns twenty in less than a month and it should be fun. Now to make this about ME! I HELD UP THAT ENTIRE CONVERSATION WITH HIM FOR HOURS. I SPOKE ONLY IN JAPANESE! I am better at this language than I thought (and much better than I SHOULD be since I haven't really spoken it in about 4 or 5 months). If THIS is any indication of how I'll do on the placement test, then I'm in decent shape!
My dorm is awesome. The ryouchou is AMAZING. He just seems like such an awesome dude. He has his rules, but none of them seem to strict. If you want to go out, you write down when you're gonna be out, when you come back (for multiple nights away), and a number/address he can reach you at. Then you put a red thingy over your name tag thing near the door. It's simple, it's easy, it doesn't seem too strict. It really doesn't seem he's restricting how often you go out, he'd just like to know you're not dead or missing. Laundry is free. You can hang dry your clothes, or you can pay and use a dryer. There's a Japanese style bath (OH MY GOD). There are also two showers (what I will actually be using.). I don't remember seeing toilets. I need to find the bathroom on my floor (if there is one). I think there is, because I think heard sinks. Tonight I will go on an adventure to find one. A pantsless adventure. I am not wearing pants. I have no roommate and I am not wearing pants. I have no stinky roommate that will spill milk in the carpet and not clean it up and let it rot and never leave the room and constantly play robot clicky game in his massaging chair or noise and be nocturnal and I am not wearing pants. I will not have a roommate that hangs a glow-in-the-dark cross and tells me my homosexuality makes him uncomfortable and stink and not do his stinky laundry and do workouts every night to make himself stink more and vomit in the room and try to blame me for it the next day and I am not wearing pants. I am not wearing pants and it is grand. Room's pretty sweet. It's not too small. It's got a desk, a dresser/armoir thing, this standing shelfy thing, and a bed. Under the bed appear to be three large chest things I haven't investigated yet, but I can imagine them being very useful. I have FOUR trashcans. Learning to super sort my garbage will be an adventure on its own. That'll probably be in a later entry...
It's 11:30 and I'm exhausted. You people reading this are just beginning your day, and mine's just ending. Weird. I've only just begun to unpack, and I still have to make my bed up (sheets are in the bag thing still. They look practically new~). I'm pretty sure one of my neighbors is singing. I'm so thirsty. I'm tired. I don't want to take pictures of my place until I've unpacked. I'll edit this (if I can?) post and put pictures in later. I'm gonna go finish unpacking, making my bed, finding the nearest bathroom, and go to sleep.
You guys, I already fucking love Japan
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Some Background...
I always want to spell it 'backround'...
Hi, I'm Tim! Every word in that sentence was capitalized, but that's beside the point... I have just over 24 hours left in America. It has been my dream to go to Japan for the longest time. I decided with my heart of hearts that I was going to go there when I was in the 4th grade. I'm now preparing to enter my third year of college and it's finally happening. I tried to go through an exchange program in high school that would let me spend some time there in the summer, but that idea was quickly veto'd by my parents for financial reasons (and since I didn't have a job at the time, I really couldn't argue...). I tried to apply to a Japanese college (Sophia, oddly enough) to go to full time. This idea was shot down even more quickly. My parents didn't think it would be a good idea for me to go so far away for so long so suddenly. They promised me that if I went to an American college I could do a study abroad in Japan. That is what I am now doing, and I cannot explain to you the amounts of excitement, happiness, and childlike glee that are swirling around inside of me.
This is my first real time abroad for any length of time. The only time I've ever actually left the country was a trip to Canada a few years ago. The trip wasn't even directly to Canada... My brother, dad, and I made a trip up to Seattle and decided to drive into Vancouver for a day. We probably spent AT MOST 12 hours there. Other than that, I've never been out of the US. This is really pretty shameful for how close I live to Mexico, but... whatever.
Prior to this year, I've been a student at USF. That's San Francisco, not Southern Florida. I'm a double major in Japanese Studies and International Relations. With the exception of one semester my first year of college, I've taken a Japanese language class every semester for the last six years (having tested up to a higher level class and then getting fucked over by the available classes, I was forced to take a semester long break... I AM STILL BITTER.). My high school Japanese teacher was (and still is) an amazing woman. Her class is what REALLY made me love this language, culture, country, and people. I took Japanese for fun. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to learn it and was interested in it, but I just thought it would be a kind of fun little class I could take on the side and not care too much about. BOY DID THAT CHANGE LOL!!1 By the time my freshman year was over, Japanese was my favorite class. I looked forward to it pretty much every day (AP preparations can make you hate even your most beloved classes...). Prior to falling in love with Japanese, I had been trying to decide between veterinary school and becoming a professional musician (brass and woodwinds... nothing cool...). Now I kinda look back on that and laugh. Animals and music are still two things I absolutely love, but I know I've found something I'm passionate about with Japanese.
These ramblings are weird and awful, but it's 3 AM so give me a fucking break.
Don't read this blog if cursing and stories about gay sex scare you/make you angry/etc. You will not like this blog.
So yeah, 行くよ! I'm off to Japan finally. I'm going to be there for about 10 months. I intend to make the most of every single day. I don't want to look back and say "I wish I had gone and seen.../I wish I gone and done...", I want to look back and say "I can't wait til I go back and do/see that again..."
I'm going to drink a lot (legal drinking age + alcohol in vending machines = YEEESSSSSS!!!). I'm going to go to a lot of arcades (I'm a total fighting game junky, and I intend to go and learn from the best. I'm hoping to attain some sort of "regular" status in some places and get ACTUALLY good.). I'm going to get laid (LOL, THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING. OHAI CULTURAL BOUNDARIES AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS!). I'm going to get a job (let's see if modeling works... and when it doesn't I'll try something more realistic, like working in an English cafe~). I'm going to take public transportation and go on adventures and get lost (but I'll travel in a group and know enough Japanese to ask for directions...). I'm going to have fun.
I'm going to have fun.
I mean, ok, yeah, I'll go to class too, sometimes... and maybe I'll pay attention... but let's be serious...
This has quickly become pointless and lengthy (lol that's wha-) so I'm gonna cut myself off there.
The next time I update this thing, I'm going to be in Japan, you guys!
Wish me luck!
頑張ります!
Hi, I'm Tim! Every word in that sentence was capitalized, but that's beside the point... I have just over 24 hours left in America. It has been my dream to go to Japan for the longest time. I decided with my heart of hearts that I was going to go there when I was in the 4th grade. I'm now preparing to enter my third year of college and it's finally happening. I tried to go through an exchange program in high school that would let me spend some time there in the summer, but that idea was quickly veto'd by my parents for financial reasons (and since I didn't have a job at the time, I really couldn't argue...). I tried to apply to a Japanese college (Sophia, oddly enough) to go to full time. This idea was shot down even more quickly. My parents didn't think it would be a good idea for me to go so far away for so long so suddenly. They promised me that if I went to an American college I could do a study abroad in Japan. That is what I am now doing, and I cannot explain to you the amounts of excitement, happiness, and childlike glee that are swirling around inside of me.
This is my first real time abroad for any length of time. The only time I've ever actually left the country was a trip to Canada a few years ago. The trip wasn't even directly to Canada... My brother, dad, and I made a trip up to Seattle and decided to drive into Vancouver for a day. We probably spent AT MOST 12 hours there. Other than that, I've never been out of the US. This is really pretty shameful for how close I live to Mexico, but... whatever.
Prior to this year, I've been a student at USF. That's San Francisco, not Southern Florida. I'm a double major in Japanese Studies and International Relations. With the exception of one semester my first year of college, I've taken a Japanese language class every semester for the last six years (having tested up to a higher level class and then getting fucked over by the available classes, I was forced to take a semester long break... I AM STILL BITTER.). My high school Japanese teacher was (and still is) an amazing woman. Her class is what REALLY made me love this language, culture, country, and people. I took Japanese for fun. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to learn it and was interested in it, but I just thought it would be a kind of fun little class I could take on the side and not care too much about. BOY DID THAT CHANGE LOL!!1 By the time my freshman year was over, Japanese was my favorite class. I looked forward to it pretty much every day (AP preparations can make you hate even your most beloved classes...). Prior to falling in love with Japanese, I had been trying to decide between veterinary school and becoming a professional musician (brass and woodwinds... nothing cool...). Now I kinda look back on that and laugh. Animals and music are still two things I absolutely love, but I know I've found something I'm passionate about with Japanese.
These ramblings are weird and awful, but it's 3 AM so give me a fucking break.
Don't read this blog if cursing and stories about gay sex scare you/make you angry/etc. You will not like this blog.
So yeah, 行くよ! I'm off to Japan finally. I'm going to be there for about 10 months. I intend to make the most of every single day. I don't want to look back and say "I wish I had gone and seen.../I wish I gone and done...", I want to look back and say "I can't wait til I go back and do/see that again..."
I'm going to drink a lot (legal drinking age + alcohol in vending machines = YEEESSSSSS!!!). I'm going to go to a lot of arcades (I'm a total fighting game junky, and I intend to go and learn from the best. I'm hoping to attain some sort of "regular" status in some places and get ACTUALLY good.). I'm going to get laid (LOL, THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING. OHAI CULTURAL BOUNDARIES AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS!). I'm going to get a job (let's see if modeling works... and when it doesn't I'll try something more realistic, like working in an English cafe~). I'm going to take public transportation and go on adventures and get lost (but I'll travel in a group and know enough Japanese to ask for directions...). I'm going to have fun.
I'm going to have fun.
I mean, ok, yeah, I'll go to class too, sometimes... and maybe I'll pay attention... but let's be serious...
This has quickly become pointless and lengthy (lol that's wha-) so I'm gonna cut myself off there.
The next time I update this thing, I'm going to be in Japan, you guys!
Wish me luck!
頑張ります!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
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