So I just thought I'd check in. I'm not sure what I'll say, but at least I can say a few things.
Well, I got a job about a month and a half ago. I'm teaching English to kids from 1 year old to 15 years old. Well, actually my oldest just left so I guess it's only 1-13 years old. I had a little bit of a rough start, but it's actually a pretty nice little workplace. I'm also making about $27 an hour after the conversion, so the money isn't bad either. Actually, I mean, it's freaking amazing, haha. I'm only working 2 days a week (an hour and a half Thursday and all day Saturday) for a total of maybe 9 1/2 hours (not including clean-up and set-up time), and making over $900USD a month (soon to go up after I'm out of the trial period), so... yeah.
Actually, though, when everything from food ($5.00 gets you a footlong at subway in America. $6.00 gets you a six inch at subway in Japan... if you don't want cheese. That's extra.) to entertainment (want to go see a movie? That's anywhere from $17-$23. On special days, though, you can see them for... about $12. Without the snacks.) is twice the amount in America it comes out to less. Still, it's quite a lot in the long run, and if I can save some money, I can spend it back in America where I'll get more for my buck.
This job, though, won't end until almost the end of August, so I'll miss a few days of class back in America. On the bright side, though, they told me that if everything goes well they'd love to sponser my visa when I finish school so I can come back to work with them. I'll need to work a little extra if I want to make enough money to live, but since it's a pretty well paying job (from $34USD to $42USD an hour after exchange, depending on the type of class you teach, which most people teach many different kinds) I can make a bit of money working at nights on other days (which is when most people look for English lessons) and start paying off my school loan and start saving for... well, I guess a house (it'd be nice to be able to live in a house in Japan, but even a small one is expensive since there's no space here), retirement, whatever responsible adults save for.
Well, I think that's going to be all for today. I hope I can keep on updating with more little posts like this.
See you!
--Caitlin
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
1/11/2012
So, I told everyone that I would be putting pictures up here, and I think I put pictures up a total of... oh, once. But in my defense, I made this huge, beautiful blog post, and the next day I looked at it eagerly, waiting for comments... and nobody had commented. Neither did they comment the next day. Nor the next.
OR EVER, YOU GUYS.
Now, I'm not going to say it's y'all fault that I haven't updated since thenBUT IT'S TOTALLY YOUR FAULT but ever since then I kinda lost the interest in it.
Anyway, since then I realized the most daunting part of writing here is mostly because adding pictures on here is troublesome, especially since I have tons of pictures now that I've been in Japan for three or four months. So I want to try writing more with less emphasis on pictures and more on my experience here.
--
So, updates.
I've been thinking a lot lately. I feel like four or five months (a semester) is enough time for someone to change significantly, and as this semester is coming to a close (Japanese school systems end at the end of January), when I thought about how much I had changed, I felt disappointed, because I didn't feel as if I had changed at all. But now that I look back, I've really changed a lot.
When I first came to Japan, I cried a lot because well, frankly, I had jetlag, and 2, I realized that I was all on my own. I've never been so far away from my parents that I couldn't just call up and say "I wanna go hooooommmme!" and they couldn't come get me. But in Japan, well, it costs more money than my first car (will be? I've never actually bought a car before, since the plan--that always got pushed back--was always to come to Japan) to go home. And what can my parents do if anything bad happened? Well, not much. *I'm* the expert on Japan in my family, and if something terrible happened, *I* would be the one to know how to deal with it our of anyone in my family.
It was really scary to suddenly realize, along with a healthy dose of the feelings of apprehension that comes with a lack of sleep, that I was, in a sense, on my own. Yeah, I had my friends but... I had to realize I was going to be in this strange country for the next 11 months!
Anyway, I've realized that I'm not as scared of that. The crying wore off after I was done being jetlagged and I worked out a budget.
I mean, there are a lot of different ways I've changed significantly in the past few months, such as how I view myself, how I view relationships, how I view people, and heck, even how calm I am compared to how calm I was in America. So really, I'm happy with how much I've been able to change in the past few months here. And in fact, that was one of the reasons I wanted to come here in the first place.
Me and Keita in Yokohama in front of a tower that changed colors. Please ignore the stupid-looking earmuffs. Even the shame of Mickey Mouse stuck firmly to either side of my head was nothing compared to how freezing it was that day (Seriously, that might be hard to imagine, but think walking around for hours outside with the wind blowing while not wearing a proper winter coat cause you just don't have one!!)
Second, language.
While I've told my friends that I feel like I haven't really gotten better, when I really look back at how I spoke in the beginning, I think I'm doing a lot better. I mean, my vocabulary still sucks, but I'm really beginning to be able to articulate more and more of what I want to be able to say in Japanese. I guess things like languages sneak up on you, and you don't realize how much you've learned until you look back.
Keita excitedly looking through the his new Star Wars comic that my parents sent him for Christmas. And...
Keita expressing his dismay at all the sparkles that had firmly stuck to his hands (from all the Christmas decorations that my parents sent in the same package to me). Do not let that smile fool you. His face shows dismay in it's rawest form. (Also, I'm pretty sure the next people who will live here next are still going to be finding sparkles everywhere when I leave....)
The only problem is that my English is kinda going downhill. Several times when I've been writing here I've wanted to express something, but I could only figure out how to say it in Japanese (I want to say 不安, dernnit! There's no way to say 不安 properly in English! And めどくさい! Why is there no word in English for めんどくさい??).
I MADE A CHRISTMAS COOKIE YAY!
I wrote him a Christmas letter and then folded it into a heart. Because I am clever like that. Then I accosted him by taking a picture of it right next to his face...heeheehee.
Okay, that's all for now, I think. This might be a bit of a lackluster update after all this time but... oh well. Something's better than nothing, right?
--Caitlin
P.S. Happy New Years!
OR EVER, YOU GUYS.
Now, I'm not going to say it's y'all fault that I haven't updated since then
Anyway, since then I realized the most daunting part of writing here is mostly because adding pictures on here is troublesome, especially since I have tons of pictures now that I've been in Japan for three or four months. So I want to try writing more with less emphasis on pictures and more on my experience here.
--
So, updates.
I've been thinking a lot lately. I feel like four or five months (a semester) is enough time for someone to change significantly, and as this semester is coming to a close (Japanese school systems end at the end of January), when I thought about how much I had changed, I felt disappointed, because I didn't feel as if I had changed at all. But now that I look back, I've really changed a lot.
When I first came to Japan, I cried a lot because well, frankly, I had jetlag, and 2, I realized that I was all on my own. I've never been so far away from my parents that I couldn't just call up and say "I wanna go hooooommmme!" and they couldn't come get me. But in Japan, well, it costs more money than my first car (will be? I've never actually bought a car before, since the plan--that always got pushed back--was always to come to Japan) to go home. And what can my parents do if anything bad happened? Well, not much. *I'm* the expert on Japan in my family, and if something terrible happened, *I* would be the one to know how to deal with it our of anyone in my family.
It was really scary to suddenly realize, along with a healthy dose of the feelings of apprehension that comes with a lack of sleep, that I was, in a sense, on my own. Yeah, I had my friends but... I had to realize I was going to be in this strange country for the next 11 months!
Anyway, I've realized that I'm not as scared of that. The crying wore off after I was done being jetlagged and I worked out a budget.
I mean, there are a lot of different ways I've changed significantly in the past few months, such as how I view myself, how I view relationships, how I view people, and heck, even how calm I am compared to how calm I was in America. So really, I'm happy with how much I've been able to change in the past few months here. And in fact, that was one of the reasons I wanted to come here in the first place.
Me and Keita in Yokohama in front of a tower that changed colors. Please ignore the stupid-looking earmuffs. Even the shame of Mickey Mouse stuck firmly to either side of my head was nothing compared to how freezing it was that day (Seriously, that might be hard to imagine, but think walking around for hours outside with the wind blowing while not wearing a proper winter coat cause you just don't have one!!)
Second, language.
While I've told my friends that I feel like I haven't really gotten better, when I really look back at how I spoke in the beginning, I think I'm doing a lot better. I mean, my vocabulary still sucks, but I'm really beginning to be able to articulate more and more of what I want to be able to say in Japanese. I guess things like languages sneak up on you, and you don't realize how much you've learned until you look back.
Keita excitedly looking through the his new Star Wars comic that my parents sent him for Christmas. And...
Keita expressing his dismay at all the sparkles that had firmly stuck to his hands (from all the Christmas decorations that my parents sent in the same package to me). Do not let that smile fool you. His face shows dismay in it's rawest form. (Also, I'm pretty sure the next people who will live here next are still going to be finding sparkles everywhere when I leave....)
The only problem is that my English is kinda going downhill. Several times when I've been writing here I've wanted to express something, but I could only figure out how to say it in Japanese (I want to say 不安, dernnit! There's no way to say 不安 properly in English! And めどくさい! Why is there no word in English for めんどくさい??).
I MADE A CHRISTMAS COOKIE YAY!
I wrote him a Christmas letter and then folded it into a heart. Because I am clever like that. Then I accosted him by taking a picture of it right next to his face...heeheehee.
Okay, that's all for now, I think. This might be a bit of a lackluster update after all this time but... oh well. Something's better than nothing, right?
--Caitlin
P.S. Happy New Years!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Well, if you're going to stare at ME...
Today as I was walking home from class, these two high school kids kept looking back at me, over and over. After the forth or fifth time, I decided that if they looked back at me again, I was going to talk to them. But when they looked I was always caught off guard, so instead when I walked past them I said "konnichiwa!" The girl just looked at me in surprise, and the guy says "おっ！こんにちは！" ("Oh! konnichiwa!") back in shock. After I walked past I couldn't help laughing a little at their shock! "Oh! The foreigner! She... she talks!"
From now on, when someone stares at me too many times, I'm going to say hi to them. It's your own fault if you can't stop looking if I start talking to you, Japan!!
I live in Tokyo where there are a lot of foreigners, so the staring is usually kept down to a minimum, but if I were in Osaka or something, I think it might be a lot worse. At first it did bother me a bit, though, however small it might have been. It was kind of embarrassing to have people staring at me all the time. But after a while I just chalked it up to people thinking I'm cute, and just left it at that. And if it's not that they think that I'm cute, and they just think I'm funny looking... I'd like to keep my own little delusions, kay? So don't burst my bubble, mmkay?
But I think in the end, even if being stared at is a little awkward sometimes, because I stand out, people are eager to meet me, so it's a lot easier to make friends. To me, that's a huge advantage! And then because they're so eagar to make friends, I can sort of break the rules a little bit and talk to them--and they feel relieved that they can talk to me, and not have to break the rules.
For example, the other day I was at a restaurant with my friends, and because there isn't a lot of space in Japan, the booths are impossibly close together. So when I caught the guy's eye from the booth next to me, I just said "Ohayou!" on a whim (which is cute and casual) which lead to them telling "the foreigner" that right now it's the night, so I should use "konbanwa". Of course, I knew this perfectly well, but I can play the stereotypical dumb foreigner who doesn't know anything about Japan for a while if that means getting to talk to new people. ふっふっふっ！！
Anyway, because I talked to that one group, the rest of them started rushing in to talk to me as well, which was pretty awesome. And if I hadn't been the object of their awkward staring for a while, I never would have gotten that much of an opportunity to talk to them!
I guess another thing that really helps me, though, is the fact that my pronunciation of Japanese is pretty good. I think people don't feel as awkward talking to me, and feel like I'll be able to understand better because I sound pretty native. So I think I might be a little bit more able to talk to Japanese people (or at least spark a little interest) because they'll say more to me (Not that I can always understand but...).
Anyway, sorry for this little impromtu blog without pictures. Recently I've gotten really busy, and putting pictures on here is difficult, so I always put it off. I swear I'll do it... sometime.
--Caitlin
From now on, when someone stares at me too many times, I'm going to say hi to them. It's your own fault if you can't stop looking if I start talking to you, Japan!!
I live in Tokyo where there are a lot of foreigners, so the staring is usually kept down to a minimum, but if I were in Osaka or something, I think it might be a lot worse. At first it did bother me a bit, though, however small it might have been. It was kind of embarrassing to have people staring at me all the time. But after a while I just chalked it up to people thinking I'm cute, and just left it at that. And if it's not that they think that I'm cute, and they just think I'm funny looking... I'd like to keep my own little delusions, kay? So don't burst my bubble, mmkay?
But I think in the end, even if being stared at is a little awkward sometimes, because I stand out, people are eager to meet me, so it's a lot easier to make friends. To me, that's a huge advantage! And then because they're so eagar to make friends, I can sort of break the rules a little bit and talk to them--and they feel relieved that they can talk to me, and not have to break the rules.
For example, the other day I was at a restaurant with my friends, and because there isn't a lot of space in Japan, the booths are impossibly close together. So when I caught the guy's eye from the booth next to me, I just said "Ohayou!" on a whim (which is cute and casual) which lead to them telling "the foreigner" that right now it's the night, so I should use "konbanwa". Of course, I knew this perfectly well, but I can play the stereotypical dumb foreigner who doesn't know anything about Japan for a while if that means getting to talk to new people. ふっふっふっ！！
Anyway, because I talked to that one group, the rest of them started rushing in to talk to me as well, which was pretty awesome. And if I hadn't been the object of their awkward staring for a while, I never would have gotten that much of an opportunity to talk to them!
I guess another thing that really helps me, though, is the fact that my pronunciation of Japanese is pretty good. I think people don't feel as awkward talking to me, and feel like I'll be able to understand better because I sound pretty native. So I think I might be a little bit more able to talk to Japanese people (or at least spark a little interest) because they'll say more to me (Not that I can always understand but...).
Anyway, sorry for this little impromtu blog without pictures. Recently I've gotten really busy, and putting pictures on here is difficult, so I always put it off. I swear I'll do it... sometime.
--Caitlin
Friday, September 16, 2011
Two Weeks Of Pictures
I promised you I'd update today, didn't I? Actually, I would have done it yesterday, except that it was dark by the time I got around to it, and I thought my apartment was actually much prettier during the day. Well, then I procrastinated again and actually, I took the video at night anyway. Whoops.
Anyway, I'd show you the video right now, except it's uploading on my phone right now, and my internet is about as slow as a snail with a shell two sized too big, so I'll have to placate you for the moment with...
...Pictures, yay! You KNEW I had to be doing something these past two weeks, didn't you? So I'll start from the beginning-ish. I didn't actually do too well in taking too many pictures in the beginning, though, so just hold tight until I get to the picture place.
So, I get to Japan, and of course I'm exhausted from the long trip, but on the way to where I was staying, I had to take a rush hour train. This meant... people! And everyone getting smushed into the train! And people I didn't know touching me! And me thinking "AH! THERE'S GOING TO BE A CHIKAN* HERE AND I'M GOING TO BE ATTACKED!" Seriously, it was the most packed train I've been on to date, and I had to do it with all my luggage and while I was tired and when I had just been reading articles about chikan when I was at home. Fortunately, I was not attacked, and I doubt it would have happened with Keita standing right by me anyway. But hey, I wasn't exactly in my best condition anyway.
One of the first things that I did was go to Obirin a few days into the trip so I could see my friends from that school (they had studied abroad at UNT). On the third day of that, we all went bowling.
Let me tell you a little bit about bowling, friends. I suck at it. Really really bad. Bowling hates me, and I hate bowling, and we have a mutual agreement to stay away from each other as much as possible. But with the Japanese, there seems to be two things that you always do: karaoke and bowling. And since all my friends are too embarrassed to go karaoke, I get to go bowling.
"Oh, it won't be so bad!" thinks I. I WAS WRONG YOU GUYS. I STILL SUCK. Like, I most definitely got the lowest score. It was pitiful.
Anyway, pictures!
Here we are, bowling. That's Yuki on the left and Keita on the right.
Keita makes various poses as he bowls.
...and another.
And another.
Yeah, you laugh, but he beat everyone by a mile. ....this must be his secret weapon to throw the rest of us off track because we're laughing so hard.
Yay everyone! Left to right, back to front, there's Eri, Yuki, Keita, Futta and Honami.
About halfway through, they came and gave us these. I'm not sure why. But anyway, yay, free trinkets!
Eri is probably laughing at me, because my ball is already heading for the gutter. Or maybe she's laughing because I'm so bad at this that I'm bowling with a basketball.
(I kid. It was actually really a bowling ball. Probably.)
Futta's like "Yeah. Nailed it."
Afterwards we went to eat and then did some purikura. If you don't know what purikura is... I'm sorry. It's awesome. You go and stand in this huge photo booth with your friends that has a touch screen inside, and you choose backgrounds for your pictures, and pose in various ways while they take pictures. After that, you go outside and to the side of the booth where you can decorate your pictures on another touch screen with a bunch of decorations, and stamps and different kinds of "inks" that you can draw with. Then it prints your pictures, and you divide them between you
It says "Texas Members" and "Caitlin, welcome to Japan".
I'll spare you the other picture I have of that, since I look silly. Or maybe I'm sparing myself. Either way!
A few days later Keita took me to a store. And there I took a few pictures.
In America, you eat M&Ms. In Japan, M&Ms EAT YOU. I mean, seriously, look at those things! It's creepy!
(You might want to move the little ones away from the screen for the next one.)
Thank you Japan. Now we know.
After that, Keita and I went to see Yuma in Yokohama. I wanted to see everyone, BUT EVERYONE IS ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING IN JAPAN. Seriously, you have to book in advance!
YAY CREPES! Japan likes crepes. I like crepes. I think we're going to get along juuuuuust fine, Japan. Juuuust fine.
And here I am, playing a drum game that's pretty much like DDR, except with Japanese drums (I pretty much rocked at it... even if I lost every time, haha).
OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS, JAPANESE ARCADES ARE AWESOME! They have huge games that you can like, get inside a machine and it has three screens around you and you're like, controlling your own gundam thing! And like, these things where you put cards down on a screen and you control your own team of fighters on the screen in front of you by moving your cards! And like, big shooting games and like... JUST AWESOME. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS IN AMERICA?!?!
And then we went on a boat!
And it was freaking hot out. And humid. And I thought I was going to DIE.
Here I am, half dead.
(I'm on a BOAT.)
Next we went to this international store thingy. And it was fun. And Keita bought a Star Wars mask, because he is 5 years old.
I am very scared. He is scary. I will soon be carried off to the empire or something. Aaaaaah.
And look what Yuma found!
Naked babies! Kyupi naked babies!
Shout out to Rachel who loves Kyupi more than life itself! And by "loves kyupi more than life itself" I mean she likes this kind of Japanese mayo on her sandwhich.
And then... More purikura!
It says "Texas. Love lo~ve!"
At the top it says "Cute!" and then "What is this?!"
That would be Keita in the mask. Because he likes Star Wars and because he is a dork. BUT IF YOU IFNORE THE BOTTOM PART then it's a really cute picture in the top left corner. IGNORE MY BOYFRIEND, OKAY YOU GUYS?
Another day I went up to Obirin again and look who I ran into!!
I bet you guys at school remember these people! It was so wonderful to get to see so many people again!
Me and Ai both have curly hair!<3
Izuho is still short, but I think she's graduated from looking like she's in 3rd grade to maybe almost ready to go into middle school. <3
They weren't paying attention. So I pounced.
Some of the boys.
And then we went to eat food! Because food is good, and we were starved!
And then.... I moved into my dorm. Blablabla, we'll get to that later.
Anyway, my new roommate and I decided to brave the trains by ourselves, and where did we decide to go? Asakusa! Two train transfers, because we are BOSSES like that.
We're almost there now!
The gate! And past the gate we find....!
It was 7:00 and everyone was closing. We were then fail.
BOO ASAKUSA! WHAT IF WE NEED TO COME BUY SOUVENIRS AFTER 7:00?! What then?!
We make the best of it, though. This is my wonderful roommate, Carly, by the way.
And then we decide we want to go eat.
But we just find expensive food. And these fish. SWIM FISHIES, SWIM! Because you are a delicacy in Japan and you will soon be consumed! Even if you ARE really cute.
While we were wandering around looking pointlessly for price-range food, we find handprints in the ground.
I find my hand twin right away.
Somewhere out there is my hand twin.... WE WERE SEPARATED AT BIRTH, BUT I WILL FIND YOU!!!
Roommate also finds a kitten or two. We watch as it waits for the traffic to slow down so that it can cross the road to disappear into a crack between the shops on the other side.
We then come to today, when I got to bored that I decided to go drink some coffee by myself. The barista was really nice, and could speak English. He knew I was from Toyo university because... well, I was white, and right across from our dorms, haha. He told me his coffee was the best in Tokyo, so I overcame my shyness and asked him for a cappuccino in Japanese.
He made me a bunny.<3<3 All was right with the world. And then I went to look for the big grocery store. And I failed. So I had to go to a small one that didn't really have all I needed... but hey, at least I could eat tonight.
On the way I found the place where hobos shop apparently. Man, Japan really DOES have everything!!
Finally, children, we have my introducing my room after I got home and tidied up a bit.
And there you have it! [I'll put up a longer video I took tomorrow, after it finished uploading from my phone]
--Caitlin
P.S. So it occured to me that there are probably a lot missing from these pictures that you'd like to see. I have one friend in particular who really wants to see all sorts of pictures. So if there's something that you want pictures of, like my dorm, what the grocery store looks like, what the streets look like, or what my city looks like, leave a comment (you don't have to have an account for that) and tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can't do, since I have gobs of free time before school starts.
--
*Chikan: molester; Basically, in this case, it refers to guys who like to take advantage of the close quarters of the train to touch unsuspecting girls, and take advantage of the culture, which is not draw attention to yourself. Unfortunately, this makes a lot of girls just put up with it without saying anything.
Anyway, I'd show you the video right now, except it's uploading on my phone right now, and my internet is about as slow as a snail with a shell two sized too big, so I'll have to placate you for the moment with...
...Pictures, yay! You KNEW I had to be doing something these past two weeks, didn't you? So I'll start from the beginning-ish. I didn't actually do too well in taking too many pictures in the beginning, though, so just hold tight until I get to the picture place.
So, I get to Japan, and of course I'm exhausted from the long trip, but on the way to where I was staying, I had to take a rush hour train. This meant... people! And everyone getting smushed into the train! And people I didn't know touching me! And me thinking "AH! THERE'S GOING TO BE A CHIKAN* HERE AND I'M GOING TO BE ATTACKED!" Seriously, it was the most packed train I've been on to date, and I had to do it with all my luggage and while I was tired and when I had just been reading articles about chikan when I was at home. Fortunately, I was not attacked, and I doubt it would have happened with Keita standing right by me anyway. But hey, I wasn't exactly in my best condition anyway.
One of the first things that I did was go to Obirin a few days into the trip so I could see my friends from that school (they had studied abroad at UNT). On the third day of that, we all went bowling.
Let me tell you a little bit about bowling, friends. I suck at it. Really really bad. Bowling hates me, and I hate bowling, and we have a mutual agreement to stay away from each other as much as possible. But with the Japanese, there seems to be two things that you always do: karaoke and bowling. And since all my friends are too embarrassed to go karaoke, I get to go bowling.
"Oh, it won't be so bad!" thinks I. I WAS WRONG YOU GUYS. I STILL SUCK. Like, I most definitely got the lowest score. It was pitiful.
Anyway, pictures!
Here we are, bowling. That's Yuki on the left and Keita on the right.
Keita makes various poses as he bowls.
...and another.
And another.
Yeah, you laugh, but he beat everyone by a mile. ....this must be his secret weapon to throw the rest of us off track because we're laughing so hard.
Yay everyone! Left to right, back to front, there's Eri, Yuki, Keita, Futta and Honami.
About halfway through, they came and gave us these. I'm not sure why. But anyway, yay, free trinkets!
Eri is probably laughing at me, because my ball is already heading for the gutter. Or maybe she's laughing because I'm so bad at this that I'm bowling with a basketball.
(I kid. It was actually really a bowling ball. Probably.)
Futta's like "Yeah. Nailed it."
Afterwards we went to eat and then did some purikura. If you don't know what purikura is... I'm sorry. It's awesome. You go and stand in this huge photo booth with your friends that has a touch screen inside, and you choose backgrounds for your pictures, and pose in various ways while they take pictures. After that, you go outside and to the side of the booth where you can decorate your pictures on another touch screen with a bunch of decorations, and stamps and different kinds of "inks" that you can draw with. Then it prints your pictures, and you divide them between you
It says "Texas Members" and "Caitlin, welcome to Japan".
I'll spare you the other picture I have of that, since I look silly. Or maybe I'm sparing myself. Either way!
A few days later Keita took me to a store. And there I took a few pictures.
In America, you eat M&Ms. In Japan, M&Ms EAT YOU. I mean, seriously, look at those things! It's creepy!
(You might want to move the little ones away from the screen for the next one.)
Thank you Japan. Now we know.
After that, Keita and I went to see Yuma in Yokohama. I wanted to see everyone, BUT EVERYONE IS ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING IN JAPAN. Seriously, you have to book in advance!
YAY CREPES! Japan likes crepes. I like crepes. I think we're going to get along juuuuuust fine, Japan. Juuuust fine.
And here I am, playing a drum game that's pretty much like DDR, except with Japanese drums (I pretty much rocked at it... even if I lost every time, haha).
OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS, JAPANESE ARCADES ARE AWESOME! They have huge games that you can like, get inside a machine and it has three screens around you and you're like, controlling your own gundam thing! And like, these things where you put cards down on a screen and you control your own team of fighters on the screen in front of you by moving your cards! And like, big shooting games and like... JUST AWESOME. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS IN AMERICA?!?!
And then we went on a boat!
And it was freaking hot out. And humid. And I thought I was going to DIE.
Here I am, half dead.
(I'm on a BOAT.)
Next we went to this international store thingy. And it was fun. And Keita bought a Star Wars mask, because he is 5 years old.
I am very scared. He is scary. I will soon be carried off to the empire or something. Aaaaaah.
And look what Yuma found!
Naked babies! Kyupi naked babies!
Shout out to Rachel who loves Kyupi more than life itself! And by "loves kyupi more than life itself" I mean she likes this kind of Japanese mayo on her sandwhich.
And then... More purikura!
It says "Texas. Love lo~ve!"
At the top it says "Cute!" and then "What is this?!"
That would be Keita in the mask. Because he likes Star Wars and because he is a dork. BUT IF YOU IFNORE THE BOTTOM PART then it's a really cute picture in the top left corner. IGNORE MY BOYFRIEND, OKAY YOU GUYS?
Another day I went up to Obirin again and look who I ran into!!
I bet you guys at school remember these people! It was so wonderful to get to see so many people again!
Me and Ai both have curly hair!<3
Izuho is still short, but I think she's graduated from looking like she's in 3rd grade to maybe almost ready to go into middle school. <3
They weren't paying attention. So I pounced.
Some of the boys.
And then we went to eat food! Because food is good, and we were starved!
And then.... I moved into my dorm. Blablabla, we'll get to that later.
Anyway, my new roommate and I decided to brave the trains by ourselves, and where did we decide to go? Asakusa! Two train transfers, because we are BOSSES like that.
We're almost there now!
The gate! And past the gate we find....!
It was 7:00 and everyone was closing. We were then fail.
BOO ASAKUSA! WHAT IF WE NEED TO COME BUY SOUVENIRS AFTER 7:00?! What then?!
We make the best of it, though. This is my wonderful roommate, Carly, by the way.
And then we decide we want to go eat.
But we just find expensive food. And these fish. SWIM FISHIES, SWIM! Because you are a delicacy in Japan and you will soon be consumed! Even if you ARE really cute.
While we were wandering around looking pointlessly for price-range food, we find handprints in the ground.
I find my hand twin right away.
Somewhere out there is my hand twin.... WE WERE SEPARATED AT BIRTH, BUT I WILL FIND YOU!!!
Roommate also finds a kitten or two. We watch as it waits for the traffic to slow down so that it can cross the road to disappear into a crack between the shops on the other side.
We then come to today, when I got to bored that I decided to go drink some coffee by myself. The barista was really nice, and could speak English. He knew I was from Toyo university because... well, I was white, and right across from our dorms, haha. He told me his coffee was the best in Tokyo, so I overcame my shyness and asked him for a cappuccino in Japanese.
He made me a bunny.<3<3 All was right with the world. And then I went to look for the big grocery store. And I failed. So I had to go to a small one that didn't really have all I needed... but hey, at least I could eat tonight.
On the way I found the place where hobos shop apparently. Man, Japan really DOES have everything!!
Finally, children, we have my introducing my room after I got home and tidied up a bit.
And there you have it! [I'll put up a longer video I took tomorrow, after it finished uploading from my phone]
--Caitlin
P.S. So it occured to me that there are probably a lot missing from these pictures that you'd like to see. I have one friend in particular who really wants to see all sorts of pictures. So if there's something that you want pictures of, like my dorm, what the grocery store looks like, what the streets look like, or what my city looks like, leave a comment (you don't have to have an account for that) and tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can't do, since I have gobs of free time before school starts.
--
*Chikan: molester; Basically, in this case, it refers to guys who like to take advantage of the close quarters of the train to touch unsuspecting girls, and take advantage of the culture, which is not draw attention to yourself. Unfortunately, this makes a lot of girls just put up with it without saying anything.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Where Am I?!?
This is what I have been doing instead of updating.
Poor gummy bear never knew what hit it.
--Caitlin
P.S. Updates and video of my new dorm tomorrow (finally)!
Poor gummy bear never knew what hit it.
--Caitlin
P.S. Updates and video of my new dorm tomorrow (finally)!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
One More Day!
You know, there used to be a time when Japan was just a foreign country. They were far away, and they did things differently than I did, and that was kinda cool to me. Learning about their customs and their culture was exciting.
At that time, Japan was kinda how I see China now. Not in culture, but in the foreignness of it all. Filled with people speaking a language I didn't know, that didn't look like me, all with black hair, and different faces than I was used to. It was so different than me in so many ways. Even small things like riding a bike as an actual form of transportation (not just for kids), and the way the streets were laid out... this all made Japan something far away--something fundamentally foreign.
Now, looking at this video (I'll put it at the bottom), I look at it and I don't see something foreign. It doesn't seem so far away from me that it's like a "third world" anymore. It just seems natural and like the place I want to be. When I look at this video, the things there don't seem strange and exciting because they're a different culture; they merely seem exciting because I know it, and finally can be a part of it.
You know, there was a time when I became culture shocked, even all the way out here in the States. I didn't like Japanese culture. I wanted to study the language, but I didn't really want to deal with the "tateme" and "honne" culture, the "way I show people I am" and "the way I really am" culture (as well as several other jarring facets of the culture). But now--and maybe this is born out of naivety, since even though I've only been there for a month, studied about Japanese culture, and had Japanese friends, that probably isn't like being there for a long time--I don't feel so upset by it all. It just seems... well if not natural, then normal. Or if not normal for myself to participate in, then normal for myself to deal with.
--Caitlin
P.S. I LEAVE TOMORROWWWW!!!!
One Month In Tokyo from Eric Bates on Vimeo.
At that time, Japan was kinda how I see China now. Not in culture, but in the foreignness of it all. Filled with people speaking a language I didn't know, that didn't look like me, all with black hair, and different faces than I was used to. It was so different than me in so many ways. Even small things like riding a bike as an actual form of transportation (not just for kids), and the way the streets were laid out... this all made Japan something far away--something fundamentally foreign.
Now, looking at this video (I'll put it at the bottom), I look at it and I don't see something foreign. It doesn't seem so far away from me that it's like a "third world" anymore. It just seems natural and like the place I want to be. When I look at this video, the things there don't seem strange and exciting because they're a different culture; they merely seem exciting because I know it, and finally can be a part of it.
You know, there was a time when I became culture shocked, even all the way out here in the States. I didn't like Japanese culture. I wanted to study the language, but I didn't really want to deal with the "tateme" and "honne" culture, the "way I show people I am" and "the way I really am" culture (as well as several other jarring facets of the culture). But now--and maybe this is born out of naivety, since even though I've only been there for a month, studied about Japanese culture, and had Japanese friends, that probably isn't like being there for a long time--I don't feel so upset by it all. It just seems... well if not natural, then normal. Or if not normal for myself to participate in, then normal for myself to deal with.
--Caitlin
P.S. I LEAVE TOMORROWWWW!!!!
One Month In Tokyo from Eric Bates on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Two Days Left!
Problem:
You are female.
You are moving to a different country.
You have a limited amount of space.
You have a limited amount of weight that can go in that space.
And the airlines are stupid and give you a large amount of weight for a small bag (45lbs), and a slightly bigger amount of weight for your bag that's twice as big (50lbs)...
Guess who's going to have to pay money for going over the 50lb weight limit???
Okay, in all seriousness, though, I THINK I'm going to be able to keep everything below the weight limit. However, yesterday I went shopping for some clothes to look sufficiently Texan, and now I have to stuff more clothes in there. And I'm going to end up wearing my cowboy hat and boots on the plane. And I'm probably going to get funny looks. But such is the price you pay if YOUR BOOTS WEIGH 25 LBS.
Okay, I'm exaggerating. Slightly. But seriously, that's not going into my suitcase. It CAN'T. My suitcases are already packed to the point of no return.
Yakkan shoumei guys. It's like, "Hi, we're Japan, and WE DON'T BELIEVE IN MEDICATION. WE ARE SAMURAI AND WE MUST ENDURE WITHOUT YOUR PETTY MEDICATION. Oh, you're foreign and you need medication? YOU CAN'T GET IT HERE!! HAHAHAHA! Well, I suppose you inferior foreigners might need those kinds of things. We permit you to bring your medication. Just don't feed the children." And then you have to send in a form (the yakkan shoumei) and get it all approved to bring it all at once.
Actually, the Japanese are pretty lax about that. Even medication that they don't permit to be sold in Japan you can bring in, as long as you don't bring in stimulants. You know, like Sudafed (DANGER, DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!). Actually, the process was pretty easy, and even with a minor hangup (I forgot to sign the bottom), everything was in and out in around a week. The biggest problem is *dun dun dun!!* The Insurance Company™.
What? You need medication to go over to a foreign country? We only permit you to bring 6 months at a time!! Oh, but first we'll TELL you that 11 months is all fine and dandy, tell you to call back in a few days, and then switch our story randomly. Now you have to be switched around to different departments 11 million times before they we'll finally be able to help you. Glimmer!
NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE OR ANYTHING.
Okay guys. Two more days.
You are female.
You are moving to a different country.
You have a limited amount of space.
You have a limited amount of weight that can go in that space.
And the airlines are stupid and give you a large amount of weight for a small bag (45lbs), and a slightly bigger amount of weight for your bag that's twice as big (50lbs)...
Guess who's going to have to pay money for going over the 50lb weight limit???
Okay, in all seriousness, though, I THINK I'm going to be able to keep everything below the weight limit. However, yesterday I went shopping for some clothes to look sufficiently Texan, and now I have to stuff more clothes in there. And I'm going to end up wearing my cowboy hat and boots on the plane. And I'm probably going to get funny looks. But such is the price you pay if YOUR BOOTS WEIGH 25 LBS.
Okay, I'm exaggerating. Slightly. But seriously, that's not going into my suitcase. It CAN'T. My suitcases are already packed to the point of no return.
Yakkan shoumei guys. It's like, "Hi, we're Japan, and WE DON'T BELIEVE IN MEDICATION. WE ARE SAMURAI AND WE MUST ENDURE WITHOUT YOUR PETTY MEDICATION. Oh, you're foreign and you need medication? YOU CAN'T GET IT HERE!! HAHAHAHA! Well, I suppose you inferior foreigners might need those kinds of things. We permit you to bring your medication. Just don't feed the children." And then you have to send in a form (the yakkan shoumei) and get it all approved to bring it all at once.
Actually, the Japanese are pretty lax about that. Even medication that they don't permit to be sold in Japan you can bring in, as long as you don't bring in stimulants. You know, like Sudafed (DANGER, DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!). Actually, the process was pretty easy, and even with a minor hangup (I forgot to sign the bottom), everything was in and out in around a week. The biggest problem is *dun dun dun!!* The Insurance Company™.
What? You need medication to go over to a foreign country? We only permit you to bring 6 months at a time!! Oh, but first we'll TELL you that 11 months is all fine and dandy, tell you to call back in a few days, and then switch our story randomly. Now you have to be switched around to different departments 11 million times before they we'll finally be able to help you. Glimmer!
NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE OR ANYTHING.
Okay guys. Two more days.
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