Good evening and hello to all!
I figured it was finally time I sat down and created a blog, a memoir to be set in stone and read for ages to come, of my time in Japan for all of you who sadly cannot be here with me and witness the magic first hand!
I am thinking of writing in English so I can connect with a broader audience. So please bear with me and my grammar mistakes, gomen ne! I will try to write as often as I can, and in as much detail as possible, not only for your enjoyment but also because I have the memory of a very tiny koi fish and need to jot this down so I won´t forget.
In between school, homework, parties, dorm stuff, other activity etc. I also have emails and letters to write so I will do my very best to find time to document my time here.
Ok! Having got the introduction out of the way, let´s begin! Sit back, go get some coffee or hot tea, get cozy in front of your desk/kotatsu table and enjoy!
I want to take you back to a time far away, before I came to Japan. It was a hot, dry summer in the land of ice, which is somewhat of a contradiction but gives the story a nice, poetic feel, when I started planning for my trip to Japan. There were so many things to do, apply for the school, grants, student loans, health insurance ... the list goes on. Engulfed in these tedious tasks I somehow forgot what I was getting myself into. Even when I stepped on board the plane which eventually took me to Beijing I was completely unfazed. Just going on a nice little holiday with my friend, that´s it. The realization would kick in only a few weeks later.
Speaking of China, the airport was quite impressive. We (me and Edda) decided to do some sightseeing and checked out the stores, full of Chinese women who followed our every step and explained to us Chinese-impaired foreigners the mysterious oriental items they had on sale. After some more exploring we boarded the third and final plane which took us safely to Narita aiport, Japan.
My first impression of Japan was at a hotel in Narita, which is a short train ride away from central Tokyo. The man at the reception played his role perfectly, bowing and nodding his head every now and then, using very polite and formal speech when addressing us. I had my first and only culture shock when I entered the room, I felt like I had grown at least 20 centimetres! The desk, chairs, bed.. everything is so close to the ground here! We spent our time gathering our strength after three plane rides and enjoyed a very good breakfast, complete with western style and asian style food, a koi pond outside and a replica of an old Japanese house. What really caught my eye though was the two or three gardeners I saw climbing the already masterfully pruned trees, snipping away at the branches. For the next few days this would be very common, seeing people tending their gardens, houses, cleaning leaves out of the gutters, painting or just simply cleaning something. I think their policy is one of "if you can´t eat off it, it´s not clean enough!"
Arriving at the train station we had the daunting task of checking the train schedules and finding the right one, buying the tickets from the very Japanese ticket machine and getting on board the right train. Oh, getting off would have been an issue as well. Fortunately, I asked two lovely Japanese ladies for a bit of help, onegai shimasu, with the ticket machine and told them where I was going. Not only did they teach me how to work the machine, they were going the same direction so they helped us carry the bags on board the train, told us when to switch to another platform (something I would have never figured out I had to do in the first place) and saw us off when we arrived at our destination. Still I have yet to find a rude Japanese person, when asked for directions they usually jump to the opportunity, stop what they´re doing and excitedly point in the direction you need to go. Not to mention if you speak a bit of Japanese. That is usually followed by a long "eeeeehhh?" exclamation of pure shock and awe and they continue to applaud your skill, even if you have only said "hai, chotto dake." ("yes, only a little bit").
Tokyo passed away in a blur. I managed to get sick for a few days which put a damper on my stay there but in spite of this I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in the big city. We met up with the kids from school back home (big shout-out to Beta, Villimey and Valdi, who are back at school right now, enjoy!) and Hákon, Björk, Svenni and Stefán who are now studying in Tokyo. Svanni we met at the airport in London but due to unfortunate circumstances she got held up in London so I we didn´t get to meet with her in Tokyo.
From the 10th of september (if memory serves right) till the 16th we stayed in Tokyo, eating delicious food, doing karaoke, sightseeing and enjoying the amazing good weather. We checked out Akihabara with all of its technological wonder and manga+anime stores, Harajuku with all the goth lolitas and a beautiful park where we got to see two weddings, lots of shrines, temples, markets etc. It would take forever to write in detail about Tokyo so I will let this suffice for now.
More later on Kyoto, school, clubs etc. Tune in!
Ég þakka þeim er hlýddu, hlýjar kveðjur heim!
<3
No comments:
Post a Comment