Part two, Sunday 6/4: Things look up! and I see inner Tokyo. Very briefly.

[tammaiya]

Once I got out of customs, it was immediate improvement. Kaori, the Japanese grad student who's going to be my tutor for the year, was there to meet me-- poor her, she must have been waiting at least an hour. I think she was starting to get worried that something had happened to me, which, okay, it kind of had. Anyway.

The first thing we did was get rid of my main luggage, after I repacked a little (ditched my ten thousand layers, retrieved my bath bag, a t-shirt, a nighty and clean underwear). In Japan there's this civilised system where you can hand your luggage in at this desk and they'll send it to your address for you. I gather usually it arrives pretty quickly, too. I mean, it arrived by 10am on Monday morning for me, and that's only because I came on a Sunday. Lucky I had Kaori there, though, because otherwise I wouldn't have known about it and even if I did, wouldn't have known what address to send it to. It only cost me around 2000 yen, too. Bargain!

After that, we went to have breakfast. It was about 7.30, 8am local time, and theoretically I'd already HAD breakfast on the plane-- at what was 6am according to my stomach, thus 4am local Tokyo time and kind of ridiculous, so far as breakfast goes. So I had miso ramen, which was a little overspiced but freaking ENORMOUS and edible enough. There was free water out of a machine with plastic cups next to it, too, which was really surprising for me. Other things that were different-- the plastic tag thing they gave us that beeped when our food was ready, and paying at a sort of central counter (for a number of different places) after we finished eating. Oh, and the plastic food displays. XD My parents had told me about them, but it was still kind of funny to actually SEE them.

I should add, at this point, that Kaori speaks fluent English-- she's lived for 7 months in Canada and 4 in London-- so at this point, after my initial airport experiences, I was allowed to speak in English. I did successfully ask someone where to find a bin, though! (that's another thing. Japanese garbage is sorted about 5 ways and it SCARES ME. at the moment I'm just using a plastic bag in my room, but eventually I'm going to have to sort through my trash so I can go downstairs and use the actual bins, and the thought daunts me.) I seriously have no idea how I would have gotten even remotely close to my uni without Kaori, though, because first we had to decide what transport to take-- bus, she explained, would be more direct but it's already a 3 hour trip and if we get stuck in traffic it could be NASTY. So we decided on train. And it seemed like there were a number of different train services, some requiring more station changes than others. The one we were considering didn't leave for half an hour, though, so we went with a different one which ended up being a hell of a lot cheaper (from 3000 yen each to 1000 yen each).

We were on that train for maybe an hour. There were a lot of cherry blossoms out the window-- mostly white ones, which you don't really see in Canberra. (we do have a LOT of pink cherry blossoms, though.) This train took us through what was basically country side, although not entirely-- I mean, there were still houses and stuff-- but it was kind of weirdly like a cross between outer Sydney and the south coast? I dunno. It's hard to explain. The buildings and train tracks reminded me of outer Sydney, but it was very bright and sunny and spread out like Bateman's Bay. Anyway.

Eventually we arrived at Ueno Station (me: OMG! I'm having a Tokyo Babylon moment! XD) and I experienced buying my first train ticket. Again, bizarrely like Sydney, only maybe more user friendly? It took 1000 yen notes, too, which was good because I didn't have much change yet. Also, there was an ad for Wicked which is coming here in about July. What the freak, I can't see Wicked in Australia but I can see it in Japan? I DON'T EVEN KNOW, WHAT. I kind of want to go, but I'm not sure I should spend the money... although, as much as Kaori said it was expensive, the ticket prices were pretty reasonable compared to a musical in Australia. The cheapest tickets were like 3000 yen. Hm.

(Btw, trains in Japan are SO MUCH NICER than Sydney trains, I'm just saying.)

Back on track, though. From Ueno we caught the Yamanote line (me: omg! I know that train line, I totally used it in CCS!X. *g*) to Shinjuku, which is where the conversation steered towards video games (there was an ad for the Wii on the train's tv screen) and I pulled out Kanken DS to show Kaori. Then it was from Shinjuku to... a station I don't remember, oops. I think it's the biggest station near me so I should probably get on that, but whatever. It was the Chuuou line, anyway, and we had to walk through the streets for a short way to get to the right station. That was my one brush with the actual inner city so far.

Anyway, on that train ride the conversation steered towards Japanese TV and from there to Hana yori Dango. Kaori has the whole manga, she said she'd lend it to me. \o/! (Following this, there was also a brief discussion about Oguri Shun, Matsujun, and Bakanishi. I can lay direct blame for this on Mari and Becky.)

Finally, after the station I can't remember the name of, we took a short walk to catch a tiny train to tiny, tiny little station called Tama Station, which Kaori said she hadn't even HEARD of until she started at Tokyo GaiDai. It's about five minutes walk from my uni. Which is also fairly tiny! It looks quite big on the map, but it's pretty small. I'm not complaining, it's like a 2 minute walk from my room to my classes and a 5 minute walk to the 24/7 combini across the road from the uni (on the OPPOSITE SIDE from my dorm, that is). XD

There was supposed to be one of the dorm tutors here to meet me, but it was kind of deserted, so Kaori and I milled around being confused until Takeuchi-san appeared (at which point, btw, we all switched into japanese). She's really nice, and lives on the second floor of the dorm. Anyway, she gave me a bunch of documents, my key and my student card, and took Kaori and I up to my room, which is on the fourth floor. There's an elevator-- you have to use the swipe card first to get into the building, then to reach the elevator/stairwell area, and finally you use your key to get into your room (if it's locked). Also, my dorm isn't like, super new and sparkly or high tech or anything, but there's several huge tvs and the elevator talks. ("doors opening. this is the fourth floor. going up. doors closing.") *g*

When we arrived at my room, I checked out my bathroom-- I'm in dorm one, so I get my own combined shower/furo, hehehe-- put the insulin in the fridge, etc. There was a lightbulb that needed changing but that was sorted out pretty quickly. But when I tried to plug in my laptop, I was like, OMG, THE ADAPTOR I BROUGHT FROM AUSTRALIA HAS AN EXTRA PRONG, WTF?! and was like, woe. D: I don't have a mobile yet and because it was sunday all the computer labs were closed, so it was my only way of contacting my parents and I was worried. Kaori said she'd check out an electrical store for me on her way home, though, which was nice of her. (As you can see from the fact I'm online, I worked this problem out later that evening.)

I like my dorm room; it's quite narrow, but I have a kitchenette and a bathroom and a bed and a desk and a balcony. The only real problem is the lack of storage. I think I'm going to have to keep my clothes in my suitcase under my bed, which kind of sucks, and there's nowhere in the bathroom for my toiletries. Hmmm.

Anyway, Kaori and Takeuchi-san left-- it was about midday by then, I think-- and I was left to my own devices. At which point I realised I needed to eat lunch, and the cafeteria wasn't open, so I was a little like... uh, what now? So I decided to go for a wander around Fuchuu. It's out in the suburbs, like I said, so it's sort of pleasant and slow-paced. I asked an elderly japanese lady if there was an electrical store (denki-ya) nearby and she took me to this little shop in one of the backstreets, where the shop lady was really nice. They didn't have any adaptors, but it was still good to know where it was and all that. I also found a bakery, and decided HEY WHY NOT and bought myself a berry danish and custard pastry thing for lunch. XD I know, so TOTALLY HEALTHY. But dude, cheap as! They were like 369 yen total! And really nice. << It was kind of interesting, you took a tray and picked up the things you wanted with tongs and then went to pay at the counter. Very different to what I'm used to where it's all behind glass and you point at it or refer to it by name.

I took several trips out of the uni on the first day I was there. The second was to buy water and toilet paper from the combini, and on the third trip I bought plastic cups, styrofoam plates, disposable chopsticks, a box of kitchen towlettes, orange juice, chocolate pocky, chocolate DESSERT pocky (oh man, new favourite thing EVER), and choc-chip cookies. Whatever, shut up, I was still figuring out what to do about food and I needed snacks in case of hypos. It's easier to get junky food than healthy food. *shifty*

... oh yeah, I bought a fruit cup for breakfast the next day, too. So not TOTAL unhealthiness.

(By the way, I would at this point note that I tried to find vasoline for my chafed mouth, which was KILLING on the first day, and they had some toiletries but nothing along those lines. They did, however, have magazines which looked like soft-core porn. I'd be all OH JAPAN about this, but then I remembered the porn display at the newsagent at Sydney airport, so... hmmm. XD;

Also, there were kit-kats, but judging from the packet Japanese kit-kats are weird and different? I dunno.

There were neon genesis action figures, too. Clearly important!)

By this point I'd had a number of dizzy spells which I figured could either be from exhaustion or from my middle ear being a little fucked up by the plane's altitude, but either way, I didn't have means of contacting anyone, I was worried about running out of batteries on my ipod and DS so didn't want to use them, I was really tired and there was a welcome party that evening in the second international student dorm (forgot to mention but there was a flier on my door) so I was like, fuck it, nap time. I have rented bedding for this month-- which I was initially kind of bewildered by, because there's a sheet and a blanket but instead of a top sheet there's like, a futon thing which is wider than my bed (me: but I already have a mattress and bedframe? what? *gives up and drapes it over the mattress*) and japanese pillows are bizarre. They're like, tiny and the consistency of a hacky sack. And yet I discovered, despite this, they're WEIRDLY COMFORTABLE. Maybe even more comfortable than my pillow at home. Huh. My only issue is that I have this psychological need for heavy bedclothes. I always sleep with a doona at home. So I think I'm going to have to go out and buy one. Whatever, I guess I have to buy bedclothes sooner or later anyway, since I can only rent for this month.

After all my napping it was pretty close to party time, so I changed into my one clean top (me: fuck, what do I do tomorrow? And goddamn, I wish I'd taken my jeans out. *stuck with the daggy velour track pants she sleeps in that she'd worn on the plane for comfort*) and mosied on over. I met two Russian girls from my dorm walking towards the second dorm, and chatted with them in Japanese, although their English is perfectly good. (Pretty much all the foreign exchange students can speak English. You had to pass a proficiency test if you weren't from an English-speaking country.) It was a good party, I met quite a few people. The ones I spoke to the most were You-san, one of the tutors who was from Hiroshima; Mariett and Diana, the girls from Russia; Brendan, a guy from New York countryside; Susan, from Canada; Rachel, from Canberra (!); Sumiya-san, who doesn't actually live in the dorms; and Yana, from Slovakia. There was also a Polish girl who Yana was hanging out with, but she didn't talk much and I don't remember her name. /o\

I should add at this point, everyone was speaking in Japanese except for Yana, who hasn't learned any Japanese yet but who has pretty much perfect English. (And Czech, and German. She can also understand Polish. It must be so interesting living in continental Europe with so many different countries speaking different languages pressed together.)

Also, ironically, almost none of these people are in the ISEP programme with me. XD Rachel is actually doing a full 5-year degree here, which is pretty crazy. She's only just graduated from high school-- Narrabundah-- and she's 18, which sucks for her because it means that she's only just become an adult in Australia and now she's a minor again. XD; The legal age in Japan is 20 so she wasn't allowed to drink at the party. Which, DUDE, there was a lot of alcohol. Mostly beer. I almost fell over when one of the Japanese guys was like "HEY PEOPLE! DRINK UP! WE STILL HAVE 20L OF BEER LEFT!"-- and that was towards the END of the party. There was a lot of other types of alcohol too, though. I went to drink something which I thought was apple juice-- it was a cardboard, 2L container, like you'd usually get fruit juice in, and it had a picture of something that looked like apples on it. I was kind of looking at the nutrition info for the sugar (carbohydrate is one of the first words I learned off a nutrition pack, shortly followed by fat just because it was pretty easy to work out) when someone offered to pour some for me so I was like, okay, just a little, and then I drank and was like, DUDE, WHAT? and I actually READ the carton and it was plum liqueur. XD; At least it was nice? Seems you can get alcohol in vast quantity for cheap here in Japan, because I'm pretty sure I saw that same carton in the combini for like 300 yen or something.

Sumiya-san was pretty cool, although I'm not sure how often I'll bump into him since he's not in the dorms. (That's one of the major greeting points here. "Hi, what country are you from? When did you arrive/how long are you here? Which dorm building do you live in/what room?") I was like, what should I call you? because he gave his full name and his nickname (Sam) and you never know with Japanese names whether to go with the surname, first name, whatever unless you're told. He was like, what do you mean, so I was like, well, say, do I call you Sumiya-sempai? and he was like AAAAAH NOOOO DON'T CALL ME SEMPAI, IYA DA, WE'RE LIKE THE SAME UNI LEVEL and anyway, how old are you? And when he found out I was a year older than him, he's like HAH I'LL CALL YOU NEE-SAN and I was like "IYAAAA NEE-SAN IWANAIDE YO!" and threatened to call him sempai again if he tried it. XD

There was a lot of food at the party, which was good because I didn't have to buy myself dinner. It was really nice, and it was from all over the place-- there was some Japanese food, but there was also a Mongolian dish, a vegetable stew, and a lot of junk food. There were a heap of tim-tams, and I don't even know how they got there, but I ate one anyway as a pre-emptive strike against homesickness. *g* I also ate some soft cherry-blossom chocolate, which, dude, IDEK, but it was sweet? And tasted good? Must've had a TON of sugar in it and wasn't what I'd generally refer to as chocolate, but what the hell, why not. Unfortunately there wasn't much I could drink, because there was no water and everything had sugar in it, but anyway.

There were also self-introductions, some in English and some in Japanese, mostly in groups according to country (sticking together for support! Rachel and I went together)-- there seemed to be an enormous group of people from Mongolia, surprisingly, but apparently some of them were actually from... Vietnam or Korea, I don't remember what I was told.

What else happened at the party... oh, yeah! Because often foreign students buy electrical appliances here in Japan and then don't need them/can't pack them when they're going home, there was a series of janken matches to determine who'd get stuff. I missed out on getting one of the three tvs, but I won a ricecooker, which is actually a lot more useful. (especially since there's a huge flatscreen media tv on the ground floor and another huge tv for video games on the level 5.) Not that I have any rice yet or really know how to use it, but once I've settled a bit more it'll be good.

I kept saying I should go back to my room and sleep, but I kept getting distracted by conversation and it was quite late when I left, and then when I DID get back to dorm 1 (not far, they're right next to each other) I noticed some girls watching the TV in the room off the foyer and was curious so went and joined them. They were Vietnamese-- it seems the students from Vietnam had had their own party that evening. Anyway, the girl I was mainly chatting to was called Li and she was really nice, so hopefully I'll see her around again. (I'll tell you what, though, there was an atrocious dubbed western movie on TV. XD I mean, it would be pretty crappy even in English but the dub made it even more hilarious.)

When I FINALLY went up to my room it was about midnight, and I was going to go to bed, I got changed (... by which I mean I pulled off my t-shirt and pulled on a nighty and pj top, since I was already wearing my bed pants)... and then I noticed there was another set of powerpoints under my desk, and that they were the same kind as my adaptor. It seems there are TWO kinds of power points in Japan.

Anyway, I was tired but I felt I had to at least contact my parents-- I'd called my mum from Kaori's mobile briefly while I was eating my second breakfast at the airport, but that was all. So I sent them a voicemail using gtalk where I guess I sounded kind of flaky, because I was tired, trying not to speak too loudly (it was late and sound travels in these dorms, the middle is open with a small garden down the bottom so, you know, you can see the levels above and below you when you're walking along the corridor), and I didn't even know if it was recording or not because I couldn't remember if there was actually a proper mic in my laptop, I had some vague memory of trying to speak through headphones plugged into the mic port when Ji and I tried it out one time. I also wrote my aunt Marie a much more detailed email, which on contemplation I also sent to my parents, and chatted to Tristan for a bit over IM before crashing into bed at about 1am with my sweet, sweet ipod. (yay, power!)

My sleep was quite disrupted, but everything after that counts as the next day in my book so you can wait for the next post. *g*

Sore ijyou!

Comments

[-leareth.livejournal.com]

The Yamanote line is all sorts of wonderful, and Tokyo trains eat Sydney trains for snack-time.

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, PRETTY MUCH, YEAH. XD

[woodstock-21.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, if you want more plug adaptors, we can always go to akihabara and get you a few more XD

and yeah, let me know when you get a phone and i'll call you up and help you out if you need any help :D

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Awesome. XD

And yay, thanks! <3 Kaori is taking me to go hopefully get a phone tomorrow, so!

[(Anonymous)]

Cathy here again :) Congrats on getting into your dorm alive, safe and sound! Very good news!

You might not be able to get your phone yet - you'll need your Alien Registration card before you can get it :/ I was phoneless for the first three weeks I was here - SHOCK HORROR.

If your laptop adapter's three prongs, you should look at getting a transformer instead of the wall adapters.

And whoa-ho, must respect for Rachel doing her degree at Tokyo GaiDai. That's seriously impressive stuff right there!!

[(Anonymous)]

And me once more... I just read through your last post - man, what you went through is insane... Take it easy, kk? Unfortunately you're not eligible for an Alien Registration card on a temporary visa iirc, so you have to wait to get the certificate of eligibility, take that to the consulate, wait to have the visa slapped in your passport (took a week back in Australia, I imagine it'll be faster in Japan - maybe they even do it on the spot?) and then wait another 2-3 weeks to get your alien registration card (why 2-3 weeks? Japanese bureaucracy...). So in short, you won't have a phone for quite some time me thinks ><;;;

Any more questions you have, let me know :D

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Apparently, according to Kaori, I can get a temporary alien registration card-- thank GOD because I really need that mobile phone. << Although getting a bank account is still difficult. Anyway, the certificate of eligibility is already on its way and should be here tomorrow or the day after. I'm a little concerned about how long the visa will take, though. Usually you have to be outside the country when you get it... and Kaori said when she asked they said it'd take 1-3 months to get one (me: O_O), but I don't know whether she mentioned that I already had the certificate or not. I'm going to try to go to the Australian Embassy tomorrow, though, and see what they say.

Thanks, Cathy, you're awesome. ♥

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

When I was speaking to her tonight, it seems apparently she does a year here as an intensive preparation course, and at the end of the year has to take actual proper entrance exams, which, dude. CRAZY. I do not envy her that. O_O

Transformer? *curious* And it's not actually specifically for my laptop-- it's just a travel adapter that came in a set. There was probably one of the other ones in the same set, but this is the only one I brought. Oh well, if I really want the other kind I can always get it in Akihabara (I think Kaori said she found them somewhere, too).

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Got one! it's docomo, they're the only ones that would let me get a phone without a proper visa.

My number is 09045968061~. :D

[woodstock-21.livejournal.com]

oh man, so jealous. did you get one of those fancy schmancy new ones? i really want a better phone but dude, i'd end up having to pay more to stop my current one and buy a new one. not to mention having to email everyone letting them know of my new address and number. SO MUCH WORK >.<

oooh, i'll call you tomorrow afternoon. what time do you finish classes? *eyes light up*

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

zomg, it kicks so much arse, you wouldn't BELIEVE. I can watch tv with it!

Well, technically our language classes do start tomorrow but I, personally, don't have any. So! I'm free all day. XD but I'll probably sleep in in the morning, hehehehe.

[schiarire.livejournal.com]

>>which I was initially kind of bewildered by, because there's a sheet and a blanket but instead of a top sheet there's like, a futon thing which is wider than my bed (me: but I already have a mattress and bedframe? what?<<

You can sleep under that, like a comforter (if it's what I think it is)! That's what I do at home during the winter ... it's heavy enough to almost suffocate you, which I like. :X

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

I did actually consider that... then again, I wouldn't have a top sheet without it and it makes the mattress more comfortable. I can only rent bedding for April anyway, so I may as well go out and buy stuff.

[schiarire.livejournal.com]

Get another one :D :D