Wednesday, June 15, 2005

food quest

yes, it has been too long since i last posted. i won't bore you with my excuses, suffice to say i've been pre-occupied. i hope you are finding all this interesting, it is fun for me to write about my time in japan. it brings back a lot of memories. well, on with the story.

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sitting in my flat in marugame, trying to take it all in, i realized that i had not actually eaten for 24 hours. i had a beer at my hotel the night before. i had tea in my hotel room that morning. and since then, nothing. very unlike me. so with natasha gone to work and the sun shining outside i was ready for a trip to the grocery store.

it was very easy to find the marunaka, it was a right hand turn off our road, just like natasha said. still feeling a little spacy i grabbed a shopping basket and began to shop. perhaps shop is too strong a word... really i just wandered. for about an hour. i walked up and down the aisles, looking for items i recognized. i repeatedly hit my head on low-hanging signs by the refrigerator cases. i was examined by the locals.

eventually i came away with soba noodles (i had been eating those in the US for months), instant miso soup (something else i had purchased in the asian market at home), some green tea bags, yogurt, orange juice, a package of mushrooms, a carrot, and a tray of maki rolls.


i returned to my flat and devoured my maki rolls. and though it was about 5 o'clock in the evening i decided a nap was in order. i curled up on my futon and napped for a good 3 hours until i was jolted awake by the doorbell. there stood a man with a clipboard and my luggage. he pointed out where i was to sign and i dragged my bags inside.

about an hour later i had unpacked most of my things and arranged them in my room. even then my room looked very bare - the only things in it were my futon and a small set of drawers. everything else was in the closet. i had started making a list of things i needed when natasha came home. she cooked herself dinner and we sat chatting for most of the evening.

after natasha went to bed i sat up and wrote for a while. i was feeling a little apprehensive after what she had told me about the area. she said it was a very small town and there wasn't a lot to do. that i would most definitely need a bike to get around. and she was leaving after 3 months becuase, obviously, she didn't like the job. my mind was racing, i was considering requesting a transfer immediately (i did state that my preference was for a large city) or if i found out that it would be impossible to get to work without a bike.

when i finished writing, i closed my journal and stretched out on my futon. only now, i wasn't tired at all.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

working up the nerve

exiting the hotel in dotonbori i noticed the large easter island looking statues that flanked the door. how could i have missed those on the way in? clearly i wasn't at my most perceptive after 15 hours in the air and not much sleep. i turned right and started exploring the well lit streets.

my first thought was that this area looked... seedy? the lights were so bright and the locals mostly men, a few couples. a car drove by with two japanese men inside. "hello, hello!" shouted one of the men. which was strangely comforting. comforting in that it is familiar, the international pickup line of foreign men to english speaking women. i offered my familiar response to this line: feigned deafness.


dotonbori

i looked at a couple of restaurants. i admired the plastic models of the food offered. i caught some glorious whiffs of unidentified street food. but in the end i couldn't work up the nerve to actually try to get some of it. with my yen burning a hole in my pocket, i went back to my hotel. there i bought a large can of asahi beer from the vending machine and sat in my room watching a clippers/sonics basketball game on tv, with japanese commentary.

i managed to sleep a bit, until about 2:30 am. after that i was awake and restless until about 7 am, when i manged to fall asleep for another 2 hours. though i wasn't feeling very rested, and i had set my alarm for 10 o'clock, i decided to get up and start getting ready for our 11 o'clock departure from the hotel. as i made myself a cup of green tea i noticed that my clock and the room clock were not the same time... i started to panic a little. i packed up my stuff and headed down to the lobby. everyone else was waiting there, chatting in small groups. i was the last person to check out.

the people who were staying in osaka were off to be shown their apartments. the rest of us headed to the subway with our nova guide. from there we boarded the shinkansen, without our guide, and were told where to get off and switch trains. seemed simple enough, i have taken many trains in my travels. but i still missed my connection because i was unsure which train to take, what platform i should be on... eventually i figured it out and took the next train to marugame, where i was met by my flatmate, natasha.

natasha walked her bike as i lugged my bag. she explained the lay of the land - the 100 yen store, the supermarket, the bank. after 15 minutes or so we arrived at our building and took the elevator to the sixth floor. the apartment was larger than i had expected (i had been told many times how small things would be), with a large main room and small kitchen with three bedrooms, one too small for habitation and therefore used as a closet.


the living room

my room and balcony door

after showing me around (which took about a minute and a half) natasha had to leave for work. i flipped on the tv and zoned out a little on the loveseat. i considered trying to find the town offices to get my alien registration card. but i realized that would mean finding a photo booth first and then figuring out japanese forms... i decided i should leave that for another day, when i was not spaced-out and jet-lagged. good plan.