Sweet Paradise

Yesterday at work the kids were really well behaved. I think they were just testing me last week. Little do they know that I have an iron will.

Last night I went with the ladies and went to this place called "Sweet Paradise" in Shibuya. It was basically a huge buffet of cake. They had like pasta and rice and stuff so you could make a meal out of it. It was pretty good. I ate way too much cake goodness though. I think if i never see a cake again it will be too soon. Even though last night my stomach was telling me 6-7 plates of cake was not a good idea, it was so worth it.

This afternoon I bought my ticket for the trip to Kyoto. Pretty exciting. This time next week I'll be in an entirely different part of Japan. The Japanese often say Tokyo is not real Japan, so I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Tonight I went back to the college group at church for the barbeque. They had grilled hamburger-esque patties and hot dogs. Both really good. I say hamburger esque because I think they were actually just hamburg steak without gravy. Hamburg steak for those unaware to Japanese styled western food, is like a large hamburger patty with sort of steak seasoning mixed in. I knew I was in Japan when the shredded lettuce turned out to be shredded cabbage, and for those meat eaters out there that don't know the difference in your greens. There are plenty. But it was good none the less. I met one guy, Taishi, and he was really funny. He spoke really good english but his word choice at times was really interesting. He told us that he wanted to have 2-10 children so he could play music with them all. We told him about the Patridge family and he seemed to like that idea. He also started telling us about a baby his pastor's wife had jsut had. And he described him as "a small fragile american baby". He had a chance to hold the baby and since the "baby was fragile" he was afraid he would "destroy" the baby.

Japanese Bling

Yesterday in Japanese 3, the teacher was wearing her massive bling. She has this medallion about the size of a baby's head that she wears from time to time. It has a picture of the aztec calendar on it. Most of the class I imagine her taking it and smacking people around with it like she is in a blaxploitation film. Japanese women like their bling.

Today after class instead of going straight back I stopped off at one of the stops before my stop. It's pretty amazing that I've been here for 2 months and I haven't probably even seen 10% of this city. The stop I was at was Sasazuka. I saw a sign for "used clothing store" and it looked genuine so I decided to check it out. Lies. This nation needs a consumer reporting service for lies. Far too often adverts for places have little to do with the actual goods they sell. For example, "The Yen Shop" is actually a real estate business. Anyway, this place ended up being a store that sold stuff from africa. And it was all new. And not all clothes. But the rest of the area ended up being pretty good. I found a store with 1500 yen jeans. Pretty much a steal in Japan where just regular jeans don't normally go for less than 7000 yen.

I just got my postcard in the mail from the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, which means I get to make another fun visit there next wednesday. But I'll be a legal worker. Right now I'm pretty much equal to the mexican lawnmowing business. Just call me Juan.

Yen Yen Yen

In the world's most expensive city, money is usually a popular item of talk. Because you can never have too much of it right? Seriously everything costs money here. You go somewhere, it costs an arm to get there. And you pay a leg to do whatever you are there for. And then you come back, which costs you your other arm. Coming from Waco to Tokyo is a huge shock in itself without even factoring the whole no one speaks english factor. (It can be argued that rednecks' "english" abilities are questionable) Today I got the invoice for the next month's rent, due by the 31st. I have the health insurance thing I have yet to pay. Soon to come is the cell phone bill (not that expensive but still). Then I've got to buy another commuter pass for the trains here soon. And at my job, my hours were cut in half as of last week. I'll be in the poor house here soon enough. I was thinking more today about what to do with the 2-3 months I have off in Jan/Feb/Mar, when the whole money issue came about. I'm not sure what I can really do for 2-3 months to survive here. I am hoping that during that time I may be able to work full time at the teaching job. If not, maybe I'll just Ally McBeal it to save on food. And take up temporary residence on the streets. Oh, Japan.