Wood

Instead of thursday I thought it would be more appropriate to write wood. Since in Japanese, thursday is "mokuyoubi" day of wood. Yes, I am that lame.

Today was just youth and schooling in japan. With the female Mrs. Rogers. She reminds me of Mrs. Rogers because she is so nice and talks really slow. I expect her to have a letter of the day or something every time. Today I learned that she was American. I knew that she was north american but we (the americans) couldn't tell if she was american or canadian. But they she said something about "the 16 hundreds" and then said something about "back in america". So all questions were out. For that class, we have optional field trips to an elementary school and a high school. This saturday is the one for the elementary school. I think it will be really interesting. I mean how often do you get to sit in on an japanese elementary school. Consdering little kids are usually excited about older people visiting anyway, the whole us being foreigner aspect should make for interesting times. Speaking of little kids, I forgot that sometime last week or so I was walking back from the station with some of the guys and a few little japanese girls saw us and said "Hello!", and we waved back and said hello. So cute. And cute sells on the baby black market.

After class I got some lunch and then went to see about getting a bank account. I thought it would be difficult seeing as that my japanese is crap and I don't really know any bank-related vocabulary besides money and bank. But it was really easy to do. When I went in to the bank the welcoming lady knew that I probably wanted to open an account and showed me what to fill out. It was one of those rare moments that I actually felt literate while talking to someone. So I opened an account with no problems. Unlike in America where opening a bank account is compareable to giving birth even if you speak english fluently, opening a bank account in Japan is really easy. I just filled out my address, telephone number, date of birth and gave them my alien registration card. Then I deposited 1000 yen and I had a bank account. That was seriously it. Something also kind of funny was that when I went to the area where you open new accounts, there was a lady whose sole job was to be nice to customers waiting. So if you sat down she would go and get the forms you needed and such while you wait. And when it is your turn, she makes sure you know you have been called and then she pulls the chair out so you can sit in it.

Then I went back to the dorm but I decided to stop off at the Sengawa station to see what was there. Sengawa is the stop before Tsutsujigaoka station. My dorm is almost equidistant from Sengawa and Tsutsujigaoka but Tsutsujigaoka has express service, hence the reason I use it. The area around Sengawa is really nice. I had been there a couple times but only down the main little market area. To the right of the market area they had a really western looking shopping centre. With little cafes and world markets. They had one grocery store which I think was named "Ise Queen" or something like that. But it was a really big grocery store. It looked like Hen House. This store had an actual produce section, dairy section and so on. Most japanese grocery stores are just mixed around. But this one was really western. And for being a big nice grocery store, it really wasn't that expensive. In fact, some of the produce was cheaper than I had seen before. The store had a big liquor section, which you don't really see in Japan. I mean they have liqour stores, but it's usually just domestic stuff. They had wine from all over the world, something we are used to in the US. But I dont think the Japanese much like wine. As obvious by the table wine they usually serve that tastes like dishwater.

I went into a clothing store called "Uni-qlo". It's pretty much like the old navy here. But with much cooler clothes. Something I was excited to see was that the entire first floor was men's clothes. That is definately something you wouldn't see in the US. Thanks to the Japanese men who love fashion. I found some pants for 500 yen. Which was pretty awesome. Considering even in the US that would be a good price for pants. Plus they fit, a rarety in these parts. When I checked out, the lady asked me if I wanted them tailored. Apparently they will hem the pants up for you for no charge. That was pretty funny to me. I can't imagine going to the Gap and asking them to tailor the clothes I was about to wear.

Tomorrow is friday, and after a week of mind draining it will be much appreciated. Only I'll probably be doing homework all weekend, but still...