Train adventures

After spending most of the night trying to get in touch with everyone about the camera who needed to know in order to get the claims started, I got to bed at a reasonable time (midnight) compared to the last few nights. My uncle is helping me to get a claim started with the airline, and it may be that they will cover the losses, and at the very least my own insurance should cover it. Let's just hope that this isn't a total loss.

First of all, I was too bummed out to mention that of all the students in the program, only three of us ended up in this particular dorm. Elisabeth, Liz, and me. I am just glad I am not the only one. We all chose the dorm for pretty much the same reason. We didn't want to have to worry about unintentionally offending our host families. We agreed that it would detract from the experience if we felt like we had to walk on egg shells the whole time.

So, our first dinner at the dorm consisted of this salty, caramelized pork with onions that reminded me a lot of something similar that my mom makes. While eating, we noticed another American coming in to have dinner. We invited her to join us (her name is Lauren by the way) and it turns out that not only is she on the same floor as the rest of us, she is a full student of Kanda University. The program we're in teaches classes at both Kanda and Meikai University. So at the very least there's four of us Americans putzing around making silly mistakes.

On a side note, I learned that dorms are not commonly used in Japan. Students either stay at home or they live on their own. I guess it doesn't help that the dorms aren't located anywhere near the campuses. They are also used by students from many different schools. It makes sense since they kinda have limited space. Also, there are very strict rules you have to follow living here, including a midnight curfew, no guests of the opposite gender, and check in/check out magnets. (Magnets with your name that you flip to white when you are in the building, and red when you leave so the manager knows at a glance whether you are there or not.)

So, this first weekend is sort of a free weekend for us to get settled into our new dorms/homestays and we decided to brave the train on our own today. Practice for when we have to meet up with the staff on Monday. The beauty of the system, which isn't noticeable right away, is that even though you get on the wrong train, you can get off at the next stop and backtrack on the next train. You don't pay until you actually leave the station. So if one were so inclined, they could ride the train from one end to the other and back and not pay anything, but it'd be a waste of time. Though, I hear that trying to exit the same station you enter will freak out the machine. Anyway, that is what I have gathered from my experience so far, so it is possible I am wrong. >_>

A prepaid card that you can use at the train station, most convenience stores, and vending machines. You can also turn it into a commuting pass that allows you to travel unlimited rides between any two stations within a certain time period for a one-time prepaid fee.

But before I get into that, our first breakfast experience was a bit strange. The four of us met together at 8:30 in the cafeteria. There is a choice between washoku (Japanese-style meal) and youshoku (Western-style meal), but if you get there late, they may run out of one or the other. Today, they were out of the Japanese-style meal so we were stuck with the Western-style. When we were told that there would be an option between the two, I was assuming we would get eggs, sausage, and bacon, or something similar. I didn't even realize that what I grabbed was the Western-style meal until one of the other girls commented on it. When Japanese say Western-style, what we may think as mostly "American," they usually think as pretty much anything west of Asia. So perhaps this is European? I don't know what to think of it really. It consisted of a hot dog bun stuffed with some kind of noodles with slices of ham, mustard, and cooked cabbage, topped with strips of salty pickled ginger. The side was a butter roll stuffed with potato salad and lettuce. o_O It tasted...strange, to say the least. I am so confused as to how this constitutes a Western-style breakfast. I didn't take a picture because I was unsure how it would be received by my dorm mother.

But ok, back to the train. We managed to follow the signs closely enough until we got to our second stop and got on the correct line, but in the opposite direction. We noticed before the next stop and managed to get off and go the right way. I feel slightly better about it, but we will see how that goes when I have to ride by myself on Monday to Meikai (the other girls have to go to Kanda). You know, it felt like an adventure, but now that it's written, not so much. Maybe I just suck at telling stories. -_-

We went into the mall near the train station to have lunch (some kind of soba that had a naruto in it...no, that is not why I got it, but that's the distinctive thing I remember about it) and then dessert, which we only got because it was some kind of waffle-like pastry in the shape of a fish and it was pretty damn adorable. The most pleasant surprise was learning that the waffle part of it was stuffed with that sweet bean paste that I could eat all day. I don't remember what it is called even if I have heard it like 10 times today. It looked like chocolate in the picture, and but this is likely the only time I wasn't totally disappointed with being wrong about chocolate.

A fish-shaped pastry? Don't know why it's cute, but it is. And delicious.

Because we weren't totally prepared for what we needed at the dorm (which included a pair of slippers to be worn inside the dorm and nowhere else (cleanliness is a huge thing for Japanese people and it is not uncommon for them to use a pair of slippers for just the house, and a separate pair for just the bathroom), we stopped by the hyaku-en-ya (100 yen store) for some supplies. And Ashley was not kidding when she told me how awesome they were. Soooo much better than the dollar stores in America. I got myself a cute pair of slippers, an umbrella, a tea towel (Japanese commonly keep tea towels in their bags to use as napkins--yeah, they rarely have napkins at restaurants o_O), a foldable fan, and a couple other things. I spent less than 7 US dollars on items that would normally cost me twice that much at a regular store like Walmart. Whether the dollar stores would have these items at the same quality, I am not sure, but I doubt it.

I wanted to stop by the IES Center to print out some forms I needed for all this claim stuff, but we learned they weren't open on Saturdays. And some really heavy rain started pounding down on us quite suddenly when we arrived at the building. Good thing I bought that umbrella!

The rain stopped after only about 10 minutes and we headed back to the train station. The train ride back was less eventful, though we did run into a fellow study abroad student who told us that she may have regretted choosing a homestay over a dorm because her host family does not have internet or air conditioning. While it may not be a big deal later, the heat and humidity right now makes you feel like you are swimming through boiling water when you walk outside so I couldn't imagine trying to sleep in that. It made me feel a bit better about my choice to stay in the dorm. I have my own AC unit that I can control with a remote thermostat.

We all retired to our dorm rooms until dinner time (Grilled fish! Yummy! Totally made up for the weird breakfast.) and Lauren freaked out when I started sprinkling salt on my watermelon. She thought she was the only one who did that. I was rather surprised myself that someone who wasn't Asian did this. If you have never tried salt on your watermelon, I urge you to give it a shot. It may sound weird, but a little salt sprinkled on watermelon is amazingly delicious.

I also took my first shower here, discovering that I can't seem to get the hot water to work. :/ Also, that turning the dial all the way to the right (not the temperature dial) will switch the shower to these wall sprays. I don't think you can ever be ready for something like that.

Lastly, here is my sparsely decorated room (I didn't want to waste suitcase space with trinkets or figurines so only brought the picture of Skylar and me at the Blizzard Christmas party) for any who are curious.

My bed, which took me forever to figure out how to put together. My comforter has its own sleeve...or cover...or case...not really sure there's a proper name for it in English. When Ashley told me, "Put the comforter in the sheet with the hole," I got so confused.

Every room comes with this sink/vanity. I haven't seen many dorms, but it is the first time I have seen something like this. I like it. You don't have to walk to the public bathroom just to brush your teeth and such.

My shelf/closet. After getting everything in there, it looks like I underpacked...or I just don't have that many clothes. >_>

A shared balcony. I don't mind. Most dorms don't even have a window that can open without a screen. I guess jumping out of buildings isn't a common suicide strategy in Japan?