楽しい時間 Fun Times

So this weekend was a pretty good one. I went to the world's tallest aquarium, which was a little expensive, but I still had a good hour and a half of fun at it so I can't really complain too much. The aquarium was placed at the top of a mall, which had the cutest clothes ever. From what I hear, there's going to be a massive sale at that mall sometime July, so I plan on going back and bringing some money with me :).
After I spent the day in Sunshine City, I ended up going out to dinner with some friends. Little did I know that dinner was going to be just one huge disaster waiting to happen. My group of 7 basically got taken advantage of. While we were walking trying to find somewhere cheap and that had food, a guy ran out to us from a restaurant saying "We have English menu," so we looked at it. People catching you on the street and asking you to eat at their restaurant isn't too uncommon in Japan, because since a lot of places are above or below other restaurants, they have to do that to get business during slow hours I suppose. So everyone agreed they wanted to eat there because the food looked good and pretty authentic. Most of us got small, cheap items because we weren't very hungry. Or so, we thought they were cheap. My meal with water and 3 Japanese style egg rolls was supposed to cost me only 480 yen ($5) plus included tax&tip, but because we were Americans and weren't familiar with custom, we didn't realize we'd be smacked down with an extra 330 yen ($3.50) table charge. In the end, I paid over 100% tip for this restaurant and I will not be going back again. They say that table charges are custom because they have "no tip like you Americans," but I know that the last few places I've sat down at didn't have such charge, plus at the bottom there was a spot where tip was already included. Basically, out group got taken advantage of, which was ircking to say the least.
Luckily not all of Japan is like that. Everything else seems to be exactly how I wished it would be. Sunday I spent the day at Yoyogi Park, which is home to the Meiji Jingu Shrine. It was very gorgeous! A girl in my study abroad group, Savi, had her host dad take me and 2 others around the shrine and told us a lot about the customs. While we were there, 2 wedding ceremonies were going on, which apparently, according to Savi's host dad, was a rare occurance and that we were very lucky to see both.
After the tour of the shrine, Savi's host dad left and my group went around exploring the Harajuku area of Tokyo. The shopping there is to die for! All the shops are super nifty and I very much plan on going back before I leave :). Cameron, a girl in my group who's an architecture major, was bent on finding a designers house so we spent a good hour searching for it. When we finally found it my jaw almost unhinged. The house looked like it was floating off the ground and was a sight to look at for sure! We probably spent a good 20 minutes gawking at the house, and I hope the owner wasn't there because he was probably laughing at us all for just staring at his house with our mouthes wide open.
After our gawking, Cameron took us to a 4 story toy store. Cameron knew where it was because she had been to Tokyo 5 times prior to this due to her mom's job. In the toy store they had a whole giant section dedicated to my two favorite animation companys -- Ghibli and Pixar. There was a giant Toy Story display because Toy Story 3 is apparently hitting theaters here in Japan pretty soon and the anticipation for it is incredible. What they don't know is that I've luckily already seen it :). In the Ghibli section they had a lot of Totoro merchandise and there was a full size Totoro stuffed animal for almost 10,000 yen (that's $1000!)! I almost died of happiness in that store.
The rest of the day my group and I just wandered in Yoyogi Park and relaxed and people watched.
My classes this week are rough. They are all review and they last from 9 30am to 4 45pm. Wish me luck surviving them!

新宿 Shinjuku

So today was my second day of class and I for sure got into level 2 after taking the hardest Japanese exam of my life (that would be because it was meant for level 4 students I discovered later). My teacher I'm pretty sure is gay and is crazy funny. He sports a mohaw and a pink tie. He's extremely animated. I'm getting excited for actually learning how to speak. The way this immersion program works is my teacher only speaks in Japanese because my class not only has English speakers, but Korean and Chinese as well. Apparently we're supposed to ignore these Korean and Chinese student's talents when they start class with us because they are smarter than us (one of the teachers really said "Don't worry about the Asians, they're too smart" :O!). So far my class is just a review, so I don't have to worry too much about it this weekend, and actually have fun!
Which, speaking of, is what I did tonight. After class (which ended at 4:45pm and started at 9am) a bunch of my classmates and I went exploring the Shinjuku district that's only a 10 minute walk from my school :). It's pretty much what you'd expect Tokyo to look like. Flashing lights everywhere, amazing smelling food, and hundreds and hundreds of Japanese people all dressed in the most up-to-date fashions. The men mostly wear suits it seems, except for the teenage and college boys that get pretty punk-rocked out, and all the girls seem to wear high heels and leggings. The stores and pretty crazy as well. From rumors I've heard, there's a 4 story Forever 21 that sells tanks for 200 yen ($2.oo). That's crazy cheap to me and kinda thrilling. I think a lot of American stores in Tokyo are like that, from what I'm getting. Also a lot of stores in Tokyo are multiple stories, which is really neat. Yesterday I went to a super market that had 3 floors!
Shibuya gets even more crazy, though. There are restaurants not only in basements below other restaurants, but I discovered one that's just in the middle of a road where you'd think cars would be able to drive down, but I suppose they can't because people are too busy eating at their fancy tables! Tonight I actually went to a basement restaurant and ate some dessert while the 3 girls that were with me mostly today had dinner. My dessert was apparently a Chinese one (that's what the waiter said) and it was strawberries with a substance that tasted like ice cream jell-o. I'm really fond of not tipping, which I know sounds pretty bad, but it's nice to know that what you see is the real price and you don't have to think about adding an extra $5 to it.
Tokyo's really fun so far and exciting everywhere I look :). I'm pretty sure the fashion and the subway is so far my favorite thing about the city. Speaking of the subway, the mornings are very much crazy and there's a guy with white gloves that has to push everyone in like we're cattle. It's super busy and hectic. Tomorrow I'm heading off to the world's tallest aquarium that's located near my dorm :)! I'm totally stoked!

私のりょう My dorm

I decided while I was away, that I would write a blog for anyone who's interested in my adventures in Tokyo!
The plane ride was very long yesterday and I had a middle seat because I had to switch with a family so they could be together >.< On the bright side, I had my own personal Pixar marathon, which included Finding Nemo and Wall-E, so things were pretty all right.
The airport was confusing. I freaked out more than once (What if my group leaves me? Where's my luggage? Is this the right line?). I actually almost lost my luggage because I missed it while going through immigration, so I'm glad I found it!
I feel pretty naked without my phone. That's the first thing I realized when I stepped off the plane. I now know how it felt prior to cell phones, and it isn't a favorable situation, but I think I'll be able to cope with it.
The bus ride from the airport was almost 2hours, and mostly an hour and a half of that was actually driving through Tokyo -- it's so big (大きいですよ)! However, I must admit, the ride was more than pleasent. Tokyo is the greenest city I've ever seen! There are trees planted in every inch where there's not a building or sidewalk. The greenery is thriving and beautiful as well.
My dorm is small, but I really like it. The dorm mom speaks only Japanese, which may prove difficult at first, but it'll only help me learn it faster I think!
The weather's gorgeous right now. It feel like 70 degrees outside. Super gorgeous. And the weather for July will supposedly by super rainy and I'm super excited about that :D.
Some of my dorm group and I went to a Hyaku-en (100 yen) store last night and I stocked up on some food. I found rice crispies for cereal :)
I can't wait to start taking pictures -- the section I live in Tokyo is so pretty calm for a city and I really like it. I also like how not too far away is the lively (にぎやか) part of Tokyo, the Shibuya district, which is where my class is located!! It has zillions of flashing lights everywhere, and I even spotted a movie theater.
So far I'm really loving it here :)