Sunday, November 23, 2008

Okay, So There Was Stuff To Do

Alright alright so I found some things to do. It turns out that everything was fine; in my room, there were two sweet gay boys of Mexican persuasion (Rrricardo and Gustaaavo) and a nice Australian grad student named Ben who was was studying robotic engineering (what what, dad! we talked for like half an hour about robots and japan and traveling etc etc). He looked like a nerdy Prince William. My friends arrived in the night too, so I wasn´t alone, either. See, Mom, Everything Always Works Out.

So it turns out the Russian boys were...get this...SLOVENIAN. Last night we were all sitting in the lobby, my friends and these boys, and it turns out they are on Slovenia´s National Karate Team. The first thing they asked me was Where is Slovenia and I was like, ¨Eastern Europe?¨ and they were disgusted and said it used to be part of Yugoslavia. Well How Was I Supposed to Know. I think I should get credit for knowing the general area. Then I said , ¨So what brings you to Tokyo?¨ and they said ¨Ã„irplanes.¨ har har.

Then one of them goes, ¨Do you know Ahmed the Dead Terrorist?¨ And Max, I am like oh man this is that Youtube ventriloquist act and sure enough IT IS. So we broke the ice with the Slovenians by watching Achmed the Dead Terrorist on Youtube. It´s amazing how much Youtube can bring people together all over the world...NO JOKE.

So after we had a good laugh, my friends and I were going to go to a jazz club, and we invited them all to come. Well we couldn´t get in because it was so packed so we went to a nice little bar/grille joint and everyone had three beers and i had wine. (Of all the various alcoholic beverages in the world, I find wine the least offensive.) So we ended up making friends with the Slovenians after all. Yay.


Today, I was hungry and wanted an afternoon snack so I stopped by this hopping joint with a horse race on the television. Apparently this was a Horse Race Yakitori Restaurant which basically means everyone eats yakitori ravenously and then waves their little shishkabob sticks angrily at the TV and say things like ¨What the hell number 5! What the hell!¨ I got plopped at a table with a Japanese man who looked to be somewhere around 60. He had the scratchy growl of a man who has ruined his voice half from smoking and the rest from yelling at TVs. He heard me talk to the waitress (¨I don´t need anything else, thanks.¨) and he said ¨Your Japanese is good. What brings you to Tokyo?¨

So I told him that I was touring Asia with other students and studying along the way. He said ¨Where have you been in Japan?¨ and I said ¨Kyoto. I saw lots of temples,¨ and he let out a whistle and said ¨That place has temples coming out the wazoo.¨ (*in the Japanese equivalent.) I said ¨Yep!¨ and we chatted a little more. When my food arrived, he said ¨Don´t you drink sake?¨ and I said ¨Sake? It´s barely four o´clock!¨ and he laughed. While we were speaking he had been pulling at a loose thread on his sweater, and finally the waitress saw him and came over and swatted his hand away (¨Stop pulling at it!¨) and clipped it with some handy scissors. You could tell he was a regular.

Then I told him about how my family was probably moving to Tokyo and he was excited. I said you´d be working on robotics, Dad, and he said ¨Tokyo is the place to be for that.¨ After we chatted a bit more and I ate a bowl of yakisoba, I pulled out money to pay for my meal and he was like ¨No, no, no. Let me.¨ and i said ¨no, no, it´s fine,¨ and was fishing around for a coin in my purse and he said ¨No, no, really!¨ and he yelled out to the waitress, ¨Hey! I´m buying this girl lunch!¨ and the waitress said ¨Really? Sure thing!¨ and he pushed the money back at me. He said, ¨Come back tomorrow and we´ll chat again!¨ And I said sure and thanked him. I won´t be there tomorrow, but it seemed better to just say yes.

(So the thread story reminded me of a night at my host family´s house in Toyama. My room was next to the living room, so one night after I went to bed I heard the mom and dad bickering about who got to take a shower first. They couldn´t decide so they played rock paper scissors and the mom won, and so after 20 minutes or so I could hear the dad snoring really loudly on the couch and I wondered, aww I wonder if she will let him sleep because he had such a long, hard day. So when the water turns off, I hear the pit-pat of the mom´s feet padding softly towards the dad and this is what happens:

Pit, pat, pit, pat. pause.
SLAP.
¨BATH TIME, DADDY

I laughed so hard I had to stick my face in the pillow. It was great. The End.)

Friday, November 21, 2008

In Tokyo and Nothing To Do

So I am sitting at the hostel in the lounge with nothing to do on a Friday night in Tokyo. None of my friends are here yet...plus it is cold outside and I don´t feel like wandering around. There is a table full of drunk Russians on my left and across from me there is a very cute blond Russian boy who looks like a soccer/lacrosse/rugby type. When we made eye contact he smiled a very wolfish smile. Did I mention that I am in a bunk dormitory in this hostel so there are BOYS in my room? How awkward. Well there must not be any issues with this because this is one of the best rated hostels in Tokyo, according to Lonely Planet. Don´t worry, I know self defense. I hope I didn´t just give you a heart attack, mom.

What can I say in Russian? ¨I speak a little Russian?¨ Then he´ll TALK to me in Russian and I won´t understand. The Russian on my right keeps laughing at my pink computer and asking me questions like how many words per minute can I type and why is it pink and other things. He has his hair in a ponytail and, in a black turtleneck sweater, looks like the poet-type who takes his work too seriously and spends half an hour trimming his facial hair around his chin in the morning so it looks Just Right. No Thank You.

Man I am so bored!! What the heck is there to do!!!!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Planes, Trains, and Little Kid Roller Coasters






Okay, so no planes today. But there were definitely trains and little kid roller coasters. Today I left the house of my homestay family from four years ago, the last time I was an exchange student. It was very chill. I mean that in the relaxed sense, and also in the temperature sense because it was snowing. SNOW! We saw a temple in the morning and then watched three hours of CSI. Ah, Japan! A fusion of the old and new.

The next day was much the same, except we watched a 2 hour movie of the host daughter´s school´s sports day, filmed with a handheld camera. TWO HOURS. But I was hanging out with my host mom so I didn´t mind. :)

So today I hopped on two bullet trains. It was crazy, we started out in snow (yes, it was snowing!!) and then we literally sped into a new climate. I am in Tokyo now and it is pretty mild. Crazy! I sat next to a very nice boy on the train to Tokyo...he saw that I had my massively obese backpack and moved his seat upright so I could fit it behind us, and I was like ¨It´s fine¨ in Japanese and then we apologized about it for ten minutes. We both sat down to read but neither of us really wanted to, it seemed like, and I couldn´t think of a way to start a conversation. Then he asked to pull down the shade and I said ¨it´s fine,¨ and then he had to get up for a second and I was like ¨it´s fine,¨ and then I was thinking gosh he is going to think all I know how to say is It´s Fine.

Finally we were arriving in Tokyo, and I offered him some gum, and then he asked me where I came from, and I told him the whole story and he said he was a first year college student studying medicine. He said my Japanese was really good, but when people talk this is what I hear:

¨I am....student....medicine studying.....this weekend....isn´t it?¨ and i say yes, how interesting. Studying medicine is hard. and he says ¨Yes, but...and so...in high school....not too hard.¨ and i say oh that´s good. so it sounds like i am paying attention but really i´m just barely.

I do seem to be making lots of friends on trains...people must see this poor ragged looking foreigner hoisting 50 kilos of crap on her back and think ¨aw.¨ two days ago i was about to miss my connection because I didn´t know to get off the train, and this old lady was like ¨Hurry! You´ll be late! Conductor, wait!¨ and then, I am not kidding, FIFTEEN other grandmas sitting nearby all started making clucking noises and saying things like ¨Don´t forget your purse! Did you get everything? Move out of the way for the girl! Here she comes! Be careful, now!¨ It was like in the span of that 20 minute train ride everyone sitting near me decided to be my host grandma without me knowing. Thanks to them I got out in time, so hey!

On the train before the Tokyo train, there was a lot of snow outside so it was easy to strike up a convo with the lady next to me. (aka, ¨Some snow, huh!¨) At the end of the trip,, she gave me an extra coffee she had lying around in purse and helped me get to my platform. SO FRIENDLY!


I know, i know, you´re all wondering, ¨So what happened with the boy on the train to Tokyo??¨ I wish I could tell you it was something schmaltzy, like we looked into each other´s eyes and kissed and parted in tears, but we sort of just looked at each other and looked away and laughed awkwardly and then ran in opposite directions. I DID say ¨bye¨... yeah he was cute but who´s got time for romance on a trip like this?

Anyway, so the kiddie roller coaster. On the website of this hostel I am staying at in Tokyo, it says ¨Kiddie Theme Park nearby!¨ And I thought oh, how quaint. Little did I know they meant ¨Kiddie Theme Park RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!¨ I tried to take a nap this afternoon but it was hard to sleep, what with screams every 30 seconds. Poor weary travelers, who come so far only to have their afternoon siestas interrupted by the intermittent shrieks of children...

Monday, November 17, 2008

Who cares about formatting!

sorry the formatting is weird and the captions dont line up with pictures. Use your imagination :D

SUPERMATURAL RUB FEET ROCK

On a handout for a foot pressure point mat:

¨SUPERMATURAL RUB FEET ROCK.
Function go feet mat do feet crack feet helosis bermatophytosis a thletss foot sole coarseness callus scurf againpuregold point a good many evermore knea d be tet upto dispel illness repel wane lose eye forgettery hae mark edness curative effect.
Csage feet and root classs at one fime dip in re view water five minvee genely rub sole this or that b ut ue after ehenar velvet pliability especiany be well.¨

Excuse me while I go scurf my againpuregold. ahahah






So the picture above has a sign in the bus window that says ¨Welcome, Atkinson Norah Group of USA!¨ <- This is what our tour guide was holding when we arrived in Datong, China. I am pleased that the Chinese Communist Party saw to it that I was welcomed properly to their glorious country...otherwise I might have had to resign from my ambassadorial position.






So this is Asuka at night, after a long bike trip. I wonder who lives here. Sugoi!















I took this picture from the top of our college in Kyoto. It is literally built into a hill.








A massive Japanese graveyard in the hills of Kyoto. There are lots of restrictions on building here, so none of the mountains are developed. It´s like as if no one were allowed to build anything in the Hollywood Hills. Except these hills are green and luscious and not on fire! I just saw on the news that California is burning down. Oyoyoy,
I will pray to the mountain kami for California rain.

Tomorrow I go to see my old host family! Bullet train time. WOOOO! Don´t look out the window, bleaaugh :P And then, ON TO TOKYOOOOO.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Oh, yeah

¨Grundge Mat¨ is the name of a hair product that I simply had to buy...because it is called Grundge Mat.

I am curious to see the effects of said Grundge Mat. More updates will follow.

Grundge Mat


Okay, okay, i know. This picture is really cheesy. This is the picture in the backflap of your spiritual self-help book that says something like:

¨RIVERDREAM ATKINSON lives in Papua New Guinea with her three dogs and seven parakeets. When she´s not writing, she spends her time loving life and basking in the glorious warmth of the dharma.¨

hahar. But really, this is actually a very peaceful spot. It´s at the Yungang Grottoes near Datong in China, a huge industrial city that pumps black smog at the Buddhist sculptures and deteriorate them. The World Heritage UNESCO people declared it a world heritage site, so the government redirected traffic nearby to help with pollution. That´s great, what about the FREAKING COAL MINES NEXT DOOR? duhr!

¨But Norah, aren´t you in Japan?¨

So I´m a little behind. I was writing a paper last night about imperial patronage and the influence of Buddhism in state policy. I slept at 6am. Except I had drunk 3.5 cups of coffee and 5 cups of black tea, so every three minutes my leg would twitch and wake me up. So I basically pulled an all nighter. Ew, the toy poodle of my host family just farted in my lap and it smells like the worst thing ever. They don´t feed him much, so I wouldn´t be surprised if he munches on something inedible and smelly when no one´s around.

Anyway, Japan! I´ve been going to aerobics classes with my host mom. That´s funny because I just made a typo and wrote ¨hot mom¨ which is actually accurate, because she is probably pushing 50 but looks 35. No wrinkles! Yesterday when I was looking for dog food (trying to feed poor Guffy who probably ate a shoe out of desperation) I opened a cupboard FULL OF TINY PINK BOTTLES of collagen! I mean, Full. Like in the cartoons when you open the closet and the kitchen sink falls out. I think there were easily 100 bottles in this cupboard. So I came to the obvious conclusion which is that she must be a witch. A Collagen Witch.

She´s actually really great. She´s been taking me to this aerobics class and every time I mess up (as in, the instructor raises her hands and says ¨Skip to the front
!¨ and everyone skips to the front and I raise my hands instead. Who the heck knows the word for skip? I was just doing what the instructor was doing...some wavy arm thing...anyway) the mom CRACKS up and man she has a big mouth. She really likes me because I do the laundry and walk the dog (and feed him, sssh!) and speak to her in Japanese. I am still slightly terrified of her. If I didn´t know that she was a nice person, I would think she would make an really good Evil Stepmother for some modern day fairy tale movie. You know, really put together and what not. But still kind of scary. Gosh, I don´t know why this is coming out like she´s evil. She´s nice...I promise..!!

A few days ago I walked the dog and i missed a little turd when I was picking up his poop (i honestly didn´t see it, it was NIGHT TIME) and the owner of the street (? i mean really, this was like in the street) was nearby and ran over and said (in Japanese): ¨HEY! HEY! WHAT´S THAT? Don´t you pick up after your dog in your own country? What country are you from!¨ and I said ¨Canada.¨

(I also apologized a billion times for not seeing it, but finally I just walked away because it looked like he was going to poop a small Guffy). I don´t feel bad for not saying the U.S., because this guy is going to think that no one in the U.S. picks up dog poop For The Rest of His Life and I just couldn´t have him think that.

That being said, I plan on leaving him a flaming bag of Guffy poo on his doorstep tomorrow.

(Not.)

Last week I was on the train and a sad looking, tiny little boy (almost 2 yrs old) was sitting with his mom facing me, and I started playing peek-a-boo with him using my scarf. He sort of looked curious, but his eyebrows were still all furrowed and so i put the scarf on my head and wiggled the ends like big floppy ears and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. It sort of looked like he was smiling! I mean, this kid was a TOUGH AUDIENCE. The mom was very happy that I made him smile, and when the man next to her got up she gestured for me to come and sit with her. So I did!

She was really sweet...apologized for her little kid because he had a cold and she had to drop him off at his grandma´s before she went to work. I mean, I´ve seen little kids with colds before, but this kid looked SAD. In a sort of detached, jaded, adult-on-a-long-commute kind of way. I think he may have had mild autism...just from what you´ve told me, mom, and you know. He just wasn´t acting like a normal kid does...wasn´t acknowledging any stimulus. When I saw him sitting there, I decided I had to make him smile. It literally took me 15 minutes. His mom seemed so sweet....I hope he turns out okay..

Gosh what a downer of an entry! Japan really is a lot of fun and goofiness..but some entries will be more somber than others, I suppose.

Allison and I are making tortilla soup for the fam tonight (Allison is the other exchange student). I hope they like itttt! She found an avocado! Yay.

To be continued!