Wet and Rusting Bullets

So it's kinda wet and rainy here.  I don't know if that's what caused my cold, but it doesn't really matter.  I'm sick, but it's cool.  I'm not terribly sick.  I spent ¥1029 on cough syrup (せきシロップ) today.  I feel a bit cheated, but I needed it.

I went to Costco again yesterday.  I didn't get sucked into Nishifunabashi (西船橋) this time, so we had extra time.  We stopped by the beach before going.  It was a nice beach.  Kind of looked like an abandoned water park which made me think of Spirited away.  It was a little too hot to be creepy so we just had fun.  There was this awesome sandbar like 20ft. off shore.  It was really fun. We were thinking about doing a beach party for all the ILP kids, but then we found these signs that said you couldn't swim in the ocean! What's the point of having a beach if you can't swim!? 

So that plan went down the drain.

Oh well.

I've spent all day inside today.  I'm okay with it because I figured out that my window opens up all the way! So I've been sitting in it and leeching off of wireless.  

Class tomorrow.  Only two more weeks and then I'm off to Kyoto.  I have my bus ticket.  I'm excited to settle into my place for the year.  I compared the sizes of my room here and my room there and I should get another 3.5 m^2! I'm super duper excited.  

That's all for now. 

Love until later,

Caitlin D.

Circles

So I figure it's about time I post an update.  I've been sadly negligent of my blog (is that proper english? I don't even know anymore...).  

I've been hoboing it around Tokyo for the last couple of weeks.  School then play everyday.  I've made lots of new friends, actually.  I met up with Joon from UCR and he introduced me to some people from Waseda University (where Arito goes) who studied at UCR last semester, one of whom is coincidentally Arito's former roommate.  Their names are Dan and Shima.  It's a small world.

And as if that wasn't coincidence enough, I ran into two Jodaiko members in Shibuya after hanging out with Dan and the clan.  It was so surprising.  Just walking down a random street in Japan and low and behold, some people from Cali.

But wait, it gets better, I was in Asakusa before the Gaijin 祭りand 花火大会 and I ran into Hideto from the Kendo Club at UCR! I sware, it's like I didn't even cross an ocean! Ridonculous! 

Apart from the random encounters of the SoCal kind, I've visited Odaiba to see the Gundam, been to my first Festival and fireworks festival, painted a handbell, done lots of shopping, and been to the Costco in Chiba... which brings me to my NEXT story!

So Jannice and I hooked up on Sunday to check out the Costco in Chiba (yes, they have Costcos in Japan).  We met at Kameido station around 10am.  We left the station at 10:20 or so.  We didn't arrive in Chiba until probably 2pm.  Why did it take so long, you ask? Because Nishi Funabashi is the Bermuda Triangle of the JR Train system!! 

We get to this station and the track splits (it also shares track with the Keiyo line) and hop on the train we THINK is the right direction... NO. It took us BACK a station.  So we get off and hop a train back to Nishi Funabashi.  So we hop on the other track and head in the right direction (after much deliberation over maps).  It stops at Minami Funabashi and everyone on the train rushes off and onto another train.  Usually that's a sign that something is amiss... but we thought, "No... This is right... This line ends at the stop we want to get to." So we stayed.  The doors close and we head BACK to freaking NISHI FUNABASHI! aaaaAAAHAHHHH!!! 

At this point we're bordering on hysterics.  So we get BACK on the train and head BACK to Minami funabashi and hop trains to take us ONE more FREAKING stop that the line we WERE on SHOULD have taken us to but DIDN'T because of some retarded weekend schedule. 

It was harrowing to say the least, but when we finally got there, we were QUITE happy.  I've never been so happy to go to Costco in my life.  It was amazing.  I came back with Nutella, cheese, refried beans, a baked chicken, and some potato salad!  I've been eating well since Sunday.  

So now I'm in the planning stages of Mt. Fuji.  We'll be heading out early Saturday morning to climb to our lodging, stay the night, hit the peak on Sunday and climb back down.  Arito mentioned an onsen... I imagine that will be marvelous! 

On a side note, I just downloaded the new As Tall As Lions CD and it's most wonderful.  Kind of fitting for my situation.  That band will forever be associated with Sara, Anthony, John and the other Taikonauts, but now I've got a new batch of songs to associate with Japan.  It's a happy blend of old and new.  

I'm definitely going to miss having Arito, Hiro and Jannice close by to call up when I want to hang with some familiar faces after I move to Kyoto.  Jannice will come visit, and hopefully Arito and Hiro as well, so that's a plus, but still.  I am excited to have Jannice stay with me sometime.  We can hit up some cool joints in Kyoto and rock the Old Capital together.  

There's a lot in my future to be excited about, I just need to keep my eye on the prize to keep the sad stuff out. 

I was watching Mushishi (an anime Anthony and Liz recommended to me) the other night and I got really excited for the rest of my year here and realized how quickly it will go.  

Life is good right now and I'm grateful for it.

Love until later, 

Caitlin D.

Life and death, Skinny Love, Life and Death.

It's sunny days here in Tokyo now. Typhoon 9 came and went. It was nice having some rain in the summer, and boy did it rain! It was muggy the whole time, though, so the overall experience was not that pleasant.  Still, unseasonable weather amuses me.  

I went to Tokyo tower yesterday.  Apparently its a full 10 meters taller than the Eiffel tower.  I didn't know that.  They have this creepy mascot... it's a conehead. No joke.  I wish it had been clearer, but it's alright.  I'll be heading back there again with Jennifer most likely at night.  That'll be awesome.  On the way back from Hamamatsucho there was a delay on the Yamanote-sen.  Chihiro said that based on the announcement being made, it was likely a suicide jump onto the train tracks.  Morbid.

School gets out an hour early today to go to the Natural Disaster Building.  Rumor is that there's an earthquake simulator there.  I'll let you know when I get back if I have the skills to not die in a major earthquake here.

Speaking of earthquakes, we've had quite a few lately starting Sunday with a 7.1.   Monday an 8.something hit around 5am and Thursday some kind of tiny aftershock came.  I barely felt anything on any of these instances.  Buildings in Japan are built on sliding foundations, so buildings shift with the ground.  The higher floors just kind of shuffle around, but it maintains balance.  It was interesting being inside the building while that happens. 

I found out that Taiko Center of Kyoto's main branch is located about 2 minutes from where I'll be living! I may have to pay for lessons, but that's something I'll have to decide after making a decent budget.  If I can't find anywhere else to play for free, then I may just do it.  Maybe I'll take some lessons even if I can find another place to play...

Anyway, I love and miss everyone so much! I'm hanging out with Jannice and Hiro tonight for Jannice's birthday.  We're going to hang in Shinjuku.  Should be fun.  I can't wait.

Shoot me an email if you have time! I'd love to hear about life back home, no matter how mundane. A year is an awful long time to be left out of the loop. 

Love until later,

Caitlin D.

like a drug

I hung out with Jannice today!! It was tons of fun.  We went to Harajuku and did some shopping then made our way over to Ikebukuro for some dessert.  

Harajuku was a bit disappointing.  I'd heard that Sunday was the day to go to see all the cosplaying weirdos, but all we got were some greasers.  Don't get me wrong, they were entertaining as hell, but I really wanted to see a dude in a maid costume or something.  

Ikebukuro was awesome. They have some great cheap stores. I got some awesome glasses and an aluminum water bottle for ¥600! The dessert bar we went to was called Milky Way. I had an amazing chocolate ice cream-banana-whip cream-pastry puff cookie-date nut-split-thing. It was good.  Too good.  

I'm gonna get fat here for sure.

I got my cell phone (ケータイ) on Friday! It's sooooo cooooool! It's got touch screen capabilities, live TV, email, internet, texting, infrared info transfer, and a 5 megapixel camera! Annnnd, I can unlock it and use it in the US on a US plan... at least that's what I've been led to believe. 

Now that I have a ケータイI can go places and it doesn't matter if I get lost! I can just CALL my friend and get directions.  It was a good thing I had it today or I would never have found Jannice.

I told her hanging out with old friends is like taking a drug.  It's awesome while you're with them, riding the high, but the come down sucks. Now I'm a bit homesick and feeling a bit lonely.  

So I'm posting and organizing and cleaning to keep myself busy till the withdrawals are gone.... and then I'll see them on Friday.  I'm addicted to my friends.  It's a problem.

I've been making some new friends too.  Jennifer and Kevin along with Jeremy.  They're all going to Doshisha.  Jennifer and Jeremy are in the same housing as me and Kevin is... not.  But they're lots of fun and I'm excited to have such awesome people for this year. 

That's all I got for now. Love until later.

bu bu bu bu... er!

So Japan is pretty cool. The first few days were rough. I was missing people a whole lot, but just recently I started to settle in. I was able to listen to As Tall As Lions and not cry. There are still times that it's hard-- nighttime tends to be the hardest, but then again it always has been.

I wandered around Akihabra the other day. The good deals are off the main drag. I randomly went directions down back-alley vendors till I found some good shops. I found a computer fan for 780 yen while most of the ones in the department store are 8000 yen+.

Today we went as a group to Harajuku. Japanese fashion is interesting. They love ruffles and billowy things and nothing really matches. I found a couple of shirts for a REALLY good price. But to be honest I bought them because I had to break a large bill for an ice cream crepe.

Classes are going well. I got placed in a rather low course, but I'm alright with it. These placements don't carry over to Doshisha and my basics could use some refreshing. I have three different teachers and all of them are pretty funny.

I'm starting to think I'm going to get fat here in Japan. The food is so good... I can't help but eat a bunch. I think what will keep me skinny is my skinny wallet.

Speaking of wallets, money is kind of annoying here. They have large denomination coins. I'm so used to coins being fractions of dollars that it's hard to connect in my mind how much I'm actually spending when I use those coins.

I met up with Hiro. That was super fun even though we didn't do too much. Getting a cell phone is going to be the death of me. We walked around shinjuku station for a bit while Hiro recited "pussy pussy pussy pussy..." It was quite amusing, but I don't care as much as he did when we were spouting "Tekkoki." I told him he was uptight. He half-heartedly agreed.

I haven't gotten to meet up with Jannice yet which is sad. I'm hoping Sunday maybe, but we'll see if she's feeling up to it. Saturday I go climbing at Takanaosan. It'll be a good workout. Maybe I'll work off some of this delicious food.

I'll write again Friday maybe, but probably Sunday in all actuality.

I love and miss you all! More pictures when I get my computer back!

the good and the bad: Stage 3

So I've arrived in Japan!!

It's got it's awesome points and it's sucky points. I'm having loads of fun, made some new friends. I miss home and family and FRIENDS, but I'm doing alright. My room is small, but comfy. It's good to have my own place to retreat to.

Class seems a bit simple, but I could probably use the review. My teacher the last day was cool, but I think we'll be switching around.

So far I've been to Shibuya, Akihabara, Shinjuku (kinda) Musashi-Sakai, and Kameido. I haven't really been too many places, but I've only been here for a few days.

My jet lag is pretty much over with, which is good. For the first couple of days I was awake at 5am and sleepy by 10pm.

I went to Shibuya today, but not under the circumstances I would have liked. I went to go get my computer taken care of. I tried to turn it on last night and it went to the screen of death for macs. I restarted it 15 different ways and it was all the same. So we went in today to get it looked at and they told me it was either the motherboard or the hard disk, neither of which is good. I can't imagine what happened. But it's getting fixed for free and I should be up and running again in about 5 days. Right now I'm on my friend's computer, so i think I'll call it quits for tonight.

Love you all and I'll post again when I can!