I'm Totally a 日本人...JK DAKE!

*JK dake is copyrighted by Rene Bystron.

*oh, and try mousing over anything that you don't understand, I've supplied explanations for most japanese words/phrases, either romaji or Japanese.

My previous post was very choppy and awkwardly put-together, as I noticed when I read through it again. If you must know, that post was a conglomeration (SAT word) of multiple days' worth of writing, in short, 10-minute bursts. Today (Tuesday) was the first day I had any time to myself, to relax, to listen to Grace Kelly, and to actually do homework, haha. What the hell have I been doing with my time? Well, it's broken up pretty well like this:



A) Class. We have class from 9:30 am to 12:50 pm, with 2 10-ish-minute breaks in between the sections of class. SANC is located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, a really short walk from this ginormous transportation hub, Shibuya Eki (Station). Shibuya Eki itself is a 20-minute bus ride from our apartment buildings (both buildings are about 3 minutes apart), which are affectionately and appropriately named the "Monthly Mansions."

B) Exploring. This is Day 2 and we've already explored a good chunk of the surrounding Shibuya area, where there are TONS of shops, department stores, boutiques, restaurants, ramen shops, Starbucks (essential, but sadly it costs 400 yen--4 bucks--for a smaller than "tall" drink...WOMP WOMP), and best of all, PEOPLE. There are always always people walking around, it's like one of Tokyo's answers to Times Square (yes, I did just make that comparison. I CAN, I'm a New Yorker).

C) Searching for something and failing. I must have looked at every denshi jisho in greater Tokyo, specifically in Akihabara (the famous Tokyo "electric town" where they sell every electronic item you could have ever imagined), looking for one that would suit me and not make even Mr. Light gasp upon looking at the price tag. On Monday (my second day of looking for one, mind you), we spent a good 5ish hours after class, in a group of about 6, looking for those damn things. We perfected the art of saying, ”すみません。　電子辞書　が　ありますか, except of course, when it was Rene's turn to ask someone something and instead of struggling in Japanese like the rest of us, stepped aside and presented them to Kisho (as if they won a prize), and stated, "これは　日本人!”　("Here is a Japanese person!").
(If you're curious, we did end up getting them, all four of us got the same one, Canon Wordtank G90, and are still thanking Mr. Light profusely.)

D) Eating. You knew this one was coming. Though I feel like my appetite has adjusted to Japanese standards--I get full faster than I do back in the states. So since I only need a little bit of delicious Japanese food to satisfy me, I save MAD MONEY. Lunch for me is usually a bowl of rice with awesome meat on top, or maybe a bowl of soba. Today I paid 380 yen, which is less than 4 dollars. HELL EFFIN YEAH. And tonight, me, Ki-chan and Mattie didn't feel like cooking so we went in search of ramen and found this kickass, tiny little place by the Shibuya mansion (or where we think it is, none of us have actually been there yet) with awesome food, including fried rice. Totally going back there. And I've decided I'm going to try to friend the guy who works there (by himself), God knows he could use some amusement in his life, I'm sure.
Along with eating goes cooking, and I'll just say I'm glad I'm not a complicated eater. I cook my simple dishes of chicken or beef with tomatoes and asparagus and things like that, and then bring it over to Mattie and Ki-chan's room and laugh as they gape at my dinner plate, which they call a snack. Though I must say I'm very impressed with their cooking abilities. Men are now forever safe from my scorn when it comes to actually being able to make edible food.

E) Karaoke. No lie. I've been in Japan for less than a week, and I have gone karaoke-ing twice already. It's so much fun, especially because SANC people are hilarious and crazy, and you can do it basically whenever. Both times it's been on a complete whim, though Monday's was clearly necessary because we had been wandering Akihabara for hours and were getting frustrated and tired and needed to lift our spirits so we wouldn't be Debbie Downers (also copyrighted by Rene Bystron). It's also SUCH a Japanese thing to do, and I mean, when in Rome... =]

I'm hoping to have pictures up soon, but for now I have to go memorize these 20 kanji and like 40 new vocab words. And read things. At a faster pace than we read them today, haha.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my コーヒー　の　デート, so I'm really excited to sit down and people watch. Especially since Nihonjin are my favorite people right now =]