07/03 From July 3rd I guess I'll start with the bed, since I'm pretty sure that was the only thing left over from last night that I didn't mention. It was weird. Not very soft at all, like just an inch mattress, but for some reason it didn't feel like I was sleeping on the wooden frame. Then it had a cover, and you were supposed to put your sheet over than and the pillow, then another sheet, then your blankets. That was all fine. The pillow was weird too though. It was like a bean bag chair. Kind of hard, I was not fond of it. But not much I can do about that. I was glad I had Mrs. Bearie. That made it all a little better. I was happy that the beds were long enough that my feet didn't dangle off the end. But they were very narrow. Not such a big surprise, since everything here seems to be built on a scaled down model. The hostel itself is nice. I share a room with 7 other girls (although I think there are only 6 others here right now). We each get our own bed and it's surrounded by curtains so you can shut it out to get a little privacy. There are also tables and chairs (again, lower to the ground, smaller, very short backs) and lockers for everyone. Air conditioning, mirrors. Its all very clean too. And moving on to today, we'll start with breakfast, which I ate in the hostel room. It was 450, which was pretty reasonable, I thought. It was two large pieces of toast, a friend egg, some ham or something meat that I cannot identify and didn't eat, and a salad, which caused some confusion because the salad dressing was labeled in unknown kanji. I picked something that looked like italian, but I later found a picture of shrimp on it, so maybe I put seafood marinade on my lettuce? It was all very perplexing, and very early (they made an announcement at 7 in all the rooms which woke everyone up). Anyway, there was no silverware so I got to tackle this whole thing with ohashi (chopsticks), which added to the excitement. But the food was good. I'm going to have dinner here too, because it just makes more sense and because the real world outside of hostel land isn't as bilingual and is more scary. Plus, this is economical. I was joined at my table by a middle school boy and one of his group's chaperones. She had heard all about me from my bathing partner, and I think she sympathized a little with my getting dragged into that. She didn't say anything, but her eyes said sorry. It was sort of funny. The boy kept trying to teach me Japanese, and would correct everything I said, when I was really just saying a slightly more nuanced version of what he was saying. It was entertaining, so I let him do it. Maybe I was being a jerk, but I'm not sure. Probably. I left the hostel at about 9:45, after doing some studying. I took my kanji with me. The name of the game today was learning forgotten kanji. There was moderate success. I didn't know, but apparently we were all supposed to turn in our keys by 9:30 and vacate until 3. Oops. I did leave the building for that time (after my late exit) but I kept my key and no one commented, so that wasn't such a problem. I camped out with my kanji at a table outdoors. There were like 6 or 7 of them just sitting out in this path. When I got there, there were a few extra tables, but those filled up. In Japan, full tables doesn't mean that you just go find another place to sit, in means you share! Anyway, I am totally willing to share, but apparently people don't want to share with the white girl. I did have one man come over to my table, but when I looked up and smiled and nodded my head, he disappeared. Maybe my smile is just terrifying. Maybe he thought I was going to eat him. After a while I decided to venture out in search of food for lunch. I didn't know what I wanted and I didn't know where I could get something reasonable. I'm still not so certain about ordering food because then I have to check that it's vegetarian, and my Japanese is good, but I'd hate to be misunderstood on something that important. So I started wandering. I eventually ended up at this tiny little grocery store that I saw a lot of Japanese people going into. It was sort of old looking, not as shiny as the other stuff, but it looked good. So I went over to get onigiri, and I had my first Japanese only conversation in Japan. I couldn't find ume onigiri, so I asked the woman next to me if she could (the labels were in kanji). She said that they didn't have it, so I then explained that I was vegetarian, and asked which would be vegetarian. I then thanked her when she helped me find one. I grabbed a bottle of water, and then went to check out which was my second Japanese only conversation. The woman didn't even look up, so I don't think she knew I was American until after she had rung up everything (only 210 yen!) and read out the price. Having successfully navigated that, I felt so much more confident. I didn't even have to think the conversations through, I just knew what was being said and what I had to say, and this sort of "thinking in a foreign language" phenomenon helped me feel much more suited for this adventure. I took my food to a little park. Well, not so much a park as a stretch of trees and a stream set to the side of the road. Like the emerald necklace, or whatever they call it, in Boston, with the little parks going by the streets in a big circle. There was a little alcove of benches in a no smoking section, and I sat in a corner and ate my food. Smoking is much more prevalent here. I don't like it. I find it sort of ironic too, that although so many people smoke (probably about 50%) Japan still has the longest life expectancy. I think that if they as a country were to stop smoking, they'd probably all become immortal. At lunch, I was joined at first by sparrows, who were not at all shy and sat with me chirping and watching. They kept their distance though. Polite little birds. Then people came. My favorites were a little girl and her mom. They were eating their bento, and the girl had such a hard time with her hashi. She was even worse than I am! But she didn't stop, trying, even though I think half of her tamago ended up flying out unto the floor. She stared at me unabashed, in the way that the adults won't. They just stick to furtive alienating glances. But she smiled when I smiled and that made it all better. I didn't mind the way she looked at my hair and eyes because her eyes were happy when they did it. After that, nothing was all that interesting. I studied kanji, listened to my ipod, sang along a little when no one was else was about. I watched some pigeons in the park. One had somehow gotten splashed or fell in the water, because it was wet and its feathers were all scraggled. Instead of doing anything about it though, it just sat there grouchily and made faces, obviously moping. I went into a grocery store too, and that was a little bit scary because it was a clear indicator of what is in store for me for the next five months. I recognized hardly anything from the shelves. The things I didn't weren't typically what I would eat on a daily basis. Yes there was bread and eggs, but more there were noodles and rice and seasonings that I didn't recognize. I couldn't even tell you if there were sweets in the store, because the things I found which might have been could just have easily been potato chip substitutes. But the real tragedy was in the produce section. I'm not going to have fruit or bell peppers. They were just so expensive each. Picture a four dollar apple. Even the bad fruit was expensive. A can of peaches in syrup was also around the four dollar mark. The fruit that they did have was very limited. I didn't see a single berry. I don't know if I'll survive this shortage. I have since returned to the hostel. I've spent some time reading directions and maps and I'm pretty sure I have a plan of attach for tomorrow and getting to ICU. Registration starts at 9, but I don't think I'll be getting there until 11 or so, because that way there won't be rushes on the train, which will keep people from getting too mad about all of my luggage. You know, I'm starting to get more comfortable here, with the transactions, the food, the politeness. I was expecting much worse culture shock, but I guess I wasn't lying when I said that Tokyo was just another big city. It is. And I can do big cities. I have been my whole life. Only backlash that I can see is that I am starting to feel more self-conscious of my height and coloring. But mostly my height. I just don't know how comfortable I feel towering over most people, and not just women, men too. I guess I'll get used to it, but it can be a little uncomfortable when the sinks only hit you mid thigh instead of at your waist, and you have to look down all the time. It just reminds you every few minutes that you're an outsider.	main July 2009 June 2009 April 2009 March 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 email