Chopsticks

I can now use chopsticks proficiently. I feel like I'm officially part of Japan because of it. It has been quite the busy past few days. Although I'd have to say I'm definitely enjoying it. The first week of school was very long and tiring. It was had adjusting to commuting to school every day. It has been getting slightly easier, however.

Friday night, after lots of waiting around, a group of 10 of us went out to a club in Shibuya. It was decent. I was the only sober one, but that's how it always works out. I don't mind. If I have to be the person to know how to get home, so be it. The club was 3 floors : one hip-hop and R&B, one trance, and one funkadelic. It was extremely crowded and expensive. I had a good time but probably wouldn't do it again anytime soon. The trains in Tokyo stop running around midnight and then start again at 4:30. Therefore, the clubs stay open until 4:00...and we stayed the entire time. It was exhausting. We didn't get home until 6:00 after a McDonalds stop.

Saturday day was nice and relaxing; trying to recover from the night before. Then my friend Kyle and this other guy Kevin and myself went to Shinjuku. I had never been there before. It's another really large town in Tokyo. It reminds me of a more-spread out Shibuya, but just as bright and exciting, if not moreso. We wandered around for a while before deciding to eat dinner in an alley. This alley was extremely tiny and rundown but was completely filled with little restaurants. The restaurant only sat around 10 people at the counter with a grill on top. The food was all on skewers and barbecued. I ordered some Sake as well. The food was quite delicious, despite not exactly knowing what I was eating. We struck up a nice conversation with two Japanese men who at one point did a cross country road trip across America.

After dinner we decided to venture from Shinjuku to Shibuya by foot. We knew it would be a simple walk, considering there are only 3 trainstops between the two on the same line. We kept asking for directions to ensure we were heading in the right direction. Each time, the person would say something to the effect about how there was a train right there. Once we said that we knew that but wanted to walk, they would go "oh! that's far!" However, the walk only took around 45 minutes. It was refreshing. We walked through areas that we would have otherwise never found. I found a breathtaking Japanese Garden near Harajuku. Despite the enormously large spiders and their webs, which I tried my hardest to ignore, it was beautiful. The garden had at least 10 cats that were fed by cat food on top of a brick wall. There were ponds with huge fish. I can't wait to go back during the day sometime. We finally made it to Shibuya and wandered around for a little before making sure we caught the last train, as to not be stranded until 4:30 am.

Sunday was yet another adventure. I took the train back to Shinjuku where I met up with my friend So, the Japanese guy from school. We walked around Shinjuku a little and then took the train to his town, Koenji. I love his town. It is full of punk and vintage shops, as well as other really cute areas. There is a Sex Pistols themed hair cuttery where I must go at some point to get my Japanese haircut. He took me to dinner at a restaurant similar in style to where I ate the night before, just on a bigger scaled. We sat there for a while eating and talking. He is a great guy. I enjoy his company a lot. We then went and I bought a charm for my cell phone. Every single Japanese person has at least one charm thing that hangs from their phone. I don't understand it, but now I can feel like I belong in Japan. The charm I got is a pair of tiny white handcuffs. It is awesome.

We then to a train to a town a few stops away from Koenji (I can't remember the name of the town) to go to the Turning, a concert venue. So's friend's band, The King Busters were playing a show so we we went to check it out. The venue was really small and there were only 5 bands, yet the show cost 2000 yen, which is around $20. More then I would spend for a lot of shows in the US, but supposedly all shows cost more here.

Needless to say, the show was worth it. Each band was completely different; all different genres. The first band I didn't care for at all, the second was just a girl singing accompanied by an acoustic guitar. She was pretty good actually. The third band was called the Rusty Knackle Heads. They sang in English and covered the song "Proud Mary." However, since they are Japanese, the pronounced "rolling on the river," "lolling on tze liver." It was hysterical. I have video of it that I loaded onto youtube, (I'll give the link at the end). The crowd was very diverse, but my favorite was this older women, probably in her 40s, completely rocking out to all of the bands. She was dancing the entire time. It was amazing. I have some video of her dancing, as well.

The next band was The King Busters, the band we went to see. They sang in Japanese and sounded like the Ramones. They were so good. So went crazy dancing. It was a great time watching them. The last band was the Junglin Junks who sang partially in Japanese, partially in English. They were great, too. All of the bands had so much energy and kept the crowd, although small, on their feet. After the show, So took the train with me part of the way and I found my way home. It was quite a simple trip home. The night was great and I definitely want to hang out with him a lot more.

Monday was fairly uneventful. Tuesday, before class, I got an iced coffee. Between not drinking any caffeine for at least a month and the coffee being unusually strong, I was wired the entire day. Of course my two classes were boring lectures so I could not concentrate. I couldn't sit still and was sweating. In my World Music class, I ended up making friends with the Japanese guy sitting next to me since we were both bored so we passed notes all class. After school I came back and made some French Toast. Kyle and I ate our lunch then decided to watch "Clue", in the social lounge, while picking up a few other viewers. He the helped me study for my first Japanese quiz (which I think I aced). Kyle is awesome. Love that kid. We studied for a couple hours and then hung out in the social lunge with other random people until 1:00 am.

I'm definitely making more friends, both in the dorms and at school. It's making me feel like this is home. I don't know how I'm expected to leave completely in 3 months. I can't dwell on that now. I must enjoy the time I have here. Each day is such a learning experience.

With that said, I'm going to go in the social lounge and attempt to read for my anthropology class.

My youtube link to my videos is:

http://youtube.com/user/frenzyfromwithin