So I'm sitting in my apartment, on my only piece of furniture (a futon), looking out my curtainless window that looks out into someone's bathroom and someone else's front door, stealing internet, and eating top ramen out of the pot (the only dish I own) wondering...what the hell did I get myself into?
Yesterday, was my first day of school. Arriving at the station promptly at 7:38, I headed over to get my newly purchased bike. The bike was relatively cheap and seeing as I don't have a car to transport a bike, I had to find one that was portable. And oh boy is it portable. The bike folds up to be about 2 feet x 2' x 1'. Seriously, I look like a circus act riding it. The bike looks like it was made for a 6 year old. The seat raises up high enough for me, but the handbars are below my knees. This oddly is convenient, because 1/2 way to school I have to take the bike down two flights of stairs, under an overpass, and up two flights of stairs. So yeaaah for tiny bikes.
Once I'm at school, no one knows who is in charge of me. I have to give a short introduction speech (which was pointless, because everyone keeps asking me the same questions). Then I sit for about 30 minutes before someone tries to figure out what to do with me. I rummaged through my desk, found bunches of useless junk and started trying to translate the English textbooks (which are mostly in Japanese). A teacher finally came up to tell me to follow another teacher into the auditorium where opening ceremonies were about to commence. The purpose being to welcome all the incoming 1st years (7th graders). It was like attending a Catholic mass (stand - sit - stand - sit - bow - sit - stand - bow - bow - sit oh wait stand). We must have done this a good twenty times. A lady would literally say, "Stand - bow - Sit." Then the first years entered and their homeroom teachers proceeded to call "attendance" and each student stood and bowed to the principal. All 100 of them. Two hours later we were done and then it was clean up time. Japanese people are really weak. We were stacking chairs (small chairs, not even American size chairs) and the women were struggling to pick up two. The men did at least four, but I was carrying six. It felt like I was superman for the day. There were 3 of them trying to get this 15 foot chair cart under the stage and couldn't move it, and I come over and just give a shove and it moves too far over.
I'm not sure if it was my showing of superhuman strength or the fact that I spent most of my free time translating the textbook, but at 12:20 both the principal and vp came to my desk and in broken English go, "Crysti, go home." "Um, now?" "Hai. Go come back." "Come back today?" "Ashita. See you ashita" "Ah, okay."
This gave me lots of time to check out the mall near the station. Boy did I hit the jack pot. The mall had a DAISO (100 yen store, which used to be like a 99 cent store). The odd thing is, not everything is 100. Which is deceiving, because they have some really cool things in there and you're like, " SERIOUSLY! Only 100 yen! I have to get me one of those...maybe two or three!" And the next thing you know your basket is full of crap, like towel racks and scrapbooking stamps and you go to the counter and the lady starts counting your items and then goes, "happyaku yen." "WHAT? $8, but..." So then you end up with a ridiculous amount of crap worth more than 100 yen. But I now have a pot, some stuff to stick to my bathroom mirror, and a roll of material to make curtains from so I don't have to leave the room to change. But no matter what, I'm enjoying life here, even if I do find myself dragging an 80 pound suitcase to the station (2 hours away) because the wheel broke. How I got myself into that one will have to wait for another day, because I'm spent (ramen isn't enough to keep a person going for long).
Yesterday, was my first day of school. Arriving at the station promptly at 7:38, I headed over to get my newly purchased bike. The bike was relatively cheap and seeing as I don't have a car to transport a bike, I had to find one that was portable. And oh boy is it portable. The bike folds up to be about 2 feet x 2' x 1'. Seriously, I look like a circus act riding it. The bike looks like it was made for a 6 year old. The seat raises up high enough for me, but the handbars are below my knees. This oddly is convenient, because 1/2 way to school I have to take the bike down two flights of stairs, under an overpass, and up two flights of stairs. So yeaaah for tiny bikes.
Once I'm at school, no one knows who is in charge of me. I have to give a short introduction speech (which was pointless, because everyone keeps asking me the same questions). Then I sit for about 30 minutes before someone tries to figure out what to do with me. I rummaged through my desk, found bunches of useless junk and started trying to translate the English textbooks (which are mostly in Japanese). A teacher finally came up to tell me to follow another teacher into the auditorium where opening ceremonies were about to commence. The purpose being to welcome all the incoming 1st years (7th graders). It was like attending a Catholic mass (stand - sit - stand - sit - bow - sit - stand - bow - bow - sit oh wait stand). We must have done this a good twenty times. A lady would literally say, "Stand - bow - Sit." Then the first years entered and their homeroom teachers proceeded to call "attendance" and each student stood and bowed to the principal. All 100 of them. Two hours later we were done and then it was clean up time. Japanese people are really weak. We were stacking chairs (small chairs, not even American size chairs) and the women were struggling to pick up two. The men did at least four, but I was carrying six. It felt like I was superman for the day. There were 3 of them trying to get this 15 foot chair cart under the stage and couldn't move it, and I come over and just give a shove and it moves too far over.
I'm not sure if it was my showing of superhuman strength or the fact that I spent most of my free time translating the textbook, but at 12:20 both the principal and vp came to my desk and in broken English go, "Crysti, go home." "Um, now?" "Hai. Go come back." "Come back today?" "Ashita. See you ashita" "Ah, okay."
This gave me lots of time to check out the mall near the station. Boy did I hit the jack pot. The mall had a DAISO (100 yen store, which used to be like a 99 cent store). The odd thing is, not everything is 100. Which is deceiving, because they have some really cool things in there and you're like, " SERIOUSLY! Only 100 yen! I have to get me one of those...maybe two or three!" And the next thing you know your basket is full of crap, like towel racks and scrapbooking stamps and you go to the counter and the lady starts counting your items and then goes, "happyaku yen." "WHAT? $8, but..." So then you end up with a ridiculous amount of crap worth more than 100 yen. But I now have a pot, some stuff to stick to my bathroom mirror, and a roll of material to make curtains from so I don't have to leave the room to change. But no matter what, I'm enjoying life here, even if I do find myself dragging an 80 pound suitcase to the station (2 hours away) because the wheel broke. How I got myself into that one will have to wait for another day, because I'm spent (ramen isn't enough to keep a person going for long).
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