つかれた～

Since my last post, LOTS OF THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. In another language, that's いっぱいことがあった。(Ippai koto ga atta.) And although the date of this post says Saturday, it is in fact Tuesday the 18th. Here is a day-by-day guide of Melissa's Life Since Last Tuesday, because I'm lazy and the easiest way to do this is day-by-day. GO!

TUESDAY

On Tuesday I went to get my alien registration card, also known as the がいじん/外人/gaijin (which means foreigner) card, also (officially) known as the がいじんとうろくしょう/外人登録証/gaijintourokushou. This was an ORDEAL even though I don't think it was supposed to be, mainly because I looked up what to do and where to go online, and apparently the Japanese government doesn't do well in updating their websites. You'll see what I mean in a bit.

So my dad and I set out Tuesday morning to Nagoya city hall, or the 市役所/しやくしょ/shiyakusho. The Internet said I could go to the city hall to get my gaijin card. WRONG. We showed up and they were like, oh sorry we don't do that here. Commence headache one. They told me to go to the ward office (in Japan, cities have different wards, like how New York has boroughs). The nearest one was for Naka-ku, or the Naka ward, and I distinctly remembered the Internet also saying that I could sign up for my card at any ward office even if it wasn't the one I lived in. So we set off for the Naka ward office in the middle of downtown Nagoya. Guess what they said when I got there? Yeah. I had to go to the ward office of the ward I was actually going to live in. Commence headache two and also EXCUSE ME WHAT, PLEASE UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION. They let me fill out the required forms there, though, and kindly put everything I needed to give to the other ward office in a folder so I wouldn't have headache number three. So back into the subway far away to the Showa ward office. Finally, this was the right one, and everything got thrown together into the magical pot of alien registration. I don't have my card yet, though--just a temporary certificate (that I had to pay 300 yen for...no surprise there) and a paper that says 'you will get your alien registration card soon.' Gee. Thanks. I sure hope so.

(During that time my dad asked if I needed the Japan National Health Insurance, whose booth was conveniently located right next to the alien registration one. I said no, because I really thought so--I have international health insurance, after all. Was I wrong? Yes. Japan only takes Japan National Health Insurance, apparently, so I had to come back to the ward office a couple of days later to register...and then a couple of days later after that to pick up my insurance card. They know me there, they really do.)

Then I went to get my cell phone. I couldn't before because I hadn't registered at the ward office as an alien and didn't have anything that said I could own a cell phone legally. But now I did! So off to au. Au (pronounced as the letters are: a, u) is one of the major Japanese cell phone companies next to Softbank and DoCoMo. (If you want an American comparison, Softbank sells the iPhone, so it's like AT&T. You can decide which ones are Verizon and Sprint.) I like au--I've had DoCoMo and au phones in the past, and from my experience au is cheaper and has phones that are just as good as DoCoMo's. So we went to au and I bought a prepaid phone (pictures below, as usual), and it wasn't very expensive, which was good although I ran out of minutes in a week. Of course, it is me. I might actually wait until I use up all my new minutes and then just go get a prepaid Softbank phone, because I get free e-mail with that, and with prepaid au I can't have any kind of e-mail or internet (which means no texting whatsoever).

While waiting for my phone to be set up the padre and I walked around the area and came across a Mos Burger, which will someday cater my wedding because their fish burgers (and really, anything they have to offer) are the most delicious. So we had lunch there (and of course I took a picture).

And then I went to the dorms: the Nagoya Koryu Kaikan!

We took the subway to Yagoto Nisseki hauling my ridiculously huge suitcase and my rolling carry-on and took a taxi from the station to my school. At this point all the CJS (Center for Japanese Studies; the program I'm in) office had told me to do was go to information. Uh, okay...well, as soon as we walked in the security in the police box (in Japan the police have BOXES) were looking at me funny, so I had to stop and explain that basically I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do. They gave me this look that suggested they had no idea what the hell I should do with myself either, but were very nice and called the CJS for me. Ten minutes later (as my dad put it, "They're calling the Emperor"; supposedly this is why everything in Japan takes 5 times longer than it should) we were walking out the main gate of the school, and the dorm mother came to pick us up.

On foot, naturally, because my dorm is located right outside the school gate and takes about 30 seconds to go from door-to-school. YES! You all know that this is perfect for my lazy behind. And honestly, the dorm isn't really a dorm, either--it's an apartment complex, and within each apartment there are 4 separate rooms, a kitchen/dining room, two toilets, a wash area and a shower. It's really nice despite the fact that if you're not in your room it is FREEZING. Unlike America, where everyone wants to be warm and cozy everywhere they go, Japan only lets you be warm and cozy in your own room. Otherwise, to save energy, everywhere else feels like ice. But, okay, it's not terrible. You do get used to it. And hey, it builds stamina (even though I have a cold right now).

First of all, because there is somehow an inherent need in people who work in dorms for everyone to be introduced to each other in the most embarrassing of ways, we were stuck in the lobby for 5 minutes because I had to meet another student who lived there. His name is Ayumu, but I didn't know that until I met him again at the Welcome Party. Introductions don't normally take 5 minutes, but it was a lot of "So do I speak Japanese to him?" and a lot of "So do I speak English to her?" on his part. That equals, apparently, a lot of confusion and backtracking in languages and translating one's own words. Look, guys. I don't know. It was tiring.

Then to my room. Here's what's in it: a desk with shelves, a bed with sheets, really warm comforters, and a pillow filled with beans (or something--most pillows in Japan are like that, and they are uncomfortable), and a dresser. Needless to say my room is kind of empty. And so was my dresser at first....AND THEN I WENT SHOPPING. But that's not until Thursday, so wait a little bit.

When I got to my room there was no one there, and when the dorm mother and my dad left I was alone in the apartment. It was a bit unnerving because what was going to happen when my roommate(s) came back and there was this unknown chick in the apartment, right? But it wasn't like that. First Shiho-chan came back--she is my Japanese roommate (there's one in every suite), and she is THE MOST ADORABLE THING ON THIS PLANET oh my gosh. How one 21-year-old girl can be so cute is beyond me. But I was standing in the kitchen and then she walked into the house and was like OH MY GOD HI and I was like OH MY GOD HI and then five minutes later our two other roommates came back: Kara, from Indonesia, who has been here since last semester, and Sen, from China/Pennsylvania, who has also been here since last semester but is new to the dorms (like me). Everyone was like OH MY GOD HI, and then we took a tour of the apartment, and then for the next two hours we stood around the kitchen talking. In Japanese. Coherently. I win. (No really guys, this is a huge deal to me!)

That night I went to sleep on my bean pillow, and quickly resolved to buy another pillow sometime in the future. A real pillow.

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY

Wednesday was orientation. Thursday was also orientation. It was as all orientations go: not very interesting. In fact I can't remember much of it except that a) the placement test was ridiculously long, b) Japan does not believe in central heating (true life: there is no hot water in the school bathrooms and the classrooms are all freezing. More stamina-building, I suppose) and c) everyone is from America. Okay, that's a lie, but mostly everyone is from America.

The first thing we did was take the placement test, and since I had (and still have) a cold I was That Kid Coughing Every Other Minute. The test lasted three hours. WHY. And then lunch with people that had congregated outside the test room. This was our first brush with Japanese university cafeterias; they are, in fact, quite delicious and cheap BUT there are many on campus (I think we have 5 or 6, and also a convenience store and a bakery) so we kind of ambled our way into one. And then we couldn't read half of the menu because most of it was in kanji, so I ordered the first thing I could read, which turned out to be つくねどん/つくね丼/meatballs over rice (okay I know this sounds gross, but it's not the Italian/American meatballs you're thinking of--they are made very differently). The gist of this first lunch is that we were sad at what we ordered (though it was good) because we couldn't really order in the first place, and also that we were REALLY COLD.

Oh,, but we did have konnyaku grape and apple juice, which was basically like sucking fruit jelly through a straw--in order words, the strangest texture ever, but AMAZING. And only a hundred yen!

For the sake of my sanity, we were oriented on the following: drugs (very bad), riding bicycles (bad if you hit people/walk on the wrong side of the road and people hit you), the Tokai Earthquake (extremely bad since no one knows when it's going to happen), pickpocketers (very bad--they come up behind you riding a bike and just snatch your purse away), academics at Nanzan (good) and student life at Nanzan (also good).

We also went to a big gathering-type thing with snacks and Japanese students, wherein we met some more people in our program, had to introduce ourselves via microphone, and met Japanese students including Shiho-chan and Nao-chan (except apparently Nao-chan graduated and was just sticking around). Shiho-chan, however, promised to take us shopping on Friday AND DID. She wins.

Lastly for Thursday we took the subway one stop over to Yagoto for Jusco, which is a department store--kind of like malls, except more compact and there is always a supermarket in the basement and almost always restaurants and/or a hundred yen store on the top floor--and bought clothes. Very successful, that was, especially since they accepted credit card. Japan is a very cash-oriented culture--card isn't accepted everywhere as it is in the US. In fact, most ATMs close around 5 PM, and banks usually close a couple of hours before that. So if you're running out of money and can't find a bank to exchange your traveler's checks and you can't find an ATM that takes international cards, you're out of luck. (Why yes, in fact, that might be me right at this moment...sigh.)

PICTURES:

My phone! :) The round, smiley thing is the mascot for Nagoya Castle dressed up as a ninja. It even has a sword. Oh, Japan.

MOS BURGER, otherwise known as the burger place that has the best fish burger I've ever had in my life. We're getting married. Move over, chicken curry. (There is enough room for all of us.)

The dresser and door of my room.

Desk.

Bed (with fashion magazine). And heater, which works very nicely.

And the view from my balcony! Do you see the snow? Which brings us to the next picture...

SNOOOOOOOOOOOW!

FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY/THE SNOW --> in my next post. To be continued!

着いた！

I'M HERE!

And man, does it feel good.

I have a lot to say (when do I not?) so this post (the first real official one!) will be conveniently divided into three parts. They will be in chronological order because I'm blood type A and everything has to be in its rightful place or else someone's gonna get it. So I'll start by explaining my trip to Japan, which was kind of like demon spawn because I traveled for more than 24 hours with no thanks to Delta airlines, and ended up spending a night in Tokyo. And then I'll talk about Japan, complete with pictures! I hate myself for being such a tourist with the camera and all, but sacrifices must be made for the sake of memory. And then I'll just freak out at the end because come on--I'm in Japan. I think I'm allowed to freak out a little bit. Or a lot a bit.

I. DEMON SPAWN TRIP

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little when I say demon spawn, but then again I could say it was the trip from hell and it really wasn't that, so what's less than hell? Demon spawn, I guess. (It works out in my mind, okay? Don't ask questions.)

The condensed version of DST (demon spawn trip) is that our plane had to be rerouted to Fairbanks, Alaska in order to drop off someone on the plane who needed emergency attention. That wasn't bad; I mean, it was all for the best. So you think we'd be in and out, right? Drop off the sick person, refuel a bit, and be on our way?

NO. That did not happen. Instead, the sick person got taken off the plane and then we sat there for five hours. Doing nothing. They wouldn't let us off the plane. BUT WHY? Nobody knows. According to the vague words of the captain and flight attendants, we stayed so long because we needed maintenance. So, okay, it took awhile for the mechanic to make it over to Fairbanks from Anchorage, and another hour for the stuck valve or whatever the hell was wrong with the plane to get fixed...and then we were "on our way," meaning we taxied to the end of the runway and sat there for another hour before we departed. Supposedly we were getting de-iced. Or something. I don't know. I really don't. All I can think of when I recall this incident is WHY. WHY WERE WE THERE FOR FIVE HOURS? I made my way across the fictional world of my Dragon Quest IX Nintendo DS game and beat three bosses before we even taxied. And then I finished a book. I mean, I guess I was productive. And at least we got the sick person to land safely. But all that aside....FIVE HOURS. WHY. It wouldn't have been so bad were we allowed to leave the plane, I think, but they kept us in. And like bears, or Americans, we raided the kitchens. No, really...by the time we were in the air again there was a drink shortage because economy class had a little too much fun helping themselves to "free" soda and water. (Myself included.)

So we ended up getting to Tokyo six hours after we were supposed to. Naturally, everyone on the plane with a connecting flight missed their connections. Woo hoo! Once we were let off into the totally-deserted Narita Int'l Airport, Delta representatives swiftly ascended on us, trying to pacify everyone before we all exploded by giving us new flights for the next day and moving us to the airport hotel for the night. It was too late, of course; most people were already exploding, including the brisk (and by "brisk" I mean "ear-splittingly loud and high-pitched" or, if you understand, 150% Filipino Woman) Filipino lady I'd had the great pleasure of sitting behind during our flight. Those of you that have not yet been blessed with hearing my wonderful Filipino accent, remember this blog post so that when you see me again you can ask. It's only funny in person.

ANYWAY--so we were bused to Hotel Nikko, the Japan Airlines hotel, which was actually a pretty nice hotel. Or maybe it was just nice because it was all FREE and they extended the restaurant hours (they had closed at 10 and re-opened until 3 AM for us) to give us poor foreigners (and we were on a huge Boeing 747; there were A LOT of said foreigners) some nutrition in our severely jet-lagged states. Thanks Delta, it's the least you could do.

Then sleep. Yay, sleep.

In the morning we took the hotel shuttle back to Narita, but that's not important. Instead I want to talk about how amazing my breakfast was. I know no one cares because you all know how much of a secret fatty I am, BUT JUST LISTEN, OKAY, because this is the Japanese breakfast I've wanted for the past 3 years. Dream: fulfilled (for now). So I had my eggs and sausage, right, and then I went back to the breakfast buffet and THERE WAS ANOTHER TABLE. Melissa was happy. Then I actually looked at what was on the table--Japanese-style breakfast foods. Melissa went into a state of bliss. I had vegetable stew and tofu with soy sauce and green onions and rice porridge with pickled vegetables and homemade miso soup with daikon radish and I sort of passed out a little from happiness. And look, I know you're all rolling your eyes at me, but you don't understand. JUST LEAVE ME AND MY DREAM BREAKFAST ALONE.

...Yeah, so, shuttle back to Narita Int'l Airport. Once we got to the gate we actually met up with a bunch of people from yesterday's flight; apparently I was not the only one thinking WHY. Everyone else was still nursing bitter feelings over the whole five-hours thing, especially since most of them were only going to Nagoya to wait 11 hours for a connection flight to Manila. Ridiculous, right? That's not a layover as much it is...well, half your day.

Then I met the cutest 3-year-old ever, and we got on the plane, and I saw Mt. Fuji (pictures below) from zillions of feet in the air, and then we landed in Nagoya. ('We' meaning my dad and I; he oh-so conveniently had his vacation time the week I decided to leave for Japan--truly he is only here for the food; but then again so am I). Since Monday is a national holiday (coming of age day--and that includes me! I should totes be wearing a fancy kimono, getting my pics taken and going to the shrine), I'm headed to the Nanzan dorms on Tuesday after I get all that fancy alien registration done at the immigration bureau, and also after I get a cell phone (hopefully! Japan is so weird about what you need to get a phone, so hopefully I have everything I need).

For now, we're at a hotel in the city. And we just had Coco's curry. If you know what that is, I dare you not to be jealous.

II. JAPAN

I feel like I should put this in a list, because if I tried to write everything that's in my head this would be a) a novel and b) gibberish. And everyone likes lists, right? We don't get enough of them in college, after all...

So, LIST 1: Favorite things so far.

1. SPEAKING JAPANESE ALL OVER THE PLACE! And being understood. Okay, so maybe I've said yes (hai!) to a few...or more than a few...questions that people have asked me even though i had no idea what they were saying to me, but for the most part, I got this, yo! No surprise that I love it. I can get around and ask questions and explain myself and understand what the shows on tv are saying (mostly). Such a wonderful feeling.

2. Boxes of tea! Boxes > bottles.

3. Riceballs! Or, as we used to so affectionately call them, "rice triangles." What? They are.

4. Ramen! Self-explanatory.

5. Food! I mean, if the last three things on this list haven't been a dead giveaway...

6. Department stores! How I missed going from the supermarkets in the basement to the hundred yen shop on the top floor. Which leads us to--

7. Hundred yen stores! Or, well, okay, one hundred and five yen stores. Damn you, sales tax! No, but seriously, these aren't your typical dollar stores. You can buy ANYTHING in a hundred yen store, and I don't mean like junk you don't need (though they have that too), I mean you can buy cute dishware and luggage and clothes and shoes, all of extremely good quality. Basically you could buy your life here. But not a car. Or a husband. Sadly.

8. TV! As my dad said, "There are so many stupid shows on Japanese television." This is true. However, they are so fun to watch. Also, today we watched sumo, and then the national high school volleyball tournament. Not to mention the commercials--I love Japanese commercials (CMs, as they're called here). They're just so....Japanese. Proof.

9. This! You have no idea how much I missed train stations. Or trains, for that matter. That might sound ridiculous but I couldn't be more honest. We took one today from the airport to the hotel and it was just--nostalgia and love all wrapped in one 40-minute train ride, shooting through countrysides and cities and fields.

10. CONBINIIIIIIII. You're not going to get it if you haven't been in one, but they're kind of like the awesome sister of the hundred yen store, except it's mostly food and everything is over one hundred yen. Maybe they're just special to me because I used to get lunch there (aka run there and back in the blazing heat/freezing cold) with my friends during the school day (raise your hand if you were one of those friends and you would punch a cat in the face just to get to Family Mart again!), but seriously, I love conbini because I love their snacks (pork buns, sandwiches, riceballs, ice cream, 30395973847539041580958 other delicious/strange/deliciously strange/strangely delicious foodthings, and most importantly tea in boxes!!!!!). Plus they are open 24 hours a day. I...just thought I'd throw that in there.

PICTURES! I know that's all you're here for.

I will marry this curry. Chicken included.

The bridesmaids: boxed tea and rice triangle.

Guest of honor: ice cream.

And it will take place on Mt. Fuji. (Seen from the plane! It was actually HUGE.)

III.

I said I was going to freak out, but that wasn't the truth. I'm not freaking out. I'm not filled with an amazing sense of shock and/or awe that I'm back in Japan. In fact, that's all I can think of--I'm back, I've returned, I'm here again, yes. It's not anything fancy with fireworks and super-hype and stars exploding and keysmash (sldfkefjowhweoaisfnandohawehfohJAPANYAYJDDLJDLknfoihoi!!!!!!) all over the place.

It honestly feels like I never left in the first place. I walk around and I go to places and I ride the train and I eat the food and none of it feels like the last time I did any of that was three years ago. It's like I walked out of the house, stayed away for awhile, and came back to find everything where it was before.

Like I said, it feels good. I'm so happy to be back. :)