Reliving my first steps in a new land...

The plane seemed to take forever to taxi to its gate. The plane had landed with no drama, the anxiety I had about being 40,000 leagues in the sky was unwarranted as other than 2 or 3 instances of slight turbulence everything went smoothly.  The stewardess explained once again about the required declaration forms and other things that needed to be filled out to present to customs. With sloppy hand writing I filled out a second set of more legible forms as the previous ones was done while the plane was perhaps banking left or right... or at least that is my excuse. The plane must have landed on the far outskirts of Narita airport as trees and metal towers was the only thing initially seen. No other planes or personnel until about 2 or 3 minutes later when we began to enter the delta terminal. 


Once docked the stewardess thanked us for flying and said few other things which I didn't bother to remember.  I was more concerned about taking the nice slippers and extras that come with flying first class. The Business lady who sat in the same section as me wished me luck in my travels as we had exchanged slight pleasantries among the 14 hours in air.  I offered here luck in here business adventures as well and then proceeded to take my bags down from the over head. By this time people was shuffling off at a accelerated pace, as i was a bit hesitant of what was coming next in customs I took my time getting off, went to the bathroom. Walked casually and  just looked around the terminal as I seemed to be the only one on such a leisurely pace.

Eventually I got to a big line where I had to get my finger prints done and present my paperwork which I filled out on the plane.  I presented the paperwork and tried to utter my first Japanese words in Japan.  I don't recall how it went, but i do remember having a slight issue with the finger print machine.  The finger print Machine was a screen with a keyboard like pad at the bottom but instead of keys it had two box shaped buttons where you put your fingers and pressed at the same time.  I have been a good citizen so far so i have never done this before so it took several attempts.  I think once with each fore finger and once with each thumb is required. I wonder know how long they hold onto these prints for.  Thinking back on it now, i think that is where i realized i was no longer in America. I was now operating on a whole new set of rules, which I did not know. After that, they handed me back the forms and I was let through to go towards baggage claim.

Eventually I found my way to the bag check, I had a total of 4 bags. A red book bag which was stuffed to capacity and I had brought on board and placed it in front of me. A small black bag with wheels, which was my paint ball bag which was in over head. At the baggage claim I was to pick up the 2 big bags I had brought which had most of my cloths.  A slightly bigger mid size bag which was also my paint ball bag prior and I had borrowed a huge flowery designed bag from my mom.  Needless to say it was a bit shameful to pull the flower designed bag off and wheel it behind me but I wasn't all that conscious or caring about it.

This point I had to wheel to the agent who would look over my duty form/declaration. Me being me, i some how lost one of the 2 forms that was examined previously at the finger print window.  I am sure to the people around I appeared to be an opened eyed oblivious kid. They would most certainly be right, everything was new and I had literally no idea what i was suppose to be doing. This was only my second flight ever and first time over seas. I had made all the plans and designed the whole trip on my own. Paid for out of my money and little beyond why I wanted to go and what I was there for I knew little anything else.  I stood in front of the agent looking for the second paper, explaining that I had it slightly earlier.  Simply asking if I had any Duty free items he told me to just go on through and be on my way. 

From there it was time to cash in my money, I had brought around 2000 American dollars with me.  The rate at JFK was a insulting 78 yen - 1 dollar exchange rate.  I debated at the time whether to cash in 100 dollars just to be on safe side but I am glad i resisted the Urge. I ended up with 82-yen and while i still lost around 300+ dollars in the exchange, if it was now it would have been worse. I carefully put the small fortune I had in the lumbar pack I brought for the purpose of keeping all my id with me at all time. After that i shuffled along with my luggage to my next stop




To Be continued......

My gaming addiction....

If this was an AA meeting i would explain about my gaming addiction. How when i am feeling down I need to play a little bit.  When im bored, I play a little bit.  When i can't sleep, I play a little bit. Any  excuse really, i find myself in front of the xbox.  Yes its sad I know,  but it is a fun addiction.  Till this day i say it doesn't hurt no body.

Alas I am not home, I hath left mine xbox in America and now i am feeling a major itch. Call of duty Black ops comes out soon... i left the same day Halo Reach came out. Every day I see whats going on; i follow along on youtube and websites the best i can. What games I need to buy immediately upon my return and what games I am blessed to have not played. However it's not the same.  The feel of the controller in ones hand. Your thumb on the joystick...index finger on the trigger, the anticipation, then the action.  (On a related note I have heard  Medal of Honor is crap.... despite all the hype they created It seems they should have put more time into developing it.)

There is nothing like sitting in front of a tv and interacting with it. Becoming one with your video game avatar and being heroic.  Nothing like pulling the trigger and tallying up a kill count. Nothing like the challenge of man vs machine, and even man vs man. ahh,  I feel a trip to the game center coming pretty soon.

For those of you out there that can not relate, you can ignore my plight as you are among the lucky ones.   For those who understand,  who have gone out at 12 at night to pick up a game or game system. Who have logged a month or two on a video game, who have scratched and clawed to finish a board on insane or difficult, say a little prayer for my gaming soul.  As this has been a tough stretch, as i continue to fight the cravings I wish mercies and blessing to all those who endure the same.  May God have pity on us all...

Blog update aswell, new posts and etc...

Less than 5 minutes ago posted a new post on my housing and the Japanese 'manison'.

Still have not worked the kinks out of my culture differences post, just not happy with it yet.  However I also am working on 3 other posts as well, one on my American iPhone which i can't get wifi with so i am not sure how i will post it >_<.

Topics range from the feelings I have of going to school with all Chinese,  festivals and few places I have been too lately and one dedicated to my trip to Mt.Fuji and Fuji named theme park today.  Seeing as i don't receive much in the way of feedback as of yet i am not sure which one to put on top priority.  That is something i will try to improve on as I improve this blog in future weeks.

So I hope you will look forward to future posts as i look forward to writing them.

More on dorm and Japanese houseing...

My new dorm is an old hotel that has been remodeled and made into a housing complex called a 'mansion' , explanation to follow. It is 10 floors, 13 rooms each floor.  However floor 1 is the lobby and 2nd floor I believe to be a bar or restaurant (it gets pretty noisy around 10 - 11).  Each room that I have seen has a bunk bed (really?.. a bunk bed?) refrigerator, shelf and desk, 2 plastic containers(for clothing i guess) and a wonderful Japanese air conditioner that also does heat.  The window opens and you can hop through it to a small enclosed balcony, but the bunk bed is sort of in the way so i cant get out of mines.

There is a bathroom with bath and toilet,  but no kitchen. The kitchen is actually a shared kitchen, they took the 01 room of every floor and made it into a kitchen with 3 single electric burners, a janitors style sink and a primitive microwave. Before the kitchen, right by the elevator and emergency exit has a huge hot water heater(great place to put a gas appliance huh?), that works too well. The water that comes out the swivel faucet is down right scalding, it actually heats up the faucet pipe to the point that it is also ...piping hot ( sorry I couldn't think of another phrase  >_< ). The swivel faucet goes form the sink to over the tub, you can also twist a knob to direct the water to a shower head. 

Mansions are equivalent to the American condominium concept.  I assume the college owns my room and all the rooms of the people who are staying here under the schools dorm housing policy.  I pay only 30,000yen  a month the equivalent in a good American economy to 300 dollars.  For this area that is terrific.  I would equal it to living in the Soho area,  not in the middle but just outside walking distance, In a studio for less than 500 per month. 


Normally there is 2 to my sized apartment/room, but it seems that all the westerns like me are in a single room. All the Chinese and Nepalese are shared rooms like I had prior.  Russian girl, me, and a french guy, so I wonder if that is a coincidence.

Mansion's seem to not only be popular but increasing.  I have noticed much construction and building in my travels, a majority of these new buildings are the aforementioned mansion establishment. In this recession it's possible more people would rather rent than buy, which is understandable.  I am not sure on the price range, as all of my friends are more or less just out of college and owning anything is still in the distant future.

In my dorm, there is college students from different colleges not only mine.  There are non students as well, I have passed middle aged men and women in the hall and elevator, so mansions are a one size fit all approach apparently. Thought a 'mansion' it is anything but. Quirky Japanese naming I guess.....

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...