Chillaxin

It's been pretty easy going here since I got back from my island last weekend. This past weekend, I didn't leave Tokyo, but I still enjoyed myself.

Being in alpha world city like Tokyo (the only others are London, Paris and New York) means, among other things, that there is lots of good food. For some reason, I've really gotten into eating different kinds of food (nothing crazy or extreme) while here. Last Friday I did Thai at a place near my school. Scrumptious. The next day I tried Korean BBQ, which was an interesting experience. You order strips of beef and grill it yourself in the middle of your table. It was quite good, plus we ordered a lot of rice, including this special spicy vegetable rice in a stone bowl (I like spicy food by the way). Also, the restaurant was on the 8th floor of a department store. Seriously, department stores in Japan do everything. You name it, they sell it or offer some kind of service. I went in one last weekend that had a full gourmet supermarket in the basement. They had an ice cream shop in one corner, of which I paid a visited. Speaking of ice cream, this weekend, I went to Haagen-Daas, which is also quite good. I had these huge chunks of brownie in my cone, plus all the other sundae stuff. I still got to try Coldstone here, it's close to my school.

I go to Starbucks every so often, but not for coffee. Hot Chocolate. I have a friend I go with sometimes who likes hot chocolate, so we both get that. Plus, Starbucks has cocoa dispensers on every floor (most Starbucks' are multistoried), so I can make it super chocolaty. I don't eat out all the time however. I learned to cook a good amount too. I specialize in Japanese curry, pasta, steaks and chicken. My cooking is pretty elementary; I don't scour the city looking for ingredients. But I impress myself and that's what matters ;-)

I haven't just talked in awhile about living here; I've been too descriptive of what I do I guess. So, indulge me as I rattle:

A kid in my dorm got drunk, went crazy and, among other things, sprayed the fire extinguisher all over the hallway, then funneled it under a random girl's room and coated the inside of her room with whatever is in those things. I don't know how he was punished.

My running friends will be happy to know that I still run, lol. This week I did 2 workouts. That's right, haha. First one was 3 1000s and second was 5 400s. Nothing serious (because I am out of shape), but decent times I suppose. The wind of the track is crazy though. Worse then Center Valley wind. Probably because the track is along a big river near Tokyo Bay. Anyway, I was doing well with my 400s on Tuesday. The last one I decided to run quite hard. Sometimes when I do this I close my eyes. I made the mistake of closing my eyes around the turn after the 200m mark and drifted off the track. The infield is higher than the track (it has a curb lining the first lane). Because my eyes were closed, I stepped up on the infield and that completely threw off everything. You don't realize how fast your going until you get out of control like me. So when I did this, I got crazy out of control and could not stop myself no matter what. It was as if I was thrown out of a moving car. I'm not sure how I fell, all I know is that I abraised my left hip and cut my hands a bit (it's a gravel track). I was so determined to finish my workout though that I sprang up as fast s I could and sprinted to the finish. I still did a 72, which I'll take after that. My hip and hands stung on my way back home though (2.5 miles). I'm ok now though :-) By the way, the track is in the next city, Kawasaki and it's horrible, but the only one around.

Sorry to mention more food, but I eat Spam for breakfast a lot. My mom sent some to me and it's good in omelette's. I found Tabasico Spicy Spam in Don Quixote (Japanese version of WalMart) and it's quite good.

I saw "Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D last Friday. Pretty neat. It was in this mall right outside the entrance of Tokyo DisneyLand. I got gelati there, terre misu actually. Very good.

I saw Mt. Fuji for the first time from my dorm. It's gotten colder here, so I guess that clears up the pollution (at least in the morning). It's quite the site; I have a picture I'll post later. By the way, cold here is like high 50s, low 60s. It was 69 the other day.

This kid that bikes to school told me he saw a monkey walking on it's hands on a ball on his way to school. Twice. Seriously. I think I might start biking to school again...

I was on a train and I heard meowing. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then I figured out this lady had cat in her purse. Bizarre...

I'm not a dog person (I prefer cats), but the dogs in Japan might change my mind. The breeds here are small, cute and people here groom them to the extreme. Plus they are super well trained. People let there dogs go wild in the park I run in and they never chase me. I'll have to take some pictures.

I watched an interesting Japanese movie in my Japanese Culture class called 'Go.' It's about people of Korean descent living in Japan. They came here during the colonial era of Japan, when Japan ruled Korea. Anyway, it's interesting to know that these people are discriminated against and are not Japanese. By that I mean they are not Japanese citizens. Most of the Koreans came over before World War II. So, you could be a 4th generation Korean living in Japan, speak Japanese perfectly (and not know any Korean) and blend in fully well, but you cannot become a citizen and have to carry around an alien registration card (like I do). Japan has a ridiculous immigration policy, but this is beyond bewilderment.

By the way, I run a lot still because I'm too afraid of getting fat and out of shape. I think that I'd rather kill myself on the track and have my legs fall off then get fat.

Well, that's it for now. I'm heading out to Tokyo Bay tonight to see the sights; apparently it's where most of the new development in the city is happening. They have a giant Ferris wheel there and a giant sculpture of something ridiculous, like a boot or hairdryer or something. There's also a scale replica of the Statue of Liberty and a beach. But your not allowed to go in the water because it's too polluted.