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Published: January 12th 2008
As you can see, this is my first blog. HTML is what I need to familiarize myself with before this page can start looking spiffy. So here we go....
Note: There are many thoughts,observations, and distinct difference that I saw/had throughout the days of which Im explaining, but I'll leave that to another post, so that I may have pictures ready to coincide. Im waiting for my financial aid to come in, so I'll have money to purchase to a new camera.
My arrival in Japan starts out with a bang. My plane is four hours late since this lady decided to get really sick and make the plane pull over in Anchorage, Alaska. Then she's like, " Its ok, I think I feel better now". I thought someone was gonna get up and punch her in the face. Upon arrival, I realize that trains/subways aren't 24-hours here. Lugging my 100lbs of luggage around, I make it to the final train of the day with 2 minutes to spare. I dont think it would be fair to everyone if I left out the part where the handle to my luggage broke as I was climbing the stairs, and then I watch in horror as I see my things crash down the stairs....sigh..... I had to take a bus for an hour, then a taxi, to arrive at GG's place; which cost me a pretty penny. We shared a warm reunion; GG, Jason, and I; and spent the night at GG's place in Ikebukoro. Luckily I've been sleeping terribly at home, so my jet-lag is almost non-existent. I was able to fall asleep pretty quickly.
The following morning, it was our mission to check me in to my room. The Sakura house office is located in shinjuku, about 40 minutes away by train. After locating the building, I go to pull out my passport, and I realize I left it at GG's. With extreme frustration and embarrassment, we head back to her place. It occured to us that we should go ahead and grab 2/3 of my luggages to decrease the work load the following trip. GG waits for me at the station while I get my key at the sakura house office. Then we hop on the train over to Shinkoiwa, which is near Akihabara. When we finally arrive, we head out the wrong exit. But the map given to us is sort of similar to the wrong surroudings we were traversing in, so it was perfect, meaning it took us alot longer to realize we were lost. Not knowing the language was killing us, we couldnt read any signs or the maps. I can read katakana and hiragana, but the japanese like to make life more difficult for us and write everything in Kanji. Luckily, my room wasn't far from the station once we got back to it, and I finally checked myself in. GG and I finish up with dinner and go our seperate ways.
The following day I meet up with GG and go around for a walk near the city. I saw alot of fascinating things, which I'll elaborate on later. We then meet up with Jason as he takes us to Tokyo Tower. Its a beautiful sight to behold. Its akin to the Eiffel tower, but a few meters taller, and its brilliantly illuminated in orange.
We went to the main floor, where they had an amazing duo on the violin and guitar playing a form of Jazz. To me it sounded like music that would appear in an RPG. I didnt know it was possible to shred on Violin, but now I know for sure. We had enjoyed a few snacks and gazed across majestic and lively Tokyo. It was when I realized that I finally did it. I'm living my dream.
As we head back, Jason took us off on a scenic detour. It was like an enclave, surrounded by large skyscrapers, while I was in ancient temple, with moon-lit summits, rocky, mossy walkways, bridges, and ponds. We took in the scenery, and finally headed home.
The following morning I was my first day of school. It was located in shinjuku, I was little nervous maneuvering myself through the train system, but it was'nt too bad. Luckily, the school gave me incorrect directions, so i had a really hard time locating KCP. A lanky fellow with auburn hair caught my eye. I knew he was headed the same way so I followed and finally arrived at my destination. The opening ceremony was a little annoying. Since there were students from all over the world, they had take alot of time translating what was said in each language, which were Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and English. I took the placement test which was quite difficult, but I was placed accordingly in a japanese class with the corresponding difficulty. After all the paperwork was done, I met up with GG again. She said that Jason's host mother was going to hang out with us for the day. A little surprised, we proceeded to Ka-san's (short for mother) part of the town. Apparently, her friends were having a cute little flowering arranging party with some tea and confectioneries. We talked and had a few laughs. There was one lady who was quite lively and animated. She kept saying how cute GG was. When the show came to and end, we and all her friends walked back towards the station, the joyful old lady put her arm around mine, giggled, and made some comment to her friends. I wasn't sure what to do, so I told her that tonight we were going dancing. She seemed to like the idea. Anyway, we parted our ways, while GG and I headed to Ka-san's house for a nice home cooked meal. Needless to say it was delicious. After stuffing my face to my heart's content, I graciously thanked her and headed back home for another night's sleep.
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PJ
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