"ただいま”
Everyone has a different way of "breaking into" a new city (like breaking into a new pair of shoes), and for the past few years my way of breaking into new cities has been running. When I can feel safe and happy running in a place, I can then say that I've more or less grown used to the particular place. I can't quite imagine the times when I used to hate running ... now running is one of my major stress relievers and one of the best ways to explore a city. In any case, I just came back from a 45 minute run around Mitaka and it was absolutely lovely to run along the streets of the city and observing it as the sunset and dusk arrived; as kids and families filed out of the Ghibli Museum and people started exercising in Inokashira Koen. 3/4 into the run I stupidly decided to take another turn instead of the route I was familiar with and for a good 15 minutes I was kind of worried that I was very lost because I couldn't recognise anything along the way ... then the street turned into Inageya (supermarket!) and the 100yen shop which we always frequent and I felt so relieved knowing that my home was just around the corner.
Halloween weekend was really fun, though busy! Went to the first Halloween party in the Common Hall and had tons of interesting experiences, haha. :) On Saturday (Halloween itself) we had a class field trip to the National Museum of Japanese History, which was pretty enlightening though one hell of a distance away (and one hell of a price to pay). Still, one thing I'm really grateful for is how the AIKOM program weaves all these field trips into their syllabus ... if nothing else, it's a great way to learn without hitting the books and to go out and have some fun!
Upon coming home we had a birthday party for one of the AIKOM-sei; later on we went out (all decked out in costumes!!) in search of a pub/bar to celebrate his birthday/Halloween. Received alot of odd stares - people don't really dress up here I guess? Though the stores are ALL about selling Halloween stuff - and of course, people trying to take photos with us.
Tuesday was Day of Culture (Japan has the strangest national holidays ever) and of course on Monday a bunch of us went clubbing at Club Atom which had really cheap entrance fees and okay music. JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE TOO NICE: I actually lost my locker key and this guy who we randomly met (a friend of mine modelled for him because his hair model cancelled on him last minute and in Japan, clubs have ... hair shows??) helped us to negotiate with the front of house and basically, let us get away scot-free without having to pay for a replacement key. And gave us free drinks. And gave us his namecard and told us to go visit him if we needed a haircut. He works in Ginza and I think he's offering us a discount ... very tempted to go chop my locks off! Anyway, we stumbled back into Mitaka at 6am (FREEZING COLD) and I went to bed till about 10am, where I had to wake up and head to Shimokita with another friend to meet our tutors. Lunch and karaoke and shopping = coming home at 5pm = unproductive day as usual, hurray!
The past few days have been filled with shopping and other surprise birthday parties (with more to come) ... and this weekend I'm going to Yokohama (again! for the amazing onsen! and to meet up with Sachiko, one of my UofT exchange friends), Waseda-sai? and then back to Komaba for a circle meeting and theatre performance.
Every week from since I came till now has been more or less packed like this ... so if I happen to be slow at replying your emails, please forgive me! >_<;; I promise I will try harder!
Halloween weekend was really fun, though busy! Went to the first Halloween party in the Common Hall and had tons of interesting experiences, haha. :) On Saturday (Halloween itself) we had a class field trip to the National Museum of Japanese History, which was pretty enlightening though one hell of a distance away (and one hell of a price to pay). Still, one thing I'm really grateful for is how the AIKOM program weaves all these field trips into their syllabus ... if nothing else, it's a great way to learn without hitting the books and to go out and have some fun!
Upon coming home we had a birthday party for one of the AIKOM-sei; later on we went out (all decked out in costumes!!) in search of a pub/bar to celebrate his birthday/Halloween. Received alot of odd stares - people don't really dress up here I guess? Though the stores are ALL about selling Halloween stuff - and of course, people trying to take photos with us.
Tuesday was Day of Culture (Japan has the strangest national holidays ever) and of course on Monday a bunch of us went clubbing at Club Atom which had really cheap entrance fees and okay music. JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE TOO NICE: I actually lost my locker key and this guy who we randomly met (a friend of mine modelled for him because his hair model cancelled on him last minute and in Japan, clubs have ... hair shows??) helped us to negotiate with the front of house and basically, let us get away scot-free without having to pay for a replacement key. And gave us free drinks. And gave us his namecard and told us to go visit him if we needed a haircut. He works in Ginza and I think he's offering us a discount ... very tempted to go chop my locks off! Anyway, we stumbled back into Mitaka at 6am (FREEZING COLD) and I went to bed till about 10am, where I had to wake up and head to Shimokita with another friend to meet our tutors. Lunch and karaoke and shopping = coming home at 5pm = unproductive day as usual, hurray!
The past few days have been filled with shopping and other surprise birthday parties (with more to come) ... and this weekend I'm going to Yokohama (again! for the amazing onsen! and to meet up with Sachiko, one of my UofT exchange friends), Waseda-sai? and then back to Komaba for a circle meeting and theatre performance.
Every week from since I came till now has been more or less packed like this ... so if I happen to be slow at replying your emails, please forgive me! >_<;; I promise I will try harder!