Through the Looking Glass and what Saroya Found There...!

Wow, this first few days in Tokyo have been a whirlwind of activity. Seriously. I basically hit the ground running in this city, and it has only been amazing and wonderful. I am so happy that I got the opportunity to stay in Japan for the summer, and moving to a new city has totally hit the restart button on my abroad experience. Especially considering the vast differences between Kyoto and Tokyo (which I will go into in further detail in this entry and those to come). But first, before I get off track, let me cover the past few days in detail so that I don't forget to record the events and thus lose them in the amalgamation of my Japan experiences.

So on Saturday, I got up around 10:00 am to finish packing up the last of my things, put away my futon, and clean my room. Because I was packing until the last second, I didn't manage to get breakfast, though I figured I would just pick up lunch at the station and eat it on the train (like I'd done during Golden Week). My host mother drove me to the subway station, we said good-bye, and then I lugged my huge carry case and my other purse through the subway station, trying to avoid hitting anyone, and finally made it on the train. 30 minutes later, stomach grumbling, I ambled through Kyoto Eki for what I knew to be one of the last times (I'm hoping to go back and visit once) searching first for my Shinkansen entrance, and then for food. After hopeless debating and indecision and the pressure to make sure I was on the platform early, I finally got food for the train and made my way to the waiting area. The train ride itself was uneventful; I spent half of it reading and half of it napping. It's about a 2.5 hour ride on the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo. While the train ride itself passed rather quickly, I significantly felt bereft of my music as both of my ipods since my arrival in Japan have decided to internally implode and stop working. As a result, I can no longer jam to my own personal soundtrack as I transport myself from point A to point B. Those of you that know me well know that I go everywhere with my ipod. So in summary, part of me dies a little each time I realize I have no ipod because that means I have no music to accompany me on my journeys.

Anyway, after the train ride, we got off at Tokyo Station (I was traveling with one of the other Stanford students as our apartments are in the same building) and we were met by the director, who wanted to help us get to the real estate office, pick up our keys, and take us to the apartment building. All went smoothly; we picked up the keys got back on the subway, found the apartment complex and went to our rooms. I live on the 8th floor of my building, and I've actually got a nice view. The apartment is small, but it's still cozy. I have a small kitchenette (that came with plates, bowls, cups, pans etc), a closet (with an ironing board, iron, some hangers), bathroom, living space (bed, fridge, a/c, microwave, small coffee table). And I have a TV with a VHS player, which is strange but I'll take it. And a balcony. The only necessity I don't have is a washing machine...which makes my life so much more difficult. I'm hoping the building has one but I have yet to find it...But I digress. Upon getting to my apartment, I collapsed on the floor for a bit, too tired to do much of anything except wait for my luggage to arrive.

However, a quiet night settling into my apartment was not to be had. Instead, Yan and Abe decided that they were going to be out all night, and since I probably won't do such things after I leave Tokyo, I acquiesced to joining their party. My luggage finally arrived, I changed like lightening, and somehow made my way back to the closest subway station. However, I had little to no idea how to get to Shibuya. I didn't even know what subway line ran through this particular station! After a brief conversation with the station master in Japanese, I had a map and ticket in hand and boarded the subway. Too bad I ended up taking the slow boat to China route. Had I used my head a little bit more, I could've saved myself about 20 minutes of travel time. However, the slower route was less expensive, though it did involve a transfer that resulted in me sprinting across the platform to make the other train before it pulled out of the station. All in all though, I eventually made it to Shibuya and to my friends, whereupon we went to Shakey's, met up with Yan's coworkers, and proceeded to party the night away. Never a dull moment.

So I rolled back into my apartment on Sunday morning at around 6 am. Showered and slept till around 1pm. Then I got up again and got ready (at this point my room is a mess -- I haven't really unpacked so there are clothes everywhere and I'm living out of my suitcase). But I've promised Abe to meet him around 2pm in Harajuku to hang out and film for his video. So we meet up at around 2:30 and walk around the fashiony district of Harajuku. So many memories came back to me as we walked down the streets. I couldn't resist getting a rasberry cheesecake crepe as I hadn't had either breakfast or lunch (and dinner wasn't going to be till late) and we continued touring the street ways, looking here and there at those with out of this world outfits and street performers who were unconcerned by the onlooking populace. It was strange though; I felt like I was back in America with the amount of non-Asian tourists walking around. I heard more than one conversation in English and I began to feel this mixture of concern and familiarity. But finding a "Hub" on the backstreet of Harajuku washed these feelings away. The Hub was one of my favorite places to frequent in Kyoto; a British style Pub with lots of activity Thursday through Sunday night. Abe and I decided to chill there for a bit before continuing onto Akihabara. We didn't stay very long in the electronics district, as we met Yan for dinner at Shinagawa and then proceeded to go see a movie. The original intention was to watch Iron Man 2. However, due to expense, we chose Prince of Persia, which I was all to happy to see again (I liked it so much I bought the soundtrack!). Subsequently, the movie ended around 11 and we went our separate ways, as tomorrow was my first day of work.

I awoke Monday morning very nervous for my first day (Big Surprise....not). The entire way there I was dreading the possibility of not understanding my coworkers, or being unable to do the task set out for me. However, upon arrival and talking to my boss, most of my fears were averted. JACSES (Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society) is located two subway stops away from me on a DIFFERENT subway line (a rant about the massive Tokyo subway system will come later, trust me). It's about 30-45 minutes between my apartment door and the door to JACSES depending on how fast i'm walking, if the subway comes immediately etc. Anyway, JACSES has its base of locations on the fourth or fifth (I forget which...I just know that it's a climb, haha) floor of an old warehouse building. Its surroundings may seem a little ghetto, and the office space itself is rather small, but the people make it totally worth it. Granted, on my first day I didn't really get this feeling yet, but I'm done with my third day already and I know it's awesome. Anyway, so after Mr. Horvat left (he accompanied me to the office to show me where it was), my boss and I had a brief chat about what I would be working on and so on and so forth. But he was all about being relaxed and chill...which completely eased my nerves.

Right now, my project is to translate their 20 page mission statement/proposal etc. Okay...the amount of unprepared for this kind of work I am is extremely HIGH. However, my learning curve has been exponential. If you are at all familiar with the Japanese language, you know there are three written scripts, and one of those is kanji (the Chinese characters). Now, I don't have that large a vocabulary, so when I looked at the proposal first and saw HUGE amounts of kanji, internally I spazzed out. Nonetheless, jisho.org is my best friend. I have learned so many words and can already recognize quite a few of them after just translating the first three pages (the goal is to do one per day -- in terms of finding the vocabulary; grammer parts will come later). I have six pages of kanji that I've had to look up as well. So I'm expanding my vocabulary (written and hopefully verbal) by large amounts! I'm really enjoying it actually, even if I'm mostly sitting and looking up words.

Anyway, Monday and Tuesday JACSES was hosting a symposium; basically, from what I understand, they asked a whole bunch of experts in the global warming/climate change field in the area to come and speak and join in discussion for two days. This meant that we, the JACSES staff had to set up shop etc. at the place (which was conveniently across the street) at around 5:30pm. And both nights I got home around 11pm as cleaning up lasted till 10:00 and then I made my journey back. Despite the language barrier, I helped out quite a bit with setting up and such (all the event experience back at Stanford -- makes me continually come back to thinking about event planning as my future career). And both days were a lot of fun.

Now my coworkers are, on the majority, other college students. On Monday I spent a lot of time talking to this one guy from some Christian University in the area. He wanted to practice his english and I responded in Japanese and we got along just well. Then yesterday I talked primarily to this second year girl from Tokyo University. She talked to me about how she was nervous to go to London in the fall to study because her English was awful (she never spoke in English so I cannot attest to whether it was or not). And then today, during the last 45 minutes of work, my boss comes over and starts to converse with me and the elderly woman (sitting adjacent to me -- she's so sweet! She gives me sweets during the day! Too bad I can't understand a lot of what she says....) and then promptly invites the only other intern still in the office (the others went home earlier) to join in the conversation. And we joked and laughed and they asked me questions about myself and my family. It was all super fun. :)

My only concern is that my translation is due in 3 weeks and I can only hope I can finish it by then!! And that I don't know anyone's name...it's not that I don't remember their names, it's just when we were introduced I didn't catch any of their names!! And apparently many of the interns do speak English though I have yet to really hear them do so...Other than that though, working at JACSES so far has been a positively wonderful experience and I'm so glad that I decided to stay in Japan for the summer. Besides, I was able to come back to my apartment last night after work, curl up with hot chocolate, turn on the World Cup and watch the game (WHICH BTW I'M SO SAD JAPAN LOST IN PENALTIES -- penalty shots never prove anything) while I translated. I'd say perfect just sums up what it was.