Bet you thought I died yesterday, at least that`s how I felt. Hey Ellen, ma informed me that that last e-mail you sent me was sent to EVERYONE! Good thing you kept it clean, hey? Just kidding. Anyway, I just want to share with you my frustrations with the train station. Yesterday I wasted a few bucks because I could not figure out how to buy a damn ticket. You walk up to this machine with a million buttons, all with Japanese script and the only thing I know how to do is insert my coins. Once I do that, buttons light up with numbers and I have to press the correct ones. OK, now I have my ticket and I walk into the station but can]t find the train that takes me to my destination. I find a guard dude to tell me what I did wrong, well apparently I just wasted that money because I was on the wrong side of the station and now I have to purchase another ticket at a machine that looks different from the last machine but equally as confusing. Fortunately, a sweet little Japanese girl is picking up on my confused vibes and asks me where I am trying to go to. She tells me she is going to Chofu, too, so she shows me what to do and tells me to follow her. That is how I made it home yesterday (I didn't even TELL you about my confusion of being at the wrong train station altogether before I finally found the JR).
So today, instead of cowering inside all day in my safe little abode, I decide to try this little train trick again. With my tummy full of one hard boiled egg and a snickers I bought the night before, I am off! I manage to purchase the ticket without any hassle from the Tobitakyu station (where I live) and I make it to Shinjuku with only one error (I got on the slow train that stops at every stop instead of the express one which only stops at 2 stops before Shinjuku. (The other one stops 16 times!!!!!) So here I am in Shijuku again and I managed to find this internet cafe accidentally (I had been looking for it for about 20 minutes, then I turn around and look up and see the sign...YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! This place has become my salvation, my one and only contact with the outside world. It is raining today but I still made the trek, even without an umbrella. I have lots more to tell but I have a few people to write individually to and I have to pay by the half hour so this is the end of the road. Ｂｕｔ before I go here are a few more things I have learned about Japan and its people...
It gets so hot and humid here that people walk around with rolled up wash rags to wipe the sweat off their faces. They have their hands full with umbrellas and sweaty rags!
Cleaning ones teeth is not an ordinary practice here. EVERYONE has teeth that are either crooked, brown, and gunky with yellow stuff OR they are just brown with gunky stuff. Even the cute girls have yuck-mouth!
Their books are opposite ours, the binding is on the right side and you open it and turn pages back like you are reading from back to front. Oh and there are 3000 characters in Japanese writing. I don]t think I`ll even TRY to master THAT, the 26 letters in our alphabet stretched my brain enough...I have stretch marks to prove it.
OK, that is all for now. I love and miss you all. Love me
(My daily commute to work)
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