So...I'm in Japan.
Really.
JAPAN.
I had forgotten how much I LOVE this place.
For those of you who live with me--I know that sounds absurd to say, but it is nonethless the truth.
Things have been a little hectic and strange since the airport shuttle picked me up at my front door at 4:30 in the morning on friday. S (who will hereafter be referred to as Sasaki) and I somehow managed to be bumped out of our sets next to each other and we suffered through the whole flight alone. We GOT there OK, though, and everything went smoothly until Sasaki somehow managed to leave one of her small carrybags on the train--and of course it wasn't her camera or anything like that. It was (why would it be anything else, I ask you?) her passport, railpass AND social security card. Disaster. Calamity. Taihen. Calamari.
Katamari?
Perhaps a bisaster sapoot system is in order. Or out of order. No one can tell.
At any rate, after trying to deal with all of that (THANK
HEAVENS we both speak Japanese!) We made it to our (tiny) hotel room! Seriously, we're staying at a posh place and I think we're sleeping in the broom closet. Have I mentioned that I love Japan? All that matters, though, is that the beds are sugo~~~~~ku comfortable and there's a western style toilet and something that resembles a shower--kind of.
I can't get far enough away to display how
small this place seriously is. TINY.
Sasaki-Kun modeling the loo facilities.
At any rate--we spent sunday at church and in the company of Sasaki's host family from four years ago. WONDERFUL people. Just so warm and kind and willing to help and genuinely friendly. Their two boys are a complete delight. One is seven and the other is five and the two made me laugh harder than any comedy team I have ever seen. Our new names are a gift from the youngest--that is why "S" is now Sasaki-kun and I have gone from Chazi to Chahan-kun.
Why? NO one knows.
Electric green soda for breakfast.
Why not? And I can't get this photo to not be sideways. LAME, I SAY!
Today we went to the Embassy to get Sasaki's passport replaced. She had called them several times to be sure of the location and procedure so we thought we were ready to go! After being practically strip-searched by the very polite and very firm Japanese guards outside the Embassy (seriously, we ran into one a block away who stopped us and asked our business. We were like "WOW.") we got inside and I sat at a table and tried to play Sudoku whilst Sasaki filled out form after form. Then she was called up...and came back five minutes later, passportless. Turns out she can't get one until wednesday, and needs to make a police report first and stand on her head, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in pig-latin whilst eating peeps. Of course, Sasaki CAN'T eat peeps, so this was an impossibility.
No, it was just a giant hassle and we wondered as we splashed back through the pouring rain WHY they couldn't have told Sasaki this ON THE PHONE during one of the THREE TIMES she CALLED THEM. So we wasted a whole morning going into Tokyo. But, that's life.
After we went back to Yokohama and made the police report and found some food and did Purikura, which is this amazing little photo-booth-on-steroids-and-a-sugar-high, the shopping demon that lives inside me reared its ugly head and I dragged Sasaki through the anime store and then the book shop.
NO I will not tell you how much money I spent! HOW RUDE.
Anyway, we're back at the hotel now waiting to meet MY host family for dinner, and I am SO excited to see them! I love them dearly!
We just got back from eating dinner with my host family. I love those guys--they are just amazing and sweet and funny. I pulled several "Chazis" as they are called in that family--I had forgotten I had an international reputation! People in America say "You just did a Chazi!" and my host family said this, after they were done laughing their heads off after I had managed to drop a piece of meat down underneath the yakiniku grill (which they'd never seen anyone manage to do before) "Chazi da kara!" Meaning, "because she's Chazi!" I recall now that they always used to say that when I lived with them for one silly thing or another I managed to get into, and it cracked me up that it came up again like that, right away!
Sasaki-kun has been labeled Chazi #2. :3 She deserves it. And now--bed. Thank heavens, the jetlag is murder!
<3>
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12 comments:
Char-
Looks like you're having a blast, combined with the usual hassles of traveling. I'm still visiting Max but fly home tonight. I hope I don't leave something I need sitting on the seat of the plane.
Our hearts are with you
Love
Dad
hey that was dad commenting before, oh, I guess you can tell.
Looks like fun! Even with all the fiasco--and fiasco is necessary on any trip of this magnitude. Be glad you're getting it over with early.
As are kalamaris, katamaris and chazis.
So glad you're posting what you're doing. I didn't know much about your first time out there, but already I feel more a part of it than ever!
Love you, miss you, and you're funny.
Ginna
Hey! Looks like you're having a blast! I'm so glad, because honestly? You deserve it. I love the pictures, and I love the way you tell it. :-) Come back safe, though! We miss you here! :-D
Hey~!!!Chazi!
This is Saori!
I'm so glad to hear that you're in Japan and you're having so much fun!
We're going to Japann in May for 2 months! (I'll takes 4 kids without my hubby....Suicide mission....)
Check out my blog when you have time! It's in Japanese. http://ameblo.jp/sarisuke
Take care and have fun!
Dude, what the FREAK are you doing in Japan?!?! I wish I was in Japan, but, you know, I don't think the midwife would exactly approve. ^_^;; You have all the fun! :D :P
Maru
URAYAMASHII!!
Well, not for all of it. Sorry you guys had to deal with all that stuff. It'll make the trip that much more memorable.
ARRRRRRGGGGHHHH, I'm soooooo sad I am stuck here going to school!! I hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly. You guys are gonna have so much fun.
Karaoke soon? :3
So I know this sounds ridiculous.
I had no idea you were going. I told Nan that and she knew. Then we realized I sat with Alexis and Sydney the other day at Gigi's house. I must have missed the talk then.
The green soda stuff reminds me of stuff I would drink in the morning in Brazil. Guarana is so wonderful. At least my mission taste buds thought it was.
Have a good trip!
SISTER-CHAAAAAAAN!
I Love it! and I'm so happy you're able to keep a positive attitude through the whole sillyness ordeal.
:D
Hey guess what! Y'know sticking the tongue out? like this: :P
Well how about licking your CHOPS?? P:
Haha!
I love you! Thanks for blogging, I love to hear your experiences. I thought about you yesterday because we watched part of a Noh play in class. And it rocked.
Love!
GRRRRR, that Katie comment was me. one of my FRIENDS didn't log out of their account after using my COMPUTER!
:)
P: (teehee, I love it)
M
Holy cow! You're in Japan! Well. As you probably read from my last ji-normous letter (nay, novel) I'll be following you this May; not next year as previously planned. I can't wait to get there! I can't tell if this entry was your first entry, but I'm going to assume that it is. Maybe, like I said, I can't tell.
So are you there just visiting you're old host family, or is this another study abroad trip?
If it's just a vacation, and you have some time, and you're there in May, we should try and bump into each other - just concentrate reeeeally hard on me and maybe, just maybe, it might happen. I'll be in the Tokyo/Kyoto areas.
K...going back to read the other entries. I thought I spotted art.
(I erased my last comment because it was riddled with spelling errors). Not this one is pristine but at least it's better....someday I'd like to get adequate Grammar skills. It certainly would make communication easier. :)
That green soda look thoroughly inedible...and possibly radioactive.
I hope it was just for picture-taking purposes, because I can't imagine it inside a human.
That stinks about the passport. But it makes a good story! And as far as I know, it had a happy ending anyway.
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