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Sep. 17th, 2005 01:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhymeToday was "apply for stuff ahead of time" day, which meant that our buddies took us to apply for our foreigner's permit thing before orientation as opposed to after. It may mean that we get our paperwork done a week earlier. It also meant the most interaction with other residents thus far.
I went with two girls from DC and one guy from Sweden. The Swedish guy spoke really well compared to the rest of us.
After, we made okonomiyaki and yakisoba for lunch. It pretty cheap, everyone just pitched in 300 yen and we got a tray of frozen gyoza too. (The frozen gyoza was 30 for 198 yen, which translates to dirt cheap.) We ended up with a lot of food. The other Swedish guy in the dorms ended up eating with us, which was kind of cool because he chopped the cabbage and did the dishes.
Then I decided to go look for my grammar dictionary. First I went to the wrong bus stop. Luckily, they're labled with the buses that stop there, so I checked the bus map and discovered that the bus I wanted was in the other direction.
Next, I went back to the dorm and discovered that the bus stop was only a short walk away.
Next I discovered that while the map said to turn right, I wanted to turn left. It took me about fifteen to twenty minutes to discover this, most of which was spent walking up hill.
I found the bus stop without much of a problem, except for the fact that the way I found the bus stop was by just missing the bus. The bus only ran once every 20 minutes, whihc turned out to be okay because I met the other guy who goes to OU on it (and a bunch of people staying at the other dorm.) He says he knows you, Mark.
The bookstore I was sent to was in a shopping district. It was established that Maruzen did not have it (after questions with 3 different employees, one of which was in a different bookstore- though to be honest, the first two were simply "Where are the dictionaries - ah, thank you" except in Japanese.) I ended up buying about 5,000 yen worth of stuff anyway, including a couple of towels. That was what I forgot- a handkerchif. If you are ever in Japan, it is a very good idea to carry one. There aren't any towels in the restrooms. I also got a minimoni album for about a third of the price I previously saw it for. I win, they almost never have such good discounts. (It has Jan Ken Pyon, Bus Guide, and strawberry Pie, but not the Wedding song or Hinamachuri. I think it's a compilation cd. Mika's outfit on the cover is horrible as usual. Have I mentioned that I read somewhere that Minimoni were chosen from short members of Morning Musume? Oh, and it came with two pins, like the kind you put on your bag. One is the scary rabbit thing.)
I also found a rather nifty shop where everything was 315 yen. This meant slightly more expensive junk than your usual dollar store. I had a difficult time deciding between choice a) a collapsable hamper with a dog and bee on it or choice b) a collapsable hamper with a giraffe on it. The dog had a funnier saying, but the giraffe was much cuter. In the end, the dog won, simply because the giraffe hamper was yellow. (When I got back to the dorm, I realized that the correct choice was c) buy both of them because I like to sort my clothes by color ahead of time. (I should go back and get it, but it costs 440 yen to get there. Though thhat would bring my collapsable laundry thing up to 3, like it ought to be.) I also bought a cute carrying case and two pairs of hashi. (The hashi were two for. And they came with little cases. Stop looking at me like that.)
I got off the bus a couple stops too early, and the stops were far apart. So I had to walk back to the dorms in the dark along the side of a somewhat busy road with occaisionally dissapearing sidewalks- all the while having no idea how far it was to the dorms. There were a few iffy bits, but I didn't make any wrong turns except for the first one, so it all worked out in the end. It was a bit tiresome, though.
I also made the horrifying discovery that much of the way to the university is uphill. And I only have a one speed bicycle. (The others were thinking of getting two speeds, but most of the Japanese people don't have them. Partly because the two speeds are twice as expensive.)
Thankfully, they let you ride on the sidewalks. Which makes the trip somewhat less daunting.
I went with two girls from DC and one guy from Sweden. The Swedish guy spoke really well compared to the rest of us.
After, we made okonomiyaki and yakisoba for lunch. It pretty cheap, everyone just pitched in 300 yen and we got a tray of frozen gyoza too. (The frozen gyoza was 30 for 198 yen, which translates to dirt cheap.) We ended up with a lot of food. The other Swedish guy in the dorms ended up eating with us, which was kind of cool because he chopped the cabbage and did the dishes.
Then I decided to go look for my grammar dictionary. First I went to the wrong bus stop. Luckily, they're labled with the buses that stop there, so I checked the bus map and discovered that the bus I wanted was in the other direction.
Next, I went back to the dorm and discovered that the bus stop was only a short walk away.
Next I discovered that while the map said to turn right, I wanted to turn left. It took me about fifteen to twenty minutes to discover this, most of which was spent walking up hill.
I found the bus stop without much of a problem, except for the fact that the way I found the bus stop was by just missing the bus. The bus only ran once every 20 minutes, whihc turned out to be okay because I met the other guy who goes to OU on it (and a bunch of people staying at the other dorm.) He says he knows you, Mark.
The bookstore I was sent to was in a shopping district. It was established that Maruzen did not have it (after questions with 3 different employees, one of which was in a different bookstore- though to be honest, the first two were simply "Where are the dictionaries - ah, thank you" except in Japanese.) I ended up buying about 5,000 yen worth of stuff anyway, including a couple of towels. That was what I forgot- a handkerchif. If you are ever in Japan, it is a very good idea to carry one. There aren't any towels in the restrooms. I also got a minimoni album for about a third of the price I previously saw it for. I win, they almost never have such good discounts. (It has Jan Ken Pyon, Bus Guide, and strawberry Pie, but not the Wedding song or Hinamachuri. I think it's a compilation cd. Mika's outfit on the cover is horrible as usual. Have I mentioned that I read somewhere that Minimoni were chosen from short members of Morning Musume? Oh, and it came with two pins, like the kind you put on your bag. One is the scary rabbit thing.)
I also found a rather nifty shop where everything was 315 yen. This meant slightly more expensive junk than your usual dollar store. I had a difficult time deciding between choice a) a collapsable hamper with a dog and bee on it or choice b) a collapsable hamper with a giraffe on it. The dog had a funnier saying, but the giraffe was much cuter. In the end, the dog won, simply because the giraffe hamper was yellow. (When I got back to the dorm, I realized that the correct choice was c) buy both of them because I like to sort my clothes by color ahead of time. (I should go back and get it, but it costs 440 yen to get there. Though thhat would bring my collapsable laundry thing up to 3, like it ought to be.) I also bought a cute carrying case and two pairs of hashi. (The hashi were two for. And they came with little cases. Stop looking at me like that.)
I got off the bus a couple stops too early, and the stops were far apart. So I had to walk back to the dorms in the dark along the side of a somewhat busy road with occaisionally dissapearing sidewalks- all the while having no idea how far it was to the dorms. There were a few iffy bits, but I didn't make any wrong turns except for the first one, so it all worked out in the end. It was a bit tiresome, though.
I also made the horrifying discovery that much of the way to the university is uphill. And I only have a one speed bicycle. (The others were thinking of getting two speeds, but most of the Japanese people don't have them. Partly because the two speeds are twice as expensive.)
Thankfully, they let you ride on the sidewalks. Which makes the trip somewhat less daunting.