Tales of the Towel

This is the weather forecast from last night. 

As you can see- the conditions in Japan vary significantly. However, the temperature only fluctuates about 5 degrees. 

Now if we look closely at the conditions for each day, we see that only Monday and Friday have any promise of sun. 

Remembering that all laundry must hang to dry, you might guess the difficulty of having to plan laundry days and ration your clothes for the rest of the week. This is where the story begins. 

I have pretty dry hair, so I really can't wash it everyday. Fine. Thursday morning I washed my hair, Friday morning I did not because it was still salvageable and cooperative. Friday was sunny- a good laundry day- but I had enough clean clothes to last until Sunday (which was also supposed to be sunny). 

Saturday morning looked promising, so I washed all the towels in the apartment: hand towels, dish towels, shower towels. I figured that after the towels were done washing, they wouldn't take that long to dry in the sun- and then I could wash my hair that afternoon. However, during the 45 minute cycle, the weather took a turn and soon the clouds surrounded Tokyo. 

I hung the towels over the shower curtain rail, but they did not dry. Even on Sunday morning... they still were not dry. Or at least my shower towel wasn't dry.  

The clouds hung ominously. But, as previously stated, the temperature varies very little. I figured if it was at least warm outside.. my towel would dry. So I hung it out. 

An hour later, the clouds took revenge on Tokyo and rained on my towel. 

I took it in and hung it over the shower rail. My hair felt gross. I wanted a shower. 

This morning (Monday morning), I got up to take a shower. And as I picked up my wet towel, I realized that it wasn't a good idea. And the rain had made it smell. So, with much aggravation, I put the towel back in the washing machine, and forty-five minutes later, put it back outside to dry. 

Lesson Learned: 

-don't skip out on sunny days.

-never count on the consistency of Tokyo's weather during the rainy season. 

-bring two towels. 

Fruit

In an attempt to find a cure for the #1 woe in my previous post, I just ate 1 banana, 1 apple and 1/2 a pineapple. Not a good idea. My tongue is so sore.

A New Way of Doing Things

I've been in Japan for 26 days. About now would be the time that the "honeymoon stage" of a foreign country is ending and I would begin to miss certain things, and become irritated by others. Luckily, I've adjusted quite well, and haven't run into too many issues or In-N-Out cravings. However, there are a few things... 

1) I miss produce! All that good summertime fruit. I must admit, the apples here are more delicious than in the states, but I don't want to pay $1.40 for 1 apple all the time. Also- peaches are a delicacy here. In the discount grocery store they're going for about $4.00 each! All the fruit is expensive- that's probably what I'm missing the most. 

2) Seeing movies. American movies are popular in Japan, but they're about 1 month behind the US release date. Bummer... 

3) Cell Phones. At first, this was an annoyance to me because it was more difficult to make plans, and a little scary to think I have no way of communicating if I get lost. But I'm starting to get used to it- it's just a new way of doing things... or.. an old way actually. I'm kind of getting a glimpse into the world before cell phones- you know- when you had to make plans ahead of time. 

Beyond those three things though- I'm doing alright. It's great because- all three of those things are such minute details that it's easy to get over. 

One thing I've come to love:

-Getting to sleep in and still have a very fun and productive day. It's the strangest thing. 

Bad Luck Can Be Fixed With Sushi and Kung Fu Panda

So I fall down in the mud, right?

Yeah, I fell down in the mud playing frisbee. Problem was, I hadn't planned on going back home before continuing with my evening plans. However with the new earthy decorations on my feet, jeans, hands, and arms, I knew that I'd have to be flexible and go home and change. 

The whole point of not leaving was so I could go to this music store at 5, and I've been looking forward to it all week. 

So I start going home. Wanting to save money on trains, I decide to walk this shortcut through another university (Meisei Univ.) I've traveled the shortcut once before in the opposite direction, and it was simple enough, so I figured I'd be able to do it backwards. 

It all started fine, but pretty soon I had no idea where I was. I start looking around and I'm on this back road and nothing familiar is standing out to me. Do I turn back? Should I keep going? All I knew was that I had to find Meisei University. 

I see some buildings through the trees. Meisei! So I walk down a hill and finally am on campus. But where? Which direction do I walk in? I soon found out that the campus is a lot bigger than I thought, and since I had taken an unconventional way to end up there, I had no sense of where I should be walking. 

I look at my iPod: 4:14. Already this Should-Be-25-Minute trek has taken me 45. Great. 

One goal: Find the Monorail. Monorail means the road and then I can get home. 

By the time I finally find it- I am right across the street from where I started. 

It took me 25 minutes to walk home from there.

My disheveled french braids, mud, and sweat from the 82% humidity was a sight to be seen. 

Got to my door. Hung my umbrella outside. Checked the train times. Realized that, because my little "shortcut" took so long, I would not make it to the music shop by 5. Bummer. 

And to top it all off- somebody stole my umbrella! 

Suicide Drinks

Luckily I wasn't a loser in the game.

Otherwise I would have had to drink one. 

Try this:

1/8 c Hot Water

1/8 c Carbonated Water

1 tablespoon Ground Pepper

2 tablespoons Orange Soda

1 Strawberry Tea Bag

1 Ice Cube

Tabasco Sauce

yum. 

Leaving Buddha Behind

It's been great having the rest of the Setters (Spencer, Sarah Joy, Jillian) here. Last night the five of us had dinner at our apartment, and we came to the realization that the three of them had only been in Japan for 4 days... crazy. 

When I was younger I remember looking in a National Geographic magazine at a picture of some giant Buddha statue that was out amongst some beautiful Japanese landscape. Until I saw that same Buddha this weekend, I hadn't made the connection. It was so cool. I could hardly believe I was actually standing in front of something that had once been just a distant magazine photograph. This giant iron Buddha is located in Kamakura, Japan (where we traveled to this weekend). Apparently it used to have a building around it, but years ago a tsunami came and destroyed it, leaving Buddha behind. The Japanese were so taken by the way the statue looked outside that they decided not to build around it again. Cool huh?

The trip this weekend was great. I could hardly tell one day from the next. It was full of sightseeing, good food, rain, the Onsen, a 'plan B,' making friends, trying to name 100 countries, and 1.5 hours of sleep... followed by 2 hours of trains and then The Shawshank Redemption. 

good times. 

I'll Write Again Soon. I Promise.

title. 

Fish.

I think I might be allergic to fish. All this time I thought I just didn't like the taste- maybe that was for a reason. The last times I've had sushi it just never sat well. I don't know... maybe I'm mildly allergic. Anyways- we just got back from Sushirol (105 yen per plate sushi place). It was Jillian, Sarah Joy, and Spencer's first official day in Tokyo- so sushi seemed appropriate. 

The other night after sports, a group of us were talking about 1 thing we'd like to try/accomplish in the next month. Mine was try raw octopus... I'm proud to say that I accomplished that today at Sushirol. It wasn't too bad, actually. You just have to chew it up really good, otherwise the suction cups can get stuck onto the inside of your throat and you can choke... yeah. 

It was a great day. It was so much fun to have the three new team members here and start teaching them about the area and what they'll be doing in BEST. 

Yay Japan! 

P.S. How do you think they catch octopus? Is the octopus served in restaurants wild octopus? or do they have like.. octopus farms? 

Volleyball

I don't get nervous about things very often. I think the last time I was truly nervous may have been last year during our performances of Les Misérables. Yesterday, however- I experienced that nervousness again. 

It's been 5 years since I've played a game of volleyball, and even then in was in a junior high PE class and we were using beach balls...  The last time I played a game of volleyball with an actual volleyball was in a Mt. Shasta campground at age 12. 

So yesterday, I find out that for BEST club Tuesday Night Sports, we're playing volleyball for 2 hours. Great. I dreaded it all day. The students here are so good at volleyball. I did not want to play. At all. 

As you can probably judge from my past experience with "volleyball," I know nothing about the rules, and hardly anything about the game itself. Sure, I went to several LBSU volleyball games, but when you're on the court, it's completely different: you actually have to like.. hit the ball. 

I was told by Mark that I had to at least play 1 game. I practiced with some students on the sidelines and then played a couple games.. 

It was terrible- I'm the worst volleyball player ever! 

I didn't think one of the bigger challenges in Japan would be a volleyball game.. but it most certainly was :D

Baking + Settlers = I feel like Alissa.

Monday is my day off. We are encouraged to take time for ourselves to relax and recover. I've been eager to bake so Mary and I went to the grocery store and bought the goods... they were the most expensive cookies I've ever made, but they were totally worth it. Having a great recipe memorized comes in handy every once in a while :D 

Tonight Mary, Mikey, Dan and I went to the Rood's for dinner (an amazing Korean dish, courtesy of Jin Rood), and a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. I had never played Settlers before, so Dan explained the rules to me as we went along. I was frustrated in the beginning because I didn't really get it, but I ended up winning (woot!). It was such a fun game! I see now why people (like Alissa) get so terribly excited over it. That game is definitely on my birthday wish list. 

*tip for the cookies: Use the Nestle recipe, but put Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Baking Chips in instead... and eat them warm. Amaaaazing! 

Asakusa

Yesterday 8 of us visited Asakusa- it's this place that has some traditional Japanese architecture and a temple. Only 1 of the students that went had been there before, so we all had fun exploring it for the first time. We did some gift shopping and the students introduced Dan and me to many different kinds of Japanese sweets! Yum! It was great getting to see the traditional Japanese architecture, and it was even better getting to hang out and have a great time with some new friends! The best part may have even been just sitting in the coffee shop and playing cards.. 

check out my facebook albums for pictures from the last 2 weeks: 

click here!

Breakin' in the Boots

Yesterday we drove to Mount Myogi for hiking! Myogi is near Nagano, Japan (yes, Nagano- Olympics, 1998, Tara Lipinski wins the gold medal in women's figure skating at age 15). 

Another fun fact: the roads around Mount Myogi are some of the most popular in video games! How cool is that?! 

Myogi was so beautiful. The scenery was the type of stuff you see on TV shows like Planet Earth and in National Geographic magazines. The bugs there were awesome too: anyone ever seen a bee that's at least 2 inches in length? yeah.. you don't want to. And from first hand experience, you don't want one near your face either. 

The hike itself was great. Not too strenuous, but strenuous enough. There was some pretty good vert too! At some points we were climbing stairs that were more like ladders up the side of this mountain. Mom, I know you would have freaked out, so I took video for you! 

The best part of the hike, though, was that our leader, Mark, and his family came with us. His kids' ages are 8, 6, and 4. Yeah people, 4 years old. And that girl did not complain one bit. Man.. It amazed me how active they were- and we were all just so proud of them at the end of the day. I would have never hiked something like Myogi at that age. 

I'd love to write more, but it's hard to put such a great, long day in short. 

I slept like a baby that night by the way. 

Macs Can Do Anything

Not having a cell phone also means not having an alarm clock. 

This can be problematic at times. 

What do I do?

Download Alarm Clock widget. 

tight. 

Foreigner Folly

I decided to walk to Bible discussion tonight. It takes about 35 minutes to walk to the house where it is so I thought, I'll bring my iPod and listen to my Japanese Language Study on the way! What a great idea! The study is broken up into categories of phrases. When you select a phrase, the voice says it three times and gives you a chance to repeat it out loud after each time. It's a great learning tool! Anyways... I'm walking down the street doing this language study and I notice that I'm getting some looks from passerby's. As a foreigner, you kinda get used to "the look" as you walk down the street, so I didn't think anything of it... at first. 

So the phrase comes up:  "Iinikui desu" or "It is hard to say"

So I'm walking down the street, mimicking the woman on my iPod study saying, "Inikui desu" ... "Inikui desu" ... "Inikui desu" and it was on that 3rd time that a man looked up at me and I realized:

I am walking down the street blurting out the most random phrases in Japanese. 

I'm becoming the best foreigner ever. yipee! 

Okonomiyaki

Karaoke is a big thing here. People go several times a week to these private karaoke rooms and sing for hours. No joke. Today was my first time experiencing such an event- and it was actually more fun than I thought it would be! We sang classics such as "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick, "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind, "Umbrella (ella ella)" by Rihanna, and "I Want It That Way" ... Backstreet Boys. I have video. 

We also had an Okonomiyaki party at my apartment tonight! Okonomiyaki is like a Japanese style pancake, except you make it for a meal. Okonomiyaki pretty much means "however you like it," so you put whatever you want into this pancake-like batter. Tonight the students made us some with cabbage in it, topped with special sauce, mayo, fish flakes and seaweed flakes- I know it may sound unconventional, but it was actually very good! 

We had so much fun hanging out tonight! We ate food, had feats of strength, a "how flexible are you" challenge, yoga time, you tube videos**, chuck norris.. it just doesn't get much better than that. :D

**Charlie Bit Me, David After Dentist, Panda Sneezing, Prairie Dog Surprise, Dan Smeltzer as Chuck Norris, Charlie the Unicorn

An English Lesson

Over the past week, I've encountered more English than I originally thought I would prior to coming to Tokyo. I guess I was kind of looking forward to seeing Coca-Cola written in Kanji on the bottles- but Coca-Cola is written like you see it in America. English is actually very popular here, especially printed on shirts. Everywhere you go, you see people in graphic t's with English writing on it. Sometimes it doesn't make sense, sometimes it's just a phrase you wouldn't expect to see like, "Grateful to the Copycat" or "Give Peace the Chance." It's kinda funny, since most of the people wearing the shirts have no idea what it means, but still very cool- especially since I found a shirt that said "Sacramento Mountain" on it. I took a picture. 

One of the things we talked about before coming to Tokyo, and even here in BEST club, is some of the mindsets of Japanese- particularly among teenagers. Often they are of incompetence, of low self-esteem or self-worth, of loneliness, of fear.. not that all teens are like that, but it is something that is prevalent in this society. Anyways- walking through the University today, I was taking note of the fashion, of the graphic t's with printed English, and I saw a young man wearing a shirt that said "I wish I never had to hurt again." It kind of caught me off guard until I realized that he probably doesn't know what the shirt actually says, but it still got me thinking.

It made me a little sad because I wondered, if he did know what it said, would he still wear it?  He might. How many students have I already encountered that would wear that shirt? Maybe nobody- but maybe a few. Where does that hurt come from? Where do they find their hope? I wondered about the hurt and pressure that teens often face- in Japan.. in America.. it did make me sad, but it also reaffirmed why I'm even here this summer; to show that there is love, and grace, and truth, and a promise that there is more to hope for than just the transient things of this world. 

yeah.

Calculus + Kanji

I was advised to not go to a doctor straight away regarding my ear, just because Japanese doctors do a little more forceful poking and prodding.. I'm gonna wait it out a couple days- see what happens. However all day today I felt like I was listening to the ocean through a giant conch shell- and the poor students are trying to talk to me and I'm like "Heh? What?" This ear thing is definitely not helping to encourage confidence in their English skills :/

I learned how to change trains today- going from the monorail line to the Keio line so I can get to Shuto University or the boys' apartment. Near Shuto there's a prefecture called Minami-Osawa and they have great shopping.. that cute cotton scarf was only like.. $84 American dollars- and paired with that $240 top, I'd look like I walked straight out of an Anthropologie magazine. But it really is a shame that the prices were so sky high 'cause I was rockin' some of those hats!

I hear Harajuku has cheaper shopping. 

Have you ever seen a calculus equation in kanji? That is like the craziest stuff ever. 

What We Did Today

-pondered why Americans don't walk more places.

-came close to accidentally buying fabric softener instead of laundry detergent.

-slept too much. 

-had cool dreams. 

-met Mikey and Dan at the station. 

-told tales of our defective apartment key.

-saw what was in Mary's frozen bag of rice at dinner.  

-listed our top 3 (or 5 or 6 or 7) favorite movies.

-had trouble trying to remember Kate Beckinsale, Charade/The Truth About Charlie, and Disturbia.

-compared & contrasted the boys'/girls' apartments. (We definitely lucked out.. considering we don't have to do our dishes in the bathtub). 

-why does Dan have 3 Futon mattresses?

-compared & contrasted our reflexes in a riveting game of Pig Tale/Swine Tail.

-schooled Mary and Dan in Spades. 

-realized that my napping may have helped my cold, but has definitely begun to set me back to California time... 

A Taste of the States

This morning Mary and I went to Tama Center and got Starbucks! It was a very comforting and familiar taste. As much as I like trying new foods, it's always good to have something that reminds you of home. It was such nice weather so we did Bible study outside before meeting with a student for lunch. We went to lunch at this Italian place (I know, right?) where they have pastas and pizzas, etc. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy using a fork! So far these experiences I'm having are teaching me immense appreciation for both my culture and the Japanese culture. 

After lunch we went to a store called UNIQLO (pronounced "you-NEE-kido"...kinda. It comes from what "unique clothes" sounds like). It's a very popular store here. They sell clothes comparable to Old Navy. I will probably end up there a few more times before summer's out. 

I think I have an ear infection. What's new? It's not really an adventure until Rachel ends up at the doctor. 

A Very Small Table

So today I find out that the key to my apartment doesn't work. Maybe it's not cut right, I can't really tell. It's not like a regular key- more like a blank dog tag with a hole punched near the bottom right. It looks exactly the same as Mary's.. except it doesn't work. yay! 

It's not really that big of a deal, except when Mary's not here and then I can't leave the apartment. Such was the situation tonight: I heard that Dan (Cal State Long Beach) and many of the Japanese students we met in the last few days were meeting at Tama Center for Starbucks (yup, sbucks). The message was passed along that I couldn't go, so everyone came to my apartment instead!

There were about 9 students plus me and Dan. They brought rice and fish and some different desserts and we had a sushi party! And it was all around a very small (probably 2'x2' table) that the apartment came with! I kinda felt bad because I had hardly any furniture or food, but I think that maybe made it more fun. Maybe next time I'll have a bigger table :] 

It was so fun hanging out with the students. Dan taught us a card game called Indian Poker, and we all took lots of pictures. I think tonight I learned that you don't need much to have a good time- just people that want to be together. That's all. 

To Market, To Market

So, you know when you move out you have to like, budget your money and do your own grocery shopping and stuff? Well, I've never had to do that because, well, I lived with my parents and then I lived in the dorms. And while I had to budget a little bit, I never had to pay rent, or buy groceries, or anything like that, you know? 

I never thought that my first time doing all this would be in a foreign country. I don't have much experience cooking and now I'm supposed to cook with things I have to buy in a Japanese grocery store. I don't know what many of the items are, or how to cook them. We do not have an oven, only a microwave and a stovetop, so I have limited options and limited creative resources.. seeing as how I've never really been responsible to cook meals. 

Luckily I have Mary. She lived here in Tokyo for 2 years, she knows the language and the food. I'm so blessed to have her here to help me. My favorite thing we bought today was apples. Put your fingertips together and make a sphere, as if you're putting your hands around a ball- that's about how big the apples are... and they are so delicious. I've never had better apples in my life. 

Land is Land

For the most part, it's hard to get into the mindset that I'm in a different country. Everything is the same here, you know? They have cars, roads, trains, people, music, clothes, problems, secrets.. 

they also have earthquakes. There was a tiny one today that we felt while in the apartment. Mary, the girl I'm living with, says they happen frequently. I think that's cool. 

In Japan [and online] at last!

Well I'm here. I can hardly believe it! I've definitely had some interesting experiences that I'd love to share with you, but I'm about to go to bed so I'll brief you on them later. Here are a few:

-The individual screens ahead of each of the seats on the plane made me and Dan's quadruple movie feature possible. Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button, Bolt, and Children of Men were the ones we picked for the 10 hour flight. (yeee!!)

-The airport in Japan had a special health check point (swine flu), but my plugged ears, runny nose, sore throat, cough, and headache weren't really helping me out. haha.. yeah...

-I still have all of those symptoms. And my left ear hasn't adjusted from the pressure change from the plane FOUR DAYS AGO! (yikes?)

-Until Wednesday I had never had rice and broccoli for breakfast.

-The Japanese don't like raw carrots. 

-Tried sushi for the first time (you can get sushi here for 105 yen per plate. That's about $1.00 in the US. Each plate has 2 pieces of sushi on it). I had shrimp/avacado, tuna, cucumber in seaweed, and squid. Didn't really care for the squid, but the rest of the fish wasn't too fishy! yay! 

-Japan is very safe and very clean. I like it. 

-I had a terribly fantastic view of the tallest part of Tokyo from my room at the Olympic Center :D

-It is currently 7:30 am June 4th in America. Congratulations to my friends who will graduate today! I've been thinking about you! I even had a dream last night that I was still in high school but I had stopped going to class for like a month so I could go to Japan and whatnot. But, because I hadn't been to school, I hadn't picked up my graduation tickets, I hadn't signed up for Sober Grad (which was a swing dancing club instead of a cruise on the bay), I didn't know where I was supposed to go so I could walk the stage, my mom was upset because she wanted to see me graduate but wouldn't be able to... it was awful. I was so happy to wake up and be like "oh wait.. I already did that last year. sweet." So yeah, congrats to you all! :D 

-It's nearly midnight here. Have a good Thursday :]