Mid-stay crisis!!! October 22, 2008

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Actually it wasn’t that bad.

So basically, the weather has been really unpredictable lately, so since it is cold then hot then cold I caught a cold. In Japanese ‘Kaze’ which literally means ‘wind.’ So I caught a wind. So I was really sick with a fever and everything, but waking up from a good nights sleep and getting ready to settle down for my day off. THAT was when I received the call from Temple University. ‘Your host mom just called us, and we have decided for your safety that you need to move out of your house and into an apartment in Takadanobaba for a week or so. Sorry.’ So after I get off the phone, I go out to the living room to see what the heck is going on. My host brother who supposedly doesn’t live at home had slept on the couch the night before aparently, and my mom was pulling money out of her wallet. She handed me 200 dollars, and apologized that I had to go live somewhere else for a while. She said I could leave whatever I wanted and that I would probably be able to come back in less than a week. With that, Daniel packed a suitcase and lugged his fever-ridden corpse Northwards, to the land of Takadanobaba where he found himself a nice little room. I somehow found the energy to go to the supermarket and buy lots and lots of eggs and bacon and bread and fruit and 2 gallons of Pocari Sweat (Japanese gatorade) and 1.5 gallons of milk, then I layed down on my new bed and didn’t leave the room for a week.

At least, that was what I WANTED to do, but I had to go to school twice, so I left the room twice. Here are pictures.

A change of scenery, that is for sure.

Before me, apparently an american girl lived in the apartment. According to my hearsay she went down to a sketchy side of town late at night by herself, and something unpleasant happened so she promptly returned to the states. She was blonde – I know this because she didn’t clean the room at all so I consistently got them on my clothes. Also, she was kind enough to leave photos of herself and her friends in the drawer. And she left a Temple University Mug which I took. And pots and pans, and 10 rolls of toilet paper, and laundry detergent, and about $2 in american change. Also, she left me a pack of about 40 or so tampons. Thanks! Whatever your name is.

Last thursday, I moved back into the house with my homestay family. I guess everything worked out! They seemed happy to have me back. Last saturday I took a trip to Takushoku Daigaku, Akie’s University. (Also by way of clarification, Akie’s name is NOT pronounced like Achey ‘achey-breaky heart,’ for instance. It is pronounced Ack-ee-eh. Just fyi.) There was a university festival, which means lots of different types of foods and live music all day. However, unfortunately for us as we were riding the train there, I guess someone jumped in front the train as it was coming in and died. So the train was stuck at this random station. That meant we had to walk for an hour to another station to take another train.

We ended up taking a taxi, it wasn’t nearly as fun as this pic makes it look.

Once we got there, I met her boyfriend. We didn’t talk much.

I went to hear some ‘Jazz.’ It was really more pop-fusion.

In order to take this picture, they made me buy some. ‘Buta.’ Pig. I almost barfed eating it. It tasted fine, but looking at the face while chewing was hard.

While I was there, Akie surprised me by inviting Yuko, another Japanese girl that I met in Seattle this last August. There are pictures, but they are all on Akie’s camera, I will post them later.