Exciting (or maybe not so exciting but more like noteworthy) things that happened this week:
1. I am the proud owner of a NEW BIKE!
Well, a new used bike. I had considered getting a cheap bike for running errands, getting where I'm going above ground, and exploring the city, but hadn't taken any real action towards making it happen because as my SF friends know, I'm truly not a biker unless I'm out on a road ride for exercise. I never biked to get where I was going in college, post-college in Virginia, or in SF despite it's claim to be a bike-friendly city (I was always terrified of the traffic!) I hated the idea of arriving places already sweaty, and considered uber a perfectly good alternative to biking. So what changed? Well, I don't really know, but as I have said before and as you are now probably growing tired of hearing, a complete change of environment makes you think, feel, and act differently. I just felt like I needed a bike, and one kind of fell in my lap....
...Last night I was out to dinner with my friends Taeko and Laura, and happened to be perusing the Tokyo Expat Network facebook page (amazing resource if you are reading this from Tokyo, let me know if you want an invite) and noticed a post from a woman selling a good bike for the equivalent of about $65 USD. I casually mentioned it to Laura who was sitting next to me- being Irish and not one to mess around, she quickly grabbed my phone and wrote the seller an email before I could finish my current bite of pizza -yes, I was back at Strada Pizza, because where else would I go?!? ;) We arranged for the bike pick up today at 7pm and lo and behold, I have my first Tokyo standard ladies bike complete with front basket, back carrier, bell, and chain guard. All I need is a baby seat to complete the look and I'd blend in splendidly with the thousands of other Tokyo women toting things around effortlessly on a bike heavier than they are.
Stay tuned for a report in several weeks as to how much use the bike is getting, and what I've decided to name her. Yes, much to my mom's dismay, I'm 33 and never outgrew my pre-teen habit of naming and getting way too attached to inanimate objects.
I will post a pic of said bike next week, by the time I got home it was dark and my pics are really bad.
2. I haven't cried or even felt like crying for an entire week!
Enough said. :)
3. I made a restaurant reservation in Japanese
Well, OK, I did most of it in Japanese and then when he started explaining that all the tables were booked but we could sit at the counter, blah blah, I understood the message but sadly had no immediate words to respond and de-volved to English. But only for that last part of the chat. I called a restaurant, greeted and asked for a reservation and gave the details in Japanese. I have to be happy about this...
...because my teacher Kyoko-san (have I mentioned what a GEM she is? I really love her) gave me a particle quiz on Wednesday and I think if it were graded I'd have earned somewhere between 60-70% of the points. Ugh. I felt like crying (ah crap, I guess I just negated point two above) - why is this language so hard? But anyway, it gave me a new resolve to study and I spent Thursday night geeking out at my kitchen table figuring out why I went wrong and really trying to understand things. I think (scratch that- I know) I'm being way too hard on myself with this language thing but I just can't get over how debilitated I feel not being able to speak or read, mostly at work. I very often receive emails in Japanese, even from native English speakers, because my company is so domestic that even the second language Japanese speakers have forgotten there may be someone on the email who can't read it and needs a one line English summary. I know people here who have lived in Japan a long time and don't care to learn the language because most places in Tokyo you can get by with English, but that's just not my style. I'm either 110% in or I'm 110% not in. And I'm in. Stay tuned for continuing adventures in Lisa vs Nihongo. I'm supposed to start reading a children's book this week- see pic below, no clue what it is but based on pics it may be about a monkey and a mitten??? God help me, I can only imagine what my fellow Namboku/Ginza line commuters will think of the gaijin girl who's taking 20 minutes to read a single page of simple hiragana about a monkey.
4. I learned it is life-changing to catch up with family and friends
This week I scheduled FaceTime with my brother and sister-in-law (at 9am on Saturday, which shows you how motivated I was!) and my close friend Jenny, who is 8.5 months pregnant- seeing her almost made me cry (Ok point 2 is really in the grave now!) because it was a reminder of what I will be missing, but nothing made me happier this week than seeing her face and my brother and sis-in-law. I also caught up with another good friend who has experience as an expat in Tokyo on Friday evening and it made my day. My point is at this stage I'm still very much attached to my friends back home and as I mentioned a few posts ago, don't you dare think my fab life in Tokyo has me forgetting about you- I wonder every day what you are up to and what you're doing right now. This morning while swimming at Shiba Koen outdoor pool in a 2-lane loop setup with a bunch of grandmas, I would have given my left eye to attend a single Stanford masters workout and could not get the image of that pool and my lanemates and friends out of my head. You may miss me, but I guarantee I miss you more! xx
And a few pics to round out this post....
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| I have never in my life experienced heat/humidity like they have in Japan- 11pm and it's still 91 degrees with 84% (eighty-four percent!!!) humidity. Shoot me. Maybe the reason I got a bike is because I'm already showing up to every place already sweaty, so what does it matter?? |
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| My teacher helpfully gave me a children's book to practice reading hiragana (I'm really slow and sound out words all the time like a kindergartner, Katakana is even worse). She instructed me to read a whole chapter for Monday. I negotiated her down to one page. Come on now! I can't even read the title! |
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| Friday morning at my desk. Tully's coffee in hand. This is right before my Aussie friend Sorin came to visit my desk. Any interaction where I can speak native English is an automatic day-maker. My smile was wider after he left. |
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| Shibuya crossing from inside a cab Saturday night |
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| Laura and I beating the heat at Shiba Koen swimming pool. I'm post 2k swim and getting yelled at for not keeping right (there were too many grannies on the right side, give me a break!!) We also got reprimanded for putting on SUNSCREEN! Sunscreen is apparently not allowed. We followed suit of the rest of the Japanese at that point and clandestinely put it on while the security/staff guys were not in sight. Japan is thus far the most orderly but illogical place I have ever or ever will live in my life (perspective at 3 months in...) |
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| Next few pics are random shots of Ginza shopping district today |
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| Ginza |
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| Ginza |
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| Super cool DeBeers building in Ginza |
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