Into Tokyo

We got into Tokyo yesterday but I didn't have internet access till today, so sorry for the delay.

The flight was really long, so I read a bit from the conversational Japanese book I'd mentioned before and slept a bit. It was interesting how the flight attendants would sometimes speak to you in Japanese, sometimes in English, and sometimes both. I understood enough to understand but had to answer back in English.

The International Office person, Sugiyama-san we'd been communicating with came to pick us up at the airport. We took the train at the bottom of the airport (WOW, WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIS [a constant question in my short experience with Tokyo- we could all learn a little about REAL environmental sustainability from Japan]) through the province beside Tokyo. There were a lot of rural parts- rice paddies and whatnot. Then we switched to the JR (Japanese Railway) to go to Nishi-Kawaguchi, which is the station closest to Warabi House, where we were staying. When we passed Tokyo, Sugiyama-san explained that East Tokyo was the more traditional part with the old houses and the West part is more modern. Maybe I got that switched up...

DK House Warabi had an entranceway to take off our shoes and put them in a shoe cubby. Please remember your inside shoes. You should also bring shower shoes with you.

We got back really late, and we were hungry. We were just going to go to a small restaurant and get something cheap, but Dorota and Kamila, the two Polish exchange students who've been really helpful with navigating Warabi, the trains, and life in general, took us to...Belc (sp?), which is a really cheap supermarket.

They gave us a general tour of the place, which was really informative and they were really funny as they described what kind of food they'd made at the beginning of their stay and the kind of food they'd found at Belc after trial and error. They aslso told me that yakisoba saves lives, a piece of advice I took. So I bought some dumplings, yakisoba, a packet I haven't tried yet that's supposed to have Japanese curry and rice, and a kind of sweet plain yougurt from Megmilk for breakfast the next day. Dorota and Kamila also like different types of onigiri.

I prepared everything in the kitchen (yes, we have to make/buy all of our own food) and ate it while hanging out with the American exchange students that were going to Sophia university. Then I went to sleep at eleven...

And woke up at four o'clock in the morning feeling entirely too awake.

Why, jet-lag...