The Long Walk Home

So many things have happened since last time I wrote that I'm not sure what to say. Wow. Ok here are some highlights:

WE MOVED IN! Our apartment is great, and the three of us get along so well. Endo-san (who refers to herself as Endo-san, strangely) is very nice but tends to overstay her welcome. If she comes into our apartment she stays for an hour, and she ends up telling us all kinds of things as far as how to clean the apartment and such, even though it's clear that SHE hasn't done any cleaning in years. Though the sheet said she'd clean our living area and take out the trash and such, our apartment is kind of grimy and the kids who lived here last semester told us she never did any of that, but told them to instead. Which doesn't bother me tremendously.. we'll just have a big cleaning day and fix things up a little.

Yesterday we had to train to Kaihin Makahari again for our last day of orientation.. while we left our apartment at 8 and intended to be there at 9, the train we were on decided that it was going to terminate one station too soon, so we were late. We went to a "cultural session" which turned out to be an overly-sugary white lady who's lived in Japan for a while talking about stereotypes. We had an extravagant party to end orientation, with all kinds of delicious Japanese foods and beverages. Then everyone got their new phones and we all exchanged numbers and they all said they wouldn't call me ever because it would be expensive. So that was nice.

I ended up walking around the park again with some others, and we found a pond with Koi, a bamboo secition, and some other really nice areas. Then I had to turn back to go to my meeting and the sky, sensing that I had to walk a long way outdoors, began to pummel me with haily rain. I had an umbrella but the hail was actually quite fun so I ran most of the way in that. At my meeting, they told me about my field placement, which will be in a nearby elementary school! Should be pretty crazy.

Everyone went home to relax for a little, but then some of us met in Nishi Funabashi for some Karaoke! It was a very enjoyable experience culminating in a terrible version of My Sharona, but Lindsay and I missed our train back so we found our way home walking and with the help of several kind civilians that took pity on the lost gaikokujin.

Today I walked around Ginza with Yumi and Rosa, and we did some karaoke again at night. We had traditional Ramen bowls and red bean ice cream for dinner. Ginza is not terribly exciting, but it's kind of like New York City.. lots of expensive stores and tall buildings and glowing signs.

Funny things I've seen:
-On a bag of donuts we had just bought: "THANK YOU, you beautiful people."
-A coffee shop called Badass Coffee
-Instead of "Let's Go Outback tonight" like in America, the banners say, "Let go. GO! Outback"
-A schoolgirl step on a firecracker that made a noise like a gunshot as we were passing by (probably a prank)
-On the karaoke screen: "I am the walrus, goo goo goo joob!"
-Political campaign vans: brightly coloured, filled with waving costumed Japanese people, and bedecked with a loudspeaker.

I guess that's all for now. Cheers!