exploring marugame

before natasha left for her trip she explained to me how to get to the nova branch in marugame. she even drew me a map. and since it was such a beautiful day, warm and sunny on the first of november, i was excited for a walk. later in the evening some of the nova teachers would be meeting at a restaurant called bamiyan near the school, if i wanted to meet them. i set out with my shoulder bag and my sunglasses.

i managed to weave my way through the center of marugame and find the long, rice paddy lined road that would lead me out to nova. i kept walking. and walking. i came across a drink vending machine and bought myself some sort of green tea drink. and i kept walking. and walking. almost positive at this point that i had missed some of the landmarks natasha had described. but maybe not. so i kept walking.


eventually i saw the bright pink glow of the promise land - aeon town. compared to most of my walk, the large strip mall was like the big city. there was a restaurant (bamiyan), a 100 yen store, a pharmacy, a discount store, a supermarket, a video arcade, a book store, and of course - a nova english school. i felt relieved to have actually found the school, one less thing to worry about on my first day of actual work. but i headed straight for the max valu supermarket (food excites me) - which made the marunaka supermarket i had gone to the day before look like a farm stand.

inside the massive (and air-conditioned) store was every food i could imagine and thousands more i could not. i wandered the aisles for a good hour or so. i found rice - which i hadn't been able to find at the marunaka (not that it wasn't there, mind you, i just couldn't find it in my weakened state) - and a few other little things. after i made my purchases i sat on the bench outside trying to plan my next move.

it seemed too early yet to hang around and wait for the other teachers to finish work. so i opted to walk home with my purchases while the sun still shone and perhaps borrow the extra bike to come back in the evening. so i started walking. (can you see where this is going?) and walking. and eventually started getting really tired of lugging that 2kg bag of rice. but i trudged on. now that i was certain i hadn't passed any landmarks though, i didn't have the fear of being lost.

by the time i reached the town center i was feeling confident in my sense of direction. it hadn't steered me wrong yet. and i felt certain that there was a more direct root back to the flat than the one i had taken. so i walked. and walked. then i was starting to feel like maybe i didn't know where i was going...

it was getting darker. my arms were tired of carrying the rice. as i passed a random beer vending machine i stopped to make a purchase, feeling that i would want a beer when i got back. if i got back... i found myself near the river, which i was certain was near my flat. so i followed it for a ways.

followed it until a wild dog started barking at me and following me. and then 10 of his closest friends followed suit. needless to say i was scared to death, trying to put on a cool face, telling them to go home (do stray japanese dogs understand english commands?), envisioning having to tell people that i was mauled by wild dogs on my 3rd day in japan (and they say japan is so safe!).


after getting myself away from the dogs i decided that maybe i was wrong about the river. or maybe it was a different river. so i headed up the next main looking road i found. but following this road was actually taking me *farther* from where i wanted to be. eventually i found the raised tracks of the local train - which i was certain there was only one of - and i followed them home.

i plopped my exhausted self down on the little sofa and cracked open a beer. when i had finished the beer i went to the kitchen to cook myself one of my favorite comfort foods - rice. then i settled in to watch the ninth gate, knowing full well that there was no way in hell i was trekking out there again today.

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.

it's not me, it's you

this postcard is from my final days in italy. i was spending a few days in napoli before going to sorrento. if i had this trip to take again i would skip napoli altogether and head straight for sorrento. it was, in general, a sketchy kind of place with absolutely insane drivers - the worst in italy, without a doubt, and not a whole lot to do or see. in fact this postcard, which i sent from napoli, is actually of the island of ischia, off the coast.

11 april 2003
"can't wait to be around people i care about! the man at the desk says i'm so quiet for an american, when really i just don't want to talk to him..."

i found this to be a funny comment - those of you who know me well will attest to the fact that i can, when the situation merits, be chatty to a fault. but when it comes to people i don't like or who annoy me i find the best way to deal with them is to actively not engage them in conversation.

so needless to say after spending the day walking around a city i was not enjoying (i believe it was also raining) i was *not* in the mood to make small talk with a man who spent more time on his hair than i do and who thought he was god's gift to women. (and he was short).

i wrote about another little incident with this same desk guy (receptionist seems to be the wrong word) in my personal journal:

"also a little sketchy is the man at the desk this morning in the hostel. he gave me creepy eyes when i brought out my breakfast tray. and when he said something i didn't hear, he stepped closer and said it quieter. do not like him."

the above picture is what i thought was the best part of napoli - my bed (even though it was part of a four bed area, from wall to wall, with about a foot of space between it and its neighbor), my book, and my chili-chocolate bar

so that's the end of my france and italy extras. my next post, and the ones following it, will start to talk about going to japan and the experiences i had there.