While I was still in Japan

July 25h, 2006

1. Well, I am out of Tanbara. Officially. For good. On Tuesday, I moved out. I got some surprise money back from my landlord because he seemed to have overlooked the damage that Ocha did on the apartment. So, I got a cool bit of cash, so I no longer need to stress about money for my time in Japan, which is nice.
2. Tuesday I moved into Duncan’s for a couple days. It was weird. But, it was cool. Duncan is such a good friend to me. I’m really lucky to have had him in my town with me.

July 26, 2006

3. Wednesday, I met up with Raul and his mother and aunt for lunch. It was interesting. I have become used to understanding at least some of what goes on in another language (Japanese), but they all spoke Spanish. I was so lost! But it was a nice meal of ham and cheese sandwiches. Raul’s aunt and I had a giggle because both of us put potato chips inside of the sandwich, which Raul and his mom thought was weird.
4. At 2:30 on Wednesday, Duncan and I met up with the Yoko-nator! She took us to this shaved ice restaurant in Imabari which is very famous. Asking our other Japanese friends about it, and they all knew! Even though it was the tiniest of places. I had strawberry and milk flavored shaved ice, which was yummy.
5. After that restaurant, we were like, what should we do? So, Duncan suggested karaoke. To be honest, in Japan one just can’t get enough of it. I felt a tiny bit quiet, so I didn’t sing as much as Duncan and Yoko.
6. When we came back to Toyo, we picked up Ocha. Bless him! He’s had a rough couple of days. The vet fed him WAY too much and Ocha was noticeably fatter when he left!
7. At 7, I met some people at Marubun for a goodbye meal (Yoko, Stacey, Kana, John, Manabe-chan, Sa-chan, K-chan, and Miki). It was lovely to just hang out and chat. Saying goodbye at the end was rough. I was doing ok, but then Kana burst out in tears, which brought mine on. From that point on, I cried a lot.
8. Saying goodbye to Yoko was weird. I didn’t cry nearly as much as I’d expected. I think one reason is that I had just finished crying a ton. Also, I feel like with Yoko, I will definitely see her again. I don’t feel that way about most of the other people I’ve met. It’s sad to say, but it’s true. I hope to see everyone again, but I also much be realistic, you know.
9. When I got back to Duncan’s, I was EXHAUSTED. But, he convinced me to walk with him to Circle K to get a drink. We walked and we talked and stuff. I’ll miss that boy a whole lot.

July 27, 2006

10. This morning, I woke up WAY too early. I had to wake up at 5:15 so I would be ready for Stacey and Jemmy, who came to pick me up at 5:45 to leave for the airport. It was so nice of them to take me! I will miss those two!
11. It’s good we ended up getting to the airport early. There were some problems over Ocha. Apparently he wasn’t allowed to come in the cabin with me. So we put him into one of their cages to ride in the back. Then, there was a problem with that cage, so we had to put him into a small little wooden box with holes in the top! How scary! The whole plane ride I was really orried about him. In the back, there in o protection for his ears fromall the loud airplane noises! I hope he isn’t deaf. He seemed ok afterwards.
12. We flew from Matsuyama into Haneda (Tokyo). From there, we took a mega long bus ride (cuz of the Tokyo traffic) to Narita Airport. I was met, after a little bit of confusion, by the guy who owns Ocha’s pet hotel. He promised to give him enough veggies every day, which is good. Ocha hasn’t been pooing as much lately, which isn’t a good thing.So, then I saw Ocha off.
13. Since then (about 11am!), I hung around Narita airport for many hours. It sucks cuz it’s so far outside of Tokyo that it’s hard to go and come back, with time left to do stuff. So anyway, I was hanging in Narita for a long time. I discovered that this airport has a shower room for only 500 yen! Cheap! So, I took a shower in my own bathroom that was much better than is in most hotels. It was SO refreshing and SO needed.
14. Then around 10:15ish I met up with David, and then came to his apartment. I was so exhausted I couldn’t even get any expression on my face. We watched a few minutes of Sideways, but both of us were sooo tired, so we went to bed.

July 28, 2006

15. This morning, David and I woke up at a reasonable hour, which was nice. No early awakenings! We got out of bed around 10ish. We went to the post office to pick up something for him and my suitcase. It turns out that my suitcase is being sent tomorrow morning. Then, we went off to the grocery store cuz he had nothing food-wise in his apartment.
16. Around noon, he went off to work and out with his buddies for the day. I took a walk down to Kotoni to use the internet at an internet café. I only spent around an hour there. I just didn’t have anything to do online today, I guess.
17. Then, I went to a flower shop nearby and talked to the girl who works there. She was very nice. I bought some nice white and yellow, cheerful flowers.
18. Then, I went to Uni-qlo (a clothing shop here that is similar to the Gap, but not as good). I bought a white shirt, 2 tank tops, and some underwear (to wear tomorrow while I wait for my suitcase to come. They won’t fit well at all, but I need something.
19. In the evening, I went and saw fireworks. They were huge and spectacular! But, I didn’t enjoy them as much as I should have. I was feeling a bit lonely, as I was all alone and surrounded by people with family and friends. It’s ok though. It’s ok to feel lonely sometimes.

July 29, 2006

20. I made a fairly average chicken salad mix for David and me for lunch. Hope he likes it! (He did!)
21. In the evening, we went to the Sapporo Beer Festival to meet up with David’s work colleagues before his night class. It was nice. I chatted to some high school/college aged kids for a while, which was cool. They are taking an intense English class at Berlitz (David’s company) so they can study English in University in America.
22. I went into David’s high school class in the evening. The two girls that were there, Nanami and Rie, are very sweet. They were planning out a movie. I think around the end of the month, they are going to try and shoot it. It’s pretty funny sounding. I can’t wait to see it!

July 30, 2006

23. We spent the morning relaxing. In the afternoon, we went off to the Sapporo Art Park. IT was this HUGE park full of many sculptures from all over the world. Some were amazing. Some made us go, “hmmm.” It was nice, though. Some of the artwork was amazing!
24. After the Art Park, we headed into town and checked movie times. Then, we went to the Sapporo Beer Festival and got some drinks and just relaxed. After walking around the Art Park all day, we were pooped! After drinking our cold drinks, we got a bit chilly. Sapporo is the only place where I’ve honestly been COLD in July. So strange. So, we got some coffee and then headed off to the theater.
25. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It was ok… I didn’t particularly like it, but I didn’t hate it. But, I won’t pay to see it again.
26. By the time we got home, around midnight, both of us were absolutely exhausted. From what I can remember, once I fell asleep, I slept pretty deeply until David got up.

July 31, 2006

27. This morning, David woke me up with a light kiss on the neck. That was the best was to be woken up, ever.
28. David came home for lunch today between his jobs. I made grilled cheese sandwiches. We just chilled out, listening to some Grandaddy. He was very exhausted, so he relaxed and read my Cosmo for a bit.
29. In the evening, we went out for a yakiniku dinner. Yum!

August 1, 2006

30. David and I both slept in late (9;45ish for me and 10:30 for him!). We hung around the apartment for a while, just relaxing. I watched Battle Royal and David played the Sims.
31. At 4ish, I went to one of David’s elementary school classes with him, which was nice. We learned rooms of the house and a few objects that go in them.
32. After the lesson, David and I went to Royal Host (a restaurant) and both got tacos for dinner. Yum!
33. After Tacos, David had more lessons, so he had to go. I walked around for a long time, looking for some mysterious shopping arcade. I never did find it. But, I did find a store called “Art Box: CRAP” which was funny. It was a store with random crap (true to its name) and a bunch of handmade stuff. When I walked in, the shopkeeper (a really friendly woman named Ikuyo) came up to tell me to try any jewelry I wanted on. I said ok. She was amazed that I’d understood her! So, we ended up chatting for about an hour and a half! It was really nice. I t made me realize just how far I’ve come with my Japanese. It’s almost a waste for me to not keep studying when I go home, you know? We’ll see.

August 2, 2006

34. Today, David worked all day. He left the house at 7:30 or so and didn’t come back until 10ish. He’s been working a lot since I’ve been here. His normal hours plus some. It’s not his choice though. One of his bosses is preggers, so he has to cover for her. It’s really hard for him. He has been super tired the past 3 days in a row. And tomorrow is another long one. He will be out from 8:30ish in the morning and won’t be back until after 11pm. *sigh*
35. Today was a worthless day for me. When I woke up, I headed to a faraway place called Sato-Land Farm Park. It looked neat in the brochure. Unfortunately, when I got there, it was lame. But, I did get to drink the most delicious milk ever out of a glass bottle. Yum! But overall, lame. It took me an hour and a half to get there…and I only stayed an hour.
36. After the failed park fiasco, I went to downtown Sapporo. I walked around for a long time. It’s weird for me because I should want to go shopping, right? But I just keep getting defeated by Japan, where I am of monstrous proportions compared to the Japanese women…that I just can’t buy anything. So it’s no longer fun for me to go shopping.
37. Then, I came back to David’s apartment around 6ish I think. I headed over to the nearby internet café. I rented a booth until 9:15pm. By the time I got back to David’s apartment, it was almost time for him to be home.
38. When he got home, I gave him some presents that I put together for him.
39. Then we watched some of Happy Gilmore and went to sleep.

August 3, 2006

40. I slept a tad late today. At 11, I left for the city.
41. At 11:30, I met David for his lunch break. We had Freshness Burger (which is the closest to a real burger anywhere I’ve found yet). I had a delicious cheeseburger with REAL cheese on it! WOAH!!!
42. After lunch, David had to get back to work. I decided to wait for him to get off, so I spent about 3 hours just bobbing around the city. First, I went and played on the internet for an hour. Then, I sat in Starbucks and people watched. Then, I did some walking, and eventually some shopping. I bought a pair of ugly/beautiful chucks for about $25. Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself!
43. After 4ish, I met up with David again. He took me to this cute little café called “Fab Café.” We had some chocolate drink which was AMAZING!
44. We had to leave around 5:30 because we had a class to teach at his other job. I m allowed to go with him to that job, which is cool. The kids are super good.
45. I met a little Japanese boy (with great English) whose English name is Ralf. :o)

August 4, 2006

46. This morning because it was SO hot, I woke up at around 5am and had to go sleep for an hour on the kitchen floor to cool me down a bit.
47. I met David around 11:30, after his first lesson of the day. Is company is cool and paying him for NOT teaching today. When he teaches children’s classes, they give him 10 minutes free. Then, they wait and add it up all at once. So, it turns out that he got paid for teaching a lesson today when he didn’t have to do it. Lucky!
48. The first thing we did was to go get his haircut. I must say, his new cut is pretty sexy. And he likes it, which is very important. I wish I could have gotten a haircut I loved here. Unfortunately, nope.
49. After the haircut, we went to the Yahoo store. He bought a used laptop for a pretty good price. He also set up internet in his apartment, which will start at the end of the month. What a productive afternoon!
50. After the computer/internet fun, both of us were super hungry, so we went to a “Biking.” A “Biking” or “Viking” is the Japanese word for buffet. We ate SO much, we almost literally rolled out of there. Oh, while there, as an evil game, we decided to play Janken (paper rock scissors). The loser had to eat another bite of food! I lost twice and thought I was going to vomit everywhere! Hehe.
51. After the buffet, we went off and did some purikura. Ahh, I LOVE purikura. We borrowed some super silly costumes from the place and had a costume edition of purikura! So funny!
52. After purikura, we had to go pick up David’s computer, then he had to teach a lesson at his Maruyama school. I went back to his apartment and played some Sims and washed dishes. Woo fun!

August 5, 2006

53. Slept late-ish! Past 9am! Wooooaaah!
54. David had to work in the morning, so while he was at work, I went and did laundry. Mega fun and you know it. While there, I lost one of my favorite shirts and my favorite hang-out skirt. Damn!
55. I met David for his lunch break. I made him a sandwich and we ate lunch on Odori Park. After he ate his lunch, I got us both ice cream to enjoy. Ice cream in the park. Cheesy and fun.
56. After lunch, I took David’s computer back to the Yahoo store to see if the language could be changed from Japanese to English (turns out it can’t!). So, for an hour they told me they couldn’t do it. That’s one thing about this country that annoys me. They can’t just tell you a simple “no.” They go to an extra extent to double and triple check it. That’s nice and all, but when you wait for an hour for them to tell you an answer that they have known the whole time… It is a bit annoying.
57. In the evening, I went with David to his high school class. Rather than having class this week, it was decided that we would all do fireworks together. David burnt his thumb pretty badly (bless his heart) for lighting a group of rockets taped together. It was fun, though. Yay fireworks!
58. After fireworks, David and I headed downtown. We found this delicious izakaya and ate lots of little finger foods and drank copious amounts of alcohol. David drank a beer larger than his head!
59. After food, we went to this super plush karaoke place and we rocked the joint with nomihodai (all you can drink!!!) for a looong time. We sang many classics, including, A Whole New World, Whoop There It Is, and countless other silly songs.
60. After karaoke, both of us were SO drunk and tired, we took a 2000 yen taxi back to David’s apartment.

August 6, 2006

61. After the festivities of the previous night, you may guess (correctly) that the two of us were hung-OVER! Geebus!
62. In the morning when he woke up (hungover), there was a guy chopping wood or something right outside his apartment window. I wanted to kill him! It was 11am (which was a nice lie-in)… way too early for me to be ready to face the world!
63. To cure the hangover…well, not a cure, but something to help, I made French toast for us for breakfast. Yum!
64. For our last day together, we had planned to do lots of things on Sunday. We were going to have a picnic and then climb a mountain to see the amazing view of the city. Unfortunately, both of us were SO ill that we said “Fuck that!” and went to an internet café for the day instead.
65. Internet Cafes rule. We spent 9 hours in a little booth together with 2 computers. I read about 8 or 9 magazines (well, I looked at the pictures, anyway) and David played about as many different video games. Hurrah for spending our day together in a little box away from the world. It was really so nice. I didn’t want to hang out with anyone but David that day.
66. A note about just chillin with David: I love it! Just playing video games with him, watching him play them, watching movies together…whatever! I love it. I just get so much enjoyment from hanging out with my boyfriend.
67. After we got to David’s apartment and got into bed…I had a nice crying session. Not just little tears, but full, big sobs. I needed it. It just sucks so much to have to do the long distance thing. And it’s not that it’s not worth it, cuz it is…but it fucking sucks. And I was in Sapporo over a week this time, so just as I was getting into the swing of things, I had to leave. Damn it.

August 7, 2006

68. Monday morning, I woke up with David and we said goodbye. I am not going to go into details about it, but tears were involved. I am really going to miss him.
69. I made pancakes for breakfast, which were yummy.
70. I took a bus to Sapporo to catch my flight to Narita Airport. Well...when I got to Sapporo’s airport, I found out that my flight had been cancelled! So, they popped me on another, much more inconvenient flight to another airport, from where I took a bus to my original location. Ugh, it was such a pain!
71. When I got to Narita, finally, I met up with Ocha. I took him right up to the quarantine office and entered him in there. The staff were very nice and helpful, which was excellent. His pen for 2 days is HUGE (I think it was meant for a fairly large dog). That must be exciting for him, having such a large place to run around. I hope he likes the cage I ordered for him for America.
72. After getting lost in Narita city for a LONG time, I eventually found my youth hostel. It’s a pretty nice place. Newly redecorated with a “neauveau-asian” theme. I chatted to a Japanese dude named Yas who lives in Hawaii for a while, then went to bed early.

August 8, 2006

73. Today was my last day in Japan. Did I spend it doing Japanese-y things like visiting shrines? Nope. I sure didn’t. Instead, I went to a shopping mall and bought some socks and underwear (I forgot to pack a paid for tomorrow!) and a book.
74. I called David and chatted to him for about 30 minutes before stopping my phone service. God, I am going to miss that boy.
75. I had a discussion with Yas about how mullets are ugly and how so many Japanese men have them.