Brian’s Japan Adventure

September 29th, 2007

A Cool Day!

OK, so much for the plan to go back to the beach. It’s 66 degrees and completely overcast outside, and they are forecasting a high of 72. That’s a pretty drastic change from yesterday! Still, it’s not supposed to rain, so I can get some things done around town at least.

First thing this morning, I do a load of laundry and hang it out to dry. I figured with it being this cloudy and cool, it might take while to dry out hanging there, and I was right. I brought the stuff in at 5pm, and one pair of pants was still a little moist. Fortunately, I can hang a few items in my room.

A Little Library Action

In the meantime, around 10:00 I rode my bicycle to the library. The last time I went there I took the bus, but this time I wanted to see how long it would take on the bicycle. When I got there, I forgot to check what time it was, so I’m still not sure how long it takes. I’m going to guess around 20 minutes. So in the future, I can choose to either bike for 20 minutes each way or pay around $4.00 in train and/or bus fares to get there. Normally, it’d kill me to pay for something like that, but I really don’t have much else to spend money on here, so why not make life easy when you can? Still, I like to be frugal, so it’s going to be an ongoing internal debate with me. I guess the weather will usually be the deciding factor. I can easily see myself spending at least one afternoon per week there preparing for classes, so I guess I’d better get organized about it.

Arriving at the library, more or less dry for once due to the cool weather, I went in and asked if anyone spoke English. I can figure out how to ask for lots of things in Japanese, but I didn’t even want to attempt this, as I figured it would be complicated. They asked around, and eventually found a man who understood that I wanted to apply for a library card. He asked me if I had an ID, and I showed it to him. Pleased that I was prepared, he smiled and handed me a form. It was basic name and address stuff, so I could figure out the form without any problem. I handed the form back and the clerk typed a few things into her computer, scanned the barcode on a plastic card, and made me sign it. She then handed me an instruction sheet for the library and I thanked her and left with my shiny new library card, which for some reason is pink with flowers all over it. The whole process is really no different than applying for a card in the USA, except that I couldn’t identify the form to fill out on my own.

I have a few unread books at home, so I was really more interested in getting on the Internet than actually checking out books. So my next project was to get my computer hooked up and working with their Internet connection. The library has public computers, but they all use those funky Japanese keyboards, and I don’t seem to get along with them very well. I once used the keyboard at the Hiroshima culture center to send four or five emails, all of which were unreadable by the recipients. I still have no idea why that happened, so I want to avoid those keyboards if I can. In addition, all my blog reports and Youtube videos and photos and things are on my laptop already, so it’s just easier to use my own system. Yet another factor is that I know my computer doesn’t have any kind of key logging software to steal my passwords; you just never know with public computers.

I Broke The Internet!

So I picked out an empty desk and set up the computer. They have many desks scattered throughout the library, and each one has an electrical outlet as well as a plug for a network cable. I had all the cables and everything I needed this time. Remember, I went last week, but didn’t have a card so I couldn’t get help. Once again, the Internet diagnostic software said I was connected to the net, but I couldn’t really do anything. I fought with it for about a half an hour and decided to break down and ask for help.

I then went to the audio-visual counter and the girl spoke no English at all. I said “Internet?” and pointed to a line in my (English) library instruction that said to ask at the desk for details. She handed me a clipboard with a computer number on it. She thought I wanted to reserve one of their computers. I looked confused for a moment, so she came out to lead me to the computer. I shook my head and pointed the other way, toward my computer. She had no idea what I was talking about or what I wanted, but at least she followed me. I opened up my computer, started the browser, and when she saw the “Cannot Access” message, she gave the hoped-for “Ah soo!” and ran off to get instructions for me. She came back with instructions, and they were even specific to the Mac operating system, which surprised me. They were in Japanese, but the DNS number and required PROXY were written in English, and there were even a few pictures, so I eventually figured out how to make it all work. Whew!

So then I spent the next two hours updating blog, checking and answering email, message board, uploading Youtube and Photo files and so forth. It was fun not having a time limit or anyone watching over my shoulder. I forgot my headphones, so there were some Youtube videos that I wanted to see but couldn’t, but that’s OK. Unless something else comes up, I’ll probably be going back tomorrow. Tonight I’m going to make a list of all the things I want to download and information to look up for next week’s classes. I’ll have to print out my work Monday at the office, but I can get it all ready ahead of time. More hungry than bored, I decided to look for lunch and left the library in search of something new.

Another New Place To Eat

At first, I figured I’d go to the McDonalds at the Tenmaya Arcade, but it was crowded and since I’m getting more than a little tired of the same old McSlop, I decided that as long as I had my bicycle with me, to go a little out of the way and find something new. I eventually wound up way south of where I usually go, near where we had breakfast yesterday. I went to a place called Mos Burger, which Marc had said was good. I went in and it looks like a cross between a traditional Japanese restaurant and a Burger King. It’s hard to describe how that works exactly, but it was a weird mix. They have a picture menu, just like McDonalds or Freshness Burger, so I order a hamburger (300Y) as well as a hot dog (270Y). They don’t seem to have fries or anything, so I went with two sandwiches. I went to a table and sat down. A few minutes later, someone brought the food out to me.

It was great! The hot dog and bun were just slightly crunchy, which was good. They had ketchup, onions, and a bit of some kind of unusual mustard on it. It was far larger than the hotdogs Marc and I had at the place near the train station a week or so ago (was it called Po-Po’s?), cheaper as well. The hamburger was interesting as well. Nowhere near as greasy as Freshness Burger, but with so much special sauce on it that it dripped all over the place. I’m tempted to say the sauce tasted like that on a Big Mac, but it was spicier somehow. It was all very good stuff and, at under $6 for both, pretty affordable as well. Too bad it’s so far out of my usual vicinity. Finishing off the sandwiches, I hop back on the bike and ride home, laughing evilly as I pass by Happy Town without slowing down.

Time and Seasons

When I got home, I took the laundry inside and sat down to practice some vocabulary; I have Japanese class twice this week, since Monday is not a holiday this time. Five minutes later I am asleep on the couch. Not too long afterwards, I hear Marc leave for the evening. He’s been decidedly grumpy yesterday and today; I wonder if he’s mad at me about something or if he has some problem of his own. I guess I’ll find out eventually or he’ll get over it. As I wake up, I find that I had left the air conditioner on all day and it was absolutely freezing in the room. Right now I am drink hot coffee, the first hot drink I have had since the first or second day here. Between the morning orange juice and iced coffee, I have barely missed the hot stuff, but I guess when the weather changes, it’ll be making a big comeback. Tea is also very big here, but I’ve never been a big fan of hot tea. Much like the iced coffee, I may have to learn to like it!

It’s currently not quite 6pm yet, and it’s fully dark outside. It may be the first cool day since I arrived, but there are signs that winter is coming. I noticed quite a few fallen leaves last Tuesday in the mountains of Bitchu-Takahashi. It’s been getting dark earlier and earlier. I wonder if they do Daylight Savings Time here? I doubt it. If they do, I hope somebody tells me about it when it happens! On that subject, my watch stopped a few days ago, and it’s driving me crazy. I have to keep pulling out my cell phone to see what time it is, and I am a habitual clock-watcher, even when I don’t have anything to do.

I have a new watch at home in my desk drawer, a Christmas gift last year, so I called home to have Mom send it in my next shipment. How many hours till it arrives? I don’t know, but I’ll be wishing for a watch every 15 minutes until it gets here. Of course I could buy a new watch here, but they are very expensive, and the one from home is basically free if I can just wait for it. I have no idea where to go to get the battery replaced in the old one; I’m pretty sure I can’t even get the thing opened without special tools. I’m doing more and more every day, and learning more and more in the process, yet it’s silly little stuff like a bad watch battery that make me realize just how limited I still am here.

And that’s pretty much it for today. I’m going to sit here drinking coffee and reading my Haiku book until bedtime. I noticed at the library they have a whole section on Japanese literature translated into English. It looks like “The Tale of Genji” is one of their classics, so I’ll have to put that high on my future reading list. They also have several other books on haiku; I could come home an expert on that if I wanted. Weather permitting, tomorrow I’ll be back to the library with a list of topics to research for next week’s classes. When I came home tonight, it didn’t feel like I had done very much, yet here I am, two thousand words later, still rambling about my day in what might be my longest blog report to date. I guess there is something to be said even for the boring days without an adventure!
…

[Sunday morning addition]

No, that wasn’t all. I spent another hour and a half learning to use iMovie, the movie-making software that came installed on my computer.

Yes, it’s short and stupid, but don’t those titles and transitions look nice? It’ll give me something to do with my photos once it starts getting too cold to run all over town. Maybe I can even make some kind of presentations for classes with it. I don’t know yet, but it was fun.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Japan, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.