夜色ブログ

Tuesday's expedition

Even after being up for more than 24 hours, I didn't sleep for more than eight Monday night and was quite awake by five in the morning on Tuesday. Daylight saving time is not observed in Japan, so in October it's still starting to get light at five, but it's dark by six in the evening. Since my luggage was still en route from the airport, I spent the morning walking along route 248, the main road in this area of town. I arrived at the nearest department store before it opened, so continued on and reached the mall just as it was opening.

Aeon Mall is fairly new and there's a good number of stores there including Sisley, United Colours of Benetton, Baskin-Robbins, Starbucks, and a Bagel shop that has lox and capers. Of course, there are the two anchor stores, ジャスコ (Jusco) and 西武 (Seibu). Seibu's selection seems similar to The Bay, although perhaps a wee bit higher class with more food shops on the first floor: cakes, fresh fish, bread, Japanese sweets. Jusco is a department store that carries wide variety of items: there's a grocery store on the first floor, school supplies, televisions, and clothing on the third floor, and everything between.

After exploring the mall for a while, I walked back to the school to see if my suitcases had arrived yet. Upon entering, the housing coordinator from the student affairs office, Kawakita-san immediately recognised me (I'm almost convinced the staff has secretly memorised our faces from our application photos) and indicated that my luggage had arrived and that they would drop them off at my apartment later in the day. I was rather relieved as I was not exactly looking forward to lugging 150 pounds through the streets.

After they dropped off my suitcases, I walked back to the first department store, 西友 (Seiyu), that was closed when I was there in the morning. Seiyu is similar to Jusco, but much more run down.

After exploring a bit more I decided to grab dinner at a chain called Pastel; it's just under 10 CAD for a plate of pasta. Apparently the Japanese take on Italian food is better than Italian food too; although at the moment, I'm still partial to the North American variant.

Tuesday: 13 kilometres

Placement exams

Placement exams were scheduled for Wednesday morning, so after waking up early, I headed to the coffee shop owned by the school. The breakfast special there was 350円 and consisted of a hard-boiled egg, a large piece of toast, a coffee or juice, and some off-white drink whose contents I have yet to figure out. While not terribly expensive, I think I'll stick to eating my toast at home, at least once I have bread and all.

The written portion of the test was held first and I think I am satisfied with my performance on it except for one or two questions. The interview on the other hand was as expected: rather disappointing (probably for the teachers holding the interview too). Since my Japanese education to this point has essentially consisted of two textbooks and some notes off the Internet, my reading and writing ability far exceeds that of my listening and speaking. This discrepancy, I trust, will soon be remedied.

After the exam, I wanted to find a pair of kitchen scissors, but hadn't liked any that I saw in the department stores on Tuesday, so I headed north to find a knife shop. Naturally, I forgot that the map I had looked at on-line was far more extensive than the one I had in my bag. My map ended at the mall, and relying on my memory, there was a knife shop about three times as far to the north. Eventually, I found it and found a chopping board and some scissors and made the somewhat painful walk back to my apartment.

Wednesday: 21 kilometres

Blisters

After walking some 34 kilometres in two days, my feet had become rather sore and blisters had developed. Don't worry, I didn't take any pictures! Regardless, I figured it would probably be a good idea to buy a bicycle. I wasn't so much concerned with sore feet and blisters since my feet would become accustomed to walking more, but rather with the time it takes to walk, especially north of the river.

After searching a bit on the Internet, I found a shop nearby and walked there Thursday morning. En route, I happened across a patch of trees and other flora about 350 metres long and 50 metres deep running along side the road. Perhaps it's just because of differences in native vegetation, but it felt much more wild than the patches of greenery in the Edmonton area. In the end I found a bike, but one my size wasn't in stock, so I would have to return on Saturday. Two more days of walking!

Some more exploring ensued to the northeast and I found a Toys"R"Us and an electronics chain. People were actually lining up at the electronics store before it opened. Does this happen at home too and I'm just ignorant of it? There weren't any special sales as far as I could tell.

Thursday: 15 kilometres

Strange bicycles

The design of Japanese bicycles is significantly different from what I'm used to at home. Typically they have a low, if present, top frame bar, almost like women's designs in Canada, except even lower and on all unisex models. The handle bars are higher, so you sit more upright while riding and they come standard with baskets, chain guards, lights, and mud guards. I have to say that it will take some time to become accustomed to, assuming that ever happens. They severely violate my sense of style.

When you purchase a bicycle, it is registered with the police so that should it be stolen and recovered, the police can return it. This is despite having lower bicycle theft rates than in Canada. The concept of locks are also very different. They stop the rear tire from spinning and lock the handle bars so they can't turn; however, there is nothing that anchors it to an external object, so anyone can come along with a trunk and throw your bike in the back of his trunk.

Since buying a Trek Soho and adding a mud guard, rack, light, and chain guard is a little out of my price range, I picked up a Japanese-style bicycle on Saturday. It actually has three gears! although, I haven't figured out how they work.

Home-made food!

I'm finally eating my first home-made meal and I haven't vomited it back up yet! Okay, okay, so that's not particularly surprising, but still, it's nice to be eating something a bit more substantial. The package of spaghetti contains lots of little tid-bits of note. Click on the picture for more details.

Aside to dad: go buy yourself a real knife. I had no idea how dull they were until tonight. You'll enjoy it, really. You certainly cook enough. Oh, and if you remodel the kitchen while I'm gone, make sure you install a gas line for the range. （＾＿＾＊） You've always said you prefer gas cooking, and it's not as though we have to worry about earthquakes rupturing the gas line.