Gaming Debut

Oh man, weekends here pass by so quickly! Friday after work, I headed over to Roppongi to chill and drink with friends.  Although I was seriously considering going home and going to sleep, I ended up going to a club called Feria with them and staying until the first train at 5:20am. I was happy to be in a place with deafening music and pulsing lights, but was also thoroughly disgusted by the sheer amount of middle-aged male creepers looking for young female prey. I was also very disappointed by the quality of dancing, which makes me sound like a pompous ass, but hot girls in tight dresses bouncing up and down like oompa-loompas is just depressing. I've been told that dancing in Japanese clubs is often a little more on the non-existent side, but the dance culture here is also supposed to be prominent? How does that work someone please explain. Anyway, I got quite drunk fairly quickly and spent the night happily, not giving many shits about anything. The night ended not so great though, as one of my friends got into some trouble with an aggressive guy who was forcing himself on her, and a bouncer that kicked them out, shouted at them, and slapped the guy several times across the face. The only good part of the story was when she, being the nice person she is, actually tried to help out the guy, claiming that he wasn't just a random guy, but actually "her boyfriend since yesterday". LOL. What a good person, but that jackass didn't deserve her kindness. The bouncer also tried to take her pants off while shouting at her....there is no way we are going back to that shit hole.  

On Saturday I woke up late and after doing nothing for a long time, met up with my friend in Shibuya for some ramen, arcade games, and karaoke.  A very chill and relaxing Saturday for sure. At the arcade we played some DBZ and a lot of otoge (music based games, short for "ongaku gemu") which were awesome- they have so many different kinds! We also played this thing called Dance Evolution - which is basically like Dance Central, but the moves barely repeat.  Most people who play have the dances somewhat memorized before playing in front of people....We didn't. Jesse and I picked two random songs (one girl-dance and one guy-dance) and threw our bodies around in a fruitless attempt to match the dancers on screen. Thank god I couldn't watch myself. By the end, some people had gathered around us watching, and one guy clapped and gave us thumbs up lmao...people are too kind here haha. Karaoke was interesting, we went to a sketchy place with attendants that looked like they hated their job, and we attempted to sing many songs in Japanese. Emphasis on attempted. Then I Skyped with Randi, Weiwei, and Eunice for a while when I got back! It was so nice to see them and talk about stupid things together :) 

Sunday I woke up for a Skype call with my family! My mom kept reminding me every few minutes to get more sleep though >_> which means I probably shouldn't be blogging this right now at 2am...later that day I met up with Kristin and Jesse for a super late lunch (hello 4pm) and some light window shopping. When Kristin left to meet up with her host family, Jesse and I naturally ventured into an arcade again and gamed for a while.  Then we found a billiards place and played for an hour, which felt great! I haven't played in so long...but the concept of actually paying money to play is difficult for me to understand after being spoiled by the abundance of pool tables at school. Either way, I'll probably still play a lot this summer even if it robs me T_T. Guess what we did after pool? MORE ARCADE AW YEEEE. This time for some good ol' DDR (where I learned that I didn't actually have to return to the center position after each note...good to know) For dinner Jesse got katsudon and I got spicy gyudon stuff, which I was pleasantly surprised to find was actually a bit spicy. Spicy food is quite hard to find in Japan. During dinner I also managed to pour a bowl of miso soup over my already water damaged phone, but that wonderfully tenacious device survived <3 We also got punch cards....only 9 more meals there until we get one for free! 

I decided that I need to change my shitty lifestyle, so today was Day 1 of new-Sonya. Aka an independent woman, leading a healthy existence as she lives life to the fullest! I supposed today's attempt wasn't too bad. I woke up early for a short morning run.  What was supposed to be a relaxing 2km jog turned into a frantic 6km run when I got completely lost and ran for a long time in the wrong direction. Long story short, I was late for work, felt nauseous all day, and ended up legitimately falling asleep for 15 minutes during work.  My legs are even sore already. Why is being healthy so hard??

Speaking of my legs (good transition, I know), tomorrow Kristin and I are going to a dance workshop being taught by...S**t Kingz!!!! O__O. It's going to be way hard, but I almost don't even care. I'm just so excited to see them in person and be able to take their class!! WAHWAHWAH. Yes, I'm a fangirl. 

I call this collage, "Parallels". Why, you ask? JUST LOOK AT IT. Bottom two on the left are pricelessly similar, and the middle two aren't too far apart either. The one in the middle bottom is my co-worker who I had lunch with today. Communication was interesting. He speaks Chinese and Japanese fluently and some English. I speak English fluently and some Chinese and Japanese lol. Right pic is a facade of a ramen place that I thought looked p sick. Also it's the only picture that fit that long shape lol. 

A building I thought looked awesome...but doesn't look so awesome in this picture. // Path I ran on this morning during my 6km adventure. // A cat pawing at internet cables(?) // Takoyaki! I went with Cat downstairs for dinner to this little bar right underneath our apartment. Seemed like a super chill place...we are determined to friend the owners! Today we awkwardly didn't talk to them much but sat at the counter. fail. // Middle is the Roppongi friday crew going konbini hopping // POOOOOL. // Really boss MaiMai players who kept scoring above 100%....wtf. // Spicy gyudon and the soup that was almost the death of my phone. // Jesse playing Sound Vortex! 

Catwalk

Whew, last week really flew by @__@ I spent all week working on different models. One was a 1:50 ratio restaurant (aka it was huge and pain in the ass to make) and another was a 1:1000 ratio of a small town (aka it was minuscule and a pain in the ass to make). Besides for that, since Cat has arrived, time passes by quite quickly after work as well. We checked out a yakitori place across the street from our apartment on Monday - unfortunately I didn't get home from work until after 11pm, but thankfully the place was open till midnight~ Their yakitori was super delicious, the perfect blend of lean and fat, of seasoning and grease.  They also had these awesome potato skewers that were drenched in a lake of butter. It was insane, but somehow super satisfying at the same time. Cat decided that if she ever went to jail on death row, she would pick it as her last meal, and she was devastated when they took the plate of butter away before she had finished her potatoes.

Skip forward a bit...and it was Friday! Woohoooo! After a long wonderfully satisfying day of work, I met up with Cat and Daniel in Shinjuku for dinner and adventures.  After eating at a cool place with a touch-tablet ordering system, we hit Kabukicho to revel in the Friday night rush of people. After walking around for a billion years, we gave in to one of the clubs that was trying to get us to come in (haggling the price down of course ^_^). The scene was a little sad, not too many people, and no one dancing except for two girls pole dancing (they weren't half bad and could do some tricks) and one dude in a corner trying to bust some serious moves. The girls left, and after downing some drinks we joined corner-man on the half empty dance floor.  The music was good, the lights were good, maybe I wasn't nearly tipsy enough to not care, but I was tipsy enough to not care about the fact that I cared. Maybe that was sufficient.  After a while, we left, much to the dismay of one of the servers who kept making eyes at Cat. Instead of staying out all night, we decided to go back home and kick back with a good Japanese movie. We picked a Google recommended one, Crows Zero, and bought a bottle of cheap-ass (and disgustingly strong (or was it strongly disgusting?)) sake.  The movie was about a bunch of high school boys forming different gangs and beating the shit out of one another. I think they tried to be deep and kind of failed, but the fighting was good, and so were the pretty faces :) I mean, it wasn't nearly as numerous as in love dramas, but with every character being a delinquent brawler? I'll take what I can get.

Saturday was beautiful.  Mainly because I woke up at 2:30pm. I went to Yoyogi park for a Jamaican festival, didn't actually find the main stage, but walked around and enjoyed the mass amounts of people outside picnicking and playing sports.  There were street performers and food vendors, and the weather was great. Soon I met up with some friends at a British pub, and had my first food of the day at 6pm: alcohol.  After a while, we walked over to Shinjuku to meet up with some more people and go to Ni-chome together, aka the gay district. We went to this ballin' club called Arty Farty (lmao) which was absolutely packed. No cover charge, relatively cheap drinks, good music, bright lights, and a fog machine. Yes. It was leaps and bounds better than the previous night's club, and I got to see many attractive dancing men all crammed into one space. One of my friends who had probably consumed at least 8 beers by this point, got very drunk and spacey all of a sudden.  We left shortly thereafter and slowly walked back to the station. Although my friend was smashed, he didn't fail to stop being entertaining. He offered a couple of guys some Hi-chews, and continued to insist until one guy gave in and hesitantly took one. Apparently he's done this before a couple times and it's the first time someone has accepted his kindness. So naturally he was extremely excited by those events. Also at one point he asked some people "Where is the beer?" while looking for a bathroom. When we pointed out that he meant bathroom, he simply replied that they were the same thing. After dropping him off at the station, we settled down to karaoke from 12am-5am. @_@ I don't know how I still had a voice after that. I finally made it home a little before 6, and of course decided to spend the next three hours reading manga. I actually read a really good one called "Watashitachi no shiawase na jikan" which translates to "Our Times of Happiness." For anyone looking for a good, short read, I recommend you check it out~

On Sunday after a wonderful two hour sleep (nap?) I woke up and headed south to Kamakura to meet up with Kristin and two of her Todai friends. Apparently the trip is supposed to take an hour and 50 minutes, but four transfers and two hours and a half later, I finally arrived!  I met them at a place called Enoshima, a really cute and old island.  Once I arrived at the station, it's a short ten minute walk across a long bridge that leads straight to the island.  Enoshima is steep, with winding streets running uphill, lined by little shops and packed with people.  I was a little grumpy from the long and confusing train rides, but being in such a lively place, surrounded by the beautiful sea, cheered me up right away.. It was a nice change of pace to not be in the city for once.  I met them at a cute seafood restaurant and had a giant bowl of raw-fish-don.  I forget what it was actually called, but I think that name sums it up pretty well.  I met Tomoki, and a girl who's name I can't remember since she had to leave 10 minutes after I arrived.  Kristin kept trying to teach them slang such as "gettin' it on", "hook up", and "thug life".  It was pretty amusing haha. We then went to Kamakura to see the Giant Buddha and walked around with green tea and taro ice cream, talking about random things and learning words like "immortality" in Japanese.  I was very content. Tomoki went home, but me and Kristin went to Yokohama and strolled around some more. The night scenery is quite nice, especially since there is a giant rainbow ferris wheel by the river, and the water melts and mixes all the colors to make it look even more psychedelic. The cityscape is sort of strange and sparse, with random giant buildings popping out of nowhere, making the area seem extremely spacious and open. It was kind of weird and cool at the same time. We settled down at a Starbucks for a bit before heading our separate ways, and on the train home I kept passing out every two seconds. Honestly I don't remember what I did after I got back.  I think I was stupid and read more manga instead of sleeping. @_@ And now that I look at the clock, apparently I didn't learn my lesson then. I've been falling asleep at work all week! What is self control? I don't know.

Jesse carries around his Japanese book to make his bag more full...Cat and her beloved potatoes.  At a Chinese restaurant near our apartment- a wonderful find. Even though it's still Asian food, it felt so good and familiar to eat it. Dinner & clubbing! Lol the two pictures are so similar.

Enoshima/Kamakura day! Big picture for the big Buddha. A really strange tree that I found more interesting than I probably should have. Selfie with the Buddha makes it look so much smaller...ICE CREAM. Gate leading up the island. Walkway en route to island. Trying to koala a large tree. Selfie with a banana tree, and you can see the ferris wheel in the distance! Awesome metal birds that were a part of the railing, then they put clothes on it.  Probably another thing that I find more interesting that I should lol. 

Of course, the obligatory food collage. I actually was strict this time around and there were a lot of pics that didn't make the cut. From top left: Chicken katsudon!!! Mozzerella burger. Margarita pizza. Fancy sushi lunch. (all four of those are work-day lunches) MANGO PUDDING at Hakata Mangetsu in Shibuya. Midnight yakitori. Delicious broccoli/sundried tomato/mozzarella panini I had at Mermaid Cafe lmao. Grilled eel-don - was so good, but the portions were minuscule! Giant bowl of raw-fish-don at Enoshima! 

Drinking boba (famous taiwanese place opened near work!) while model building. Line of drummers at Yoyogi park! SESAME BALLS @_@ Raspberry Lassi I had at a cafe earlier tonight.  I ended up staying there for almost two hours, creeping and drawing random people- it was so relaxing! The star photo: a man walking his cat. Ebisu Shrine. Coworker Shigyo-san and our delicious lunches. Met up with Shirley from my Japanese class for drinks and snacks, she came to Japan with them last year, but is only here for vacation this time. It's sad, but it felt weird to finally talk to her in English lmao. And last but not least, my colony of tiny-ass foam and paper houses. You can't tell from this photo, but I had to perforate each roof so I could fold little dips and rises depending on what house type it was.

Ah, it's actually been almost two weeks since I've blogged...today is already friday! Ready for another eventful weekend! ..or maybe I should just sleep. >__> Good night~

Now Is Forever

Thirsty Thursday, wet Wednestday...tinkle Tuesday? I don't even know if there's a name for it, but sadly enough my dinner tonight consisted of fries, a little ice cream, and much alcohol.  After work (I left before 8pm! A record!!!), I went to Shinjuku and joined some people for three hours of karaoke and drinks...ah feels good to let go after two days of hard work. 

Yesterday I was in charge of drawing the master plan for the Bali resort development.  They printed a large paper full of buildings and I had to drawn a billion trees (literally a billion) and then color in the whole damn thing- it took 10 hours straight.  By the end, my eyes were swimming and my hand was permanently dented where I had been holding the colored pencils.   Honestly I probably would've finished two hours earlier at least, but my boss thought it'd be an awesome idea to distinguish the topography as well as include geographically accurate shadows. @__@ The day finally ended at 9:30 and I set out to get some food in my very empty stomach.  I wandered into a random Korean restaurant and ordered this interesting bulgolgi hot pot dish, and by dish, I mean massive pot of food. I was worried that I'd only be able to eat half of it...but there was no need since I demolished it.  By the end, there was only a thin layer of broth left in the pot.. Recently I've noticed that my stomach has gotten really good at waiting patiently until meal times, when it then turns into a black hole.  It's actually pretty convenient...idk about healthy. Must be because of my super irregular meal times lately.

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I know my eating habits and the details of my internship are really riveting, but I'm pleasantly surprised if you are still reading this post lol. Anyway, I typed that up a week ago (surprise, not really), and since then, I've had another fun weekend! Therefor gg, this is only the halfway point of the post (maybe not even). 

So this weekend, Richard came to Tokyo to visit on his way back to Boston! I met his friend Dan who is also here for an internship (even though we technically had a class together last semester haha) On Thursday we went to Roppongi, ate kebabs, drank beer, and played pool.  It was a glorious and relaxing Thursday night. At one point, we were set on going to Hooters for dinner....but Roppongi hooters turned out looking more like a sketchy black-light bar owned by large men and no female waitresses in sight... Then on Firday, Richard wanted to go to this party called Gaitomo which literally means "foreigner friend" and we ended up meeting some girls there (yay Richard)! (Most of the guys were creepy middle-aged white dudes who were extremely touchy with the Japanese girls. Disgusting.) After a while we asked this one girl named Asaka if she wanted to grab some dinner with us.  She's in the same year as us in college and was super nice. We exchanged contact information and parted ways. I hope I will see her again this summer! It's kind of new for me to befriend absolute strangers at random events, but it's sort of nice, especially since I'm actually using Japanese and she understood me!! (A big cause for celebration, trust me.) 

Saturday was a really good day. I woke up late (good start to a good day) and made my way to Akihabara to meet up with Richard, Dan, and 8 of Dan's coworkers at... a maid cafe! There were cute girls with ginormous eyes dressed up in maid outfits playing card games, taking pictures, and serving people food (while calling them "master"). I think the best part was that every time someone's order was brought to them, the whole table had to make a heart with their hands and chant "moe moe kyunn~" while swaying the heart from side to side and ultimately blasting(?) the heart in the direction of the food. The first time it happened, I burst into hysterics, but I got accustom to it extremely quickly, and before long I was blasting love at all the food like a pro. After the maid cafe, we went to a shop that was filled with 150 different capsule machines! Each was stuffed with different character goods. It was strange to me since those machines always seems to be a sideline commercial endeavor, but here, it made up the whole format of the store. After visiting the biggest electronics store in Akiba, we settled down at an Izakaya, which is a restaurant that serves small servings of food and a lot of alcohol. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Two and a half hours later, I left with a very satisfied stomach, ready for some karaoke. As soon as Dan's coworkers sang the first note of the first song, I was blown away. Some of them were so good I felt like I was at a live concert! It was also fun (and slightly embarrassing) to try to sing some Japanese songs that I've only ever listened to before. It was pretty hard to read the lyrics, and I honestly felt like I was just making up sounds that sort of went with the melody. Kind of like a toddler lol, but they were very nice and applauded me anyway :) After an awkward group photo in the subway, I went to Shinjuku with R and D. We walked, basking in the bright lights, before hitting up an arcade (Richard went nuts over the DBZ game) and taking some Purikura. 

Sunday was Harajuku day! The streets were absolutely packed, and Cat (My roommate!!), Kristin, Jesse, and I slowly waded through the throng of people going down Takeshita Street. Harajuku is such a great place for people watching. Goth lolitas, hot pink sailor uniforms, brightly dyed hair and crazy piercings abound. And on the less intense side of the fashion spectrum, generally stylish and really good looking people. I did a lot of staring. Hopefully those people were flattered instead of creeped out. We wandered through different stores looking at all of the cute clothes, but there was so much and so many stores that I was just kind of busy trying to take it all in. Next time I go, I will actually do some hardcore money-spending on that street. We went to one of Jesse's favorite stores, Up-Start which is pretty sick.  They have a signature design that goes on most of their clothing: a little face that has a pull out tongue.  Some are small, around the size of your thumb, but some tongues can be larger than your hand. It was awesome. We then ventured into 6%dokidoki, a small store crammed with enough color for a whole neighborhood. I ended up getting this earring (in black and silver). I'm so unreasonably happy with my earlobe saying dokidoki that I don't even regret spending $24 on it. We also went into a sticker shop called B-side Label.  The walls are lined with all different designs, ranging from cute bigheaded animals to half naked women with giant boobs. Man, designing stickers all day that hordes of people flock to buy seems like living the dream. @_@

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Currently sitting in my room typing this thing up at 3:30 am.  I accidentally fell asleep, but awoke to a giant yelling match going on outside my window. I watched as an old woman angrily screamed and hit a young man while his wife tried to go between the two, ultimately getting hit instead. She's for the most part calmed down now, but is currently demanding an apology, and getting louder by the second. I really hope she doesn't lose it again, it was kind of terrifying. Speaking of terrifying, about an hour ago, the whole apartment shook back and forth for about 30 seconds. I think it was probably a mini earthquake, or maybe aftershocks from the two that apparently happened earlier today off the coast of Japan. I had thrown open the door in panic, preparing to wake up my roommate, but then it stopped so I slowly closed the door and sat back down. It seems like things have calmed down again (the fight), so I am going to sleep before they start up again. Hopefully those people sort it all out :\

Mexican lunch with a bunch of coworkers! Tsukemen, the beautiful, more mature cousin of Ramen. It's almost the same, but the broth is richer and separate from the noodles and toppings. It gives you so much control over how to eat it! At first I thought it was dumb, but once you start eating it, there's actually a difference. Also the giant bibimbop hot pot dinner I demolished single handedly. Lastly, this wonderful (and creepy) barbie mural at the Mexican place. 

Amazing omu-rice at this cute cafe called Sign. I have a coworker who goes there every day...I might join him on some days. Curry rice with egg and fried shrimp chunks. Kara-age aka fried chicken. Curry RAMEN. Two attractive men and an attractive kebab. Note book I recently bought, that will be filled with one drawing a day. Details in a future blog post lol.  

Akihabara day! I forgot what it's called, but there's this one dish where it's basically just rice soaked in green tea + toppings. Such a good way to get rid of second-day-rice. Ice cream, red bean, + mochi oh my @_@;; Lol awkward subway pic. Capsule shop. Roasting slices of stingray! Awesomely talented two-man group on the streets of Shinjuku. Selfie with the bright lights. And of course, DBZ gameesss. 

Harajuku! Dinner selfie~ mouth watering dessert we had at lunch (caramel fried toast topped with happiness). A giant panda bus that can BLINK. Green people parading the streets... Picture with the shop keepers of 6%dokidoki :D Awesome graffiti wall! 

Oberly Tight Obi

Yeessss, the weekend! ...has come and passed. And what a great weekend it was. Friday I came home from work and relaxed to the max by changing out of my drenched clothes into warm PJs (it was pouring animals outside) and starting the new season of So You Think You Can Dance while nibbling on some matcha cake. Truly glorious.

On Saturday morning I skyped with the ADT choreographers to discuss setlist, and with JennJenn for a bit too.  Then I rolled around on the tatami for a few hours being indecisive and building up enough activation energy. Finally at 6, I managed to leave my apartment for Shinjuku! Ate chashu ramen and hit up Kabukicho looking for billiards lol. What better way to spend a saturday night than by walking around in the red light district looking for pool? After wandering down some p sketchy parts (there are male escorts everywhere...), I finally managed to find the place. I settled down for some good ol' pool while sipping a grapefruit sour (I think it's just grapefruit vodka) The place had 27 tables (holy crap), a fancy interior complete with hot waiters in suits, and the #4 balls were pink! Somehow I just found that last one so fascinating, but looking back, it's not very interesting at all. This one guy playing at the table next to me looked over a few times, so eventually I asked him if he wanted to play a match, but he just got flustered and apologetically declined. Wtf man...maybe he was just super intimidated by my skills. Yeah that's definitely what it was.  :'D

This morning I skyped with my parents for a bit, and found out that they are entering a ballroom dancing competition! Go them!! I'm so excited for videos. In the afternoon I went to Aki-san's house (my Japanese Skype partner) to hang out.  Her mom made us super delicious snacks, and then I got to try on a kimono! The process is super complicated with several layers and different rules for putting them on. Then there's probably at least ten (tight) things that go around your waist (restricting your breathing capabilities) and a fancy knot to top it off.  I got to meet Aki-san's two friends, Yuka-san and O-san (who is Chinese) and after taking off the kimonos, we ate dinner (also prepared by her mom) and talked for several hours. I was really touched by their hospitality, and felt completely at ease by the end of the night. Then when we were walking back to the station, I got to see the Tokyo Tower all lit up! It was beautiful @_@

After enjoying a great weekend, I am ready to get back to work tomorrow!

Delicious jelly/redbean/vanilla and green tea ice cream/mochi snack! Indian chicken curry with my project team, celebratory last work day of the week dinner at a cute cafe, raaammeennnnn, pathetic dinner of McDonalds and $1 peach sake (which wasn't actually that great), and a nice traditional tempura lunch with the whole office! 

Kabukicho invaded by a sea of umbrellas, half of the billiards tables (they also have a row of darts and simulation golf..), and the Tokyo Tower all lit up! Apparently it is not usually blue, but Aki-san said it might be because of the World Cup. 

Kimono picture spam :)

Sardines and Nuts

Aaaah stretching my legs and kicking back at a ramen place near my work! Guess what time it is? 9:30. D: damn those people work late! When I left almost everyone was still there. The boss man told me that they often work 10-10, sometimes including Saturdays! Isn't that crazy? Since they have a big meeting with a client next week, a lot of them are staying even later this week. The architecture world is nuts. Yesterday was my first day and I was so exhausted by the time I got back to my apartment at 10 that I passed out before I could do anything. Eat sleep work. Now I'm in a packed train bound for home. Speaking of which, this morning I went to work in a train, packed like a sardine. The door was literally a centimeter away from crushing me, and I saw a couple of other commuters get eaten by the doors. Their trains are super frequent, but each one is always full to capacity in the morning and at night (even at 10pm...)- it's kind of terrifying. My commute is about an hour long so hopefully I make it home before 11! There is some peach sake waiting for me in the fridge that I'd really like to kick back and enjoy before losing consciousness.

But anyway, more about work! (besides for the ridiculous hours) I arrived yesterday and awkwardly had to introduce myself to everyone. Kobayashi-san (the boss man) spent my first hour there filling my head with all the projects they had worked on recently, which of course resulted in me remembering absolutely nothing. Then my super nice co-worker, Matsui-san, gave me a run down of the place, and after a while invited me to go eat lunch with her and a few other people. We talked in a mix of broken English and Japanese while scarfing down some delicious Thai food at an adorably exotic and cozy little restaurant nearby. I was so awkward but they were so nice! That afternoon I met my project manager who is very architecture looking with his glasses and button-downs. I immediately liked him since he seemed to find everything that anyone said very hilarious. I found that hilarious. I spent the afternoon (and evening) building a topographic model of a valley in Bali where they are currently working on a project. For dinner (at 9, ha.) I stopped by a place in Shinjuku on my way home and ate some katsudon. @__@ 

Today I worked on my model for most of the 11 hours I was there lol. Kawada-san (project manager that laughs a lot) took me to a (hipster) cafe for lunch! Inoue-san (another co-worker) was already eating there so we joined him. Both of them are really good at English so i chatted away. Apparently Inoue-san had been in the states for 6 years...no wonder. Also Kawada-san has been with the company for something like 8 years! I mean, some people stick with a company for 40 (especially in Japan), but it's still kind of crazy to me, that kind of life commitment, especially since he seems relatively young. 8 years ago I was just graduating elementary school...

By the way, expect a lot more food pics now that I'm living alone and only look forward to meals...JK that's so pathetic sounding, but really, expect lots of beautiful food pics, I'm planning on trying out a billion restaurants! Anyway, tomorrow I am supposed to give a presentation on some of my old projects, so I better go take a nap before work (lol it's 6:23 am...) Peach sake still waiting for me....

KATSUDON. Has this awesome egg mixture on top that makes the whole thing melt in your mouth. Ramen from tonight! Camera-shy co-workers (one from the states, one from Taiwan) + thai food. Delicious chicken curry / egg / rice / salad / grapefruit juice at the (hipster) cafe that Kawada-san took me to, with a guest appearance by Inoue-san

Refreshing Warmth

I’m currently typing up this blog in our room at Marukoma Onsen Ryokan (丸駒温泉旅館)! We’ve just finished a wonderful outdoor bath, and are now sitting in our yukata on tatami while waiting for them to bring us dinner. This trip to Lake Shikotsu has been such a relaxing experience!  

Yesterday we grabbed (a delicious) lunch at a ramen joint before heading out. The place was playing Top 40 (lmao) and they had a shelf of old manga that you could read while waiting for your food. I was a fan even before I got my amazing bowl of baisen miso ramen @_@ The chashu was so tender it practically melted in my mouth, and the noodles soaked up the flavor of the thick broth well. Anyway, we left the shop, and after a subway ride and train ride, we boarded a bus bound for Lake Shikotsu! I ended up sitting next to a nice old lady who chatted with me for a good portion of an hour, asking me about where I’m from, my family, my plans for post graduation, etc. Turns out that her daughter went to Penn State and is now teaching Japanese in Boston! What a small world. I think her short term memory was a little off though because she’d bring up the same questions multiple times, and be delighted at the answers again and again. She was so cute! The ride passed quickly and we arrived at Marukoma Onsen Ryokan! We immediately changed into our yukata and went to take a bath. After washing ourselves at the little washing stations, we toweled up and went through the doors to the outdoor open air bath. The view was amazing; You can gaze out on the lake and its surrounding mountains as you soak in the onsen. Steam slowly rises from the bath and you can feel slimy moss on your back, which at first was kind of freaky, but after a while felt pretty good haha. Dinner was an experience.  They come to your room and move your table out of the way.  Then they set a large tray in front of you, filled with a billion little compartments and tiny dishes. It’s kind of overwhelming. Check pics below to see what I mean. After dinner we entered a state of vegetation. We basically were laying on the ground unable to move. It was a pretty pathetic sight. Eventually they came, took away our trays and laid out the futon. I’m not really sure what happened after that since I was fading in and out of consciousness, but somehow I got ready for bed and made it back to my futon. 

The next day I woke up at 6:45 (sans alarm) and went to take an early morning bath. It was clear and bright, and the feeling of stepping into the steaming water while it was still chilly outside was AMAZING. I sat there gazing out into the lake until my head got foggy. Then I joined Sophie for a buffet style breakfast (they call it viking style here!) and after missing our first shuttle, caught the next one to Lake Shikotsu! We were planning to bike 11km to a mountain and then climb it….but the people at the information desk politely told us that was a bad idea and suggested a smaller mountain that was closer. THANK GOD we took their suggestion. Going up the mountain was a struggle, and so was coming down. (Today my hips are really feeling it lol) Just imagine if we had done the other mountain… @_@ But even though I was super out of shape, I still very much appreciated the beautiful scenery along the way and the awesome view at the top. The environment was calm and serene, with the only noises being us, cicadas, birds, and the occasional old Japanese hiker. Seriously, there were so many elderly people hiking that thing! I hope I can be that active when I reach that age. Kudos to them. We grabbed some lunch once we finished descending (Katsu curry!!!) and went to check out the lake. They had these hilarious things called hydro-bikes which were basically two bikes on top of three giant yellow banana-shaped floaters. Naturally we had to try it out. IT WAS PRETTY AWESOME. Definitely bananas > swans. All those couples in their little swan boats were probably teeming with jealously. I don’t blame them. Anyway, we eventually peddled back to shore and grabbed some ice cream (meeelooonnn) before browsing the shops. Once we got back to Marukoma, we hit the baths again (is that even good for my skin anymore?) and returned to our room to wait for our second dinner. That’s when I technically started this blog post, but that was two days ago lol. 

Long story short, we had another beautiful dinner and breakfast (oh, and another bath lol) before setting out on a bus to New Chitose Airport. Bought more ice cream at the airport and before we knew it, we were in Tokyo!! 5 hours after we got to the airport, we finally got to my apartment in Shinjuku. Jesus lord the lease signing process and public transportation took forever, but it was also further exacerbated by my terrible sense of direction (sorry Sophie D:) After changing into other clothes (the plan was to hit clubs) we made it to Shibuya for a delicious 11pm yakitori dinner. Food has never tasted so good at 11pm. Then we ventured to Shinjuku where we were planning to hit up Tokyo Loose. While we cluelessly stared at a map, a really nice stranger asked us if we needed directions, and ended up walking us to Kabuki-cho. He was a cook and we made small talk about life in Tokyo. He told us that club-goers here don’t usually get super dressed up, and that we should definitely be careful in that area. He seemed quite concerned and I suppose I can’t really blame him.  Although our internet resources claim Kabuki-cho to be “fairly safe”, we were a bit skeeved out by the random guys who approached us. One black guy came up to us twice and said gross lines like “lookin’ good babe” and “just my type”. I was so disgusted. We decided to not go to the club after all because we felt sketched out by the guy standing in front of it who waving and whistling at us, so we decided to hit up a karaoke place instead. Sang for two hours, went shopping for toilet paper and shampoo, and grabbed a taxi back at around 3. Also note that peach sake is mad delicious. Oh the wonderful things that Japan has @_@

The next day, (now yesterday) was Sophie’s last day with me :( after lunch, we went to the station and grabbed some delicious desserts (strawberry tart and mango jelly.. parfait) before saying a tearful goodbye (okay there weren’t real tears involved, but it was still very sad). 

The following passage I wrote later that day:

Sitting at a tendon tempura fast food joint near Shinjuku station, waiting for my first meal as a live-alone intern in Tokyo!  I think the grammar in that sentence was a little off…but regardless.  I spent forever today buying random things for my apartment but it’s so hard to choose between different brands and kinds (for example toothpaste and face wash) since everything is foreign to me.  Hopefully my choices don’t end up majorly sucking.  I also went to Akihabara and almost bought an expensive mouse that only works with Japanese operating systems…awkward.  Ended up getting a good ol’ logitech in the end even though they’re boring looking- at least I can be assured that it works with my laptop!

Anyway, tomorrow marks day one of my internship! I’m so damn nervous. 

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...and that is when my food arrived and I immediately stopped typing and started eating. Fast forward 12 hours or so, and here I am, sitting at the office! Currently awaiting actual instructions of what I’m supposed to be doing (they spent the morning talking to me about various projects) so I thought finally finishing this blog post (fucking novel) might be a good idea. Will blog more about actual work later! Now I will post this before it gets even longer. 

Taking a (pensive) walk after a wonderful first bath. Getting served dinner. Taking pics of taking pics of dinner. DINNER. My delicious roasted garlic miso ramen from earlier and the manga I tried to read.

Pics of the lake and the outdoor baths! Sophie told me to take a pic of her gazing out into the lake, I swear lol. 

More views of the lake! Some are front our ryokan, some are from the mountain we hiked! But basically wherever you are in Lake Shikotsu, you can take a scenic picture haha

At the top of the mountain! Eating katsu curry after our hike @_@ On our hilarious hydro-bike contraption. You can't read it, but the sign says Shikotsuko Lake. During the (painful) mountain trek!

Beer-chan, my new phone charm. Melon ice cream + green tea ice cream. Giant-ass raven right as it flew from the lamppost. The ravens here are HUGE, i'm obsessed! Panoramic from the top of the mountain :)

Last dinner and breakfast at Marukoma! On the bus with all our luggage. Deadfish faces on the train from the airport to Shinjuku!

Hittin up Shinjuku! Notice how the top middle picture is mad filtered...hahaha. Eating delicious yakitori dinner at freaking 11pm.  Sophie thought that taking a liquor picture was a great ideas lmao. Steps outside 747 Karaoke!