Crossroads

By request I'll be putting up some specific information.

Daily routine:

Monday through Thursday are generally identical in their routine. The alarm on my tablet goes off between 8:00am and 10:00am depending on how late I stayed up the previous night and I spend a couple minutes on my computer checking for updates from family and friends. Once I've finished with that I bundle myself up in my towel and bathrobe and carry my shoes to the top of the outdoor stairs. Taking care not to wear my shoes inside the building, I toss them onto the top of the stairs and step out of the building into them and then descend to the first floor where I re-enter the building, take off my shoes, and choose between one of the two available private showers depending on how much water the previous user decided to spill on the only dry area to change.

The shower has a bit of a temperament and tends to decide to stop being warm, or decided to get super hot, or lose pressure on a whim and it can be frustrating when I'm mid wash, but usually it returns to normal if I wait a couple minutes. After that I return to my room, equally careful not to enter the building with my shoes on (The Chinese tenants seem to enjoy ignoring this rule that is posted on every door, so I can't avoid tracking dirt into my own room, but at least I can choose not to add to it.)

After changing into my clothes or the day, I'll start making breakfast depending on what ingredients I have. Recently I've been boiling up some pasta and slicing up some hot dogs into it with some Parmesan, salt, and pepper for flavor. I like pasta and it's affordable, but I'll need to find something new to make once I'm done with the few bags of pasta I bought. Some days I'll study some Japanese while I keep up with people on Facebook until I leave, and on other days I'll head out early to the school and work a little there until class starts.

I've got my walk to school down to muscle memory and, since I've altered it to miss all of the train crossings, it's pretty reliable as far as how long it takes to get to school, so I'm never late if I leave by 12:40.

Class official starts at 1:20, but has students rolling in until about 1:35. The lessons are broken into 4 parts with 3 short breaks to separate them and they tend to go fairly smoothly depending on the general atmosphere of the class. After class, depending on who's busy, I'll join a few people in Takadanobaba for some lunch/dinner and then head home. Some days I'll stay and play a few games of pool with another student before heading home.

The walk home from Takadanobaba is a little more than an hour, but I tend to zone out and think while I walk, so I hardly notice it. Upon arriving home, I usually look over some of the Japanese work we did and watch a few movies online. Tokyo is really expensive and there isn't much to do without spending a ton of money, so I zone out until it's time for bed.

Friday is often different to the extent that after school sometimes includes a trip to the Izakaya or a pub and twice it has lead to Karaoke. The rest of the weekend is usually spent either recovering my sleep schedule, or being cheap to balance the previous expenses.

Pizza:

Normally pizza in Japan is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. A $12 pizza at home cost about $40 here and that means I thought I'd simply never have pizza here. Fortunately I can almost satisfy my pizza addiction with a slightly different type of pizza that still tends to be expensive, but is more common than traditional American style pizza. There is a chain of pizza places called "Shakey's" that hosts a pizza buffet on Wednesdays for about $12 and I can eat as much as I want until they close. It's a great deal and is an easy excuse for people to gather.

The People:

I usually hang out with the other students at Yoshida. So far there are only 3 Americans including myself. The rest of the group I mingle with is overwhelmingly Swedish with a little Canadian, French, Moroccan, and Korean. There are other nationalities represented at the school, but the majority of the Chinese students are all in higher level classes and we rarely have a chance to talk to the morning class students.

The Market:

The stores I frequent are usually 7/11 and MaruetsuPetit. Aside from their smaller size and the different products they sell, they're otherwise unremarkable. The precooked foods they sell though are notably better than what you'll get at a store in the states though, so in a pinch, grabbing a bento box for lunch or dinner is always satisfying.

Cooking:

I really don't have much capability to cook anything complicated, so I usually cook simple things like pasta and rice and supplement it with cooked meat from the store. The microwave has an oven, toaster, and grill option, so I might be able to make something work if I can figure those out.

Now for something that wasn't asked for

Crossroads:

At this point I've been here for over two months and the novelty has worn off. Its unfortunate, but Tokyo is painfully mundane for anyone without a small fortune to blow. My original intentions were to try to stay for an entire year and maybe longer, but I find myself second guessing that intention. I might have to look into moving to a different city if I decide to stay much longer, or I'll have to decide whether to cut the trip short at 6 months and find something else to do until my adventure is over.

Of course the hope is that with the novelty out of the way, I'll be able to find a routine that keeps me drawn in. This job I'm applying to is hopefully the start of that improvement. The money from that job should also help to deepen my pockets a little more and make my time more enjoyable. We'll have to see in a month how things start to turn around.

Next update will be on Sunday, after my job meeting.

All I wanted was a spring roll

There is a little "Mom and Pop" meat store on my path to work that I stop by occasionally. On my way home from class I ordered two fried shrimps and some chicken for my dinner and breakfast tomorrow. In the display were their usual items, but today they had out some spring rolls that looked incredibly delicious, but, as much as I wanted one, I told myself that I didn't need to spend the extra money.

While waiting for them to prep and cook my order I stood aside and thought about how my day was going. Up to this point I had slept until 10:00, skipped breakfast, and went to class. So far so good. Class was mildly unusual as I showed up 5 minutes before class started and there were only 3, including myself, of the 10 student there. Different and interesting is almost always a sure way to get my mood moving in the right direction.

Class progressed normally with just the three of us, but had a feel of being special since there was much more one on one feed back from both the teacher and the other students. Eventually a few more students trickled in before the first break, but the mood had already been set in the class, so it progressed productively and with a high level of energy.

The material we covered in class was not particularly difficult to understand, but it required filling our mouths with many, seemingly unnecessary, syllables and spewing them all out at once without any errors. Needless to say it was mildly difficult and the results were often humorous.

By the end of class my head hurt and I could barely focus, but it was because of the amount of new knowledge that I had gained and was still digesting rather than confusion or illness. That's how I think a good class should go. In addition to that, various small things here and there had been going my way and it felt like I had luck on my side, so I felt pretty darn good at this point.

After class I walked with some friends, since our destinations required going in the same direction for part of the way. One was Korean, the other Italian, and yet another whose nationality I have to assume was either Korean or Chinese. In any case, our common language was Japanese, so that's what we used. It was casual, fun, and I could easily understand and keep up with everyone involved.

Since I've never followed through with a second language for this long before I had always wondered what the language would "feel" like once I got my head wrapped around it, and this group gave me a taste of that. The excitement caused by the foreignness slipped away and it began to feel like I was simply communicating rather than speaking in code. My phrasing is as the loss of excitement may sound depressing, but a new excitement took its place. I'm excited by the realization that my classes and exposure to the language are having a real, positive impact on me beyond that of simply memorizing grammar and vocabulary.

Eventually I split from the group and headed off in my own direction along the path I'm so familiar with. I thought about food and decided to grab something from the "Mom and Pop" store that I mentioned previously, which brings us back full circle. However, now I've reflected on how good my day had gone and the realization amplified the already good feelings. I stood and watched others collect their purchases and the "Pop" talk to and interact with a baby in a stroller that a mother had wheeled in as she collected her items. I let myself enjoy the positivity that seemed to radiate from everyone around me.

When my order had been completed I noticed that they were also selling the sauce that I had been looking for for the last couple weeks, so I asked to add it to the bill, paid, and thanked the man in Japanese as always and headed off. The decision to not buy the spring roll seemed insignificant with how well the day was going and I quickly forgot about it. Since I was in such a good mood, I decided to try my luck at a slightly quicker way home. I've never tried this route before because, from a distance, it looked completely blocked and I was always in a hurry, so I didn't want to end up going too far out of my way. This time though I wasn't in a hurry and my exploration offered a new perspective that revealed that the barrier that I thought I had been seeing was actually entirely passable and much more convenient. The only stoplight that I would have had to wait for turned green as I approached it and let me continue on without stopping my stride.

Cut forward a few more minutes and I'm home sitting in my room getting ready to eat. Normally in the morning I get 2 shrimp to eat with my rice from home and they add a small delicious fried chunk of potato to garnish the order, and when I looked into the wrapper of today's dinner I could see they did it again, as I expected, but they also seem to escalate with the size of the order. Instead of the one chunk of potato, I got 3. Even better, there was a spring roll and it was just as amazing as it looked!!!

I've had a pretty darn good day.

Minor Revelations

I've been ignoring the blog recently and opting to post all of my small thoughts onto facebook instead, but I think I'll try to compile some of my thoughts here to give it some attention.

Minor Revelation:

The walkway to my "kitchen" is a couple inches short than I am. As a result I'm getting used to bowing as I enter and exit rooms, not to be respectful, but so I'm not disrespectful when I painfully bash my head in.

Clothes driers do not exist. As a result everything has to be carefully hung so that it will dry. Fold things nicely in a pile while their still a little damp and they'll retain that water for days. That and clothes get stiff.

Rice cookers are amazing. At first I didn't understand how they work, and I thought the film that formed inside of the machine was dangerous, but after a little research and experimentation I got it working. Half a cup of dried rice equates to a fool proof small bowl of delicious, perfect rice.

Rice is bland. Don't get me wrong, I love rice. It goes well with anything, but it still need any thing to keep from getting boring.

The water is good. A lot of places warn you about drinking the water, but here the water seems fine. I have a two liter jug that I fill from the faucet and leave in the fridge to drink with home made meals so that I don't have to get up to refill a cup every few minutes.

Not everyone follows the rules. In my building there are signs up that say, "Take off your shoes before entering the building. Please follow Japanese customs." I still see dirty shoe prints in the halls, and someone keeps leaving the doors open and it's really annoying. Also as a general rule, dive on the left, walk on the left, and while a number of people follow this, the rest wander wherever they please.(Not unlike America, other than us walking on the right, but in a country where everything else is so well ordered it seems like a bigger deal.)

Some people work to go to school, others go to school to work. And I don't mean the later care about getting an education. Students with a Student Visa are allowed to work about 30 hours a week. If you have less than an 80% attendance to your class you get deported. A surprising number of students ride that 80% line, not worrying about grade, just to work here.

GPS's are (almost) mandatory. I brought my tablet with me, but of all of its functions, the GPS has saved my butt the most. The best things is, it doesn't need wifi or 3g connection to work 80% of the time. Everyone who has one uses it regularly.

We don't have a teacher at Yoshida, we have 4. Every other day we have a different teacher and twice a week (Non-consecutive days) we have the same one. They each have a different personality and each have their own teaching methods, though the general structure of the class appears to be pre-planned. They're all very helpful and I'm sure only having to deal with a particular class once per week helps them to maintain their sanity.

We don't have 4 teachers at Yoshida, we have a school full of them. Everyone in the class has a different exposure to Japanese and a new perspective. Sometimes the only one who can explain something understandably is another student.

Japanese food is delicious. But anyone with half a brain already knew that.

Cheap entertainment is scarce. Without access to Netflix, or Hulu I have to look outside of my room to entertain myself. That generally leaves me with arcades, food, Pachinko, food, Drinking/karaoke, and food. Arcades are fun, but at 100yen per game it gets expensive fast. Food is amazing, but, assuming I've already had dinner and lunch, at 500-1200yen a pop, it is expensive. Pachinko.... I put in 1000yen, 60 seconds later it was gone. Food is pretty awesome, but it's not nearly as fun if you're alone, and people can't always join me. Drinking/karaoke is usually 500yen for a drink and it takes about 3000yen to get a good buzz. Another options is Nomihodai (All you can drink for 2 or 3 hours) for a set price of 2000 or 3000. Either way is expensive, but the later means you can drink as much as you want and not worry about a tab. Speaking of food, I'm going to buy some meat at the store this weekend and try to make a completely homecooked meal. I think I found some pretty cheap thin cut meat to play with.

ATMs are really convenient, but... You can find ATM's at every 7-Eleven, and a 7-Eleven every couple of blocks. They don't even charge any usage fees other than the set international exchange if you have a foreign bank. The only down side is that you have to draw in 10,000 (approx. $125) increments, so if you just want a small amount you're out of luck.

Watch out for Perverts! This is a sign that is posted on most streets a couple of times. Be extra careful on trains and subways especially during rush hour. Not even guys are safe, a classmate had an old man feel him up on a a packed train on his way home from school.

That's it for now, I'll post more as I think of them.

First Day of School

Things are starting to slow down, so my posts will likely be less frequent in order to keep them semi interesting,

Over the weekend a couple other people from EWU, who are living in Iburaki, came to Tokyo. I met them along with a few Japanese AUAP student and we explored Shinjuku together and eventually met up with one more AUAP student. Toward the end of the night we went to an Izakaya (Japanese all you can drink bar thing) and after a few hours, we went to Karaoke. The night was a lot of fun and alcohol made it much easier to feel comfortable speaking Japanese publicly.

On monday was seiji no hi which is the coming of age celebration for 20 year olds. I didn't bother exploring too much, but every girl who had recently turned 20 or was about to was wearing a Kimono or equally formal outfit with done up hair and as out enjoying the town. Guys on the other hand wore suits. It seemed exciting for those involved, but not much really went on in regards to it.

Today we had the first day of classes. The classes are small and there are obvious level differences within the class. Some of the students had already taken the class before, but missed too many days, others seemed to be able to speak very well, but likely hadn't practiced writing sufficiently. I found myself to be in the upper edge of the class and was able to help out students who were less exposed to the language. It's pretty easy at the start, and I'm not complaining, but I hope it starts to get more involved shortly.

After class I suggested getting lunch to a group of students and though a couple dropped out at the last moment, I ended up getting lunch with a very nice Italian guy and a Swedish guy. It's nice to be able to go out and socialize with people I've never met and not feel awkward about it. Because of our situations we always have something to talk about with the other students even if we have nothing else in common, so it's not hard tostart up a conversation and FIND something else we have in common.

With a Little Help From My Friends

Today was by the most interesting and eventful day of the last three. Orientation was exciting and we got placed in our classes. The students had a chance to mingle and I got to talking with a Cameron, an American, and Sam, a New Zealander. We all ended up in the same class and had the day to kill. Neither Sam nor I have usable phones, but Cameron had recently signed a contract for a phone and thought he knew where we could pick up some pre-paid phones.

Off we went to Shibuya on the subway. We went to Soft Bank which is a phone company that advertised prepaid phones in addition to their regular contracts, but apparently they didn't actually have any in the store, so we left and went out to find some food. There was a Ramen shop near by, so that's where we went. (We had all been nervous to try going into a restaurant individually, but as a group we felt comfortable attempting it.) It was surprisingly easy and the chef was enthusiastic and encouraging. We ordered our bowls of ramen, which came in options of something, salty, or spicy. There was an additional dimension of options which I didn't understand, so I asked him which of the salty options was the best and he pointed one out. I took him up on his suggestion and asked for some Gyoza as well. It was all very delicious, especially considered all that I had had previously since arriving in Japan was a vending machine Fanta, 100 yen cups of noodles, and some left over beef jerky.

After devouring the bowl of Ramen and Gyoza we attempted to pay the chef, but it turns out that we had clearly missed an important aspect of dining at this kind of location. The Chef finished up with another customer then came around the counter and took us over to what looked like a Vending machine/ATM. He put Cameron's money into the machine pushed the buttons that were associated with his order and the machine printed a receipt and returned some change. restaurant employees never actually see money in this shop, just receipts. It's kinda cool and very Japanese.

Following the food adventure we headed off into the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and let ourselves get lost in the urban jungle of shops, people, and noise. We visited the Apple store to get Cameron a case for his Japanese iPhone, and we found a Manga store where I got a recommendation for One Piece from an employee (the conversation was in Japanese of course). I purchased the first four books of the series of 30+ and we once again headed out into the city.

A few wrong turns got us into a few questionable alleys which contained various "adult" stores and "love" hotels and we made jokes accordingly. The rest of the evening had us simply wandering around looking at things. Eventually Cameron, who is engaged to a Japanese lady, had to met his brother-in-law, so we ended the night there. Frankly I'm glad because my knee had started to give out an hour or so before and it was getting painful to walk.

Sam and I took our leave and attempted to find our way back to our neck of the woods and failed miserable until we got some advice from a generous young woman who noticed that we were obviously lost. We had found ourselves in a local station and needed to find a "JR" station to get home. We ended up not using her advice since we couldn't figure out where the JR station was. Instead we just back tracked to the subway we came in on and took a best guess as to which train we needed to board. It got us pretty close, but was much further away from where we wanted to end up than we intended.

I made a quick stop at a nearby 100 yen shop to get a cup and a small bowl and plate for future home cooked meals, and we headed home. Eventually we got to the point where we had to go our separate ways and each took off towards our respective residences.

Oh, on a different note, I decided to shave about one and a half hours before I had to leave for orientation and it was a good thing I did so! The razor that I bought and brought from the states in incredibly in effective! Maybe it was because my beard had started to get long, but my normal razor was never this bad. Now that I am clean shaven though, I'll probably start shaving every day which should be easier on on the razor.

Thought of the day: Friends make life a heck of a lot easier to put up with.

Exploring Tokyo

Sorry, I got distracted last night and forgot to post. Yesterday was my exploring Tokyo day which started off with me getting up with the sun around 6:30, going outside, downstairs, and back into the building to take a shower. (There are no internal paths to get from the first to the second floor). After my shower I gathered my things and set off to find the Yoshida institute, so that I would know where it is for today's orientation at 10:00am. I made the mistake of "just going for it" and wound up getting lost. I eventually found the street it was on and proceeded to walk the way I thought the school was and ended up walking a few miles in the wrong direction.

After walking back and forth past the place I thought it should have been based on my map I realized that the GPS function on my Motorola Xoom works without any internet connection and it told me where to go and how far I had gone in the wrong direction. I eventually made it back to where I made the wrong turn and it was just a little ways past that. The school seems a little run down like everything else, but what I could see through the front windows looked nice. I'll be going in today to get a better sense of what it's like. This adventure took roughly 3 hours.

On my way back to the room, I used the tablet to scope out a more direct and less confusing path, which got me home in about 30 minutes on tired legs.

Once I had a chance to rest I once again left, but this time in search of food. My feet lead me in the opposite direction this time and I found a busy set of alleys where all of the action seemed to be in the area. Lots of restaurants and stores and Pachinko parlors and the movie theater. I also found a Daiso (100 yen shop) where I bought a trashcan, some cups of noodles, chopsticks, and a few other items. I wanted to try out a restaurant, but i felt awkward doing so with a bag of groceries. I was also kind of intimidated by the whole scene. Hopefully I'll meet some other friendly people at orientation and I can convince them to have lunch or dinner with me. Once I get a feel for it with a group I think I'll be more comfortable going on my own.

After orientation, assuming it doesn't take all day nor do I end up making other plans, I think I'll go back to where i found the Daiso to find a market that sells rice. I have a rice cooker in my room and I intend to use it to make cheap meals. Speaking of which I need to clean my mini kitchen. It didn't look or smell like anyone actually cleaned it before I arrived, so I want to get on top of that in case there are any germs on anything I might cook with.

So that's where I'm at right now. Sitting in front of my computer at 8:00am waiting to leave for orientation. I'll post again tonight to get back on track and tell you all about how orientation goes.

Akamon House

So far everything has been painless. On the flight to Seattle an older gentleman and I had a conversation about his kids and the difficulties of late teenhood and the early 20's. I arrived in Seattle with an excess amount of time, so the transition was laid back and unrushed. A combination of sleeping and watching movies made the flight to Tokyo very manageable. I was worried about customs since I entered on a tourist visa and the things that I've read said that in the case of changing visa types the applicant would have to leave the country and return with the new visa. Fortunately I just told the customs official that the school was taking care of the visa and she just waved me though with a comment making sure that I understood that I would have to take care of the Visa changing in a timely fashion.

Once I was officially though customs I faced my first real challenge. I had to locate the Sky Liner train and purchase a ticket. There weren't any signs, so I wandered around until I found their booth. I then proceeded to stand dumbly in front of the booth trying to make sure I had actually found the right place. I needed to make sure that the train went to Nippori station. Once I found evidence that I was most likely doing the right thing, I got in line. The cashier spoke very good English, so there was no difficulty obtaining the ticket(kippu) at that point. The ticket cost me 2,400 Yen which equates to about $33. The Sky liner has reserved seating like many planes, do and once I figured that out I found my seat at gave Mr. Mieno a call (My landlord). He had asked me to call so that he could meet me once I reached Otsuka Station. Nippori to Otsuka cost 150 Yen which was much more reasonable.

Mr. Mieno met me with a sign with my name on it and insisted on carrying my 46.5lb bag to his car and then up a very steep flight of stairs once we got to the Akamon house. My room is small, but once I put everything away in the storage spaces the room opened up and is looking promising. The place needs some cleaning which I'll get to tomorrow and I'll post pictures tomorrow as well.

I'm exausted, so I'm going to get some sleep and hopefully I'll avoid the jet lag since it's 9:00pm.