7/18 Disney Sea

Hello, everyone. It's been a long time since I last wrote. I got lots of events to write about. Well, this post is about what happened on 7/18.

Remember that on 7/17 everyone met up for dinner in Shinjuku. Muk and my gf were planning to go to Disney Sea all along, and the little trip talk came up during the dinner, and Ai suddenly got interested in it and said she wanted to go with us. There was no reason to refuse, so we said yes.

We decided to meet up at Disney Sea at 3 p.m. because it's cheaper from 3 p.m. on. 5500 yen vs. 4500 yen. Anyway, Ai and Muk were planning to visit Hata-sensei's house in Chiba prefecture in the morning, so I thought my gf and I could do the same and go to Disney with them together. So, my gf and I left for Hata-sensei's place in the morning. On the way to Kemigawahama station, I got an e-mail from Ai that she couldn't get in touch with Hata-sensei's wife, Yaeko-san, and that she and Muk were walking around Shibuya. Ai added that they would come to Disney Sea at 3 p.m.

After we arrived in Kemigawahama, I tried calling Yaeko-san with no avail, so we bought some food from the konbini, Japanese for a convenience store, and ate nearby the station. I don't remember how, but my gf and I got into an argument after eating lunch, so I left her and walked south, toward the sea. I thought she would follow me, but it turned out that she didn't. From the map I saw by the station, the sea seemed to be about 15-minute-walking-distance away, but it took me about 30 minutes to get there. I took some pictures and looked around the yacht harbor, and I got another e-mail from Ai that she and Muk won't come to Disney Sea because they couldn't get in touch with Yaeko-san. I was kind of angry, but I thought oh well. Then, I got a call from my gf who was still nearby the station, telling me to come back as soon as possible, in a not-so-friendly voice. I wasn't too pleased with her conduct either, so I took my time looking around and taking pictures before I headed back to the station. Don't forget that I've been trying to get in touch with Yaeko-san all along as well. I finally got back to the station, and saw my gf noticing me. The problem was Yaeko-san answered my phone call, and she said she was back home. Without telling my gf anything, I turned back and walked toward Yaeko-san's house, and my gf followed me, as I knew she would. I got to the apartment complex and waited for my gf to arrive.

When she saw me waiting, she suddenly shouted out "Hey!" in Korean. She was furiously shouting out what the heck was going on and what I was doing walking away without talking to her what it was about. Although no one was around, I'm sure people inside the apartment heard her yell like a crazy woman in Korean. I got mad in return and told her that I'm going inside Yaeko-san's house and that she doesn't have to come in if she didn't want to. I didn't expect her to enter anyway. I gave Koreanseasoned seaweed to Yaeko-san as an omiyage, Japanese for a gift, and told her I had to go back. Yaeko-san insisted that I should stay for a cup of tea, but I succeeded in getting out of there quickly in the end.

My gf was nowhere in sight, so I assumed correctly that she went back to the station. When I caught up to my gf and told her we were going back home instead of Disney Sea because Ai and Muk weren't coming, she told me to call Ai and ask why they were breaking the promise. I told her to no avail that Ai wouldn't answer my calls because she almost always doesn't, but my gf wouldn't have any of that. So, I had to call Ai several times on our way back home. Inside the subway, my gf started saying many different things to me in a loud voice, not minding those around her and me. One comment pissed me off so much I just stood up and went to the other car of the train. She had said that she couldn't understand why I hang around with such lowly people. It would have been OK if she were just badmouthing me, but I couldn't stand her badmouthing my friends. After we got off the subway, we walked back home in silence. In the end, Ai didn't call back or answer my calls.

So, that's the Disney Sea story folks. We never even got close to Disney Sea on 7/18. Stay tuned for our trip to Hakone.

7/17 adventure cont'd

Long time no post. I came back from a trip to Hakone yesterday morning. I will write about it when I finish writing about stuff that happened before that.

So, last time I lost gas after getting up to the rendezvous point. I will finish the adventure of 7/17 for good with this post. Wish me luck.

For a quick recap, I was meeting up with lots of people in Shinjuku for dinner, and it took about 1 hour to get everybody at the same place. Last group of people to arrive was Kanto and 3 IJST members this year who had come to Tokyo via the 7-hour-long bus trip. I had to go get them at the west exit, and 9 others went ahead to find a place to eat. After putting their luggages in the coin locker, Kanto and crew followed me to an izakaya, Japanese-style restaurant/pub/bar where you can eat food and drink alcohol. The izakaya was called Tsukimaru, and it was in Kabukicho area. For those of you who are Tokyo-naive, Kabukicho is the infamous red-light district. I personally think it's fun to take a walk there because I get to see so many interesting people and cool advertisements/names of establishments. The best thing about it all is that there's a police box in the heart of Kabukicho, and they are not there to stop prostitution. They are just there to guarantee an orderly operation of these establishments.

When the 4 of us finally got to Tsukimaru, we had to put our shoes in plastic bags and take them to our seats. This was the first izakaya I've been to that didn't have a place to store shoes and offered plastic bags instead. I had a feeling this particular izakaya wasn't up-to-par with the rest of the pack like Warawara and Watami. Ai and others decided on a nomihoudai, Japanese for all-you-can-drink, for about 1400 yen per person. One catch was that each person had to order at least one food, which started from about 300 yen all the way up to 900 or so. The group separated into two tables, one for guys and one for girls. I was with the girls. I felt left out, or right in, whichever you look at it.

I remember my gals ordering pizza, salad, and gyouza, Japanese for dumplings. I'm sure we had more since there were 5 girls and me at the table. I don't really remember what the guys ordered. Ray really liked the nomihoudai deal, so he ordered many drinks, especially the Malibu Pineapple cocktail, which happens to be my favorite.

Anyway, the dinner was good and all, although a bit expensive, the problem of the night showed up with the receipt. The bill divided in 12 came out about 2229 yen per person. So, I asked everyone to pay 2300 yen. Most people had 10000 yen bills or didn't have 3 100 yen coins, so I had to go get change a couple of times. Getting money from everyone took about 20 minutes, and in the process, there was a disagreement with Kanto and Scott and me about them paying me already. I said I didn't get money from them, and I still don't to this day, so Kanto ended up paying me 5000 yen for both him and Scott. I would find out later that Kanto and Scott had probably paid me somehow, in a way that I don't remember, because I went over the financial matters before I went to bed that day, and things just didn't match up nicely. This was the problem #1 of the night.

Kanto, Kim, and Greg were going to Yokohama that night and going to Korea the following day, so they bid farewell to everyone first. Others didn't really wanna stay either, so we all left and headed for Shinjuku station. Muk and Ai left together because Muk was gonna stay at Ai's apartment. Scott, Ray, and Tony left together via Odakyu Line because they lived in Kanagawa prefecture. Mina, Dylan, my gf, and I were gonna use the Yamanote Line, a loop line covering many of the major stops in Tokyo, but Mina had to go the other direction. Dylan was staying at a hotel in Gotanda, which was 3 stops after ours, so I told him the necessary directions before my gf and I got off in Shibuya.

After we finally got back home, I entered the day's expenditures into my Excel sheet and checked the leftover dough. Enter problem #2. At this point, I'm furious at myself because I can't seem to remember where the missing 10000 yen is. Well, it wasn't exactly 10000 yen because of the problem #1, but I had a feeling one of my beloved brown bills was missing. I got angry at myself at the possibility of dropping it somewhere, and even got mad at my gf because I was just not a happy camper. So, I decided to take a shower and think the course of the night over. Aha! I remembered the terrible, horrible incident that led up to my bill's MIA status. When I arrived in Shinjuku that night before the rendezvous time, I went to the Odakyu ticket machine area in order to buy the Hakone Freepass for our trip to Hakone on 7/19. There are two types of the Pass. One usable from Shinjuku and one from Odawara, a stop in between Shinjuku and Hakone. I wanted to buy the cheaper one, of course, but what I didn't know was the fact that I can only buy the cheaper Pass at Odawara station. To make things simple, I'll leave out unnecessary details. I entered my brown bill into the machine, and then this Odakyu guy came up to help me and told me that I can't buy the cheaper Pass in Shinjuku, so I decided not to buy it then and backed out of the machine. I had totally FORGOTTEN about getting my bill back! You have to press this cancel button in order to get your money back. The reason I had forgotten this simple action was because the Odakyu guy was such a pain in the butt. He talked to me as if he's really angry at me, and so I also talked to him back in an angry tone. So, when I decided not to buy the Pass, I quickly left the machine in a fury, badmouthing the Odakyu guy in Korean. Bad karma? Oh, well. In the end, my Excel sheet has entries called "Odakyu loss" and "missing" on 7/17. The lesson for the day? Don't let your feelings get in the way when it comes to $.

That's my story for 7/17. Stay tuned for another bad adventure involving Disney Sea.

fun times turned into bad times

So, today was a terrible day.  We ended up not going to Disney Sea.  I'll save that story for later and elaborate on last night's adventures instead.  Geez, at this rate, I will always have some stories in my stack.  Hehehe....
 
Anyway, so after our little nap last night, my gf and I went to Shinjuku to meet up with a large congregation dying to meet me because I'm so popular.  The appointed time was 8 p.m., but I knew well enough that not everyone would make it at 8 p.m.  First to arrive was Ai, a Japanese friend of mine who graduated from UIUC last year and now working in Shibuya.  She's from Yamaguchi prefecture, and you can call her an inaka girl, from the rural area.  She doesn't like being called that, but I haven't told her this site, so I'm safe for now.  Our rendezvous point was Shinjuku east exit in front of the kouban, Japanese for a police box where you can get directions and what not.  Pretty useful if you are lost.  Although this particular place is really convenient, hundreds of other people think the same, so it gets crowded at night, especially on a Saturday.  My gf isn't particularly fond of smoke, so I had Ai take her inside the station and talk with her.  I waited a bit more outside until Scott and Dylan showed up.  Scott is a fellow IJST participant from last year, and Dylan is this year's participant.  Both are from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.  At this point, my cell was being bombarded with mails and phone calls because I told everyone to call me if anything's up.  Kanto, a Japanese guy from KIT, and his crew just arrived in Ikebukuro and were heading towards Shinjuku.  Muk, a Thai girl from UIUC and another IJST participant this year, called me from a nearby Sakuraya, an electronics store.  So, I told Scott and Dylan to stay put and ran towards Sakuraya to get Muk.  I tried to surprise her from behind, but I guess my running sandals gave me away as she turned to greet me.  We went back to the east exit without much how-do-you-dos, and on the way back, I got a call from Mina, a Chinese girl who's been living in Japan for about 10 years, who just had arrived by the police box and was looking for me.  I told her to stay put because I was gonna arrive in like 20 seconds.  So, let's do a head count here.  My gf, Ai, Scott, Dylan, Muk, Mina, and me.  That's 7.  Since most people were meeting each other for the first time, I told them to talk and be jolly good.  At this point, I get a phone call from Tony, another Rose-Hulman IJST from last year, who was at the south exit even though I specifically mentioned east exit in my previous e-mails.  Scott wanted to go get him, but he said he's at the place where the dancing monkey was, and only I knew what Tony meant, so I started running again towards the south exit.  When I got there, I couldn't find Tony, so I went all the way to the bus terminal and back.  I was gonna go back or call Scott when I spotted Tony looking lost, and Ray was next to him.  Ray is another Rose-Hulman IJST from last year.  We exchanged quick hellos and walked briskly back toward the east exit.  Yay, so we had 9 people in all.  Only Kanto and his crew were left.  They should have arrived in Shinjuku by then because Ikebukuro is only about 10 minutes by train.  We decided to wait for them, talking and trying to decide where we could go for dinner.  We were gonna have 12 people in all, and finding a place for 12 on a Saturday night in Shinjuku is very difficult.  About 10 minutes passed and still no contact from Kanto.  I said to all, let's just go!  And off we went toward the more popular area.  I thought we could find a place first because everyone seemed hungry and tired of waiting.  It was about 8:45 p.m., 45 minutes past the meeting time.
 
On our way toward the main fun district of Shinjuku, Kabukicho, the red-light district, which happens to have not just prostitutes and massage parlors but also some good restaurants and karaoke boxes, I got a call from Kanto.  He and 2 other IJST members from this year were at the west exit.  So, I told everyone to go without me, and I started running towards the west exit.  Wow, I covered 3 exits of Shinjuku station!  By the way, I think there are 4 main exits at the station.  There is an exit called the new south exit.  Anyway, I had some trouble locating Kanto and the crew because Shinjuku station is kind of big.  When I last found them, they had some luggage with them, so we went to the nearest coin lockers and put those beasties away for the night.  Kanto is a Japanese guy, but he's from Yamagata prefecture, which is about 4 hours north of Tokyo, so he doesn't know Tokyo very well.  I think it's safe to say that I know Tokyo the best out of the 12 of us, excluding Mina of course.  Greg, from Rose-Hulman (maybe...), and Kim, a Korean girl from Rochester Institute of Techonology, were with Kanto.
 
Wow, I wrote so much about the rendezvous that I still didn't get to the dinner part yet.  The bad part comes at the dinner and afterwards.  So, stay tuned for more adventures of MK!  I gotta sleep because I'm going to Hakone with my gf when I wake up.  Hakone is a popular tourist place with lots of cool onsens, Japanese for hot springs.  Thanks for reading!

fun times be had with all

Yo, readers!  Notice anything different?  Well, you will if you keep reading.
 
Yesterday was pretty fun.  And pretty bad.  Let me elaborate.  My gf and I went to Shibuya and looked around 109, women's fashion mall, and Tsutaya, CD/DVD/video rental and purchasing store like Blockbuster, before I left her all alone to go to an orientation for a camping event I'm participating from the 25th to the 27th.  The orientation took a bit longer than planned, so my gf was not a happy camper.  I gave her my cell phone so that I can call her if something happens, but apparently, she pushed some wrong combinations and ended up calling all these female acquaintances of mine on my recently-called and -received number list.  It's a good thing she had the sense to stop the calls immediately after she noticed that that's not what she wanted to do in the first place.  When I met up with her again, she was tired from waiting and fiddling with the cell phone, so we went back to my dorm and took a nap before we headed out for our night adventure.  Well, stay tuned for the next adventures of MK.  I gotta go out soon.  Gonna have fun at Disney Sea!

etc. et al.

yay, 3rd post.  and i already broke the streak of posting every day.  o well.  a good geek friend of mine complained about my writing style saying that its hard 2 read.  what do all of u think?  at least i comma, period, and stuff, which is way better than my chatting style.  if enough readers complain, ill think about changing my style 2 an immaculate 1. 
 
o yeah. i still need 2 finish up that etc. part from my 2nd post.  unfortunately, i forgot what i was gonna write.  i guess this teaches me the lesson of writing down stuff when its still in my head.  man, im old.
 
ive decided just now what my ultimate goal in life will b.  i got an email from a word a day which is a mailing list that i subscribed 2 a couple of years ago in order 2 read good quotes rather than learn a word a day.  its like a junk mail, except that i actually read it before i trash it.  todays word caught my eyes:  polyglot.  anyone know what that means?  according 2 awad, it means:
 
polyglot (POL-ee-glot)
 
adjective
  1. Conversant in many languages.
  2. Composed of or having several languages. (as in a book, a population, etc.)
  3. Encompassing diversity (as in culture or origin).
 
noun
  1. One who is competent in many languages.
  2. A book having the same text in several languages.
  3. A mixture or confusion of languages.
 
[From Greek polyglottos, from poly- (many) + glotta (tongue, language),The words gloss, glossary, and glottis are derived from the same root.]
 
cool, huh. yeah, i wanna b able 2 speak many different languages.  currently, im fluent in korean and american english, and i would like 2 say im a better-than-intermediate-level japanese speaker.  after im done with my stuff in japan, ill go 2 china 2 study chinese 1 year.  hopefully, ill become proficient at least conversation wise.
 
some of u know that i teach korean once a week at my dorm.  due 2 a special request, i started recording pronunciations of example sentences i use in class as mp3 files.  if u r interested in checking my voice out, please visit my homepage at http://www.home.cs.puon.net/moonki421.  the last link leads u 2 the page of doom.  once u hear them, u will b glad im not a voice actor.
 
tonight, i need 2 go 2 the narita international airport.  my gf from korea is visiting 4 a week before she locks herself up 1 month 2 study 4 her exam in december.  shes currently a contract teacher 4 1 year.  if she passes the test, she will become a regular teacher with more benefits.
 
well, i guess i can go on with lots of other things, but im in my research lab now, and i should b doing some work.   i say thanks 2 my faithful readers.  until next time, ciao.

inspiration, summer vacation schedule, future plans, etc.

ok. 2nd post. im doing fine so far. as u can c from the title, im gonna talk about a few things this time. first of all, inspiration. as i mentioned in my first post, i was taking the train back home from school last night, and it suddenly dawned on me that i, nor anyone else, will remember what i have done in tokyo from october 2003-march 2005. ive been taking pictures almost everyday up until a few months ago, but i stopped doing it everyday because there simply isnt any spice in my life currently. ive visited many blogs of people i know, and every time, i thought, geez, what a waste of time. i failed 2 realize until now that blogging isnt a bragging contest. its not like lets c whos blog site looks better or who has more friends in the blog community. the essential core of blogging, i believe, comes down 2 a simple idea: diary. keeping track of your life and events around u so that 10, 20 years from now, people who care, especially u, will remember what u did. posts might b very mundane, and will most likely b so, but u sure will b having a kick out of reading what u did in the past. so thats my inspiration. i wanted 2 keep track of what i did in japan, and from now on, because i want 2 have a kick out of reading what i did in the past when i reach the state where i cant enjoy outdoor activities. so thanks again 2 lorena 4 introducing me 2 blogspot. some friends pitied me 4 not signing up on livejournal, but hey, i like blogspots looks.

summer vacation schedule. my vacation starts at the end of july until the end of september, 2 months. however, i plan on going 2 the research lab and catch up on what i should have been doing the past 4 months. other than that, some excursions and events i have in plans, not just 4 the summer, r as follows.

7/19-20 hakone
7/20 roppongi
7/21 odaiba
7/24 speech contest in meguro-ku, tokyo
7/25-7/27 wadamura, nagano prefecture meguro unesco retreat
7/31 sumidagawa hanabi
8/7-8/8 fuji-san climbing
8/11-8/12 yabuzuka, gunma prefecture camping
8/20-8/22 kofu, yamanashi prefecture camping
8/23-8/27 kiyosato, yamanashi prefecture english camping
9/9-9/19 kagoshima prefecture homestay
9/25-9/26 honda field trip in tochigi prefecture
10/30 ywca speech contest in tokyo
11/21 speech contest in kobe
1/27-1/28 cultural exchange program at an elem-middle school in aogashima (remote island far, far from tokyo)

sounds like fun, eh? i sure hope i can participate in all of these. oh yeah, i might b doing a part-time job as a korean-japanese-english translation checker. getting paid well 4 it. 1200 yen per hour. and they pay 4 the transportation fees. thats always good in tokyo, if u know what i mean.

future plans. some of u know my future plans, or knew them. ive changed them so many times last couple of months, its not even funny. earlier this year, ive mentioned 2 some friends about my marriage plans, but i think u can rest assured that i wont b doing that any time soon. 4 some time, i thought about studying chinese 4 years at a university in korea, but some people convinced me that thats not a good idea. they said i should go 2 china 2 study chinese. makes sense. so my current plans 4 the next few years is like this. i will go back 2 america in april 2005 after my research program is over. recharge myself and gain some pounds before i come back 2 japan 2 teach english starting july 2005. i can do that 4 up 2 3 years, but im sure my gf wont b 2 happy about that idea, so 4 now, ill just teach 1 year. after i get some money out of that program, i will go 2 dalian, china and study chinese 4 a year. i heard some good things about dalian, so im looking forward 2 going there in 2 years, at the earliest.

i wanna say more things in order 2 fulfill the etc. part of the title, but ill save that 4 later. thanks 4 those of u who read this far. ill hug u next time i c u. beware.

first blog!!

on my way back home today, i thought i should start blogging. so i did. thanks lorena! u r the friendliest paraguayan geek i know in tokyo!