So yesterday my efforts were finally rewarded! (And all it took was 2 weeks and multiple visits to NASIC and then a visit to the doctor where I waited HOURS and then a translator from SILS and then a doc's note worth 30$ CDN and then ANOTHER visit to SILS...)
I switched rooms in the dorm for a single... well, technically its a single. Really its a double that I get all for my onsies (seriously still stuck with the stupid bunk bed over desk thing SUCKS) but at least its mine. And have properly taken over the other half of the room also, although I'm not supposed to for some reason? haha no. I'm paying for the whole thing, so I'mma use it! This DOES mean my room is a lot bigger than the actual single rooms are though. I think I will turn the small area by the fridge into a tiny little lounge.
And also- there are flowers blooming. outside. in december. WTF. Apparently I have no ______ (insert word from morphology class that means appropriate objects/feelings for the seasons) here. But seriously, its december WHY ARE THE PLANTS STILL GREEN AND SOME HAVE FLOWERS.
Is disturbed.
-J
Thursday 9 December 2010
Friday 3 December 2010
The earth rumbles... when we make it
Today I went to the NASIC office finally! I have another appointment monday, which will hopefully sort everything out.
TODAY THERE WAS A TRUCK ON CAMPUS. AND IN THIS TRUCK THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE WAITING TO HAPPEN :)
Seriously, the Shinjuku safety people set up an earthquake simulator in a truck in the courtyard by building 10 today. I went in it with Leanna and some girl who we didn't know but who had no one else to go with (except Mikey Melo offered, but we were nice enough to save her) and experienced a fairly strong "earthquake." It was lots of fun, they have a screen beside you which shows what's going on in the "room" you're in, and a table to hold onto and hide under and stuff. I wanted to ask for a big one, but chickened out at the last minute. It made up for my disappointing visit to the Disaster Prevention Center in Ikebukuro though!
There was also a canvas tunnel set up with some fire simulation stuff in it, but because of the typhoon this morning we still had strong winds and it got knocked over (onto an older lady, kawaisoni obasan!) before I got to try it.
I ALSO went to the Chichibu night festival today with Jamie! It was lots of fun, we wandered around for a few hours and ate a lot of festival food, as per usual. And I got to help pound some mochi (but everyone took pictures of me when I did it, which was kinda awkward...) and also we got bought some sake and beer by a group of middle aged people near a dried fish snacks booth. They were pretty cool. And the fireworks were AMAZING. They light up the entire sky pretty much. Apparently they have thousands of fireworks set off at this festival every year. The Mikoshi wasnt all that, and I didn't get any good photos. But they had horses dressed up in shrine gear too, which looked neat. Good thing the horses were trained not to spook at flashes though! We left a bit early so that we didn't have to worry about getting stranded out there, although everyone was both friendly and drunk, so I'm sure someone would have put us up in their home overnight had that happened.
TNT,
J
Thursday 2 December 2010
Do what with the what???
So today I managed to laze away most of, as Haru did not come home and thus the room was at a bearable temperature. Sooo wrong that I feel I need to savour the moments I have control of the temperature in my room by NOT LEAVING TO GO DO MORE INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT THINGS... like go talk to the NASIC office. sigh.
Went over to the Seibu ticket counter at Baba to try and reserve a train back from the festival tomorrow, couldn't do it bc all the seats were already booked. Big surprise. So we will be taking our chances with the regular train. Yay!
And I've somehow become one of those ppl that goes to starbucks for hours and hours here. I know, I shock myself, as usually I want real coffee/espresso but the other places are worse here... Hard to imagine but true. And one of the employees came down and "cleaned" the lounge chairs with what was essentially a laaaarge piece of packing tape. To get hair and crumbs off I guess???
Worried about how my aunt is doing, and my mom. I really need to call her. But I keep forgetting to get a calling card. Maybe I should do that after we get back tmrw night. Stupid time difference... If I call earlyafternoon from here its evening there which would work well, but then ppl are around the entrance all the time. If I call late late night here, its daytime there which is less conv. for them.... :(
CFN,
J
So today I managed to laze away most of, as Haru did not come home and thus the room was at a bearable temperature. Sooo wrong that I feel I need to savour the moments I have control of the temperature in my room by NOT LEAVING TO GO DO MORE INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT THINGS... like go talk to the NASIC office. sigh.
Went over to the Seibu ticket counter at Baba to try and reserve a train back from the festival tomorrow, couldn't do it bc all the seats were already booked. Big surprise. So we will be taking our chances with the regular train. Yay!
And I've somehow become one of those ppl that goes to starbucks for hours and hours here. I know, I shock myself, as usually I want real coffee/espresso but the other places are worse here... Hard to imagine but true. And one of the employees came down and "cleaned" the lounge chairs with what was essentially a laaaarge piece of packing tape. To get hair and crumbs off I guess???
Worried about how my aunt is doing, and my mom. I really need to call her. But I keep forgetting to get a calling card. Maybe I should do that after we get back tmrw night. Stupid time difference... If I call earlyafternoon from here its evening there which would work well, but then ppl are around the entrance all the time. If I call late late night here, its daytime there which is less conv. for them.... :(
CFN,
J
Tuesday 30 November 2010
on the road again...
TODAY: First earthquake that I was like, OK this is for sure an earthquake! Ha ha, I was eating lunch in a newer building but definately felt the shaking! Pete said it woke him up and shook him hard. So Either he lives much closer to the epicenter than Waseda, or the building I have Ainu in is more structurally designed for earthquakes. (Which, lol, "earthquake" and "confidence" are homophones, they're both said 'jishin' although maybe intonation is different?)
YESTERDAY: Got the Xmas presents for the family sent off! Now to start on Xmas cards/letters!
EARLIER:
So I actually managed to take myself out and about the past little while! 2 gold stars for me :)
I went to Kamakura and Enoshima last Thursday. Started the day early, and bought a return ticket (Kamakura Free Pass from JR East) from 'Baba eki, and got on the Yamanote to Shinjuku, where I was supposed to transfer to the direct line out to Kamakura.... but it wasn't running that morning for some reason. So I had to hop BACK on the Yamanote, and get to Shinagawa, where I then transfered to the local train to Yokosuka, which has a stop at Kamakura. So instead of it taking less than an hour to get there, It took almost 2 and a half :(. But I got there by 11-ish and had a wonderful time just wandering around various temples and shrines. I like shrines better I think. I WAS disappointed that I couldn't take pictures at my favourite place. Its got a bunch of statues that have "ferocious" faces on that are supposed to be the judges at the gates of hell or something. But mostly they just looked pretty funny. I did pay to go inside the big buddha again, but I forgot you can't go up to his head and look out from his eyes, you just walk into his belly. Which sounds cool when I phrase it that way, so I guess it coulda been worse. By no means did I see every temple and shrine there, I think I could've easily spent another day there (I didn't get to the beach either!) but I wanted to take the trolley to Enoshima and watch the sunset there, which is supposed to be fantastic. And Ezster had highly reccommended Enoshima too... which means I will have to go back. Because of clouds, by the time I got there the sunset was blocked. And everything was already shut down more or less at 5pm when I got there. Sort of disappointing. But I had gotten most of my Xmas shopping done!
And Saturday (i think) I went to Rikugien Korakuen, which is a famous garden in tokyo, to see some fall colours. And an illumination (so I was there a loooong time OMG like 6 hours???) But my camera still wasn't charged after Kamakura, so I need to figure out how to get those pics off my cell phone at some point. BTW, tokyo is STILL MOSTLY GREEN and I dont think it's dropped below 10C yet. :D This is CRAZY and AWESOME! And everyone looks at me funny bc I'm still in early fall clothes and they are in like 3 layers and scarves and toques! And Haru keeps our room at like 24-26C at all times, so I'm in tanks and shorts in the dorm... next winter will be painful if I get too used to this.
Miss you (you know who you are)
-J
YESTERDAY: Got the Xmas presents for the family sent off! Now to start on Xmas cards/letters!
EARLIER:
So I actually managed to take myself out and about the past little while! 2 gold stars for me :)
I went to Kamakura and Enoshima last Thursday. Started the day early, and bought a return ticket (Kamakura Free Pass from JR East) from 'Baba eki, and got on the Yamanote to Shinjuku, where I was supposed to transfer to the direct line out to Kamakura.... but it wasn't running that morning for some reason. So I had to hop BACK on the Yamanote, and get to Shinagawa, where I then transfered to the local train to Yokosuka, which has a stop at Kamakura. So instead of it taking less than an hour to get there, It took almost 2 and a half :(. But I got there by 11-ish and had a wonderful time just wandering around various temples and shrines. I like shrines better I think. I WAS disappointed that I couldn't take pictures at my favourite place. Its got a bunch of statues that have "ferocious" faces on that are supposed to be the judges at the gates of hell or something. But mostly they just looked pretty funny. I did pay to go inside the big buddha again, but I forgot you can't go up to his head and look out from his eyes, you just walk into his belly. Which sounds cool when I phrase it that way, so I guess it coulda been worse. By no means did I see every temple and shrine there, I think I could've easily spent another day there (I didn't get to the beach either!) but I wanted to take the trolley to Enoshima and watch the sunset there, which is supposed to be fantastic. And Ezster had highly reccommended Enoshima too... which means I will have to go back. Because of clouds, by the time I got there the sunset was blocked. And everything was already shut down more or less at 5pm when I got there. Sort of disappointing. But I had gotten most of my Xmas shopping done!
And Saturday (i think) I went to Rikugien Korakuen, which is a famous garden in tokyo, to see some fall colours. And an illumination (so I was there a loooong time OMG like 6 hours???) But my camera still wasn't charged after Kamakura, so I need to figure out how to get those pics off my cell phone at some point. BTW, tokyo is STILL MOSTLY GREEN and I dont think it's dropped below 10C yet. :D This is CRAZY and AWESOME! And everyone looks at me funny bc I'm still in early fall clothes and they are in like 3 layers and scarves and toques! And Haru keeps our room at like 24-26C at all times, so I'm in tanks and shorts in the dorm... next winter will be painful if I get too used to this.
Starting to research alternate housing options over the last few days. Hopefully I'll have some luck soon!
Miss you (you know who you are)
-J
Sunday 21 November 2010
2010.09.26.gate
 | ||
| Gates of the Imperial Palace with Raymond, Yumi, and Yasu. I've lost my favourite picture of this day | actually :( |
2010.09.26.imperial.palace1
 |
| The Palace! Hopefully I remember to go see it again on one of the 2 days a year it is open! |
Saturday 20 November 2010
Friday 19 November 2010
So this is apparently what I do when the alternative is studying
Aaaand right now I SHOULD be studying for a summary test I am not in any way prepared for.
HOWEVER, I would much rather do a miny update here:
I've been enjoying girl-dates with my gal pals here lately :)
I took Leana to Afternoon Tea in Shinjuku the other day. Which is always delicious and one of my favourite places right now. It's a chain tea shop (and "lifestyle" OMG the linked in goods they sell... fuwafuwa!) but it doesnt feel all gimmichy. Its just kinda lovely. A nice place for some chill time. (Not to say that I've forsaken Oolong, which remains the teahouse of my heart)
And today Fee and I went to this really really sweet korean bbq place right above the Lawson down the street from my dorm. We got a set of veg, and one of meat, to share. It was alllll sooooo good, even with our lack of culinary prowess! I am still REPLETE I tell you!
Yeahmm, still working on the uploading of pictures thing, really I promise!
Also-
Miss you all, but not enough to come home just yet ;)
J
HOWEVER, I would much rather do a miny update here:
I've been enjoying girl-dates with my gal pals here lately :)
I took Leana to Afternoon Tea in Shinjuku the other day. Which is always delicious and one of my favourite places right now. It's a chain tea shop (and "lifestyle" OMG the linked in goods they sell... fuwafuwa!) but it doesnt feel all gimmichy. Its just kinda lovely. A nice place for some chill time. (Not to say that I've forsaken Oolong, which remains the teahouse of my heart)
And today Fee and I went to this really really sweet korean bbq place right above the Lawson down the street from my dorm. We got a set of veg, and one of meat, to share. It was alllll sooooo good, even with our lack of culinary prowess! I am still REPLETE I tell you!
Yeahmm, still working on the uploading of pictures thing, really I promise!
Also-
I called my aunt Holly the other day, it was good to be able to talk to her a bit. Mom has been with her for the last couple weeks, so I got to talk to her as well. So while I am not aching to go home, I hope they know that they are in my thoughts every day, and they remind me why I travel and that I should enjoy everyday to its fullest. I'm gonna try to work on that, since lately I've been pulled into the vortex of school life, even though its not all that challenging here.
Miss you all, but not enough to come home just yet ;)
J
Thursday 4 November 2010
uh... hi
so raise your hands if you thought i was going to do a good job of this blog thing?
and now put them down, cuz you're being silly both ways!!! I will TRY to make this a more usual occurance I guess, but well. good intentions and all.
If you want to know what I've been up to, open a guide book to tokyo and flip through a bit of it. yeah. that. lol. I will at some point perhaps be more explicit about my exploits but dont hold your breath!
And the photos are coming in some format or other, but i want to sort through them i guess. or something that makes me sound not quite as lazy as i have been about them :)
Tomorrow I'm getting out of tokyo for the day with fee, we're off to see Nikko and hopefully some beautiful fall foliage. (Because I didnt know far enough in advance about the break to book a trip to Kyoto DDD: )
and now put them down, cuz you're being silly both ways!!! I will TRY to make this a more usual occurance I guess, but well. good intentions and all.
If you want to know what I've been up to, open a guide book to tokyo and flip through a bit of it. yeah. that. lol. I will at some point perhaps be more explicit about my exploits but dont hold your breath!
And the photos are coming in some format or other, but i want to sort through them i guess. or something that makes me sound not quite as lazy as i have been about them :)
Tomorrow I'm getting out of tokyo for the day with fee, we're off to see Nikko and hopefully some beautiful fall foliage. (Because I didnt know far enough in advance about the break to book a trip to Kyoto DDD: )
Thursday 16 September 2010
orientation, and then disorientation
So, I think Waseda thinks we can't read?
Because I just spent like 2 days in orientation and all they did was read out the handouts. Except the scholarship one, that was actually useful. (and omg, keeping track of everything is crazy! welcome to dependancy on my daytimer liek whoa. lol)
Also, those of you headed this way. When they say passport sized pictures, they mean : those tiny little ones that are like 3cmx4cm! NOT canadian passport sized! AND ITS HARD TO GET THOSE IN CANADA!! Fortunately, there are lots of photo booths which will print those instantly, and you can switch the instructions to english on all the ones I've seen so far. It's like 400-800 yen for 4 photos, depending on which one you go to.
re:photos, well guys, I haven't been taking a lot of photos which seems odd until I remember that I'm really really used to everyone taking photos for me! So I will try and make more of an effort, but no promises.
Last night, I went out for a wander with Nicole, Haru, and Fee. We went to Big Box, which is a department store on top of Takadanobaba station. And then over to a really cheap izakaya for a drink. The pub was really nice! It had a touch screen ordering system, and divided up the bill for us, and it sends the orders to the kitchen so you don't have to wait for a server to come to your table. We all had sours, which were weak but tasty! (single shot in a beer mug of mixer o.O)
Had a really quick orientation this morning, and then went for another wander with Fee. We walked passed it, but eventually asked someone and managed to find a shop that would make us our inkan (the little stamp thing that japanese use instead of a signature). The store attendant was so nice! She showed us the basic models and the fancier ones (which both of us chose, Fee got kingyo on blue, and I got stylized wind or waves on dark blue) and also the holders for them. We will pick them up tomorrow, I'm so excited to use it!!
Then we went to ANOTHER orientation session ( I heard sooo many ppl refer to them as the disorientation sessions, because tuning in and out was making them confused ) and now are back at the dorms for our dorm party! And nicole has invited us to go clubbing tonight, we'll see if I go. I want to, but I have ANOTHER session tomorrow at 9. But. CLUBBING. ah, どうすればいい？？？
-J
Because I just spent like 2 days in orientation and all they did was read out the handouts. Except the scholarship one, that was actually useful. (and omg, keeping track of everything is crazy! welcome to dependancy on my daytimer liek whoa. lol)
Also, those of you headed this way. When they say passport sized pictures, they mean : those tiny little ones that are like 3cmx4cm! NOT canadian passport sized! AND ITS HARD TO GET THOSE IN CANADA!! Fortunately, there are lots of photo booths which will print those instantly, and you can switch the instructions to english on all the ones I've seen so far. It's like 400-800 yen for 4 photos, depending on which one you go to.
re:photos, well guys, I haven't been taking a lot of photos which seems odd until I remember that I'm really really used to everyone taking photos for me! So I will try and make more of an effort, but no promises.
Last night, I went out for a wander with Nicole, Haru, and Fee. We went to Big Box, which is a department store on top of Takadanobaba station. And then over to a really cheap izakaya for a drink. The pub was really nice! It had a touch screen ordering system, and divided up the bill for us, and it sends the orders to the kitchen so you don't have to wait for a server to come to your table. We all had sours, which were weak but tasty! (single shot in a beer mug of mixer o.O)
Had a really quick orientation this morning, and then went for another wander with Fee. We walked passed it, but eventually asked someone and managed to find a shop that would make us our inkan (the little stamp thing that japanese use instead of a signature). The store attendant was so nice! She showed us the basic models and the fancier ones (which both of us chose, Fee got kingyo on blue, and I got stylized wind or waves on dark blue) and also the holders for them. We will pick them up tomorrow, I'm so excited to use it!!
Then we went to ANOTHER orientation session ( I heard sooo many ppl refer to them as the disorientation sessions, because tuning in and out was making them confused ) and now are back at the dorms for our dorm party! And nicole has invited us to go clubbing tonight, we'll see if I go. I want to, but I have ANOTHER session tomorrow at 9. But. CLUBBING. ah, どうすればいい？？？
-J
Tuesday 14 September 2010
15/09/10
Here I am!!!
I meant to write in this when I first arrive, really, but y'know. stuff happens :)
So: my journey until now... Day before I left, I had an awesome time seeing people in calgary, and stayed at a really nice hotel overnight with mom. (And decided to repack my luggage at like 3 am because I couldn't sleep!) Got to the Air Canada counter at like 730 for my 1015 flight, and the lady there said I could only have ONE carry on (which really sucked because I had called ahead to ask, and the person on the phone said I could have 1 carryon and EITHER a purse or laptop case. But I guess my laptop case was too big?) Anyway, had to tear apart my luggage AGAIN right at the counter so I met flight requirements. And managed to pack my headphones in my checked bags, because I'm awesome in the morning without coffee ;)
The flight out to Vancouver was fine, and so was my layover. But, because I'm kinda stupid, I forgot to take out more cash to have changed into yen. (I'm still trying to get used to having to use cash for everything. It's just weird.) So I arrived in Narita, and everything was really efficient and well marked. The airport wasn't busy at all, so customs went really quickly! (also, I was worried about bringing my pills/contacts in because they exceeded the limits I saw online, but they only checked my carryon, and cursorily at that! I totally could've brought ANYTHING with me!)
I was met by a group of volunteers, who walked me through getting my luggage sent to the dorms overnight (takyubin?) and getting my N'ex and Suica card. Then at the Shinjuku station, another set of volunteers met me and brought me to the dorm. I was so jetlagged, I think I made a pretty bad impression on them. Got to the dorm and really briefly met my roommate (Haru from China, she's cute! but I couldn't pronounce her other name properly so she said I could say Haru instead... tone fail!). And, since I didn't have anything but my carry-on to unpack, I went out for dinner with YUMI!!! who was nice enough to come visit when she was done work. We picked up some stuff for my itty bitty dorm room too. (at ドンキホーテ which has lots of stuff but isn`t too cheap. think wal-mart. but smaller. and the next day I tried to find it again with Haru, and epic epic fail.) I think I`ve spent like 150$ getting organizer things and sundries for the room. le sigh. Back at the room, I crashed hard and slept like a rock on the rock-like pillow they give you.
Yesterday morning was spent waiting for my luggae to arrive. and waiting. and waiting. when it did, I unpacked and then went to buy sundries with Haru. Afterwards I met a few ppl who I`d been in touch with via facebook for dinner. And I meant to go out last night, but got sleepy and went to bed early again instead. I really need to grab a coffee tonight and readjust my internal clock! I woke up at 5am this morning. Thats just NOT RIGHT.
Went out early this morning to grab breakfast. I got a lot of stares, it was kind of disconcerting really. Managed to figure out what I hoped was a meal replacement drink for breakfast (Haru confirmed it for me, YAY for a roomie with better japanese!) And soon am off to my first day of orientation (day 1 of like 14 or something ridiculous)
-J
I meant to write in this when I first arrive, really, but y'know. stuff happens :)
So: my journey until now... Day before I left, I had an awesome time seeing people in calgary, and stayed at a really nice hotel overnight with mom. (And decided to repack my luggage at like 3 am because I couldn't sleep!) Got to the Air Canada counter at like 730 for my 1015 flight, and the lady there said I could only have ONE carry on (which really sucked because I had called ahead to ask, and the person on the phone said I could have 1 carryon and EITHER a purse or laptop case. But I guess my laptop case was too big?) Anyway, had to tear apart my luggage AGAIN right at the counter so I met flight requirements. And managed to pack my headphones in my checked bags, because I'm awesome in the morning without coffee ;)
The flight out to Vancouver was fine, and so was my layover. But, because I'm kinda stupid, I forgot to take out more cash to have changed into yen. (I'm still trying to get used to having to use cash for everything. It's just weird.) So I arrived in Narita, and everything was really efficient and well marked. The airport wasn't busy at all, so customs went really quickly! (also, I was worried about bringing my pills/contacts in because they exceeded the limits I saw online, but they only checked my carryon, and cursorily at that! I totally could've brought ANYTHING with me!)
I was met by a group of volunteers, who walked me through getting my luggage sent to the dorms overnight (takyubin?) and getting my N'ex and Suica card. Then at the Shinjuku station, another set of volunteers met me and brought me to the dorm. I was so jetlagged, I think I made a pretty bad impression on them. Got to the dorm and really briefly met my roommate (Haru from China, she's cute! but I couldn't pronounce her other name properly so she said I could say Haru instead... tone fail!). And, since I didn't have anything but my carry-on to unpack, I went out for dinner with YUMI!!! who was nice enough to come visit when she was done work. We picked up some stuff for my itty bitty dorm room too. (at ドンキホーテ which has lots of stuff but isn`t too cheap. think wal-mart. but smaller. and the next day I tried to find it again with Haru, and epic epic fail.) I think I`ve spent like 150$ getting organizer things and sundries for the room. le sigh. Back at the room, I crashed hard and slept like a rock on the rock-like pillow they give you.
Yesterday morning was spent waiting for my luggae to arrive. and waiting. and waiting. when it did, I unpacked and then went to buy sundries with Haru. Afterwards I met a few ppl who I`d been in touch with via facebook for dinner. And I meant to go out last night, but got sleepy and went to bed early again instead. I really need to grab a coffee tonight and readjust my internal clock! I woke up at 5am this morning. Thats just NOT RIGHT.
Went out early this morning to grab breakfast. I got a lot of stares, it was kind of disconcerting really. Managed to figure out what I hoped was a meal replacement drink for breakfast (Haru confirmed it for me, YAY for a roomie with better japanese!) And soon am off to my first day of orientation (day 1 of like 14 or something ridiculous)
-J
Monday 13 September 2010
Test Post
So, this is my online home for my travels this year. We'll see how I do keeping it current!
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