Shimokitazawa

So on Saturday Lidia and I skipped PE again, and went to Shimokitazawa with our friend Fune. It turned out to be probably my favorite place in Japan that I've been so far. Its just a small area without too many large buildings. Instead it has narrow streets with really interesting shops tucked away in them; lots of great thrift Stores, "Flea Markets", little restaurants, Cd shops that actually carry good Indie music, book stores filled with mint condition 90's music magazines, used record stores, used Kimono stores, huge everythingthatisawesome stores hidden in basements (Village/Vanguard), and more awesome thrift stores. We also went to a "Dagashiya" or I think that's how you say it... "junk food store"..? Basically a tiny shop run by an ogiichan or obaachan that sells traditional (but not too traditional) Japanese candy and snacks. It also has an assortment of old toys and trading cards left over from their era or popularity. It's really the most enjoyable thing ever. I should have taken some pictures but I was seriously too enamored by everything that it completely slipped my mind. I probably would have filled a huge bag full of treats but stupid me forgot to put money in my wallet when I left the house so I only had 2,000 yen with me. That's like 20 bucks, which would be fine if we were in Hawaii but everything in Japan is super expensive. I was lucky that we were in Shimokitazawa because a lot of things there make it a point to be super cheap, its like their charm. But I did by a little jello pop that (that was delicious) and a Make-Your-Own gummy candy sushi set. Its pretty fucking fun looking, I'm excited to say the least. hah.

So one of the greatest shops that I mentioned was Village Vanguard.

I don't really know how to describe it but awesome. Its a book store but sells basically everything, in the best sense. From fake boobs for your amusement

to Pickle flavored Pringles

to swimming panda toys!

They also sell great DVDs such as this one that they were showing a trailer for.

I could spend like a day in there, not to mention lots of money buying relatively useless things....

Anyways, here are some other pics. I'm being kinda lazy and putting them all at the end today.

A fun costume slash hat store.Street Musicians! "Flea Market" Pretty much an indoor garage sale.Fune and Lidia
Okonomiyaki!

Good shiet.

Shibuya

So today Lidia and I skipped Saturday PE and went to Shibuya instead! We met Naoko for lunch at this Italian cafe but even the Italian food tastes like Japanese food here. Then Lidia and I went shopping, of course.

We went to this glorious boot store that was packed with every kind of boot that you can imagine. 

That is just the display on the outside, which is nothing compared to inside the store.

After we went shopping for a long time, we went and did Purikura. I'm still not very fast at it, my goal is to be pro by the time I leave, but its hard when you can't read the kanji on the screen. 

After that we got crepes. I really wish that they had the kind of crepe stands that they have in Japan, in America because they're delicious. They have like a million different combinations of ingredients too! I stick with the normal strawberry, chocolate, whipped cream, but Lidia opted for the Chicken Curry. I was actually kind of jealous, hers smelled really good. 

Then we were tired so we met back up with Naoko and had Udon for dinner. Yum. 

Shibuya on a saturday night is kind of mind blowing. The sheer amount of people is ridiculous. And when you step out onto the street everyone is going somewhere, its constantly moving. At times it's just like a sea of people. 

(On the left you can kind of see a "standing sushi bar". The food is cheaper if they don't have to buy chairs, makes sense I guess...)

The craziest thing to see, of course, is everyone crossing the huge ass cross walk in Shibuya. Here, if you look closely you can see eberyone waiting to cross.
...and as everyone is crossing.
It was a tiring day.

Home, Sick, and Homesick

So I guess Japan has taught me my first lesson, and I'm sick. The weather is so weird here. When I first arrived it was really hot for the first few days. Hot, and very humid. As you can see form this picture of my room, it has a big sliding door.

So I was sleeping with it open at night and it was perfect. All of a sudden though, it got ridiculously cold! I feel asleep with the door open just a crack on...monday night? And I woke up early in the morning with a sore throat and shivering, it was so fucking cold. So then I went to school that day in a thin dress with long sleeves and jeans underneath and by like 10 o'clock the heat was ridiculous. So basically I got to know the weather here the hard way. By wednesday night I had a high fever. 

It really sucks, being sick by yourself in a foreign country. In the haze of my fever I felt so vulnerable and kind of broke down. I couldn't help but think that I had literally gotten sick because I was so homesick. The whole initial experience is just kind of overwhelming. For the first few days it kind of felt like a dream, but when I got the fever, it hit me that the people who care for me when I'm weak are so far away right now. But when my host mom finally got home she nursed me back to health and made me chicken soup and tea. I didn't go to school today so she stayed home and took care of me and made me delicious meals. So, I feel a lot better. 

That is what the rest of my room looks like. It's smaller than what I'm used to, but I've become really comfortable it in. (And I've put all of my clothes on the shelves and rack by now)

And the lighting is really nice in the morning. 

I have a lot to write about my school, and I'll post it soon.

Why is everything so awesome here?

That stuffed animal is as big as me. 'Nuff said. Everything is just so cute! And there are so many Panda things! Not to mention real pandas!

OOh and as a side note: I've learned a lot of cute Japanese slang while I've been here. 

-Maji  (like, really....or very?????)

-Yobai (This means like five different things... it's kinda like "ahh!"...????)

-Cho  (really, very, alot,... kind of like the real maning of "sugoi"..?)

ok... maybe I didn't learn that much now that I think about it...

Roppongi Hills

So yesterday we went to Roppongi Hills and walked around a bit. It's super nice there, and newly developed so everything is really modern and artistic. Right outside the Modern Art Museum there was a huge aquarium exhibit with just a bunch of REALLY NICE  fish tanks. It was somewhat bizarre.. and then we walked through the japanese garden next to the building. All the greenery here is man made, but its still really nice. The architecture is amazing. 

One thing I'm curious about is "Condomania". I keep seeing the shops and I wanna go inside to see what exactly a store with cartoons of condoms talking to eachother sells, but I don't want to weird out my host family. 

oh, and not only do they dress their dogs in polka-dotted dresses here, they also carry them around in strollers. 

9/13

First full day in Japan! I skipped a day due to the fact that I actually lost a day on the flight because Japan is a day ahead of Honolulu. So, yes, if you are in Honolulu I do bring tidings from the future. 

First day was action packed. I woke up at around five in the morn

ing because of my jet lag until I went downstairs finally around seven and accidentally woke up my host mom. Of course, being Japanese, she instantly started making me breakfast. In eating that first breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, buttered toast, broccoli, and yogurt with

 sliced banana, I realized that I might just gain some weight while I'm here. Totally worth it though, everything I've eaten so far has been delicious. Even the McDonald's is better here. 

So after talking with Naoko for about two hours and deciding that she's super cool and basically my favorite, Lidia finally woke up and we left the house. First we walked through Mitaka and the beautiful park near their house to get to Kichijoji. Basically, this park is the shiet.

 Not only does it have cute vendors selling dresses for chihuahuas and old men playing the guitar, but it also has swan peddle boat...things! 

So we ate lunch in Kichijoji, which is this adorable shopping and dining area, and then watched the "omatsuli", and went to the kids section at the shrine to pray and gets sweets.

(this is Lidia freaking out because she wants a fan with a "hot" guy on it...)

We then shopped around a little more and actually went to HIC, which was pretty funny and greatly overpriced.

Afterwards, we went to an arcade which are by the way, way cooler in Japan than in America and I can name three reasons:

ice cream claw machines

lots of gloomy bear!

and PURIKURA!!

I would show you the Purikura, but it is lost somewhere in my huge pile of shiet, at the moment. Anyways, after that we went to a department store to buy me a bento box, thermos, and pair of chopsticks for my lunch! It was quite exciting. We ended the day out by looking all over for shaving cream for me, which apparently they don't sell in Japan. Weird. 

Overall, it was an awesome day. 

9/11

First of all, I'm alive! Indeed, my plane did not end up being highjacked and crashing into a building. The flight was long though, and boring. I ended up having to watch Made of Honor, which I think is just kind of mean of JAL to do to me. They did however give me many warm wash cloths through out the flight, so I'll forgive them. What really made my flight was the ridiculously amazing "OPEN ON PLANE" card that Coco made me instead of finishing her mainlesson book. It was glorious to say the least, not to mention significantly embarrassing to read while sitting next to a timid Japanese couple. 

As soon as I got into the arrival lobby at the air port I knew who my host father was because Mexicans are relatively easy to spot among Japanese, I would say. And yes, not only is my host father Mexican, but his name is José. We got to know each other during the two hour car ride from Narita into Tokyo. I found them to be extremely kind and friendly. They probably found me to be gross looking, tired, and bad at conversing in any language. My fault for being able to understand Naoko's (host mom's) Japanese better than Jose's Mexican accented English. 

Later we met Lidia and had dinner. She's very nice, I think everyone will like her. 

I hadn't expected the first day to be so emotionally draining. I don't think I've ever felt so lonely. Maybe it was an excited lonely, though..? Sukoshi dake?

Hajimemashite!

Hello. If you can't already tell, I'm a little bit too excited about having a blog so please just play along. I decided that it would be the most efficient way to keep in touch with everyone and update them on what I'm doing without writing like ten separate emails. And on here its easy to share pictures, also. Basically, everything is so different and new that without consistent contact to my best friends (including Adrian, of course) I need an outlet to describe every detail of my life, or I am likely to explode. 

I'm going to be in Japan until December 7th. When I come back I'm going to be bringing Lidia, my exchange student, with me. I am staying at Lidia's house in Mitaka-shi, Tokyo, and going to the Fujino Steiner Schule. Pretty much, dat's what's up.