an adventure filled short getaway.

i cant even get describe the past 2 eventful days. haha. in short! since i've got like morning classes tmr and i'm in need of sleep.

1. went to nikko with a group of singaporean students on exchange here. pretty gd trip!
2. caught some usual pics. evryone was a cam whore!
3. lost our way a few times, missed a train stop, was pretty late and dark, considering ow ulu it was. wanted to walk back to the station we passed, thought its like mrt to mrt kinda distance, in the end someone told us its not walkable, walked back in a single file along the rd on a night wihtout much of a street lighting since it was like so ulu. went to the hostel, felt so like compelled to follow the rules. met an ah gong who was so pissed at us coz he waited for us at the station for like an hour plus. reached hostel, couldnt shower coz everyone's sleeping, and thus not allowed to.
4. took lots of pics. hope i get to upload them. when i have time. this weekend seems busy for me.
5. went to an onsen (hot spring). this 1 was even better than the previous one i went like last weekend. haha. it had an indoor bath, an outdoor bath and a sauna. loved the outdoor bath, coz it was like autumn temp and hot water. so i alternated between sitting on a rock with like 12 degrees on me, then going into the warm water when it started to feel cold etc. it was the best season for onsen. the outdoor bath was really heavenly.
6. came back, left my phone on the bus! realised it only at the train station, went to ask for lost and found, directed to the bus interchange station rm. went there, found the bus driver who picked me, went back to the bus, found the phone! its amazing. wat grace!

family

nothing beats being there for family gatherings! haha. and i was there this time, coz they called me on skype, and yeah, the wonders of technology. i even took a photo with my family just tt my face was on the com. i'm sure the photo will turn out good!

experiences

I wish i had more time to blog. because so much happened this week.. ! pretty positively i'd say. i guess i understood what someone whom i met was trying to say when he said his contacts were all in japan and to start over again invokes some fear. but anyway. it really took me about a month to be comfortable in sch, meeting frens and talking to diff pple and be comfortable. for example, yesterday for the first time, i went to join a circle which is like a CCA. and obviously its going to be basketball, to keep me fit and stuff. and i was the only new guy at tt time, altho there were quite a few new girls. and i hate the chance to talk to them. most of them were frenly but by simply observing this senior junior thing in japan, i really understand what it meant.

this morning, i saw this weird young japanese walking in front of the yellow line in the train station. he was like in high sch uniform, and looked like he was those kind can anytime jump down the tracks kind. i was observing him for a while, hoping to be a hero if he really does jump.

this week, i made quite a few friends by talking to people in class.

i also saw old ladies who wore traditional kimonos but were carrying fashionable COACH handbags.

saw this bad smelling man coming into a carriage and the carriage immediately was emptied to another one tt was totally full.

saw a girl in miniskirt with shades, cycling upslope.

surviving in Tokyo

there are actually many things you can do cheaply in japan. and decisions are often a function of price. today, i decided to pamper myself again, because its allowance day for me. i kinda designate a monthly drawing of money from my acct and damn it cost me money to withdraw this time rd coz i thought it was before 6. but turns out its only free before office hours which i assume is before 5 pm. damn it.
but anyway, after making a huge withdrawal for the month, i went to the supermarket to get some sushi which cost me like 380 yen, which is pretty cheap even at singapore standards. on top of that, i went to the supermarket and found like raw oysters, altho they're not in their shells, but like in a sealed pack. i took it back together and ate them for dinner on top of wat i had in the canteen. every once in a while i'd treat myself to these additions. but then again, i had gd fd yesterday too. at the party, we had so much food, including like pork sashimi. amazing.

experiences

i guess one of those experiences on the list would be to meet a typhoon. haha. and i did meet one, right now, classes are cancelled tmr coz of the typhoon, and isnt that kind of cool haha. its been raining non stop for i guess 4 days now. and seriously, it hasnt stopped raining for more than an hour. i wonder where does all that water come from, and coupled with the strong winds at the bayside where i live, i can see rain almost going half horizontal! haha. imagine riding my bicycle in this rain. but i guess i'm happy not going to sch for a day. i've been having so much classes i'm kinda sick. and i think i'm going to drop a class just to have monday as a free day.

probably the happiest day in japan

picture this. i got this piece of paper from my hostel front desk that tells me to go to this place called venus plaza, which is like at a corner of this reclaimed island near disneyland, where they sell 2nd hand bicycles which are cheap. i follow the directions. its so ulu its those kind like 1 hr might not even have 1 bus going there tt kind... i tried to find my way there and it wasnt tt tough frankly. i find my way there, and true enough venus plaza isnt on the planet venus, but more of like a recycling initiative thing by japanese. I found a handful of bicycles and i just chose 1 for myself. it cost me 5500 yen including registration fees. yes u need to register your bicycle here. 1 bicyle generated me like 3 numbers. 1 for insurance, 1 which is the reg number, the other one is like an anti crime number hahaha. wtf. anyway, the whole procedure was pretty smooth going, a lot smoother than i expected. before i knew it, i have bought my bicycle in japan!!!! and it was such a gd deal. its such a baby. i feel like I have just chosen Marley! the bargain dog. ok. i guess i should name my bicycle Marley then. cept that i'm gonna ride on Marley everyday haha.

i wish i could show her to all of u. but i took a pic on my phone camera and i couldnt find a way to like transfer... oh!!!! infra red!! why din i think of tt!

ok. here it is. my beauty. its parked at this garage behind... i wish i could sleep with her for the night.

weekends

with each weekend i am staying home and doing things that are kinda productive, i feel a sense of accomplishment actually. rather than going out to tokyo to explore... i guess i've got ample time to do that in time to come. for example when my friends come or something. haha. or maybe thats just an excuse to say that i am a loner and no one wana hang out with me on a saturday hahaa.

today i went to Recce. not so much for places to go, but haha for a bicycle parking lot. which i will need if i decide to buy a bicycle. and i have decided that i will indeed buy a bicycle since its like it will significantly reduce my commuting times, plus the amt i have to walk, plus the amt i have to pay. because you see, if i have a bicycle, i'd cycle to a station further away, which takes me abt 20 min on the bicycle each way. but its a st line all the way to sch and i dont need to change lines at all. and to be honest, thats the thing that pisses me off since Tokyo station itself is just atrociously huge. its like an airport seriously. i feel like changing a train, i'm like walking from terminal 3 to terminal 1 or something like tt. its killing me.

so yeah, i went around looking for like a bicycle park that i could find which is free. but obviously, nothing is free in Tokyo. so well. hm.. i guess u get the drift. its kinda exciting doing this things. feels like when i was as poor in denmark and we had to find means and ways to beat the system to like go undetected to save some money etc. haha. the only problem that i guess i will have tmr would be that i dont know if i would be able to get hold of a cheap enough bike. but then again. i would get it even if its 1st hand. haha. i am TT desperate for a bike. coz i m obviously not a walking person.

too many stories

sometimes i think the very value of being in japan is in the free time entrusted to me. since i am here and i cant really go out and meet my old frens, altho i can always make new ones... but then again, the long train rides and all, have all exposed me to a constant narrative of books, movies and stuff. and i actually think that i am immensely benefitting from this input of stories. but also its been bringing me on emotional rides thruout. i mean like a ride to sch could turn out to be like bursts of tears and laughter on the train and like a lot of reflections and so on.