A Manila Christmas

Well, I spent the week in the Philippines, it was a great time. Very different atmosphere than Tokyo, so that was nice. Warm, for one. Also, lots of poverty. It was kind of refreshing actually to be in a country again where everything isn’t so perfectly run. The driving was pretty nuts (and I got to drive once)! Lots of jeep-ne’s or however you spell it, which are like the Philippine trademark. Lots of non-functioning traffic lights (it’s awesome, sometimes it goes from green to NOTHING), and suicidal jay-walkers. I remember it was such a change, even though I knew what to expect. But Tokyo made it seem even crazier. The few gunshots I heard helped. And the little kids with guns (which I hope were fake, but who knows).
Also, it seems like most people who aren’t poor have servants, which was crazy.

One of the main highlights was all the SHOPPING. Amazing prices. I bought 7 DVDs and 4 video games for 20 dollars in one go, and then next time I bought 5 TV seasons for a dollar each. You could kind of tell that they weren’t REAL DVD sets (the random people on the covers helped, like for Ugly Betty they had some people from High School Musical, and another show they didn’t even get the main character right). But I can deal with that, it’s still a really good deal. And the movies work perfectly. So I bought a lot of souvenirs, gifts, clothing, DVDs, games, etc. Also, I got the R4 card for the DS, which is AMAZING. Never again do I have to buy a game. And they put 15 games on the card for me as I bought it, which I’m pretty sure is a service not offered many other places. Other highlights include – tour of old Manila with super energetic and gay tour guide, an amazing ballet production, Christmas mass (it was quite the anthropological experience for me, I’ve never really been to a religious ceremony, due to being a heretic), and also watching the director’s cut of the Exorcist right AFTER Christmas.
My arrival in Japan was pretty awful. Firstly, my phone completely died, so I couldn’t let my host family know where I was, so they were really worried. Secondly, The rum-ish drink that I brought from Manila which is like the strongest booze they have, broke in my suitcase and created the most RANCID ass smell. Oh god. When I got on the bus from the airport (which is like 2 hours), it had just enough time to seep into everyone elses’ bags, and also my sweater (the guy next to me looked unpleased). Then I had to take the train from Shinjuku, where people were staring at me because it smelled so bad, and then I had to take another bus to my house. A few people actually fished through their stuff and put on their surgeon masks. I was like “OH NO YOU DIDN’T.” But they did. Then I got home and broke a door.
I just fail at life today.

Photo: Kid with gun, oh snap!

Random Bits

So I’ve realized that my English is getting worse after coming here. I’m serious. I heard people warningly talk about how your English goes, but I thought they were joking! I don’t want to end up like our program director who has been in Japan for 13 years and can’t really speak either language well!
Today was a new low, though. This won’t amuse you very much if you aren’t familiar with Japanese grammar structure, but today I used the adjective-modifier-noun phrase in ENGLISH. It sounded so retarded. I was talking about how I was excited to go to the Philippines, because they speak English there, and I was like “I’m excited to see able to speak English people!” Afterwards we both kind of froze and were horrified. My friend said things, including “my hair hole is bleeding!” instead of follicle and I don’t remember what this was in reference to, but she said “I can’t do it no more.” No. No we can’t. I’ve also been told by a few people back at home that when I talk to them on Skype, I speak different. AHHH please, give me my English back, I need it! I always used to use correct grammar.

My diet is really bad here. I skipped 2nd Japanese class with a friend, and we went around Yotsuya and I got a sorbet, and a large chocolate cake that I ate by myself, and then Pringles. I was eating the sorbet while walking around, which is kind of a huge taboo here, you aren’t supposed to eat while walking or just being in a public non-restaurant place, so we were getting lots of bad looks. We agreed that this is the stupidest taboo ever, and I considered smearing the chocolate on my face and just being like “WHAT?! U GOTZ A PROBLEM?!” But I resisted.

Also, is it bad that I get elated when someone sits next to me on the bus? It just never happens, I feel almost ACCEPTED! Almost.

I sat across from a Yakuza on the train today.

It’s pretty warm now, I could wear a T-Shirt out today, which was nice, considering in America, blizzards abound.

Heading to the Philippines tomorrow at 3:30 am.

Photo: Some Kit-Kat brand condoms.

A typical morning...

Hiroshima/Miyajima

So I just got back from a CIEE weekend in Hiroshima and Miyajima. It was actually pretty fun for a lot of it, but it didn’t really feel like a weekend since I barely slept. On Friday, we got on the Shinkansen at around 5, leaving from Tokyo station, for a 4.5 hour ride into Hiroshima. The Shinkansen ride was pretty fun, we stopped off at all the major cities like Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagoya on the way. The next day, we went to various places in Hiroshima. At the A-bomb site, we got some terribly insensitive photos of people giving the peace sign and posing next to a friend who refused to smile and looked terribly serious and angry.
Then we went to the Hiroshima memorial museum, which was actually really interesting. The video they showed though was SO GRAPHIC and disturbing. I am not even usually squeamish, but they really made me gag with the videos of people’s wounds. One girl who lost an eye, they zoomed in and opened it up and it was so disturbing. I can live with never seeing that again. They also had some wax figures that were pretty freaky, with their skin melting off.Then the next day we went to Miyajima, which was very pretty. But the main highlight was the DEERS. And the monkeys. Although the deers were EVERYWHERE. And they were very friendly, I went up and pet a lot of them, and they were always just wandering the streets along with everyone else. It was awesome, all towns should be like that. Although I fear for them sometimes…As I was sitting down, I saw this one dumb bimbo with stiletto heels FEEDING one of the deer a fucking PAMPHLET. I was kind of in shock. And this wasn’t just a small pamphlet. This was a huge pamphlet. And she was standing there for about 5 minutes, giving the deer a bite and then waiting for it to swallow and then giving it again. It was kind of hilariously depressing. And she had no expression on her face, like she had no idea what she was doing. I think she was a Tokyo-ite (from how she was dressed) and probably didn’t know that pamphlets aren’t nutritious meals for animals.
After going to the top of the mountain, I saw a wild monkey, which was pretty exciting. It was very exhibitionist, too, it would just sit down and pose and scratch itself.

Message to My Parents

Uhh, this seems to be the only way that will work to send the video, so ignore this post if you are not my parents (or you can watch it, but it's not overly interesting).