Re-living dorm life....

I personally went to a school in traveling distance from my home. So I was blessed with being able to go home to a cooked meal.... at least when i ordered pizza if felt like dorm living.  In japan I think I have the opportunity  to re-experience sort of a similar experience i would have gotten from dorm life in college if i went out of state. Scratch for your own food, balance your study and direct pressure to party with people from within the dorm. Now because of the exchange rate and expense of the train  my money seems to go fast. Sadly soon i will be  a poor college student until my check next month at least.  I'm not to the point where it's ramen only,  just to the point where is it ethically ok to spend my money on a 700 yen beer at the bar.

I started off living in a 2 person room setting. However it was in a standard size Japanese apartment. Which if anyone knows, it barely enough room for one person let alone two.  It was not bad for the price, included washer, small refrigerator and 1 stove burner. However we are talking about for two people. So while my roommate was a rather nice guy, he was not the cleanest person.  The bathroom seemed to always be wet,  and the place smelled like his home land of Nepal. Having a roommate i always had to be in a polite and maneuverable mood.   I had decided before I moved in when i first saw the dorm that i would try to find my own place. I alerted the proper people within the school that i would not stay more than a month there and more or less was told that for my  visa and short stay it would be difficult to find an apartment on my own.  Having lived and read about the difficulty foreigners have assimilating hear into society, i believe this assessment to be true on the schools part but decided to start looking anyway.   I did get to look at a few apartments but i think it was more or less a wash.

I moved into the shared dorm apartment, was enjoying talking and associating with my roommate who happens to be awesome artist of Hindu inspired art. So after maybe the 3rd night, i was made aware that the school had found other accommodations for me. Much to my sadness and delight.  I had just plotted where all the Chinese girls in my class lived in that particular dorm.  Some of which I had been quite friendly with. But alas i could not pass up a single room and to be honest, it is like the best location in Yokohama.

I now live in Kannai, Kanagawa. It is one station away from Sakuragicho which is where all the cool harbor stuff is in Yokohama and 2 stops from Yokohama station the center of it all. Kannai is where the only clean china town in the world is located. I have good bars and restaurants in the area,  Yokohama stadium is literally across the street. The train is 3 min walk away, just enough space so i don't hear it when I am actually in the dorm and the last kicker is,  the Yokohama red light district known as Akebono-cho  is in the area as well.  So as I walk home from the train in the evening you can sort of pick out of the crowd who is doing what.  So far very pleased.

In blog news,  I have bigger post on cultural differences that I have notice since i have been here.  It's not organized how I like just yet and it requires some tweaking.  I will try to get it done before my trip to Mt. Fuji on Thursday, but I make no promises.  When i get on the train i get such good ideas for it, but by the time i get back home after probably a kanji test or two and trying to understand everything in class, the ideas are usually washed away. I will learn to write stuff down sooner or later.   Till next time..

Pictures will be added later...

New surroundings...but what langauge is this?

I sit in a room and the sounds that float around are all foreign to me.  Of Asian origin probably.  However i understand nothing.   'This is bad' I think to myself....What could they be saying? I start to feel a bit distant and alone.  Then a bit of American rage rises to the top and i think why doesn't no one speak English around here.  I am reminded I am in a foreign  land.  Of course I am in a foreign land, But this isn't what i expected. This is a bit different than advertised. New surroundings, a different part of town than the Tokyo I have been exploring for a little less than a month.  Ah, the bell rings, glad that Japanese class will start and everyone can speak a language i at least barely understand.

I sit in a room full of Chinese students.  I being the only western and English speaker. What to do I wonder..As my ears are absorbing (is 'assaulted' too rude?) every Chinese word uttered. My brain scans for any recognizable word, but of course there isn't one. I studied Japanese,  not Chinese so how did this happen i wonder.  "ドうしょうかな？- Wonder what should i do?"    Time to whip out my poor Japanese and introduce myself.  Meet some Chinese people,  which i can do in American - and practically every other country for that matter.  I have a theory on why there is a china town in every country... but in interest to stay on topic i will bring it up another time.

The same routine as always.  Hi, where are you from,  nice to meet you, why Japanese?  The tedium of answering the same question is starting to sink in, but as i see no end in sight, the same answers will have to be given time and again.  As i meet and talk to many of them, i get the feeling I am more or less a novelty than anything.  'Ah, an American, let me try my english', or 'Ah, he must have a gun.'  I lie to you not, I have been asked by many Japanese and now a few Chinese not if,  but how many guns i have.  I answer in a polite way that I do not own, and neither does every American own a gun.  I explain my reasons for being in this part of the world. None of which probably was of interest... hmm maybe i should lie and say I have 2... minimum.

So now that introduction is over.  What do i talk to a Chinese person about, through Japanese mind you. Sure if it was English, boy, the stories and the conversation we would have.  The language barrier really set in then i think. I had never worried about not being able to get my point across till I sat next to a Chinese person in a Japanese class in Yokohama,Kanagawa. Sure my Japanese wasn't the best, but to a native speaker i can at least get the main idea across.
Here my words are hit and miss....as a result my pictionary skills must be improving exponentially.

However i find this to be an interesting part of the adventure.  No body but me would be Surrounded by Chinese people in Japan. Speaking to a Chinese person through Japanese. Learning how to write Japanese Kanji from a person who learned the Japanese meaning a few moments prior. Sort of the quirky nature of my life right now.

One week in I have quite a few Chinese acquaintances; Had some home cooked Chinese food and  I sort of  wonder now,  if i go to china will i meet more Japanese people?

zai jian (good bye in chinese)