First week of school

Hey, it's Monday morning and I don't have a class until quarter to 3 this afternoon, so I have time to tell you how my first week of school has been.

Monday
Like today I didn't have a class until the middle of the afternoon, so I went to the office of the company that runs the financial and legal side of my dorm arrangement to sign the contract. A few days before I'd told them that I'd come in the afternoon but I only found out when my classes were on the Sunday and I couldn't let them know that I'd be turning up a few hours earlier because my computer doesn't like to connect to the internet right away (you have to leave the room first sometimes). I suppose this is why they kept me waiting over an hour and I turned up to lunch very late: late enough for Eszter and Kaytlin to have finished eating and on their way to their 3rd period classes.

On this day I bought textbooks for Japanese classes and a mobile phone! Surprisingly mobile phone deals seem to be a lot cheaper back home. For example, you can get 500mb of internet, 200 minutes and unlimited text messaging for £10 a month back home. Whereas my current contract is 1059Yen a month (just to have a number and a phone), plus 315Yen for unlimited emailing (they don't use SMS here but email), a registration fee and a cancellation fee of 10,000Yen when I terminate my contract. On th upside, my phone is gorgeous and allows me to watch TV for free (though the picture is only half the size of the screen with the other half being a garishly bright advert, unfortunately).

I went with Chee Seng, whose Japanese is a great help wherever we go, and Aaron who I'd met earlier that afternoon and also hadn't yet gotten a mobile phone. There's this rule where only over 20s can get themselves a phone otherwise they'd need their parent's permission. At the first shop, since Aaron's mother is in a different continent, the guy serving us asked that Aaron filled out the permission form outside the shop and not in the shop.. I don't remember why we didn't just do that. Instead we went to the shop where Chee Seng had gotten his phone from and helped others get there's because one of the managers speaks Chinese and it was easier for him to communicate. But I managed to sort mine out fine with the help of a salesperson that turned out to also be a SILS student. Aaron, on the other hand, didn't know his mother's birthday and after two attempts of calling her (when it was around 4am in Hawaii where she was holidaying) he was asked to give an approximate birthday. Then we excitedly updated our profiles and exchanged contact details via IR, cos that's how they do it here. The SILS student that helped me also wanted in on this fun and gave us his contact details.

Tuesday
I had two periods of Japanese intensive classes starting at 9. I had planned to leave the dorm at half 7 but got out 10 minutes late and had to take the bus from Takadanobaba Station to campus to get to class on time. Fortunately the building was right near the entrance and finding the room wasn't too hard. I really appreciate the way they number the rooms here: the first digit indicate which floor the room is on.

In the evening there was a party for new SILS students organised by the sempai (students that had been here for longer). We all wore name tags, ate free food, and mingled a little. On each of our name tags we had randomly been assigned a letter and number, each indicated our group for the games. The two games we played were 'two truths and a lie' and charades. I think I can say that we were all disppointed by the lack of fun. So afterwards a group of us went to karaoke. They all live at Nishiwaseda dorm and we stopped by there first cos some people needed to get money or  leave their bag. I'd never been karaoke before and it was so much fun. We were only there for an hour and it woke me up after my long, exhausting day. I think the funnest song we sung was Hakuna Matata.

I left while some people were working out how much they owed each other since I was the only person going home elsewhere and had a long journey ahead of me. But when I got to the station I realised that I didn't have enough money to get home. I'd used a different bag to the one the day before and must've forgot to put in my cash cos I only had coins and they didn't add up to enough, so I quickly sent an email to Marion, Eszter and Chee Seng and walked back towards them. I felt so stupid, especially when everyone that had gone karaoke with us came. I only needed 190Yen. In the end I borrowed 200 from Chase, who I met just that night and barely spoke to. Much appreciated.

Wednesday
After having to borrow money to get home last night, I finally bought myself a suica card (like an oyster card back home except it doesn't make your travel fare any cheaper) and a commuter's pass so that I can travel as many times as I need between Takadanobaba and Nishi Kawaguchi stations.


I don't remember whether anything interesting happened on this day. Again I only had one lesson at period 4. This might've been the day I went to a film circle meeting with Chee Seng. It was really, very awkward because even though they were one of the few groups that attended the "freshers' fayre" only one of them could speak English, sort of fluently, while the others only knew the odd word from when they had to learn it in high school. They seemed like a really nice bunch and I exchanged keitai profiles with the guy that helped translate the conversations for us but I don't plan on attending another meeting.

Thursday
My day off but I went to campus anyway. First I went to the central library to try find a copy of Oedipus. The catalogue told me tha I had to go down to the second basement floor but it wasn't accessible by elevator and the sign by the stairs going down said that it'd take you to the first floor. So I was very, terribly confused about where to go and thought that perhaps I'd just read the info wrong and I had to find a section labelled B2F.. Eventually I asked at the info desk and was told to go down to the first floor, the research collections, where they'd guide me. Downstairs you have to put your bag in a locker and leave your umbrella outside. They provide baskets so that you may bring the stuff you require to work. I showed my ID, was given a tag to identify what kind of student I was and pointed in the direction of the stairs. I walked down to the second basement level and found myself in a dark corridor where the study rooms only had a small window at the top of the wall and one behind the person seated at waist height. Very prison-like.

It was a while before I found any people after reacing this floor and I was quite creeped out walking around this massive library. The map was a little difficult to understand at first. I had to walk around and check where I was at each map I found to work out which direction was which. The book I had been loking for was on the top shelf and I had to climb onto a step ladder to be able to stretch and reach for it.

As soon as I could, I made my way to building 11 and bumped into Kaytlin. She wasn't aware of the SILS office having thrown us SP3 students a pizza party, then we met one of her friends who'd corrected me, telling me that the pizza party was in building 22. We arrive 10 minutes late and most of the pizza had gone. Apparently a large pizza costs around £30 here and these were Domino's pizzas. They'd ordered loads! The toppings were unlike the kind we're used to. I had slices with broccoli, one with chilli sauce and prawns, one with lots of sliced spring onion and one with slices of potato and  grated permasan.

Afterwards, some of us walked over to the Okuma Garden House where we were to get our free health check. This consisted of:
1. filling out several documents
2. getting registered
3. getting a chest x-ray taken
4. having a urine sample tested
5. getting our height and weight measured
6. having our eyesight tested
7. having our blood pressure measured
8. an interview on our general health and well being

My health is fine and we'll only be contacted about our x-rays if there are any abnormalities. That means I won't get to see it. This is probably the second x-ray I've had (the first being of my teeth) and I've not seen any x-rays of myself.

Righto. wowzas it's late. I missed breakfast and have only eaten half an onigiri (that I'd left in he fridge for too long) and a banana, so I'm gonna by an early lunch then go to the one bank in Tokyo that deals with Western Union. I'll try update you on Friday and the weekend later on.