Jam-Packed Weekend: Tokyo in the Snow & Strawberries

So I've been feeling like a bump on a log lately and wanted to get out and you know, do things. So I made plans with my friend that is going to school near Tokyo to spend some time with him on Saturday. Small problem: Upon going to bed on Friday (at 10pm mind you, living it up here) my friend warns me to be careful going to Tokyo the next day: they're supposed to get a blizzard.

My initial reaction is severe disbelief. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if "blizzard" equaled like 3 inches of snow. So I kept it in mind to check out the weather before I left the house the next day and went to bed.

So I wake up around 8 (I went to bed at 10 remember? lol) and figure I might as well make an early start of it and head over there. I also figure, oh hey, I'm up so early and I've got time, I can be cheap and take the bus instead of the Shinkansen (bullet train)! Well all the buses were cancelled for the day. And the trains were running late. Hm. Must be snowing pretty hard this morning. So I check the weather, and it says it's snowing but it should stop by the time I get there.  SO, Do I bring my earmuffs? No. Do I bring a hat at all? Nah. I head down to the station around 10, and the train is about 20 minutes late, no big deal. I even manage to snag a seat, even though it got super crowded. Win.

Meanwhile, Shizuoka (the land of no snow) is freezing and rainy, so I'm looking out the window on this train, waiting for snow to appear, and we hit Mishima and BAM snow. All over the place. No sign of stopping.

...Oops? So I get off in Tokyo station, firmly the land of snow for the day, and my friend is sleeping in late due to a long night before, so I have some time to kill. I found on the internet that several years ago, there was a store in Tokyo station that sold all the different kinds of crazy Kit Kats from all over Japan. I searched and searched and searched, no luck. So then I set out in this:

Woo~!

To find me some good ol' cheap gyuudon for lunch. (Also: Pictures) I still have lots of time to kill, so I get on a train to Tokyo Dome City in search of a store called the Jump Shop. You probably don't remember, but I've visited these on occasion: they are stores of a particular brand of manga/anime that sell goods from these particular shows. Which means I had to find it with my slowly dying phone with snow pelting me in the face and tennis shoes slipping in the snow. It took a bit of effort, but I made it! Whee spending money! I didn't buy much though, what a novel idea. But I definitely want to go back to this place when it's warmer, because this:

Now who can pass up a rollercoaster.

So THAT will happen eventually. (Terrifyingly, the ferris wheel was running in this weather. Did not go there) So at this point, I received a reply from my friend, but no further, so I headed back to Tokyo station anyway. (He had fallen asleep again, haha). I set up camp in a cafe and get a phone call from him, where we plan to meet up in an hour. At this point, my phone's battery is at 30%, and stupid here didn't bring her charger with her, so phone usage will be down to nothing unless necessary. So I head over to the meeting place in Shibuya (place with largest crosswalk in the world, if you recall) and wait in front of the train car, outside, where I suggested we meet.

Another great idea by me, waiting outside in the snow! The first 15 minutes, no problem, it's just snow. But then I started to feel soaked. Like, I-just-exited-a-water-ride soaked. And my phone battery was at 14 percent, so I didn't want to change where we were meeting. Yay. (Sidenote: You could tell who was foreign and who wasn't by who was using an umbrella. SidenoteSidenote: I realized AFTER this that I had both a hood on my cloak and an umbrella, and used neither. Victory) So 10 minutes later friend shows up, and we head to the first place we see to get dinner.

At this point, I have no idea how much I resemble a snowman until the server takes one look at me and says, お！すごい雪ですね！(Wow! That's a lot of snow!) I say that I was waiting outside for a bit and he just laughs as he returns to the kitchen. Not chuckles, full on laughter.

As we sat down, I noticed that my bag was utterly white on the front. And I reached back and my ponytail had a half inch of snow on it. I was a snowman. o.o 

So it was very cold as I melted, but dinner was nice. I caught up with my friend, and then we went to Starbucks because warm. We also wanted to take purikura (crazy photo booth pictures), but this means we had to find somewhere and my phone's battery was at 6. I managed to find a map to Purikura Mecca (literally what it was called) but I wasn't able to leave the map up as we looked because battery. So we marched around in the wind for a while and we knew it was by Forever 21 but we couldn't find Forever 21...and when we finally did there was no purikura. But then we walked down an alley to the other side of the building and there it was! Victory! And then we did an hour or karaoke to celebrate. So it was around 8 o clock and I get on the train to head to the Shinkansen; this is when I start panicking as to whether or not they are running. It has been snowing steadily all day, despite the weather report, and other normal trains were delayed or closed. I mean, if they were closed I could still get home by taking normal trains (just take several hours longer), but my phone was almost dead and I couldn't use it to figure out how. 

So once I get to Shinagawa, I book it over to the Shinkansen area and talk to the station man about buying the right ticket. He says the trains are still stopped, and to check the board to see if the train I need is still on the list. I bend down to look at the board from afar: of the trains listed that are late but will depart eventually, there is one that I can take. So I buy a ticket and book it to the queue. Mind you, I still had to wait there for a half hour, so it was by no means a close shave, but still. They kept updating the delay information in Japanese, but the English was staying the same >.< 

And then finally it showed up and finally we left. Hoo. 

And then Sunday my friends and I went strawberry picking: Strawberries are in season right now, and you can pay to eat them right off the vine, as much as you want. We did this, lol. The smell? Beautiful. The strawberries? Delicious. I ate 37. My friend at 57 lol. Then the area was below a famous shrine (Kunozan: home of Tokugawa Ieyasu) on top of the hill, so we climbed up 15-20 minutes to see it! 

And I forgot we were going to do this, so I was wearing way too many layers. Grr. And I forgot my shrine/temple stamp book. More grrrr. But I will return! And then we came back down and ate strawberry ice cream, because it was delicious. 

After we came home, my friend and I were full of strawberries but yet hungry for dinner. The restaurant we go to was advertising strawberry parfaits (noooo) AND when we walk in, what song are they playing? Strawberry Fields.

....All the strawberries. 

~Rosie

So We Went to the Zoo

So last weekend (although I guess this is Tuesday, so...two weekends ago? National holidays make everything confusing) my friend and I went to the zoo! Nihondaira Zoo, a cute little thing that we live very close to. I had spent the weekend before holed up in my house, and I needed to get out. So we did!

We arrived around lunch time, so we first immediately sought food...and who are we to mind if the closest food happened to be a hot dog? Yum. Then we started our round of the zoo (pictures). Some highlights from the first half of the adventure:

Red pandas in Japanese are called lesser pandas (poor pandas).

They had a cage you could go in that said "homo sapien" on it, and you could take a picture (I just took a creeper picture of people in it, because it was crowded)

In the polar bear/seal area, the one polar bear was back flipping off of one rock, over and over. For probably at least a half hour. Every time we looked at him over an extended period of time, he just kept going. Must've been pretty fun.

They elephants were very far away and I was unable to get good pictures of them. -.-

All the cats in the feline area were taking a nap when we went by, except for the puma.

The bird are was this huge enclosed thing that could very easily have been used as the set for the pterodactyl scene in Jurassic Park III.

So as we make our way around the zoo, we notice this colored....procession of chairs, if you will, going up a hill to God-knows-where. At first we think it's some ridiculously random water ride, because Japan; this could be a viable thing. But it was too cold; there was no way that many Japanese people would get on such a ride without a raincoat! Once we get over there, we decide to have a peek. In front of the area, it says WONDERSHAW CASTLE.

We have no idea what this WONDERSHAW could be, but we pay our 100 yen (about a dollar) and follow the Japanese people to get on a little car that took us straight up into the sun to the top of the hill...

Where there was a huuuuuuuge expanse of a picnic area (beautiful view) and this little castle. We get some ice cream from the vending machine (although if we really wanted to, we could have got actual food from the vending machine too: there was a machine that spit out hot food such as friend fries and takoyaki: we watched the magic happen) and we sat for a while. Then we went to this castle (apparently shaw is supposed to be a forest, by the way) and inside appeared to be a Jumpin Jolly Jambers like play area in which I would have been so game if we were of the appropriate age. So instead we went up to the top and took some more awesome pictures.

Then we had two options of getting back down: we could ride the car, or scoot down on this giant slide....thing. I say slide, but it really had no slope at all. It was those rollers that slides sometimes have, and you had to scoot to get going at all before you had to scoot again. Sounded like a lot of work that would cause us to get stared at by a lot of Japanese people, so we took the little car.

Adventures.

Then we saw some very unenthusiastic penguins, alligator (crocodile? I think it was an alligator), and some terrifying snapping turtles before heading home. THEN we went shopping, and to complete the evening sang 6 and a half hours of karaoke.

Yes.

~Rosie

Oh Hey Hamamatsu (and Gotemba Too)

This may or may not have happened November 23rd. >.> (And mid December too.) So why bother to write about it? It's going to bother me if I skip something that we actually went out to make effort and do, so...everyone follow me into the time machine as we go back to the end of 2013...

So November 23rd. A movie that my friend wanted to see was coming to Hamamatsu instead of Shizuoka. Hamamatsu is another large city in Shizuoka Prefecture, about an hour away by normal train. So since we were going to go there anyway, I figured hell, let's make a day of it! Yay! So we get on the train in the morning and head over there for merriment. (Here's some pictures if you don't have Facebook) So we arrive in the train station and it (creepily) looks identical to Shizuoka station, which we just left. Weeeird.

First order of business is to head to the tourist information so we can figure out what to eat later (and get a map as well.) Hamamatsu is famous for it's gyoza (potstickers) so we wanted to make sure we got the best. It was a b-e-a-utiful day; super blue sky and awesomeness. Next, we wanted to go to the movie theater and make sure we had tickets for the film that night (because the ultimate fail would be to miss the movie that we came for). Tickets acquired, we trolled around in the mall that the movie theater was in (they had a Toys R Us that had plastic food sushi XP) for a little while.

Then, we wanted to go to the observation deck in Act Tower, which is the harmonica shaped building in the city that has a great viewpoint. (Hamamatsu is known as the city of music) So we hit the elevator button and wait. And wait. And there's a sign like off to the side of the elevator entirely in Japanese; we pay it no mind. People are looking at us as we wait. On another, hidden sign, we discover that the freakin tower is closed on the weekends.

Good job Hamamatsu.

So that waste of life done, grabbed some lunch (gyro! And I had turkish ice cream which was ridiculously sticky) and headed over to Hamamatsu Castle, where there was a beautiful park with fall leaves (mostly) still on the trees to take pictures of. Hamamatsu Castle is small to begin with, and with half of it under construction at the moment there was precious little to see. Still, was cute. Beautiful day and beautiful park that we explored for a while. On the way back towards the station we stopped at a shrine we passed (and you know, I keep forgetting to bring my damn stamp book with me, so I picked up another loose leaf one) and took some pictures.

Then we lingered in the mall in the station for a while before heading to the movies! On the way to the theater, we ran into Ieyasu-kun himself. (Tokugawa Ieyasu is honored at Hamamatsu Castle, and so the mascot of Hamamatsu is a cartoon plush version of him). We were very excited and took a picture with him ^.^ Then we saw the excellent movie (and I ate real popcorn yes). The movie theater by my house took away actual popcorn; they now only sell pre-made super teeny containers of stale crappy popcorn and I am depressed.

And then we came home. So Hamamatsu! Woo!

Next, flash forward to December. Seeing Illuminations (Christmas lights) is a big deal in Japan around Christmas time, so I wanted to make sure to see some. We had heard wonderful things about the Illuminations in Gotemba, a short bus ride away, so my friend and I jumped on a bus to Gotemba Illuminations!

They were weird and not Christmas-y at all! I mean sure, they were okay, but we were just surprised at how...un-Christmas like they were. As we walked through the lights we kept looking for the actual light display. And we found a place you pay for and we assumed that's where the actual lights were, and then...they handed us an umbrella.

....? So we went up the path and found not Christmas lights, but a fountain show. Because yes. Fountain show. We were a bit taken aback to say the least. So we went back through the lights and did some more shopping. In order to not wait around for 2 hours for another bus, we left very soon after.

Adventures!! Look how often I leave my house lol.

~Rosie

I Don't Think Japan Really Understands Coasters: Fuji Q Highland

Before I even say anything, the accompanying pictures are here. Read along!

So a couple hours away from my apartment is Fuji Q Highland, a little amusement park by Mt. Fuji that I've heard as some awesome rollercoasters. Yesterday my friend and I decided that we are going to get the hell out of the city and actually do something for once, so off we went! The bus left at 6:50, so it was an early day. At first, we couldn't find the bus, so we go underground to cross the street to get to what we think is the bus, and when we climb the stairs and look where we just were, what do we see? Our bus. Sigh.

So the way the bus tickets worked, we had until 5:35 to run around this park until out bus left. It was also a random Saturday in November. It can't possibly be that crowded, so we should have no problem hitting these four rollercoasters and seeing everything else we wanted to see with ease! Right?

It was a good theory anyway.

Well we got there early enough that together we waited about a half hour for Fujiyama, a merry coaster that only took about a half hour wait. However, the other three coasters in the park are a little more...unique.

Takabisha does well...this:

Yeah.

That's a 90 degree straight up followed by a 121 degree drop. Dondonpa is akin to Top Thrill Dragster in that it goes 107mph in 2 seconds. And finally Eejyanaika is a coaster in the side-style of Gatekeeper, but the seats are free to flip backwards and forwards while you are riding the coaster. These things are all right up my alley, but unfortunately my friend is not a xcore coaster junkie like myself, so we split up for a while so I could get all of the coasters out of the way.

First, Takabisha was a decent hour and a bit wait, with a secure feeling double seatbelt. Also, each coaster had free (locking) lockers by the train so you could just throw your stuff into it and get it right after. Why can't anyone else do this? Each train is only 4 people, but they were moving at a decent pace. I was surprised that the beginning of the ride isn't this monster, but there were some hills and spins indoors before you went out to that hill. Going up the hill was (unsurprisingly) terrifying, but the drop after was so small and slow that it was kind of disappointing. The rest of the ride didn't have the speed to make it anything special. I still enjoyed it though.

Next I jumped in line for Dondonpa, the launch coaster. It said the wait was only 1hr and 50 minutes, but this was not so. The thing had several cars running, but each train only held 8 people. Eight people! So it took two and a half hours. Ugh. It was fun (I love the launch types), but unlike Dragster the hill isn't right after the launch; you go down the track a bit and then you go up the crazy hill. So I kind of like Dragster better in that sense, but it was nice that the ride was longer than thirty seconds. And of course, on every coaster they tell you exactly where the picture spot is. God forbid you take a bad photo.

So because this one took so long, it was already almost 2 o clock, and I was concerned if we stopped for lunch I might not have time to ride the spinning one that I was most looking forward to. So I grabbed some food (I was not the only person eating in line) and jumped in the next line for Eejyanaika, which said 2 hrs and 10 minute wait, so God knows what that could mean. As I sat in line, I watched the track. There was a yellow car that would come out, but there was a long gap of time in which there was no car on the coaster. 

They had one train for this ride.

I was on fire. It wasn't even a crowded day! How ridiculous could this line be when it was actually busy!? Happily, I saw a blue car come out. ...Then, I saw the blue car again. And again. There was a brief period of time that they had another train, but then they got rid of the original? I don't know. But then miracle of miracles, both trains were consistently running. Because of this, the line was only about an hour and forty. Why couldn't they have done this in the first place?! I don't understand. The efficiency in all of the coaster lines was severely lacking, and it was pissing me off.

Luckily this coaster was fantastic, and it made me feel better. First, the boarding process was hella confusing. On the other coasters, they told you what number to stand by after checking your ticket (I had a free pass, but if you came in and only wanted to ride a couple things you only needed to buy tickets for rides instead of one expensive admission ticket. Admission was very cheap in itself). However, this coaster had little pods of people with locker stations, and I didn't quite hear which I was supposed to go to. I went to the one that looked like people were getting on from, and put my stuff in a locker. Then happily the nice lady told me the number to stand on. Then she said something that I assumed was make sure all of your stuff is in the locker, so I wasn't really paying attention. Then, when the gate opened to ride the ride, everyone had their shoes off so I was like 'crap,' and hurriedly took my shoes off to walk to my seat. 

The seat strap itself was the most confusing and terrifying thing ever. The lady had to do it for me. First, there was a seat belt, and then I looked for the overhead bar and there wasn't one? She told me to put my arms out, and I put on a heavy restraint like a vest. However, both sides didn't quite reach each other so there was a little seat belt to keep them together. Then there was another belt to hold those that down. I was not appeased. As we went up the hill (backwards) I was freaking out just a little bit.

I may or may not have been muttering The straps closed like a door, they can open like a door omg the whole way up the hill as I had an iron grip on the pair.

Then we went over the hill and turned around, and then I literally turned around and flipped backwards and flipped forwards and the ride was flipping and it was awesome. Terrifying, but super awesome.

So luckily, my friend and I had an hour and a half to actually do things together! We did some Fuji Q Purikura (why not) before riding giant yoyos (swings). The pole for the swings was as tall as the coaster next to it--cold, but fun. Then we rode the Ferris Wheel (what does Japan do better) and went shopping before walking through the little free area in front to the bus. Said free area was completely Christmas covered and playing Elvis Christmas music >.<

So although I didn't have time to play the Gundam game, or go ice skating (they had ice skating lol), or just...not be in line, it was a really fun time! It's a small little park, but I really enjoyed it (and that rollercoaster) and would definitely like to go back!

~Rosie

P.S. This park also has one of the most scary haunted houses in the world, but you couldn't pay me enough. That is all. XP  

Photo Drop

Woo, it hasn't been a month yet! I figured since I've actually been doing things this weekend, I will write a blog post. Before that, I should put up pictures from all the other stuff I blogged about before I had the capability to post pictures. I know there are some people that read my blog that don't have Facebook (Dad) so here are some pictures!

Here is Orientation and Fireworks, One Piece in Shizuoka, Obon, and Climbing Mt. Fuji! Hoo!

Here are some pictures from a few things I did not blog about: small adventures if you will. About a month ago a few of my friends and I rode the train to Shimizu to see a ship called the Nippon Maru that was here for a little while. It is a ship with a huge amount of sails that has sailed around the world over...40 times? A lot of times. Anyway, the weather was less than stellar that day, but we sat out there with our umbrellas because we wanted to see them open all the sails. And what fortune, we got there as soon as they started opening the sails! Yay!

Well, we had plenty of time, because there were a lot of sails. Over an hour later, and they finally finished opening all the damn sails. But I am very glad we waited; it was really nice to see!

Also at the end of that album are pictures from Daidogei, a huge showcase/festival/variety show downtown once a year in Shizuoka. My friends would tell me to bring a ladder or a step stool, and I thought they were kidding.

They weren't kidding. It was super crowded, so I didn't get to see much of the shows. But this is okay, because there was FUNNEL CAKE there. I was a very happy baby. The threat of bad weather scared some people off, so it wasn't as crowded as last year I'm told, but I wasn't going to buy a para scope (because you totally could) to see. We had a good time!

Next up, Fuji Q!
~Rosie

A Day in the Life: Junior High #1

Well hey there. I have fallen quite behind on this, and I completely blame the lack of Internet in the early days. I kept thinking Oooh! I'll have to blog about this when I get Internet! and the like, and when I finally did get Internet (after gorging myself on American television and anime) I felt like there was a huge pile of blogs that were needing to be written and I didn't want to do it. So, we are just starting from right now! Making life easy.

I'm meeting one of my speaking partners in an hour, so I will be making a separate post of all my pictures so far because not everyone has the Facebook :D

SO this post is to tell you about my days at my current junior high, which I will call Junior High #1. I am called an ALT: Assistant Language Teacher, and as I am a city ALT I rotate from junior high to junior high every so many months depending on the size of the school. My current school is only 200 students, and as such I will be transferring to Junior High #2 after November 8th. I am most sad and nervous because I really like JH #1. But anyway, some important vocabulary first. In Japan, Elementary Schools (which I will talk about at a later date) are from 1st-6th grade, Junior High is 7-9th grade, and High School is 10-12. In Japanese, ~nensei means year student. So at junior high, there are ichinensei (first graders/ 7th graders), ninensei (second graders/8th graders), and sannensei (third graders/ 9th graders). So it is easiest for me to say ichinensei, ninensei, and sannensei, so this is a helpful key so you know who I am talking about!

Also, more vocabulary: JTE= Japanese Teachers of English. These are the English teachers at each school that I work with. At JH#1, I only have 2 JTEs, and they are awesome. I sit across from the one, and I go to her classes most of the time. The other teaches the ichinensei (and one sannensei class), so I only see her students some of the time, but they are both really nice and we work really well together.

So, now I will present: A typical day at JH#1 for me! From my apartment, I take a train and bus to get there; it takes about a half hour, which is heaven compared to my forty minute drive in the freezing snow when I was doing student teaching. Before I even step in the school, I take off my shoes. In the entranceway to the school, there are little shoe lockers to put your shoes in, and I change to my indoor shoes. (They have slippers for guests). Because inside/outside is very important in Japan, you change shoes. So, because of this, you see a lot of people wearing suits, professional wear....and tennis shoes XD So I wear my tennis shoes to school every day, regardless (although they just barely fit in the shoe locker next to each other, gotta love gaijin [foreigner] feet).

Then, I head to my desk in the teachers room. Unlike America, the teacher's room is a bustling place: students come in and out all the time. This is because also unlike America, students do not change classrooms. One homeroom stays in the same place, and the teachers rotate. So if you need to talk to a teacher / get a key / anything, you need to come to the teacher's room. The students also come get the teacher's for class. So, when I am going to the classes of the JTE that sits across from me, when the students come to get her, she makes them ask me to come to class as well. In English of course. It is super cute, and I love it! :D

So in the morning, there is a homeroom time before the first four periods of the day. Each period is 50 minutes. If I don't have a class, I sit at my desk and study, prepare for other lessons, write, or even read (but lately I've been super busy so just studying typically). If I have a class, we go to class! At class, I do a variety of things. The common thing is to read things. Because I am a native speaker, accent is important. But I also get to create nice grammar activities for the students as well. This school does not have technology in the classrooms, (but it does have the most colored variety of chalk I've ever seen), so I have many many laminated blown up pictures for various lessons (so now I have laminated pictures of me in grade school, my house, family, etc.).

After fourth period is school lunch, or kyuushoku. In theory, it is from 12:30 until 1. Not so. Teachers do not get to kyuushoku (which is like in a PTA room, because students eat in their classrooms) around 12:40, so we really only have 15 minutes to eat. This was really hard in the beginning for me. But luckily, our kyuushoku is self serve, so I just take small portions of everything and there isn't a problem. My favorite joke about kyuushoku:

"It's like 5 minutes ago, I was super hungry, and now I am ridiculously full, and I can't figure out why..."

Because lunch is that fast.

When you think of kyuushoku, do not think of anything resembling an American school lunch. There is almost always rice, or bread. Then, there is a "salad" (either actual salad, or tuna with salad, or cabbage/spinach, etc.), and some sort of soup (tofu, stew, something in a bowl). There is also a meat that is usually fish. I usually eat everything at kyuushoku, even if I don't really like it (I really hate the cabbage spinach salad thing, it's chewy and nasty, but I eat it), but there are two things so far that I just can't. I can't eat it, I've tried, and I just...gah.

One, is a specialty to Shizuoka. It is a raw fish called shirasu, or baby sardines. As you can see, they have eyes. They don't appear in a blob like that in kyuushoku thank goodness, but they're in some salads and just...blah. It's not the eyes per se, it's the texture. The texture is so off, I really do not enjoy. But I can if I have to, and I actually don't mind them when they're cooked (they taste a lot better).

The one I absolutely despise, hate, and/or can't tolerate at all is this fried little pregnant fish called shishamo that seriously looks like it's screaming. You eat all of it, eyes and skin and all. I tried, I really did, but I can't. And my JTE laughs at me for it, and it's sort of become a running joke. Here is a decent picture of a kyuushoku, just to give you an idea. The milk is decidedly thick, but I've gotten used to it.

Oh yeah, also things I can't eat: this. It's these little crunchy fish (                                 ) about that big that come in a bag with almonds. I can't eat them; they're crunchy and taste like nothing but skin and eyes. But they come in a little bag so they are easy enough to avoid.

So after kyuushoku is a lunch break, a recess where students just hang out if you will. There's no going outside to run around (there is a grounds for baseball and gym and events, but there is almost never grass. Just a big pile of dirt). I usually spend my lunch break at my desk, recovering from lunch and my sudden fullness with food. This is also the point where teachers (and most of the students I'm told) brush their teeth. Like, don't even go water the toothbrush down, just put toothpaste on it, sit at their desk, and brush their teeth. It took me a while, but I have finally started to do this as well. I don't sit at my desk, I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, but it's good for you so hey, why not!

On Monday and Friday, there is only 5th period after lunch; on Tues-Thrs, there is 5th and 6th periods. After these classes, there's cleaning time! Because it is everyone's job to clean the school! It's about 15 minutes, nothing special, but we clean! I help sweep the entranceway.

Then after that, there is another short homeroom. After that, students have school clubs! Every student is in a club. You are only allowed to be in one club. The sannensei are no longer in clubs, and they go home so they have more time to study (the entrance exams into high school are super hard, and super important. Students to go a cram school after school for more studying). At this time, I either study or (if it's Friday because that is the longest amount of time), I go watch the clubs. If I were to go watch any other day but Friday, all I would see is stretching. But they are always happy to see me, so I go watch. It makes me want to play, though :( But lord knows what would happen there.

Then, I catch the bus home and return around 5:30. As is my day: a brief glimpse into Japan!

~Rosie

Why Does All the Weird Stuff Happen at Ito: Adventures

((written on September 3, 2013))

So I’m bored. Part of me reckons I should tell you about school, but considering I’ve only had one half day and one full day there, I figured I will wait to write that one until I’ve, you know, actually taught something.

So instead, I thought of this little gem on the way home from the store a couple days ago. If you watch my Facebook, you’d notice that I’ve mentioned a lovely little store called Ito Yokado in a few of my more…entertaining adventures (except yesterday when the bread fell out in the street—different store)). These adventures have a bit of difficulty to them, making them all the more entertaining to talk about once the story is over, and super frustrating while it is still unfolding.

So I’m going to expound upon 3 ridiculous adventures at this store that I’ve mentioned briefly on Facebook because it is 9 o clock, I’ve read my eyes out, I don’t want to open the puzzle, and I have nothing to watch while I crochet.

So Adventure #1: The Bicycle and the Pooh Fan

So Ito Yokado is the closest store to me that has homely things: applicances, houseware, kitchen goods, things I can’t get at the mall or dollar store essentially. The very first adventure there was the first day I got here; my supervisor took us to the store to make sure we had essentials-type thing (but that is connected to the second story, which comes later). So a friend recommended that this was a good store to get a sturdy bike from, and I had seen them there when we went, so hell why not. I used my handy GoogleMap to walk myself over there, figuring once I bike back it’ll be easier to remember how to get there.

I find the bikes easy enough, and I stare at them for a while. They’re a little more expensive than I hoped, but not significantly so. Actually the cheaper ones were part electric, so I almost accidentally bought a bike that has like…pedaling aid. Woops. But I didn’t, and I managed to understand the dude as he told me to wait a half hour while they do some bike processing…registering…business. So I do, gleefully troll around the store (there’s also a dollar store in there) and I proudly buy the millions of puzzles and walk out with an awesome bike.

I get my accomplished self all the way home, plop down on the floor, and realize my treasured Pooh fan is missing (mind you, it’s like a thousand degrees and a fan is necessary at work. I had other fans, but the Pooh Fan). I didn’t bring the bag I usually kept it in, and I last remembered sticking it my pocket. So I hop back on the bike and head back to Ito, searching the roads. I get to the store, no fan. Mind you, this is the store where I bought the fan from (and it cost me about a dollar) but dammit I wanted that one. So I asked the lady if anyone found it, she said no but I filled out a little form for them to call me if anyone found it. I told myself I’d stick it out a day with another fan and if they didn’t call then I’d go get another.

Well, they didn’t call saying they’d found it, so I went back and got another. A few days later, I get a phone call (getting phone calls is horrifying FYI: Japanese on the phone is like a million times worse), and the voice is like 10 steps higher than a level able to be understood by humans. I had no idea who it was. Luckily, a friend at work was able to talk to them for me, and it was Ito calling to tell me that they hadn’t found it yet but were still looking. Happily I have received no further reports about the fan.

Shenanigans.

Adventure #2! That Stupid Okayu Maker

So I mentioned the first time we went to Ito I was going to get essentials my apartment didn’t have—which at the time was a rice cooker. Me and like, 2 other people helped me pick out this nifty teeny little rice cooker at the time (I wanted a small one because hey, small apartment). And we all had a bit of a fail.

1 week and 6 days later, I use it for the first time. I scrupulously translate bits of the manual to know what I’m doing, and hit buttons and cook a pot of rice. What comes out is….mush. Complete mush. So, assuming I did it wrong, I hit a different button and make….even more mush. Looking closely, the box says ‘Okayu Maker’ (Porridge maker).

….Ain’t no rice coming out of this thing. >.< So returning things in Japan is iffy at best, and 2 weeks is the marker. So I needed to get this crap repackaged and attempt to get it out of my house. I called that day to ask if I could return it, and the response was definitely longer than ‘yes’ (still no idea what that response was, but hey). So I dragged it to the store, repeating on loop in my head the phrase “I bought this okayu maker 2 weeks ago, but I wanted a rice cooker. Can I exchange or return it?” I went up to the checkout of nice older ladies, and one of them walked with me to the service counter and I got rid of the thing. Then, after another lady helped me get an actual rice cooker, I checked out at the same counter, and the ladies were joking around and assuring me that it was an actual rice cooker.

Happy endings of lost in translation stress. Woot!

The Current Adventure: An Unhealthy Addiction to Puzzles

So all of my puzzles are going up on the huge expanse that is my blank white wall. I recently finished the 1000 piece Disney puzzle, but it is stained glass-partly see through with interlocking pieces, so it’s not really right to glue together. But it’s also not right to just hang outright, especially with the humidity routinely knocking the puzzles off the wall. So it’s currently operating as a rug until I go buy a frame for the huge thing. This weekend, I walked to Ito because I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry the puzzle frame on my bicycle—a little too big for that. I get there and check out their expanse of puzzle frames (moment of panic when I noticed the lady was packing them up-I still haven’t been back to see if they were moved or are just gone), but each puzzle frame was off by like .2~.5 cm. And they are quite expensive. The lady working with the puzzles sees the huge question mark over my head, and she comes over with a book of all the puzzles; I show her the picture of the one I did, and we find the ~special~ frame that you need to use with it, which they don’t have. Soooo, I ended up having to order it. And walk home for no reason. Gr.

Sidebar, this trip had a side mission of buying the same puzzle for Julie, who wants one as well. They didn’t have a copy (the lady helped me look too), so I ended up having to order one of those too. That’s right you love me, older sister.

The lady said they would take about a week to come in, but yesterday I had a missed call. So damn, Japanese phone call time, I call it back and it’s the same high voice from before so I know immediately that it’s Ito. From what I understood, they called to tell me that it would be a week…? Even though I already knew this. Idk, maybe they had just ordered it. Still unnecessary stress.

So that’ll be a fun phone call.

So yeah, some silly adventures.

((EDIT: So that phone call? They were trying to tell me that it was in. They called again, and I managed to guess that was the purpose, and when I went to get it I brokenly managed to speak why I was there [luckily I remembered the little receipt which is the real reason they probably knew what I was talking about] and I got it! And after it hung with Command Strips for a few weeks, it fell, and now it is hanging with S Hooks. Strong stuff.))

~Rosie