Thursday
I woke up late at noon with my brain in a sick vice grip. After some online prompting from the older sister, I suited up and trudged up to the supermarket, which is past the cemetery, past the boys school, a right at the hair salon and UP UP UP the hill. I needed fruit. FRUIT. Such a wonderful thing. And expensive thing, but worth every yen.
On my way I was getting super tired and had to take a break and lean on the fence that divided the sidewalk and the street. I think I must've been breathing heavy, because the boys in their red track suits passing by were looking back at me funny and saying "Is she okay?..." hahaha
I was considering buying some chirimenjako, which are boiled/dried baby sardines (not at all as gross as they sound!) which my host mother prepared for me last summer after I told her I was lactose intolerant (these little guys are chock full of calcium!). I was wary about how to cook them, and whether or not I had to cook them at all... so I left that for another day. The bentou (premade lunches) were the best option, with chicken and rolled egg and potato salad... and always a little bit of spaghetti. I'm still trying to figure out why spaghetti is so damn popular, especially in breakfast sets.
After I had paid for my things, I went to the bagging counter (in most supermarkets/100 yen type stores, they put all of your things in a basket, then you go and bag them yourself, probably for efficiency's sake. It makes sense), and all they had were scrappy little plastic nothings. Not anywhere big enough for me to carry my groceries home in (note to everyone: always bring an eco bag). I scanned the area with the classic "I'm a foreigner I have no clue what to do" panic face, and a nice lady said she had bought an extra plastic bag by accident (apparently you buy your bags for 5 yen/10 cents while you buy everything else) and gave it to me. I'm always impressed by the insane amount of kindness that the Japanese dole out to foreigners. I couldn't be more grateful for it. Also! they are a very ecological society. The buying your plastic bags ecotrend (and hopefully a permanent one) has taken off in parts of Europe and in Japan as far as I know... I don't think it has in America, at least not in St. Louis. If you know otherwise, leave a comment!
The Japanese are very specific when it comes to recycling... at our new student orientation we got a 10 page packet in English all about how to sort your recycling/burnable trash. I'm still afraid to put out my trash in case I do something wrong. Apparently if you sort your recycling wrong, you ruin everything! And you will cause the city a lot of trouble.... at least that's what they say. So naturally I'm a little hesitant.
I returned home to eat and study (the bentou was amaaazzinggg). Napped for a few hours then did my homework. So exciting, I know.
Friday
Woke up at 8:15, was meeting K at 8:20 outside my apartment. Made a record dash- getting dressed while making toast on the gas stove. It was actually pretty rewarding. Slap some peanut butter on that and you're done.
We walked and talked. K is great about talking only in Japanese. A lot of the other students aren't so much. They're all fine people, but the truth is I need to become fluent... The worry in the back of my mind is falling into a gaijin (foreigner) bubble, where my Japanese will remain so-so, which a few friends already warned me of. So I have to make mostly Japanese friends. All right.
We got to the lobby of the school and we looked for our listing. I got into 102, K into 201. We said goodbye, but not a sad one at all. It's a really small school.
My class consisted of 4 Americans, 1 Australian, 2 Taiwanese, 3 Chinese Mainlanders and 1 Mexican.
Not bad diversity at all.
The teacher SC told us of all the events going on... the saturday farmer's market, the children events, and the English/foreign language buddies event which I'll sign up for.
We went through some language drills...etc etc Kanji quiz, etc etc
H sensei then came in and we did some more.
The Mexican artist and I were the only new students in the class.
The class as a whole had a good feeling around it.
We had lunch, met some new peeps- ladies from England, an Australian and a guy from Belgium.
After buying books, half the school was chilling in the lobby. I met a guy from Norway named L, and he invited me to chill with his crew at his host family's bakery. Per his instruction I found them there in a back table, already chilling with tea, cakes and little glasses of plum wine. Needless to say I was impressed. A lot of them were Taiwanese, so the table conversations consisted of mixed mandarin, English and Japanese. They told me to go up and order, so I picked out the chocolate cake with cream and strawberries. All the cakes looked delicious, though. There was chestnut flavored, chocolate with a gold leaf garnish... the Japanese are serious about their confections. His host mom had made them all.
They made room for me at the little table- there were already six of them there. We all talked for a good 3 hours or so. The walls were lined with crafts- the bakery doubled as a goods store. We then headed over to Aeon mall for dinner (since I don't have a bike yet, I rode on the back of Kid's bike). Kid (her nickname here) is from Taiwan and roughly 3 inches shorter than I am. I held on tight and was a little freaked, but it was exciting! The back seat is a small metal frame, so when we crossed over anything, I felt it. It was lovely to watch the moon!
We got there without a hitch. We ate at an omelette rice place and met up with some more students (Hong Kong, Canada/Mainlander). We did some shopping. Pillow, stationary, etc.
Got to listen to one of Ayumi Hamasaki's new songs (Love Song). It's really lovely (check it out, Shelly).
In the make up aisles at Jusco, after I saw some schoolgirls laughing at it, I discovered fake facial hair. For 30USD, you too, can be as cool as Ken Watanabe.
My new friends dropped me off at my apartment. Watched a special about how not sleeping has some appeal to the Japanese, because it shows you "are doing your best". A sleep specialist explained the amount of sleep you actually need. He put it in the 6-7 hour range.
The host asked the specialist "How much do YOU sleep?"
Specialist: "Four hours."
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