Mr. Potato Head: the Lost files

So in my two-month hiatus, I did actually take other pics with Mr. PH, so now I shall post them with a little bit of commentary, mostly because I am too lazy to go back and write like, six extra blogs. Enjoy!

Halloween!

So Halloween is a slowly-getting-bigger holiday in Japan. However, there is NO such thing as Trick-or-Treating in Japan, at least in Tokyo. The weekend before Halloween, my program went on a retreat out to the country in Nagano Prefecture. I wore my cow 着ぐるみ (Kigurumi, which is like a whole suit of a cow, kind of like footsie PJs). We had a big party, and then all laid outside underneath the stars and star-gazed. We also got lots of candy! The middle picture is with my good friend Katie, when we did purikura together on Halloween day.

 

Sunshine City Aquarium

Little known fact: Until 11th grade, I wanted to be either a marine biologist or an ichthyologist. However, I then took (and almost failed) chemistry, so I gave up on that dream and switched to Japanese. However, I have still always LOVED aquariums and anything related to the oceans, especially since my favorite animals are sharks. A group of friends and I went to an aquarium in Ikebukuro, in a giant building called 'Sunshine City'. It was all the way on the ninth and tenth floors, at the top of the building. 

Compared to most zoos, it was actually kind of depressing. The animals were REALLY cramped, and some were in the most random places (why a ring-tailed lemur was in a tiny plot of land with ducks is a mystery to me). However, the best place was the giant tank, which had all kinds of rays and fish:

It was so pretty. I could have sat into front of the tank for hours and just watch all the animals swim. I really feel happiest near the water.

My 21st Birthday

So in Japan, the big-important birthday is 20. That's about it. Being an American, one's 21st birthday is a HUGE deal, in my opinion. You can pretty much do anything at that point (except rent a car, but I don't like driving much anyway). I was sad I wasn't able to have a real 21st birthday party, but I managed to put together a dinner party at a Mexican restaurant called Zest Cantina in Shibuya, mostly because Mexican food is the fountain of youth in Japan aka IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. Sadly, the service / price was pretty shoddy, but I was so happy to have a lot of people around, and get a margarita for the first time. I even had buffalo wings!

Today, Mr. Potato Head celebrated Christmas!

This is my first Christmas away from home, and my first Christmas without any family. That is probably one of the hardest things about being abroad: no holidays with the family. Even though I have lived away from home almost five years now (Since junior year of HS), I have never been far away enough that I couldn't go home. This is a big change for me. However, my family was kind enough to send me gifts  and even a Christmas tree for my room! I was very happy.

 

My friend Shaun and her sister kindly invited me to spend Christmas with them. First, we did karaoke.

 

They even had Christmas songs! They didn't have my favorite song ('Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses), but they did have the song about Christmas in Africa by Band-Aid. Next, we went to an お好み焼き食べ放題 (All-You-Can-Eat Okonomiyaki).

 

It was actually a pretty sweet deal. We got a drink, six sides to share, and got to make about six okonomiyaki all together! Okonomiyaki is probably my favorite food in Japan.  It's base is usually cabbage, egg, and some kind of dough. From there, you can add just about anything! My favorite is pork and mochi together. However, sometimes it has squid =/

 

Next, we went to do プリクラ (Purikura), which is pretty much like photobooths in America, except more expensive and much more fun. They make you look MUCH prettier, and you can do all kinds of Photoshop-like things to them. They usually got about 400 yen (So about 5$), and you can get all sizes and styles of photos. This photo was taken outside of one of the arcades where you can do Purikura. The giant figure is Rilakuma, which means 'Lazy Bear'. He is a character like Hello Kitty or Doraemon.

One: White Russian

Two: Black Russian

Three: Banana Chocoffee

After saying goodnight, I decided to head home. However, by the station is a bar which is owned by the person who runs the apartment building I am staying in. It is mostly for international guests, so I decided to stop by, mostly because I had a free drink ticket. It was actually a very nice atmosphere. It was almost deserted since it was Christmas, but the bartender and everyone was pretty welcoming. Two of the people (including the bartender) was French, and another guest was a Japanese man from Osaka. All of them spoke French, so I wasn't too involved in the conversation. The drinks were yummy, and it was a pretty good end to the day.

So, even though it is a little late, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays! <3

Update!

Hello all!

So I haven't posted in awhile. In one post, I will try to explain everything going on since now.

So, things with my host people didn't work out so much. They weren't talking, I wasn't talking, and honestly, I finally talked to someone to start moving out. I got recommended a certain host family which I think would fit my needs more (a single parent), but the problem was whether the woman would accept or not (there is some back story, but that's not mine to tell, sorry).

Waiting for about two weeks, there finally came a time I was just DONE with the current host people. First of all, they wouldn't give me a key. Their own daughter didn't have a key, why I have no idea. So, I pretty much had to base my schedule on whether someone would be home or not. Also, they restricted my laundry/shower times, which made me even more aggrevated. The final straw came when I went out for a walk, saying I'd be back in like, 2 hours of so because I had to run errands. I went to send my Christmas letters and get some lunch (Chaashuu ramen is like my crack now, but that's another story). Anywho, I came back a little earlier, and in that time, the mom already left to do grocery shopping. (Also, these people ate at like, 5 pm. SUPER FREAKIN' EARLY IMO). So I just sat there, outside the gate, and realized I was done. I sent an email inquiring about the single parent host family and said if there was anyway for me to move out now for cheap, I'd take it.

It turns out the single parent accepted, but they would not be available until March. After going through my many options (the people in charge of my program are saints, I am so thankful for them), I decided to move into an apartment until March, and then move in with the new host parent. The next hardest part: moving out.

So in about less than 24 hours, I packed up all of my stuff, cleaned the ENTIRE ROOM from floor to ceiling, moving furniture to find lost items and clean up tons of dust (honestly, I cleaned the room every week, and you'd think from the look of it, I never did.. SO MUCH DUST). My Host-Family director called the host mom and told her I was moving out the afternoon of the next day. From that morning to the moment I left, the mother spoke to me maybe a total of three times, most through text message. Her tone was a lot shorter, and when I left, she didn't say a word and just walked away, so I didn't even get to thank her.

So we took a taxi to my new apartment/guest house place, where I have a tiny room, but honestly: I couldn't be happier. I get to cook my own food, take showers and do laundry pretty much whenever I want, and stay out as early/late as I want. I suppose the bed is a little uncomfy, but honestly: small price to pay to get OUT of that place.

Anywho, now that

• My internet is much better / reliable
• It's Winter Break
• I'm in a better mood

I will be updating more often!!!! I'm going to TRY (keyword: TRY) to update everyday, but honestly, I hope you all won't hold it against me.

Thanks,

Mr. Potato Head's Photographer

Today, Mr. Potato Head is trying to enjoy the little things in life.

So this past Sunday was actually probably one of my best days in Tokyo, along with visiting the giant Buddha.

Ever since I was a child, I have loved Pokemon. I collected the cards and played the games. Even now, I still play the games and stuff. So naturally, one of the first places I wanted to go to was the Pokemon Center. Sadly, because I am like, 14 years older than the audience for Pokemon, most of the Pokemon they had were from the new generation. However, I was able to get some cute phone charms, and a picture with Pikachu!

Afterwards, we went to a really pretty park. I am not sure of the name, but it was pretty big. It had a large pond /lake, and lots of land around it. One surprising thing about Tokyo is the amount of parks and trees. It is very nice to take a break from all the busy street life and concrete and actually enjoy nature...

  

 

 and feed the occasional turtle.

Soon my group is going to Nagano, which is a bit more out of the country. I am just ready to get away from my "host family" for awhile.

This weekend, Mr. Brotato Head party hearty'd

 SO I will say this out front: The drinking age in Japan is twenty years old. Therefore, according to Japanese law, I am not doing anything illegal. This blog does not condone drinking, and therefore any actions spoken about just happen to happen. That is all.

So, I recently joined a circle/club at Waseda. It's called Niji no Kai, which is pretty much a international group which is focused on people making friends from all around the world. It's a HUGE group (according to the page, over 350 members for this year).

In case you didn't know, drinking is a BIG part of Japanese culture. Whether it is businessmen going out for drinks after work, or just hanging out, or club meetings, there is usually drinking involved during or after things. So naturally, this was the first nomikai (drinking party) of the year. A nomikai is pretty much translated as 'drink and conversation.' This nomikai was a nomihodai, which means unlimited drinks for a period of time (usually about two hours). For about 2500 yen, you get unlimited drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic. If you consider that, it is honestly a VERY good deal, even though it is STILL super expensive、IMO.

Since our group was HUGE, our pitchers just got refilled every time we finished a drink off.  However, the annoying thing is that the glasses are so small. Glasses in general seem to be tiny in Japan, which is really annoying for someone who drinks 43889247882374232 glasses of water a day, or tries to, anyway.

Otherwise, nomi kai / hodais are pretty fun. Sadly, I really wasn't in the best of moods so I didn't want to socialize that much (I had spent the entire day carrying around my laundry because no one was home / had to do laundry cause my host family is ugh).

There is another nomikai at the same place this Friday. I might go, but honestly, I'd rather be like this*

Than this....

Today, Mr. Potato Head is doing laundry and the coin laundromat.

 

If there is one thing I cannot say enough: TOKYO IS SUPER, SUPER EXPENSIVE.

How much did it cost me to do 2 loads of laundry, along with drying them for 30 minutes each?

1200 yen.. which is about 15.50$. I wish I was kidding.

So why am I paying an arm and a leg to do laundry? I'm pretty sure you figured out already:

Yupp, my host family.

They do laundry... every. single. day. Like, two loads, EVERY DAY. NO ONE NEEDS TO DO THAT MUCH LAUNDRY. Before someone says "but washing machines are smaller in Japan." NOT my families. It's actually pretty big. Whenever I try and ask to do laundry, they're all like 'ummmmm,' or pretty much saying 'No.'.. If I was at Earlham, I could give two craps less about wearing dirty clothes over again. But here, when I have no socks/underwear left, and no one lets me do laundry, I get pissy. REALLY pissy (even though I've been pissed about all this for like.. weeks now.)

I suppose if I have any "good news,"I did talk to someone yesterday about my family and how frustrated I am with them. Honestly, as much as I bitch about these people, I'd rather be miserable in this house and actually try to make it work than living in a dorm. I know if I lived in a dorm...

• My Japanese will not improve. at all.
• It's money I don't want to spend
• I would probably lose my awesome commute
• Pretty sure I'd have to pay for laundry ALL THE TIME there

Even though with this place, I'd at least have my own key. That is one of the most ANNOYING things about my family. I'm pretty sure that the family is REQUIRED to give us a key to use, and yet mine SOMETIMES let me use the kitchen key, which is another trial of fire to do.

Point is: I am getting to the point that I am sick of bitching. I am not longer afraid of being the "obnoxious American." I AM American, and I am sick of playing the passive aggressive game with my family. If they don't deal with the SIMPLE thing I want (a laundry schedule), I will not just sit there and deal with it.

In good news: First club meeting tonight for Niji no Kai, a circle I joined at Waseda. I will probably blog about it tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a total disaster.

Here's a little song I kept thinking about while doing laundry today:

I only wish I saw someone cute enough to actually feel this song.

Today, Mr. Potato Head is fed up.

I actually wanted to do this blog post yesterday, but because my internet sucks at my host family's house (one of the things we are fed up with), it was just a pain. So now I'm forced to do it at school. My apologies in advanced.

So honestly, I am enjoying a lot of things about Japan, such as:

• Conbinis
• Making friends
• Classes
• The walking (which is great for health)

However, there are PLENTY of things which I am just annoyed with, number one being my "host" family. Let me be clear: they are civil people. They are NOT mean, NOT hurtful, and not-outright rude or anything. I'm sure they are just a typical family. HOWEVER, I feel like I am jack shit to them.

My family has hosted about 9 families before me. Honestly, if you had told me that before, I would have had no clue. They make me food.

That's it.

They have done some nice things, such as they bought me house slippers. My mother also took me to the city ward office in the tsunami, which was very nice of here. However, I feel like I could just disappear tomorrow, and the only thing they would care about is if I remembered to close the curtains before it got dark.

I feel like most of my sadness / depression in Japan relates to the fact that I am not having any kind of connection to my host family. At home, I didn't do much with my family, but even small things like eating together (which I don't seem to get to do with my host family) or watching TV was nice.

Instead, I'm just in my room... all day... watching trashy reality TV from America on my laptop.. when I have wireless.

So I have no idea if my laptop hates me, or just my wireless does. I'm pretty sure it is the wireless. Otherwise, I have no idea. Then, I'm forced to watch re-runs of Secret Life via YT.

I'm honestly depressed... and the only thing that would help cure it right now is probably frozen cookie dough. But the chance of charlie seen hitting me with a solid gold tuna on a vespa is more likely to happen than me finding premade frozen cookie dough in Japan.

 

I would totally kill for some of this right now.

I'm hoping to go to the Pokemon Center this weekend, so I'm hoping to get some great heads of Mr. PH while there. I'm sorry my photos have been lacking lately. Hopefully things brighten up soon.

Today, Mr. Potato Head is exploring the strange(r) side of Japan.

So anyway, lately I have seen more strange stuff in Japan, and Mr. Potato Head and I have done so together. First, in case you didn't know, Japan has a lot of themed restaurants. There are maid cafes, butler cafes, horror-themed restaurants, etc. Usually, these places charge just to sit down. The place we went was no exception.

The name of the themed restaurant we went to was "Alcatraz ER." It's noted for being one of the original theme restaurants in Japan. Bizarre Food's host even went there (go to about 4 minutes in). It's a mental hospital/Monster-themed restaurant.

After seeing this video before head, I got really excited. We got to Shibuya, which is where the 'Hachiko' statute is. More or less, Hachiko was a dog who would everyday, go to the station with his master, go home, and return at the time the master would get back to the station. One day, the man died at work, and never came home. Nonetheless, the dog would still everyday go and wait for his master to come home. They made a statute for the dog:

 

So we made our way to Alcatraz ER. The restaurant was on the second floor of a building... upon entrance, you push a button that has your blood type (Blood types are a really big thing in Japan, kind of like astrological signs). We got put in a cell room, with seats on the floor. Thankfully, we could fit everyone at one time. To get the waiters/waitresses to come (who are all dressed like doctors and nurses), you have to cling on the bars with a chain.

Now, themed-restaurants means themed food and drinks. Well, the drinks were certainly... appropriate. I suppose these will speak for themselves:

 The first one was called "discharge of the brain," and featured the drink... inside of a head. It tasted kind of like grape. The second one was called "Japanese TinnTinn" or something like that. It was basically a banana yogurt drink, with a banana shaped like a penis in it.... rather gross looking. The last one... was part of a drink called "hitori asobi," which means "Fun by yourself."

Pretty sure you get it by now. You mixed the drink with the... vibrator.


The food was also themed. While we weren't actually eating things like brains, tongues, or hearts, but it's shaped like that. After that, all the lights went out... and these people in monster costumes came out. I was WANTING to be scared, so I screamed. A lot. It was actually pretty funny. However, the scariest thing about the restaurant: the price.

Most themed restaurants, as far as I know, have a sitting fee of usually 200 - 700 yen. That's right: You have to pay JUST TO SIT DOWN AT THE PLACE. As an American, that's seem crazy to me. However, you don't really tip in Japan, so it's not terrible, but still... wow.

Total cost for a discharge of the brain, a slice of pizza, some noodles and sitting /service fee:
1900 yen. That's like, 20$. Trust me: not worth it.

After that, we just hung around Shibuya. It was nothing really special, but WOW SO MANY PEOPLE!!! Seriously, you know those screen shots of people walking all in a square in Japan, with lots of bright lights? It's just like that.

However, perhaps my favorite find of the day:

Colonel Sanders statute!!!

 

Back in high school, I saw a video on KFC in Japan. One of the big features was that each KFC had a Sanders statute outside the front. After seeing many KFC restaurants in Japan, I hadn't seen one til now, so I had to get a picture with it!

 

Another strange thing I saw was when I was walking home, late at night to my house. I know people say all the time "Oh, Tokyo is super safe. No need to worry (much) about being in danger." This may be, but honestly:walking anywhere in the world, in the dark, alone, on a not-super-well-lit street is terrifying, except maybe Earlham (IMO). 

I was walking and all the sudden, this girl was walking my way. She was wearing nothing but a uniform jacket, a bra and panties. No. Joke. Needless to say, I pretty much walked as fast as I could without jogging to get home.

At first, I kind of freaked. Looking back, now I'm just curious WHY the girl was like that. I'm hoping it was just a costume thing... not a like "she got mugged" thing.

My next blog is probably not going to be super happy, just BTW. I have a LOT to rant about, so just to warn y'all.

Today, Mr. Potato Head is behind on things (sorry)

So I apologize. While I feel like my fan base isn't huge, I think I do have some awesome followers who look forward to this to bring a smile to them daily. To those people, I apologize.

So yesterday was actually a REALLY awesome day. We went to Ueno Park, which had the Ueno zoo. Size wise, it's smaller than the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. However, this zoo is most famous for...

Pandas.

Now, most people know this, but for those who I don't: I don't like pandas. I've decided NOT to hate them.. but I really, really REALLY don't like pandas. I think they're useless, wasteful, pointless animals. Like.. WHY DO WE KEEP SAVING THEM?? I feel like nature is just TRYING to get rid of them, and we're stopping it.

..but that's a WHOLE 'nother story.

So anyway, I DID actually see pandas. The line to see them was HUGEEEEEEEE. Thankfully, we didn't have small children, so we could zoom through. Honestly, pandas look a LOT different from what I expected. First of all, they move pretty fast. Second, they were yellow and black (from how dirty they were). I'm still not a huge fan of them. However, after seeing that they can actually MOVE, I'm .08% more impressed by them than I was.

As much as I loved Ueno Zoo, some of it was really depressing.. the animals (like the hippos) had TINY, TINY areas... mostly concrete. The water for the sea lions was super green and bleh. However, perhaps one of the most impressive areas was for the gorillas. They had TONS of space.. and grass.. and stuff to do. But I mean, what can you expect having a zoo in a super urban area?

So afterwards we went to food at this ramen shop. I had some SUPER SPICY ramen, which made me super happy. Then, we explored the streets of Ueno, which had this awesome stand for 1000 yen, you get tons of chocolate and snacks. We had an impromptu picnic in Ueno... which I noticed the number of homeless people. I kept staring at this homeless guy... since then, I've noticed a lot of homeless people... kind of curious.

So, on a sort of happier note CLASSES STARTED TODAY!! On bad news, WOW I suck at Japanese! I'm currently at Level 4 Intensive Japanese, and while I can understand 80% of the writing, I cannot understand the woman's speaking... AT ALL. Besides, I'd rather have an easier time and bored than harder and wanting to kill myself from too much work.

My Urban Studies class sounds like it is going to be awesome. The entire class is based off of my midterm and the final... which is kind of awesome. The teacher is from Israel, and his accent is super cool.

Then, we went to Ginza. Even though it is by FAR the most expensive place in Japan so far, I loved it. It reminded me of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, with all the designer stores and fashion and everything.. I wanted it all (though the price is BADDDDDDD). We also went to Abercrombie & Fitch, which made me feel right at home, since it's just like it is in America: Dark, smelly, and full of white people! Seriously.. tons of foreigners. Also, even though they're paid to, the people who worked there were super nice to our faces!

Even better: pretty sure one dude's job was just to stand there. Shirtless.... not that I minded. Now I know where the actually HOT, manly Asians are in Japan... even  if they're totally toolboxes.

So,  speaking of postcards: If you would like a postcard from me in Japan, please email me your address (xxpiroxxx@gmail.com) and I will try and get one to you!

Today, Mr. Potato Head is super excited to have his keitai!

 

I am once again part of the technology world of cell phones! As stupid as this sounds, things seem 1000x better now that I have a cell phone. I've realized just how important they are to my life.

So today started with ordering our cell phones and doing the paperwork... in Japanese. ALL in Japanese. Keep in mind, cell phone contracts are hard enough in English... not being sure exactly WHAT I was doing and signing was pretty scary.. I'm hoping it doesn't come back to bite me. Thankfully, we had the Waseda students to help us out.

Afterwards, we went out to "Curry and Naan" for lunch.. I'm pretty sure I've eaten more Indian food in my two weeks here than I have in my entire life.. it's so delicious, though.

Then we had our opening ceremony... it was a lot different than most ceremonies I've been to. There was a lot of introductions, and also a WIDE variety of Japanese natives speaking with an interesting accent when speaking english. German-accent on a Japanese guy? Chou weird.

THEN I GOT MY PHONE!!!!!!!!!! I love it so much.. I even went and bought a cute white, plush case for it already. I also got apps and everything. Seriously, it feels SO NICE to have a phone again. One of the coolest features of the phone is the sending between phones via infra red.. aka you put your phones back to back, and you can send all kinds of info.. saves a LOT of time when exchanging contacts. Also, probably the best part of my phone?

It's in English.

The worst part?

The manual is all in Japanese.

Today, Mrs. Potato Head is having trouble remember ALL the rules / customs of the house.

Okay, so I didn't update yesterday because I had a huge mental break down.. bad enough to buy skype credit, call my mother, and proceed to spend over an hour talking to her on the computer. I've had some health problems lately, besides my cold (let's just say "digestive" problems), and I was freaking out for a few reasons:

1) The clinic I went to ONLY SPOKE JAPANESE. I mean, this is one of those "Duh, Lynne" moments, but honestly.. it was BAD. In broken katakana, I could kind of understand them, but it got so bad that I broke down in front of the doctor, probably with the most hilarious (but not hilarious at the time) thing I've ever said involving Japanese:

"Watashi no nihongo wa chou heta da kara  (Because my Japanese is so bad), I can't understand a damn thing you're saying"

I feel like I should make t-shirts of that.. I don't know if it would fit on a t-shirt, though.

Anyway, so eventually I calmed down, and the receptionist doctor was SO NICE, she actually TOOK me to the pharmacy and walked me back... I bowed like, a million times and thanked her so much for taking care of me. I felt really bad for freaking out on her earlier...

2) Communication with my family. My family's English is probably worse than my Japanese, and that says a LOT. They are SUPER nice people, and they try SUPER hard, so I feel SUPER guilty. But we can barely talk sometimes. last night I just cried in front of my host mom cause I was trying to tell her I was having "digestion problems" and neither of us could understand one another. Since then, it's gotten a tiny, TINY bit better. However, I am so glad to be getting my phone tomorrow, so I can get a jisho app like, NOW.

Today has been a lot better. I actually got to do laundry (yayyy), but with that, there is a LOT of rules / customs in Japan / my family, which I feel the need to write down, mostly so I remember them. They are in order by time of day.


1) First thing in the morning: open the curtains and tie them back
2) Shut off the air conditioner once I leave the room
3) Unhatch the bathroom door and.. use
4) Wash hands in sink on top of toliet and dry (no.. soap?)
5) Hatch door back on hook so it stays open
6) Start Breakfast with "Itadakimasu"
7) Wipe hands with wet towel
8) Spoon jelly with separate spoon, then spread on bread with knife
9) Use the tall, skinny strawberry glass with Engrish on it, the other one is my host sister's
10) Say "gochisosama" when done eating
11) Stack dishes and set either on counter or on ledge
12) When taking a shower, put down bath mat, then put my own SMALLER towel to serve as another bath mat
13) DON'T WASTE WATER
14) hang up everything in the exact place when done
15) Keep bedroom door closed when air conditionning is one
16) When leaving, take off slippers, and put in shoe closet.
17) Step into my outside shoes
18) Say "ittekimasu!"
19) When I come back, say "Tadaima!"
20) take off shoes without stepping into genkan in bare feet

21) Put slippers back on (or bare feet if you are made of a potato)

22)Turn shoes so that you when you're leaving, you're ready to go

23) Do all the same stuff at breakfast, except at dinner
24) CLOSE CURTAINS WHEN DARK
25) (insert a bunch of stuff after sorting garbage and such which I'll probably write about later)
26) Collaspe from trying to remember all this stuff



 
To be fair, a lot of this are basic things... it just feels like if I don't do any of them, I'm a terrible, terrible guest.

Things are looking up a little. My mom brought up a very good point: "You went to Japan with all these expectations, and they're turning out a LOT different than you expected."

Aka, Welcome to the wonderful world of culture shock.

Today, Mr. Potato Head is drying off after being out in the typhoon!

So today was very up down, up down. First, apparently fall is typhoon season in Japan. Being from the midwest, I'm not used to anything but really bad thunder storms / ice storms, and the occasional tornado scare. However, typhoons suck. A lot. I mean, the wind is just crazy storm, and no umbrella is left unturned. I will certainly not complain about Indiana weather again anytime soon.

So today we found out more about getting cell phones. Originally, I wanted to get an iPhone, only because my iTouch is getting older, and I wanted something with which when I go back to the States, I can still get some benefits from (Bascially, it would just turn into a fancier iTouch). However, I found out the company, Soft Bank, which is the only iPhone place in Japan, you have to get a two year contract. Even worse, when you cancel, You have to pay a cancellation fee PLUS pay for ALL THE MONTHS YOU HAD LEFT. I would rather spend that money on a yukata, kthnx.

Then, I had lunch with some friends at this random place.. not really sure WHAT I ate, but it was delicious, nonetheless. Then I had to buy my commuter pass. I was SUPER THANKFUL I didn't have to return my card to the JS program yet, because I just put 5000 yen on it (little under 50$). I got home kind of late, but my okaasan had to take me to the city office so I could register as a foreigner / get under health insurance... THAT is when things got emotional.

Honestly, I have bad coping skills, which I realized today. BAAAAD coping skills. So, we were walking down the streets, and my okaasan's umbrella broke. She said something in Japanese, WHICH I couldn't understand, and then ran off. I thought she had just left me and told me to go to the station, which then I kind of freaked out. I was stuck, in the rain, alone, with NO idea where to go... so I walked up to the station, after cursing at the wind a few times, just stood there, and cried... I cried quite a bit. I just wanted to be home. I didn't want to be in this county, where I can't understand anybody, and I just wanted to go home.... finally, my okaasan just showed up, while my eyes were as red as a pothead on a three day binge, and we finally got to the city office. THANKFULLY, most of the forms were in English. I got super lucky with that... but the health insurance was super hard.... at least I'm slightly covered in case something bad happens... yay!

So otherwise, I'm just kind of bleh... I'm going to the clinic tomorrow... HOPEFULLY gonna find out why i feel so bleh other than homesickness. Hopefully better news tomorrow.. and dryer.

Today, Mr. Potato Head is sick =(

So I am officially sick. I thought it sucked being sick in America, but it seems even 10x worse in a foreign country, especially since apparently Vicks Day/Nyquil is not allolwed in Japan. I went for a walk today around my new "hometown" and went to a grocery store and picked up some OJ, some dango and some green tea.. the only thing is that Japanese green tea is different from the Lipton packets back in America. I would kill right now for some Nyquil and some honey lemon tea... I miss going to SAGA just to chug down on tea.

Today I really didn't do too much. My mom saved me breakfast, which was REALLY nice of her. I mostly just hung around the house otherwise. I'm slowly starting to notice little things my family does and tiny details so I don't mess up. For example, when not in the use, you have to put the bathroom door on a hinge so it stays open. Also, food trash goes in a seperate red bin. This whole "trash cans once in a blue moon" thing is getting old pretty fast. Sure, there's a million places to recycle. However, if you have trash, you're SOL until you find a street vendor who may have a trash can or a bathroom.

When I did go walk around, I found out that in my town I have a post office, a coin laundry, a Soft Bank (it's a phone company, like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc), a 7/11, a cafe (reminded me of like.. Starbucks / Panera) and a Kusuri-ya (drug store, more or else). However, everything is in Japanese (duh). The only good thing is that on the box, they put stars / dots in the areas which are "in pain." However, a friend recommended CC Lemon, so I plan to get some at the Suupaa or conbini tomorrow.

If things get much worse, I'm going to the school clinic tomorrow. I'm just hoping I didn't get some kind of parasite or something already X_X

Today, Mr. Potato Head is enjoying his new home!

So today was probably the first day I was not totally homesick / sad. First, we had to check out of Sakura Hotel, which while I loved the rooms, I was ready for a change of scenery. So we went to Waseda and heard Alumni speak about their experiences, which is cool. I was kind of sad no Earlham alumni were there cause I know there's some in Japan, but eh. Urrbody busy. Anywho, THEY HAVE DOMINOS IN JAPAN!!! However, you know how Dominos was BEFORE they did the whole "Let's Change our Sucky Pizza!" campaign? It tastes like what it did before... OH, and I was right, THEY DO PUT CORN AND MAYO ON PIZZA! I tried to be adventurous and eat some japanese pizza, but only one of them was good.. the other had WAYYY too much onion.

THEN, we met our host families. My okaasan (host mother for the sake of this blog) showed up. I felt so bad because I had  no questions for her, and she had a LOT for me, mostly about food. I was SUPERRRR nervous too. So then we headed "home" and my commute is about as much walking as actual riding, which is pretty short... not bad. My mom made tempura (fried stuff) for dinner, which was AWESOME. I also met my host dad, otousan. It feels weird to have a "dad" considering I've never had a "dad" before. However, he's the easiest to understand.

We had a "pow-wow" like thing about our homestay manual, and it was ALL in Japanese. I've taken Japanese four years, and wow. I feel SOOO unprepared. My parents are as good with English as I am with Japanese.. aka the first app I need to get on my iPhone is a Jisho app. Yeah, I'm probably getting an iPhone. My logic: new iTouch when I go back to the States. Otherwise, what else am I gonna do with said phone after Japan?

My room is AWESOME, by the way. It reminds me of a dorm room (desk, bed (NO FUTON), closet, etc). I'm a crazy person who LIKES dorm rooms, so it's a dream for me. The house is huge too... I feel bad, though, cause apparently my family had a dog, but it must have passed away. The pics of him are super cute, too.

The only downside to all this: I'm getting sick already. If it gets worse, I'm going to clinic at Waseda on Wednesday, but I'm thinking it's just a cold / flu thing.

Mr. Potato Head's very busy last 24 hours

In the past day or so, Mr. Potato Head and I have been super busy. First, I was sucessful in finding Starbucks after walking around for almost an hour before I caved and asked for directions. However, I ended up reading them wrong and ending up by the train station. However, when I was at my lowest, I looked up and like an angel in the heavens revealing itself, so I saw the green mermaid and her green glow. They have different flavors of Starbucks here. They have the usual mocha, carmel, etc. However, they also had matcha (green tea) flavor. I would have tried it, but I was craving for some home-ness, so I had dark mocha chip.

While it WAS delicious, I will never complain about Starbucks being expensive EVER again in the United States. It was 560 yen for a grande mocha frap... that's like, 6$. However, it was totally worth it. I also had McD's for breakfast, which I never complained about being expensive, but wow. 240 yen (little less than 3$) for a egg Mcmuffin, except it was like, fried chicken. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS THOUGH, OMG. But yeah... I've been feeling SUPER homesick. I've barely been here a week, and yet I am still really missing home, but more on that later.

So yesterday we had about five hours of Japanese language / etiquette lessons. It wasn't as terrible because our teacher was fun, plus we got to go out and see things / talk to people. I am TERRIBLE at Japanese. I cannot understand it at all... I've been doing this language for almost four years, and I could barely understand the lady at the flower shop who I asked about buying flowers. That's really the worst thing so far... language. EVERYTHING is in Japanese, but at the same time, there is still a LOT of English. While this is a BIGGGG stretch, I kind of sympathize now with the Burmese / Mexicans in my home town who rely on things being in their language to understand what the heck is going on. I know that it's selfish of me to want to hear / see English, because I'm in a different county, and everything SHOULD be in their language. I'm just super frustrated with being so sucky in my language skills.

After lessons, I did karaoke for the first time, which was actually super fun. They had a lot of songs in English (since the only song I know in Japanese is "Ashita Ga Arusa" so I got to belt out to fun things like "You and I
 and "Monday Monday" and the ever-famous "Fat Lip". It was fun to hear people sing. However, it turned out to be WAYYY more than I wanted to spend.. 2500 yen (that's more than 26$ for two hours of singing). I certainly don't plan on doing it anytime again soon.

Today was a really, really mixed up day. I woke up to find my screen cracked (I have a nice big black spot on my screen now)... I have no idea if it's covered by limited warrenty (probably not), so I have to budget to get that fixed, which will probably cost more than the computer did. However, with my scholarship, it shouldn't be TOO terrible, just gotta eat / live super cheap for two months or so. Also, we had to spend 2000 yen to put on our pass card so we could travel to Kamakura... not sure if we're getting reimbursed. The train ride was super long too..... okay, that's enough complaining right now.

So we went to Kamakura, which if I'm right, was the capital of Japan from about mid 700s to 1149 or something like that. It was really, really pretty. There were lots of trees, and shops, and it was SUPER sunny, but also windy. There were a lot of shops, and it felt a lot more like a city than a HUGE ASS PLACE like Tokyo. We went to the big shrine (which I can't remember the name right now... opps) and prayed. I got to get a fortune (Omigushi?) and it was a pretty lucky one. After that, we broke for lunch, which apparently Sundays are a terrible day to try and do things cause everyone is enjoying their only day off (for the most part). I wish I had just stayed on the shrine grounds and gone to all of the temples, since the grounds were so lovely.

So the best part of the day was going to the  大仏 aka "Big Buddha" at Kamakura. The feelings I had when I saw it was kind of interesting. The moment I did, I forgot how home sick I was, or that my screen was busted, or that I was super hot and dehydrated. Everything just kind of left me, and I just kind of stood there in awe of this giant statute. The even MORE impressive thing about the Big Buddha is that it isn't even the biggest one. However, I was so happy to see it, because it was one of the main things I've always wanted to see in Japan. It was certainly a moment that made my whole day and travel worth while.

I'm still really homesick.... I've craving American food like I craved Japanese food in America. I could go for a HUGE thin-crust cheese pizza from pizza hut and a homemade quesadilla like whoa.

I'm also meeting the host family tomorrow. However, I will be able to write how that goes.... if they have wireless.

Today, Mrs. Potato Head is riding a rickshaw

Today, Mrs. Potato makes an appearance. She was so forceful in being able to take a rickshaw.

We went to the Edo Tokyo Musuem, which had a lot of cool things. It basically covered history from about Jamon period (which is super, super early japan BC) to postwar Japan. I took a LOT of pictures, but the information was really interesting too. For example, I had no idea that they used to have money storages cause they would run out of gold / silver, so then everything would be screwed up. Also, the influence of literature, such as a story about a woman who threw herself into a volcano, and then people started doing the same. I've heard of similar stuff with the Aokiyama (might be wrong name) forest where lots of people kill themselves every year.

We also had a really, REALLY long Japanese customs  / etiquette lesson yesterday, FOUR HOURS LONG. I will admit, I did learn a little, but after awhile, I just got SUPER annoyed. The anthropologist in me was like "Why do they do all this?" "So what?"... the rest of me was like, "GOD THIS SHIT IS SO UGHHHHH." Plus, the guy at least seemed to have a positive attitude about it. I also learned that all this time I've been holding chopsticks wrong... I'd really like to what HOW I've been holding them, then.

We also found out our host families yesterday... I'm having mixed emotions about mine. Don't get me wrong, I VERY MUCH appreciate the work put into finding these families, and I am sure we weren't easy to match up. However, I only got one thing I really asked for, which is no smoking.. my lungs will thank me later, I'm sure. Othewise, I have a business man dad (which will take some getting used to), a (possibly) stay-at-home mom, and a university student sister.... no pets. short commute. I know I shouldn't bitch about a short commute (36 minutes), but I really wanted one so I would have cheaper stuff overtime (I'm hella poor). I'm also afraid that they won't like me...or I won't have an actual family for a year, because that's what I really want: a family.

I'm also gonna have to get creative, and figure out how to have a "pet" in Japan... or go to lots and lots of cat cafes...

Anywho, I am going to go find some Starbucks. I am hella homesick right now, and I'm pretty sure a super expensive starbucks will make it a little better... at least before FIVE HOURS of more etiquette lessons.