The こんばんは Man (Being a Foreigner)

Funny my blog should resurrect on a Sunday. Anyway, here's a post I had on the backburner for a while:

Man it's been a long time since I've posted last. Every time I thought about updating the task just became more daunting because it feels like I've been doing amazing things every day. Now that I'm being punished with a cold for having too many adventures and not enough rest time, I guess it's time to catch up.

The other night my friends and I went out after visiting the sister campus of our school. It was pretty late and we wanted to find somewhere to eat. We looked around, skimmed through a few menus, and laughed and joked around the whole time (remind me to take a picture of the "blead" sign).

Then, out of nowhere, a man opens the door of a restaurant and, in one fluid motion, both asks if we're looking for somewhere to eat and hands out some menus. We were all too startled to think of an immediate reply, but after looking at the prices we definitely wanted to find some way out. I asked in Japanese if we could take the menus with us and he said yes; my friend said we would think about it. Then we scurried away. He definitely looked like he was waiting for an opportunity to spring out and do his thing, because that "konbanwa" with a smile was definitely rehearsed. Poor guy. He probably thought he could snag a big group of foreigners and ring up a hefty check. I'm sorry, Konbanwa Man: we're all poor exchange students.

Let's rewind a bit, though. As I said, we had just come back from the sister campus of KGU, which is somewhere in the mountains. Japan is pretty much made up of mountain and beach so that's not a very good description, but we took a 45-minute long bus through some winding roads so I couldn't keep a sense of direction if I tried. The commute was incredibly scenic, though, and when we arrived we were welcomed by a rainbow.

We had a lot of fun with the Sanda campus people, not as if Uegahara is full of meanies but we were a bit overwhelmed by our first "Coffee Hour" experience in which the school attempted to shove all of the exchange students, plus any interested Japanese students and some high schoolers who needed to find 外国人 (foreigners) to answer their homework questions, into a tiny lounge with barely enough food to feed us all and speakers that couldn't handle the sheer number of people.

So Sanda~ (sparkles and sunshine and rainbows) left an impression on me. I want to go again if possible. The volleyball circles meet there but uh, a weekly trip would be a little much, thanks.

Still Alive - パソコンが壊れている間

I haven't died.

I'm still in Japan.

The thing about a personal blog is that you need access to a computer, so when your laptop breaks down you're pretty much out of luck. I hadn't even thought about the fact that I was using a Japanese-brand computer until I switched to an American one. Even when the machine got here I still had to go out and find an adapter.

I'm pretty sure the only instruction that came with my computer was NOT to use a 3-to-2 adapter. More importantly, what's the green thing doing there? Should I be worried?
... Naaaaaaaah.

So that's the end of that.

Here's what you missed: I was part of a foreign student music festival, got sick a couple times, visited Tokyo, finished my finals, met some new people, learned some new things, got a job, and had a couple dramatic episodes that weren't nearly as intense as I thought. Right now it's winter so I'm pretty much stuck at home in a corner with a space heater hoping it will unfreeze my toes at some point. See, the reason I love winter is because you can go out and play in the snow then return to the warmth of your home and drink some hot chocolate. In Japan, your home is most likely the coldest place to go (unless you have one of the aforementioned space heaters), and in this area even when it snows it never accumulates. That hasn't stopped me from frolicking, of course, but every morning is a mental struggle to overcome the part of me that wants to say under the covers. I usually don't get up until 9 or 10am.

To be honest, besides going to the school cafeteria for lunch I've just been escaping to warm places with my friends. I can't tell whether we're supposed to be there but one of the doors is open to get to the Global Lounge on campus so we usually meet there or at the mall not too far away. The mall is way more glamorous than it should be, with random European-sounding names for the stores and sales signs that never go out of season on overpriced goods. There's a park on the roof complete with a children's playground, fountain, and stage for what I assume must be performances I've never seen. It's really nice, actually, but I have a feeling most people go there to look fashionable rather than to buy stuff, at least on the clothing floors. It's where I got my adapter (for only $3!) so maybe I should be more appreciative. Once you find the dollar stores and the cheap shopping places, though, it just becomes a place to hang out. I've been spoiled by cafeteria food, too, so I can't stand the mall prices any more.

Another thing I got used to: safety. I've never felt so safe in my life. I would get to my host family's house a little after midnight on some nights, which I realized was a bit bothersome to them since they have to get up early for work so I've been trying to avoid it, but I wouldn't even look around my shoulder for suspicious-looking characters. Most people walking or biking around are moms with their kids or hurried businessmen anyway. Recently they told me there was a theft in the neighborhood on one of the streets nearby that isn't so well-lit so they were worried about me getting home so late. It's true that foreigners tend to be targeted for crimes like that, but the reason I get home before dark these days is because I want to have cuddle time with my space heater, not to avoid muggers. I'm really going to be in trouble when I get back to the States.

In summary, it's too cold to do anything so I guess I'll catch up on the things I've done until now but couldn't post about because I had no computer. You know, after I settle down with some hot cocoa, put on as many layers as possible, and try not to feel guilty about using the energy-guzzling space heater so much.