Hello hello hello everyone,
So... my first week was a pretty bumpy ride. My initial culture shock was sort of quadrupled by the fact that I had no way to contact my family immediately beyond pay phones. Admittedly, the office at my dormitory has done their best to accomodate everyone here- there is one (1) international payphone in the lobby that hates me and would accept my phone card but no numbers would work, not even local ones. There was no internet, which was sort of a surprise for me because I was banking on having video skype as soon as I arrived. I was pretty pissed off, actually, because no one warned me about this... this, and everyone who actually lives on Port Island apparently hates this dormitory because most of the students are idiots and blast music at 4 in the morning while drinking.
Money works weird here. I was forewarned, but I wasnt prepared. Its hard to keep track of money; It isnt that my spending is out of control, its that so much of it is lost to change, but then you NEED the change to get on trains and work vending machines, which are everywhere, but I am trying to avoid that habit or else only get juice or water from them.
A grab bag of observations before this hour runs out:
- all of the guys here dress very effeminately. Upon reflection, guys in the states nowadays who are somewhat wealthy and fashionable also do this, so whatever. I am not sure how to explain this, but I think it is an interesting, is somewhat frivolous, quality of life here.
- ordering food is the hardest part of being a foreigner, but here models of the food in a restaurant are displayed outside and you can just point and say *kore, onegaishimasu*
-I have so many freaking 10 yen pieces. I have at least 500 yen worth. Even if I get a drink with this every day, the amount would exponentially grow. I must be missing something here, so feel free to explain.
That`s all for now! I will probably update again tomorrow with pictures, and I will update much more frequently when I get internet on the 22nd of this month (sooo far away, I just have to deal.
~Peace and Love
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2 comments:
"this, and everyone who actually lives on Port Island apparently hates this dormitory because most of the students are idiots and blast music at 4 in the morning while drinking."
Is this a UGA dorm, or did you just happen to luck your way into a dorm full of assholes? And don't forget to throw all those ten-piece yen coins in the trash, or else you won't be able to buy anything.
No way, definitely not a UGA dorm, but it could pass off for one. I guess I dont care about all of the stuff that bothers me because with the money I save on this place I can buy whatever I want and travel wherever I want. Its nice.
In the trash? Wat?
Yeah, ten-yen pieces are only good for vending machines. I have it clearly figured out: 10000 yen bills are used for big purchases or to break into smaller bils, which everyone does, 5000 and 1000 yen are for food and drinks, 500 and 100 yen coins are for train tickets, 50 yen coins are useful for rounding out purchase costs, 10 yen coins pile inside of your pocket and weigh you down and help you buy drinks, and 1 yen coins are so worthless that they actually behave like plastic by floating in water.
Thats actually all pretty accurate.
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