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Published: October 16th 2009
Days 21-30: October 7-16, 2009
On the 7th, it was still raining… We had to go watch a film --The Funeral-- for a while, and then we went to Akihabara. A word of advise for anyone going to Japan, Akihabara at night in the rain is miserable on a Wednesday night… I imagine I’ll go back one day though; it seemed like a good place to get a lot of souvenirs for people back home. By far, it’s the most touristy place I’ve seen since I’ve been here.
On the 8th, the worst typhoon to hit Japan in 10 years (according to an article I read while trying to find out if the train lines had been canceled) hit us; well, it hit the other side of the island more than it hit us… But we still got a lot of wind and rain. My first response was “eff that noise. I’ve been walking to school in the rain for the past week. School means a lot to me, but not nearly enough to go out in THAT!” But everyone seemed bound and determined to figure out a way to get there… Don’t ask me why… Until about 10,
and I have a class at 9:15 mind you, the only information Sophia gave us was if the Chuo line was canceled, then they would cancel class; if it was running, then there was a way for you to make it somehow. So everyone’s trying to figure out what the trains are doing, and I gave up eventually (there was still no way I was going out in that…). Mike and some other people went to the train station during a break in the rain, and I told him to message me when he got there to tell me how it was. Apparently, the lines to get on the train in our fairly small, never quite packed train station were filling up the station, running out of the station, and backed into the little driving/taxi area. They eventually just stopped people from lining up and turned them away. About the time Mike made it to the train station, we found out that the Chuo lines were canceled, and thus, classes were canceled. Poor silly British guy 😊 I enjoyed a long nap, and sluggishly finished my homework that I intended to do when I woke up early that morning, but
Pool Table in kitchen area
They tell us not to party here, and then they give us a pool table...?I didn’t do because I was looking up train information that I never found. All in all, I good (and dry indoors!) day I think.
On the 9th, I went to school, came back to the House, did laundry, took care of trash, did my homework for the weekend, and went to bed early. I needed to save my energy for the long day we had planned for the 10th 😊
On the 10th, I woke up around 12, relaxed, read, attempted a nap, and ate around 5. Then I started to get ready to go out. For those of you who don’t know the train system in Tokyo: The latest train that runs is around 12:30, so either you’re done partying by 11:45ish so you can make the last train, or you stay out until at least 6 (at least in Shinjuku) until the Yamanote line runs. This is why I took such great measures to stay lazy and rested the day before and the day of “party day.”
A bunch of us go up to John’s room to meet up, and then we go down to the kitchen area to say bye to everyone else (they
were going to a huge Paul Van Dyke --sorry if I spelled his name wrong!-- concert, so they were raving all night too). I didn’t bring my camera btw, so there are not “party night” pictures from me, sorry.
Chanae’s friend Akiyoshi knew a cheap izakaya to eat and drink at, so we went there first. I might also mention that the group we were with had about 16 people in it, so we sat at several tables… But we spent so much time eating, that we missed the last subway to Ropongi, the place the club we wanted to go to was at.
So we took 4 taxis to Ropongi, met up with even more people, and went to this club called Lexington Queens. Apparently it’s really famous. Everyone from Paris Hilton to the Foo Fighters and Aerosmith have been there (they take pictures and frame them on the walls to let you know just how famous the club is). It’s only 2,000 yen to get in (a little more than 20 bucks) and you get three free drinks with that, so it’s really not bad at all. But I must say that because I didn’t drink, I lasted
about 7 hours until I had to pee again, and I think that’s worth mentioning ;p The club was hella-fun, and all of the music was American. They followed Nirvana with Avril Lavine, and they played the Macarena, and they also played Eye of the Tiger; some say that they played horrible music, I say it’s the best club EVER!
I’m also really glad I didn’t drink because at 6 in the morning after dancing all night long, I was miserably exhausted, and I bet being drunk would have only made it worse… I got a good look at my feet on the train (I was wearing jelly-shoe-type shoes) and they were SO dirty and bloody from people stepping on them and stuff. I’m wearing better shoes next time, for sure.
Once again, Staci went home with us, and she was drunk again. I really don’t mind though, she’s the cutest thing ever whether she’s drunk or sober 😊 She did lean on this one guy on the train because she thought he was me… But no dreams about cats this time! We ended up getting a taxi from the train station; none of us wanted to walk anymore by
Park in Nishi-Kawaguchi
Seriously, there are parks everywhere here. Usually there are moms playing with their kids too :) then. Then we just slept all day long and tried to feel better.
On the rest of the 11th (or what was left of it...), I woke up around 4, trudged down to the kitchen to make dinner around 6. We all shared stories of our battle wounds (I had a bruise under my armpit btw, I have no clue how it got there…) as well as various other amusing stories. Tried to go to bed early, because I was still unbelievably exhausted, but I don’t think I got to sleep until midnight.
On the 12th, it was a national holiday, but we still had to go to school, because Sophia is a private university and likes to torture its students by making them watch everyone else enjoy themselves, while we, still feeling the effects of our weekend, fall asleep in class. Not cool Sophia, not cool at all… To be fair, we did miss Thursday, so missing 2 of the same class in a row would have been kind of bad, too. I failed my first Japanese test because I didn’t have the energy to study for it (and by fail, I mean I passed by like,
Jumanji
This is the coolest house ever! Its on my way to the train station. 2 points, but that’s still really bad; the teachers asked if the class was too hard for me. I’ve sworn off parties for a while now). I went to bed early that night because I kept getting headaches.
On the 13th, I really did fall asleep in Japanese 😞 It’s hard to stay engaged in a class that has so many people in it. I kept myself awake in Japanese Civilization by studying for Japanese… I started to feel a cold coming on too… Whoopie….
Wednesday, October the 14th, 2009: It’s official --I have a cold >😞 But I keep on truckin’ to school, we watch the silent films (Btw, Japanese silent films with Benshi are freaking awesome! I hate black and while films, so silent films are out of the question for me, but the films with the Benshi are just so much better!), then we have to run back to the train station because it’s the last day to get our Gaijin cards… It costs 150 yen (around $1.50) to go from Nishi-Kawaguchi (my usual station) to the next station. That’s ridamndiculous. Anyways, we get our alien registration cards, figure out how to get home, eat
Jumanji
This is the coolest house ever! Its on my way to the train station. at an Italian restaurant (which means I finally got pizza :D) go to the biggest supermarket I’ve seen so far, and then go home. I didn’t know Warabi was so awesome, though. I took some pictures of it, and I’m gonna have to go back for shopping. I saw some cute purses, and more importantly, Hello Kitty phone charms :p
On the 15th, I start the day off beautifully. I wake up early to finish my homework, get ready, and leave a little bit early to get on the train. My first train is fine (it’s kind of hard to mess up in a station with one platform…), and then I get to Akabane; a station that, next to my station, is the easiest one to remember where to go. What do I do in my DayQuil induced stupor? I take the wrong effing train, and to make matters worse, it’s a rapid line, so it doesn’t stop for like, 10 min. So I get off the train, and get on the one to go back to Akabane. No big deal, right? I left early, so I should be fine. The problem with being on a train for another
10 min. or so is that you have way too much time to think about stuff you shouldn’t think about too much. In my DayQuil and panic induced stupor, I decide that maybe I took the right train after all, just went the wrong way. So instead of getting off the train at Akabane, which I would have done in the right frame of mind, I keep riding the rapid train that doesn’t stop for 10 min. to the next platform! So I get off, ride back to Akabane, get on the right train, and start to head for Shinjuku. I think, maybe I didn’t waste too much time; sure I’ll be late, but I’ll still make it to class at least. Well, that’s when my luck gets really bad. The Chuo line --which is the last train I take to get to my school-- is delayed. FML. So I wait for the train for a while, rocking back and forth because my class has already started by this point, and finally get on the train when it arrives. Well, the train is unusually slow (and it’s not just my DayQuil and panic induced stupor, it really is going entirely
Mazda in Japan
We thought it was a pontiac at first :( too slow) and then we STOP BEFORE THE PLATFORM and wait for a while. I’ve given up on life at this point; there’s no way I’m making the class at a decent, late time, so I’m just not going. We finally get there, and there’s a guy handing out those passes for people who need to explain that they were late because of the train system, but I knew that a pass wouldn’t excuse me for being nearly 45 min late for class. On the good side, I got to study for Japanese longer, and I aced my kanji test :D I just went home after that and didn’t do anything else for the rest of the day. Colds suck.
On the 16th, I get on the right trains to go to school, and make all my classes on time. I don’t think I did too well on my Japanese quiz today… I’m gonna have to step up my game a little bit ;p We --Ashley, Lita and I-- had intentions to go the freaking awesome supermarket today to do grocery shopping, but I need cash, so I go to Seven Eleven to use the ATM. Any guesses at
what my luck continues to be at this point? If you guessed bad, you guessed right. My card gets denied; says it’s invalid. I feel like crap, and I could walk to the other side of the next town, but I’m too tired. I go to the House, Lita comes with me and poor Ashley has to go shopping by herself. The worst part is that I was supposed to go to Kamakura with Hideo-san tomorrow, but I don’t even have enough money to make it to Kamakura. I messaged him and asked if we could do it next weekend, and he was extremely nice about it. (Sorry again Hideo-san, but I’m still really excited about going to Kamakura!) It’s later that I find out that I probably just put my card in the machine wrong… I’ll try again tomorrow. Resting tomorrow might be better for my anyways; I don’t want to get Hideo-san sick ;p
And as a disclaimer to this blog: I’m writing drugged up and sick, so even though I don’t go through and check my blogs for grammatical errors anyways, so they might be bad, this one might be especially bad. Don’t judge me. (I
laughed while I wrote that, btw…)
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