Japan 2

       So week one of training is nearly over!!! Thank God! If I have to pretend to be a child or sit on the floor any longer, I swear.... oh wait, that’s pretty much what my job now entails. Long gone are RFP counts and RAM upgrades, although just like now, I worked with children... that means you Sean :) Play, play, play! Tomorrow is my first day observing a class and the day after will be my first time teaching. Stay tuned for how that turns out :S

My body is giving me the big ol’ middle finger. It’s a combination of walking everywhere, carrying around a heavy bag, sitting on the floor all day, topped off with sleeping on the floor. If I attempt to roll out of bed, I don’t really get anywhere. Some would say I get to the floor, I would say that’s still my bed. This is what I get for trash talking sleeping conditions when camping. But honestly, if you have a bad back or suspect you may be on the path to getting one, DO NOT COME TO JAPAN. Sure the oversized tub allows you to soak in the best way possible (up to your chin) but good luck trying to figure out which bag contains epsom salts at the grocery store. Sugar bath anyone?

I did take the subway once which went fairly smoothly, although I think that was because I followed behind and copied what my subway-experienced friends did. It was not crammed like that youtube video but I discovered that they have female-only carts for the days that it is. Girls don’t usually grope girls in Japan, I’m assuming. How considerate of them! The bus, however, was a different story. Still blindly following, I threw my money in but the bus-driver stopped me. I blankly stared as he tried to explain something to me. Long story short, the stupid machine ate one of my 50 yen coins and so he thought I did not put enough in. Joe came to my rescue because the only thing that could make this any worse was not having anymore change... ya... Oh and the man I sat beside was old and smelled like dead feet. Dead cheesy feet. 

On the plus side.... I have started to pick up some Japanese!! Some of my favorite words include hot-toes (pigeon), sue-betty-died (slide), and hya (think Karate kid) - ku (one hundred). 

I’ve also taken up running again which feels amazing! Actually it feels pretty horrible because of the conditions listed above but that’s usually the next morning when I’m struggling to get off the floor, I mean - get out of bed. It’s started to cool down which is great because traffic smells slightly less offensive and I can safely wear my long sleeve Lulu pullover. Why is this last point important? Well.... it turns out that walking around in Japan in a tank top is almost the equivalent to walking around naked with offensive tattoos all over your body AND nipple rings. Girls here wear underwear as shorts but lord help us if they show shoulder. I wish I had known this as I packed all my tanks and left all my t-shirts behind :S P, the amount of tanks that I brought has nothing to do with anything... just saying. What do I do with all my lulu workout tanks now? Shhhh, P! Wear them under all the lulu workout tees everyone is going to send me???

I ran my first time in Japan with Kyle. Kyle likes to explore. Kyle wanted to explore this park a few blocks over. It was dark out. The park had many trees. Trees have spiders in them. The park had no lights. Joanna asked Kyle to leave the stupid scary park. Kyle obliged. Kyle explored the next day by himself. He got lost. Joanna ran today up one street and back down. No exploring past dark. She did not get lost :) Ha, Kyle, ha! Needless to say, exploring would be pretty cool because of all the random temples situated amongst the most random buildings. Exploring with a map of course!

I also tried sushi for the first time. It was from the supermarket and half-priced at the end of the day... meaning it was the crappier kind that you can find here. It was DELICIOUS!!! No need to say more. I think there was a sliver of cucumber in it. That is probably the only vegetable I will have this week. It’s sad but vegetables are THAT expensive :S I don’t even like them much but feel sad about not eating them. Apples are about $1.50 each... just a tad bigger than what you get at home. Bananas seem to be the cheapest fruit so I’ll eat lots of those and I’ve developed the craziest craving for grapefruit juice. I dream of it day-in, day-out. 

Lastly, for anyone that cares, I do apologize for not coming online more often. Turns out interneto is worse than dial up here. Dial up in the case of your phone cable being chewed by the cat as you try to connect. It works about once every 2 days and when it does it’s slower than the Japanese grandmothers that walk the streets here. Video chatting works for about 3 mins.... the time it takes to get anyones attention online. I’m hoping that internet will be a tad better once I get to my city. Stay tuned... only 2 more weeks!