May 9, 2008
Running With Scissors
In October I joined a gym down the street from my apartment. Usually I say hello and good bye to the staff and that’s about it.
But today, as I was running on the treadmill, music blasting in my headphones, sweat dripping down my face (as it’s not “summer” yet so they won’t run the a/c) the owner, a cute old man and a worker, a cute young man came over to me and got my attention. Still running, headphones on, I looked over to see that they had made a carefully written sign which they were holding up for me to read. It said: “In October, this establishment will be dissolved.”
Surprised as I was (and touched that they had obviously gone to some effort to figure it out in English) it took me only a moment to *joyfully* realize I would be long gone by then!
Then the old man owner held up an envelope addressed to me presumably to show me that they were sending a letter with that same information in it but that it was in Japanese. I took it from him saying “arigato” and then he handed me scissors(!!) and said “open.” By this point I have taken my headphones off but am still running quite fast on the treadmill. Not knowing what else to do I took the scissors from him and as carefully as I could manage (not too carefully, actually) I snipped off one end of the envelope and pulled out a bit of paper on which was a lot of Japanese writing. Then I held it up and signaled between the sign in English and the bit of paper and said “onagi?” (same?) They nodded vigorously and backing away, finally, finally, let me finish my run. If they weren’t so nice (or if I knew how to say “I’m busy, heLLO!?”) I would have asked them to wait and spoken with them later. But then again, it’s not everyday that someone makes a sign just for me. 
(and then tries to kill me with scissors)
September 22, 2006
My Apartment is Killing Me
So I thought I would be frugal and move into the smaller, older apartment. It is just me after all. What single person needs more than a room, a toilet and a kitchen with a shower in it? Turns out, while I can bear with the miniscule space I can’t bear with the disgustingly nasty mold-growth-and-whatever-else is in the apartment. I really can’t. Every day I come home and it starts: itchy eyes, runny nose (that is still somehow stopped up at the same time), sneezing, wheezing, itchy throat, headache, dizziness (hmm, this is starting to sound like a list of side-effects–no diarrhea, thankfully).
Depending on how flexible the landlord and real estate office are I could be paying another $2000 to $4000 just to get moved into another apartment. By far the most annoying thing about this country.
September 17, 2006
Typhoon!
Well, the typhoon we’ve been waiting all week for is finally here. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced although I’m sure not that cool for many of you who have seen hurricanes. The wind is absolutely HOWLING and sheets of rain are battering our windows. Wind is whistling in the vents and making really creepy sounds. It’s only 7:30 but already completely pitch black outside except for a few lone street lamps that are sure to go out soon. One of the dividing walls between our balcony and the neighbor’s has blown halfway off and is flapping wildly. I hope it doesn’t decide to flap toward our windows and break something. Already it has broken some things on the neighbor’s balcony…we could hear things shatter above the gales.
Wow. It’s unbelievably loud. No cool thunder and lightning like I was hoping for but a show nonetheless. Forecast for tomorrow is “partly cloudy.” I’m glad these things don’t last too long…my only other request is that next time it arrives on a weekday. We don’t have to go to work when a typhoon comes.
September 9, 2006
Japanese Cyber All-Nighter
I spent the night in an internet cafe last night. We didn’t miss the last train…we just got on the wrong one…one that took us BACK to Hakata station (instead of to Keisen). So Scotty and I were stuck in Fukuoka until the morning trains started up again.
Who knew we would find such refuge in the strange world of japanese cyber? On the 8th floor of an office building, the halls of the huge maze-like layout were lined with single and double internet booths. Complete with blankets, there were already many people bedded down for the night.
The ones who were still up were enjoying movies, magazines, internet and drinks (non-alcoholic)…all for about 1500 yen (about $13). There were also showers, massage rooms and saunas. Now THAT’S an internet cafe.
We’ll definitely be back. (If only because we are sure to miss the last train back many, many more times…)
