In a Sea of People

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  Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Konnichi wa minnasan! Due to very poor internet connection at my homestay in Kawaguchi the past few days, I have had no time to do a blog- until now! School started two days ago, but we haven't learned anything academic yet. The first two days  we (English-speaking students) have been lectured at for 6 hours each day about how to be successful, and how to survive in Tokyo. I almost fell asleep today it was so boring, and I was in the first row! Those of you who have had class with me know that I never sleep through lectures, so you can imagine how valuable the information could have been. It was useful for someone in the room, so I can't say it wasn't  at all useful. Monday, my first day of school I met a few people, but was pretty distracted by taking the placement test and interviewing (in Japanese) with teachers; all to help decide upon which level I would be placed. It was a long day and i was tired and hungry.. this is a great story... I walked around the busy streets of Shinjuku for a good 10 minutes and finally just walked into a ramen shop for lunch. [this is the good part...] It turns out that the tiny little shop I stopped at was where three students from my school had just decided to eat at just a few minutes before! Unlike, the semi-annoying and loud students i met earlier that added to my agitated state these few were mellow and we ate together and then spent the next two hours exploring. nice, huh? Kim is living with a family that is in the same city (Kawaguchi) as me and the other two are living at the dorms. *Note: I'm very glad to have opted out of the dorms because some don't have ovens, kitchen ware, or really anything of survival need. One guy I talked to is staying at a place with metal doors and a little window near the bottom where food used to be passed through: a former prison!? My homestay is just lovely.
Today, the school had a little luncheon arranged for us to meet more people and get to know eachother. I met a girl who goes to WWU and commutes from Oak Harbor every day! That is 2.5 hours round trip. It makes me really miss the red peugot (thanks Liz!). (I've been doing so much walking here, that my bike is the one thing that would complete me.) Other students are from London, Jamaica, Bulgaria, New York, New Jersey, among other U.S. states. Many people have never studied Japanese before, which I found very interesting; i figured i'd be at the bottom looking up at near-masters. I was wrong. However, there are about 10 out of 30 who plan to stay for 9 months~ 3 quarters. Can't imagine staying for that long...there are no russian dumplings here, honestly- what would I do??
Tomorrow, we don't have to be at school until 1 o'clock, which will be nice because I have a list of places I want to go in Shinjuku (the area around my school), including the 8-floor 100 yen store and a huge store that sells paper; well mostly stationary. After lecture and lucn today we took a tour led by one of our teachers and saw a bunch of landmarks around shinjuku 'hood. It's exciting to think I'll be spending 2 months getting accustomed to the narrow alleyways lined with shops and the busy main streets with huge crosswalks for hundreds of peds. I'd like to try to go to a new place every day. So, this weekend I hope to take advantage of the holiday next monday- making it three days off- and see and do some new things around the Tokyo area. I have some more research to do about interesting places and fall festivals going on. My friend, Mako, whom I worked with at Bumbershoot will be coming home to Tokyo from Seattle on Thursday so perhaps I'll end up in Yokohama visiting with her... what ever I do, i''ll make sure to take many pictures to include in a future blog!

Love you all,
Meaghan

p.s. I know my route [via train] to school after just 2 days!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

sea of people	food shops at yoyogi	grilled meat shack	J-rock
harajuku drum circle	family bikes are VERY common	Koichi-san's carpet collection	group dance class in the park?!
watch out, electricity will do this to you	a typical dinner at Kano household	1st lunch in shinjuku; Ramen	flashing lights
woah. the buildings are very tall	side streets are very busy too	i was here too.	underground shopping malls

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