30th Oct 2006

It would seem that the international community is rather tight-knit here… I go to a Turkish Embassy national foundation day thing (was invited by someone in my lab, who, funnily enough, happens to be Turkish) and manage to meet people who are good friends with a girl I met through a friend of a friend in halls. Weird….well I thought so.

Anyway I found that exciting… especially since I have now located some (well one for now) English people in my university…which is nice.

OOooOOooOh! Also, had my health check today. And in Japanese style, it was ridiculously efficient…1.medical history and blood pressure, then you go to 2. urine test then after that straight to blood testing. Sit down for 5 mins to recover from the blood sucking. 4. weighed and measured (height wise – by some weird machine which taps your head and weighs you all at the same time…) 5. get bra-less and go into some weird X-ray cubicle with a lead lined skirt to get chest x-rayed. 6. fill in a mental health questionnaire 7. see a physiatrist…have a little chat. 8. pick up results (who happens to be another guy I think I met at some welcome party on Monday…again with the weird)

That was fun…especially since the college ID card seems to store all the information of your medical well being…they have a card reader at each stage so that you’re records are all digitised from the beginning…all very efficient…anyway apparently if I want a more detailed break-down of if I’m dying of anything exciting, I can go back in two weeks and find out…

And the health check was all for free too…

On the bright side, I also think that I may be able to get some pocket money here (to supplement the little scholarship…) by talking to people in English…well trying to give lessons…so far got one lady, a doctor, who wants to keep her English up in mind to move back to Canada or North America…

Anyway seriously need to go to bed now…night night!

Week 3 update

Oooooh! Hello! Apologies for the long absence, but have been: 1. just doing boring day to day stuff, so not doing anything worth really talking about, 2. wasn’t sure if any one was really reading it, but due to several…1 is all a really need! (to give the ol’ ego a boost!) …passing comments about persons actually liking reading the crap I write I’m going to try and write more…. However, I’d like to point out that this is no substitute for actually talking (well communicating via email or instant messaging mechanisms) to me…

Anyhoo…what have I been up to…lets see…errr…japanese lessons everyday, some days are worse than others…I feel generally like an idiot because none of what we have learnt is settling in my brain yet…I think by cranium as some kind of teflon-like coating which is non-stick for languages…stupid brain…we’ve so far gone through the hiragana characters and now powering through katana…anyway, I’m slow and my Japanese skills are not much more advanced than a pea trying to invent a way to get itself into space…yes, I know peas can’t think…that’s the whole point.

Other than that I have dropped half of the lecture courses that I started in the first week. Mainly because someone kindly pointed out that lectures also happen in the spring term too (D’oh) and as I only have to do 5 lecture courses over the 3 years I’m here I can just stick to the geotechnical ones…more importantly however, is that my supervisor is going to be giving some of the geotech lectures next term…and I’m advised (by the other students) to attend…I am inclined to agree. So, three lecture courses this term and at least 2 the next…I’ve dropped all the mathsey ones, so it’s all good.

Unfortunately one of the lectures (the most interesting course I’ve attended so far) ‘Natural Disasters and Urban Disaster Prevention’…the one which the first lecture I attended was in Japanese + some English interpretation for the annoying English only comprehension girl…happens to start at 830am…which would appear to be a little harsh…but hey…I guess then my afternoon is completely free…On the bright side, I spoke to one of the Japanese students who took the lecture too and she said that his English explanation was very comprehensive despite my concern that it seemed to take a significantly shorter time to explain in English than Japanese. Apparently the other Japanese students are quite glad I’m there. Which I thought it was odd, as I thought I would be impeding the lecture…but they like the ability to practice their English comprehension…and there’s one guy who has been kind enough to sit next to me (his English is pretty good!) and try and explain what’s going on, as well as consciously writing his notes in English just for my benefit. How nice is that?! I have to admit though I’ve not actually been looking at what he’s been writing as I’ve been busy choosing which of my many colour pens to use next…and its actually quite handy that when the lecturer is busy explaining stuff in Japanese, I have time to finish writing down all the stuff from the English explanation. So it’s all good…

Socialising wise… there was an international student welcome party on Monday night (23rd Oct) which was actually quite nice…there was some amazing buffet put on for us. There was also some public humiliation, in the form of making all the new students introduce themselves on stage in Japanese…I giggled all the way through mine so that I was completely inaudible…unfortunately I find my attempts at speaking Japanese incredibly hilarious, just because I’m sooo crap at it…which just makes me laugh…which in turn makes any attempt at speaking even worse…anyway it was so bad several people asked me what I had been trying to say! Oooops! Oh well nevermind… there was also some building house of cards game (which our team lost spectacularly at) and muchos muchos free drink (this is a Japanese speciality).

Went to Roppongi on Wednesday, to some mega Halloween party at some huge club…know for hosting stuff aimed at foreigners (the western kind).

The weird thing about Roppongi is that it doesn’t feel like Japan…what it really feels like is more Leicester Square like. Infact you’d be hard pressed to find one actual Japanese person for every 10 westerners. It’s actually rather weird…that and the place is crawling with dodgy old white men loitering around the streets. Nice.

Shockingly enough, I actually turned up to a Halloween party underdressed…I felt like there is a little void in a part of my life here without all my little dressing up things…no fairy-wings…magic wand…flower-hat…*sob* ahhh the stupid stuff…how I miss it…there were some amazing costumes. One dude came dressed as a chandelier diffucult to convey the effect of this costume…but the head dress was basically a fully-lit multi-coloured light fitting attached to this mans head…to be honest he wasn’t wearing much some beaded type tunic over his glitter painted body and a silver thong… and yeah that was about it… someone else came dressed as a zombie school girl…very dawn of the dead…(in)complete with missing forearm. There were also some power rangers…more peoples costumes which seemed to centre around a thong…I’d like to point out that these were all men. And yes I was disturbed by this theme…but not as disturbed as someone elses costume where he came dressed in a nude top with some fake chest hair glued on and red lines drawing on muscles and a pair of boxer shorts with a very large fake willy protruding from one leg (of said boxer shorts) it was hilarious… in fact he was very popular for photos with ladies…

But yeah very interesting night… and Japanese stylie… free drinks all night. Which was definitely an interesting experience.

OoOoOooooh! On Thursday we were in restaurant and we caught a glimpse of an amazing news story…some man had gone bonkers and hacked to death three policemen with a knife, just slashing them all in the neck… NICE! Anyway as well as a report from a journalist running excitedly around the crime scene (I have no idea where it was…and nor did the Japanese students I was with) someone at the tv station had gone through the effort to do a VR reconstruction of the whole thing…it was hilariously lame…it looked like a cheap computer game and made a mockery of the whole thing…anyway that was fun.

Anyway tomorrow I’m going to try and meet some people that have lived here longer than I have so they can show me the best places to go shopping…girly day out…should be a laugh…

Think that’s all really for the moment…enjoy.

gloss paint? GLOSS?!??!?!....why?!

The climbing walls at T-wall in Tokyo are nuts. they have painted the holds different colours with Gloss paint...i want more friction not less! I want them to cut out bits of real rock and firmly attach them to the wall...or better yet make all the real rock, roofed, warm and to where i am for very little money...

gloss paint....honestly.

Magical things...

Wow! This laundry service is *amazing*!!! You leave your issued bedsheets in a white drawstring bag and hang it on your door on the morning designated day for your halls, and when you come back you get the bag of ridiculously white, pressed, folded and sealed in a plastic bag….MAGIC.

Anyway it comes in handy, because I’ve invested in another pillow…found one for the equivalent of £2.50 and completely made of feathers…although I can’t tell what type because I haven’t learnt the Japanese for duck, chicken, pigeon or dodo yet…but there is still time…

Oh. And I forgot something else about the halls…last Sunday, from my window I saw an open back van which at one point looked as though it had been selling veg in the square…but by the time I got down all I saw were people packing away empty boxes. Anyway, this Sunday I was actually out of my room in time to find out what was going on and it turns out that a fresh fruit and veg van drops by on a Saturday morning (before 11am…which I’m led to believe is morning here) and opens up shop…price wise it’s pretty cheap, it looks good and most of all fresh…that and the added convenience of not having to lug stuff back on the train…it’s such a good plan! They also sold some fish…all packaged and chopped…so I thought I’d try some…cooked some tonight (Monday) and it was awesome! It was actually fresh! And succulent. Am definitely going to be trying out more stuff next Sunday. Very cool.

16th Oct 2006

First Japanese lesson. I was crap. I don’t get it. L grrrrr…stuuuupid! Think that I may to work on this a little…

15th Oct 2006

So. Last night I decided not to mope around my room or halls and thought is should try and see some sights while I’ve still got time to do this kinda thing, before the University of Tokyo geek effect kicks in…and thumbing though my Tokyo guide, very kindly/generously donated by my brother, and decide I’m going to try and go to Shibuya to hopefully find some trendy Japanese people to take photos of…and to scout out the shops (I think I might actually have a shopping addiction. This is *not* good. Spent far too much money and can’t seem to stop…very dangerous. May be I’ll just have to burn my credit cards…hmmmm…) but yes. Take the metro to Shibuya and spend most of the day wondering…unfortunately I didn’t see any funky people standing around like my guide said they would but there was a sensory overload of huge screens of animated adverts on the side of buildings and big signs all over the buildings too. It was daytime though, so you don’t quite get the full effect.

More importantly I found a sock shop (which Seda, in my lab, had briefly mentioned when we were discussing the joy of long stripy sock ownership and the best place to source the items) which sells an array of foot coverings ranging from sock-ette type things which mainly cover the sole of your foot through toe socks, knee-high, over-knee and leggings…so I continue my addiction for purchasing items and buy some…I need socks. Really. No really I do. Haven’t you heard of the national sock shortage…I mean there are people panic buying everywhere…

After a bit more wondering and a cheap lunch in a little Japanese eating counter type place, which had the wonderful anonymity, and embarrassment reducing, machine which you put money into pushed the button of the food you wanted to order (some actual pictures to help…if not it was a case of matching characters to the picture menu outside…) and it gave you a ticket (and any change you were due). You then sit down at a stool facing the serving counter and hand over your ticket(s) to the waitress and wait for the food…all very efficient…

I also explore Tokyu Hands. A crazy ‘all-under-one-roof’ type department store. It’s nuts. Not only because its split into quarter floors (eg. 1A, B, C and D) which kind of spiral around it’s got everything you could possibly ever want for the home and even some outdoor stuff…However, it’s rather expensive for what it is. On the other hand it is convenient that you know at least one place where you can find picture hooks, chisels, artists materials, nappies for dogs (yes. I thought this was strange…I stopped for a good 5-10mins to stare at them and the picture of a dog’s rear end modelling the ‘device’. Nuts. Can you get anything like this in England? I guess I’ve never really looked…anyway please feel free to email your answers to me), laptops and even some climbing gear.

Actually, the sheer amount of stuff there really wasn’t that exciting. I think I’ve just been saturated with stimulus that my brain has now given up of trying to process all the data it receives from my eye-balls… I eventually wonder out in a daze…

14th Oct 2006

Had my first attempt at flower arranging today, mum would be most impressed (in fact when I told her, she was), was going to go out to the nearby museum of emerging technology because I couldn’t be bothered with doing the whole long travel thing, but on my way down saw posters for Japanese culture experiences in halls…it listed activities you can take part in in halls…1st Saturday of the month = tea ceremony, 2nd Saturday of the month = Japanese flower arranging, 3rd Saturday of the month = Japanese cooking lessons, 4th Saturday of the month = Karate!...they all cost money for the ingredients I think…flower arranging was 1000yen and I think karate is 4000 yen for hire of equipment…but yeah…it was actually about quarter to 2 when I saw this and class starts at 130…so I was late…and I think you had to register too… but I walked over to the room and made a lame attempt at speaking to someone who didn’t understand English…to see if I could join today…after finding someone who could speak English I was signed up and sat down by a bucket of flowers and basically copied what was in front of me. I think there was some deeper meaning to the arrangement but as I missed the instruction part of the lesson and it would have been in Japanese, I just copied the example…

Anyway I was given a big black dish and a heavy metal plate of vicious spikes (which sat in a pool of water in the black dish) to stab flower stems on to. And started to cut various flowers to different lengths and impale them, on what I thought was a rather artistic way, on the flower base of spikey-doom. After about 15mins I was done and the little old Japanese flower arrangement checker (I assume she was the one who showed everyone how to do the first one) come over and sat by my attempt…then rearranged 2 of my flowers so that they lent out at more of an angle…now it was complete. And apparently there was a show next week in the adjoining building (which I was invited to) to show other people how to do Japanese flower arranging, hmmmmmmmmmm…but anyway thought I’d go along because I now means that I can have the weird flower arrangement in my room and keep the base and bowl for a month…