The Insanity Gritty

The following is the weekly post for April 6-12, 2008

Most of last week was a sort of vacation. We had four days off (not counting the weekend). Now of course I must have done a significant amount of travelling in that time ne? WRONG! It rained for a majority of the week. I'm not talking drizzle here, I'm talking Jehovah broke his promise and was flooding the world again kind of rain. The weather was so bad one day that the news showed a man whose car windshield and windows were shattered by the rain and wind. Nutty huh? My okaasan commented about the weather in this country, which I will now attempt to remember, "Japanese weather is like a woman, nuts (or ever changing...but I like the first one)". Honestly, the temperature seems to change every five minutes. At one point its hot, next its cold, then its lukewarm, then it repeats! However, I must say that when the weather is nice, this country is truly a beautiful sight. One thing I noticed this week though is that whatever the weather is at this time of year, everyone ALWAYS wears a jacket. I brought my thin green jacket and a thin fleece just in case it gets chilly, but I don't always have them on. Quite frankly, it gets ridiculously hot sometimes, and unbearable for me to wear my jacket on a crowded train. However the Japanese don't complain and don't look uncomfortable wearing their jackets even in the warm weather. Now THAT'S discipline.

On Friday we had our first classes. This day and the following week are known as the "shopping period" in which we don't officially register for classes, but attend ones we think look interesting and shop around to see which ones suit us. On Friday I attended three classes: my mandatory Japanese (Nihongo) class, a Japanese art class, and a class called the History and Society of Edo (Edo being the old name for Tokyo). All the classes were quite fun but, I decided later to not take the class on Edo (the inconvenient time added to a large reading load which would conflict with my ability to enjoy my planned literature class). My Japanese class has some interesting people in it. There's a guy who can speak the language fluently (but cannot write it which necessitates his being in a beginner class), a guy with green and yellow hair, and just a whole bunch of others. I will note that there is this one guy who would turn out to be a "that guy"(I'll publish a work on my concept of a "that guy" later). Not "that guy" who is a know it all (while I believe we have one of those as well), but a "that guy" in a sense that he just says things without thinking and trying to be funny but, to me, just comes off as annoying and quite moronic (uh oh, am I becoming Holden Caulfield? Nah, I didn't call him a phony...yet). But all in all, the group seems to be a really great and diverse group of people, so a resonating hello to my Japanese class, and a hope that they don't read this blog until we're back in America so they can't physically harm me.

After classes were finished for the day (around 5:00 pm), I headed back to the house and had to immediately leave to get somewhere. I had somewhere to be at roughly 8, but the problem was that it was, at best, a 2 hour train ride. Of course, since its me it took me 2.5-3 hours to get there. I didn't get lost (on the way there), but it does take me awhile to navigate a train station I've never been to before. So thanks to Matt's awesome directions, my slowly developing ability to speak Japanese, and Kami-Sama, I made it to my destination. However, because I was so late to my destination, and wanting to give myself a decent buffer of time to make it home I could only stay in Noda for 5 minutes. You see, my general rule of thumb is to try to be home by midnight. Why such an early curfew you ask? Japanese trains tend to close down around then, and since I didn't know the specific schedule and last train times for any of my rides home, I want to be sure I have enough time to get home before I'm stranded across the country.
So, 3 hours of effort worry and some money resulted in five minutes at my destination.

However, an interesting thing happened to me at the train station at Noda. I will say that, in retrospect, this incident was quite amusing, but at the time I was a bit...disturbed. I was waiting at my platform when a woman started talking to me. Saucy ne? As you'll soon find out it was not at all. You see dear friends, if a beautiful Japanese woman had started conversation with me, I probably would've delved into this sooner instead of burying it in a mountain of text. The woman was short, a bit husky....oh and did I mention a tad bit of a fruit loop? That's right, a random and potentially mentally unsound person started yelling in my direction! How do I know she was one tatami mat short of a completed room? Well let's look at some indicators shall we?

1) Carrying 8 or so bags...not like grocery bags, but purses and backpacks
-But of course this could just mean that she is a common thief

2) Dishevelled appearance and lipstick not properly applied
-This could just mean that she lacks a mirror or the girls at Noda just aren't as...fashionable as the girls around Tokyo

3) She was pointing her ticket at me and saying something which sounded like gibberish

-But granted, my Japanese is so bad that it might just be a misunderstanding

Now, any one of these things alone, and I might just say that it was a misunderstanding. However, together, they seem to paint a portrait...a very, very nutty portrait. Now I know I might just be paranoid, but honestly she was speaking gibberish. You see, when I don't understand something someone says to me, all I have to do is say wakarimasen (I don't understand), and the speaker will usually use more basic words, or just bow slightly and give up. However in this case the woman held her ticket like a badge and started talking. When I clearly said I don't understand and that my Japanese is terrible, she just held her ticket up and kept going. Again, I said "wakarimasen" to which she replied "wakarinai" (informal I don't understand). This repeated several times, I swear she was acting like an informal parrot or something! These things lead me to believe that she was a tad bit daffy, but I'll let you make up your own minds. Feel free to comment about whether you think she was a nut case or not though, I'd be interested to hear your interpretations about this. Another thing to note is that, there was no one else at the station around. So if this lady decided to go...how shall I say, go Michael Myers (in the stabby way not the Wayne's World way, and yes I AM aware they are spelled differently) on me, I would probably be pretty screwed (ironic considering why I was in Noda). I must say that this was indeed a pretty frightening experience. However, don't let this one incident deter you from coming here, Japan is a ridiculously safe country comparatively (more on this later).

After getting back to the house at maybe midnight or 1 in the morning, I promptly went to my room to go to sleep. But, not before finalizing my plans for the next days trip with a few friends. But that is another adventure requiring its own post. Which I'll be starting in 5 minutes!

Gambatte

-DPN