Angelica In Tokyo

So I haven’t done the best job at updating but I have been lost in thought with things.  I have been on vacation from school so I have mostly been in a slump just reflecting on my life and the things I feel like I should change about myself. 

Well Christmas wasn’t anything but a normal day to me here.  My host mom went to work and I watched tv, studied, and spent time exploring the area a bit.  Sometimes I ride the train and just a station and see what there is to do or just watch people.

Christmas eve my host mom had a celebration with some of her former guests.  I met Imi and Chris who are both from Germany and are staying until January 4.  Usually I am very anti social but something about Imi helped to make me a bit less so.  I bonded with her and Chris and over the last few days, they have become almost like my best friends.  When I am down and or withdrawn, they cheer me up.  We explore Tokyo and have so much fun making mistakes together.  Its sad that they will go back to Germany but I hope they will study abroad here in Tokyo for longer soon. 

New Year’s eve was another party at the house with alcohol and nintendo wii.  I met more people and opened up a bit.  I am sure Chris willl update the footage on youtube eventually…. 

New Year’s day I didn’t even leave the house but stayed and helped a friend who was going through a rough time. I ordered a pizza from Domino’s for us to share (omg, I can’t believe I did it with horrible japanese) and we spent time laughing and cheering my friend up.  Even though we didn’t even leave the house, I had a wonderful time and realized having friends is one of the best gifts ever.

So not very detailed but took pics, did purikura, did videos, went to Shibuya, Shinjuku, and met great people. 

Now school starts next week and I kinda don’t want it to but after an embarassing experience at the 7-11 I realize I should study again and very, very soon.  Yeah, I don’t think I will be going back there for a while…

So somehow I got an interview at a local british pub called Footnik right next to Osaki Station on the Yamanote train line. Basically like  60-70 percent of the guests are japanese and the rest english speakers.

Holy crap! I don’t even know how I pulled it off.  My homestay mom and her boyfriend know the  manager and I met him briefly.  His english was amazing and he said he would take my number and email down.  A few weeks later I decided just to email him to show him I was still interested.  He said that there were no openings now but check back in January.  And he threw in he loved my kind and nice personality. 

Well literally like a few days later I am checking online just to see about job openings and there was an ad for job openings at the bar.  It asked to send in resume.  The posting was bilingual and said nothing about japanese ability so I sent my resume in english to not make them think I was fluent or anything.  Basically after I sent it, I really didn’t think much of it anymore.

Two days later I get this call in high speed japanese.  All I could catch is that the owner wanted me to go to the Osaki pub location (there are two, one in osaki and the other in ebisu).  He also gave me the time and date.  Besides that things got kinda lost in translation.  So I agreed and that was it.

But wow hearing that fast japanese speaking gave me second thoughts.  Yeah the manager will be there that speaks good english but they are going to ask questions in japanese that I probaly can’t answer or explain.  So I am a bit worried.

To add to it, I was looking up some of the polite japanese phrases that are used in restaurant and learning them is definetely going to take some time.

I am seriously debating whether I should save myself the embarrassment and just stay at home. 

I don’t even know where to start.

I have been in Tokyo for 3 weeks now.  It’s interesting I will say at best.   I remember once when I loved taking the trains, but now I sometimes dread the long commutes.

I started a conversation course at Kai Japanese Language School in Shin-Okubo.  I wasn’t satisfied with the course honestly.  It had more to do with the course placement than the actual class though.  Well now it’s over so I am relieved.

Bought a pink cell phone with a contract through Docomo.  Honestly, I thought I would end up with Softbank and getting an iphone or something but my homestay mom put me on the family plan on Docomo which saves me money.  So even though I kinda did want the iphone, I am certainly not complaining.  I have mobile suica on it which means I can just use my phone as a train pass and I often watch japanese tv on it when I am bored.  Pretty nift device, I say.

I made a friend shortly after I came.  His name was Seitaro and we became pretty close.  Basically, we began texting each other constantly never running out of things to say, always talking on skype to avoid a crazy phone bill, and just generally caring about each other.  Well, things didn’t end well to say the least.  Maybe more on that once I figure out what’s going on with him.

I met up with a couple of japanese buddies of mine.  It certainly made weekends awesome and made me really happy to be here.  It’s nice to know you at least have a couple of friends to depend on in a foreign country.

Been trying to get an arubaito but the language barrier is tremendous.  Even when I get interviews at international restaurants my lack of japanese skill really shows.  However, been lucky to land two interviews both at restaurants.   Trying to get some private english students to help supplement funds as well.

Yoshida japanese language school begins January 5th for me, so I am kinda bored until school starts.  But its nice to have free time to adjust and kinda explore the area though I really watch my spending.

So overall, I think things are going okay.  Had some rough spots here and there but I met new people, my listening skills get better everyday, and I feel like this is where I am supposed to be right now.

I hope I hear good things about the job this week.  I am really nervous and anxious at the same time.  But first, good night’s rest would do me some good.  Oyasumi~

Right now I am at Lambert Airport waiting to board the airplane for Chicago and then Chicago to Tokyo.

I totally feel unprepared for this.  It feels like all of this crept up on me so fast.  To be completely honest though, I don’t really think there was truly any real amount of preparing to make me feel secure about leaving to Tokyo.  I think I did my best and whatever items I need and such, I know my parents are there for me.

Leaving this morning was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  I tried to hold back tears as my mom called my name and asked me if I had everything that I needed to leave.  I told her I thought so.  But for some reason I really couldn’t look her in the face.  It just made me so sad. We embraced and she told me how much she loved me.  It really made me start thinking and I had even considered saying thats it was okay-I could tell my homestay mom, the school, and everyone else waiting for me that this was a mistake and I was truly sorry for the inconvenience but I simply could not leave my family.

My dad seemed stopped me for a hug to begging me to be careful.  I know its really hard for him even if he isn’t good at expressing his feelings.

I wish I had more sleep because then I felt like I would have been more talkative and express in my feelings in letting everyone know just how hard this was for me also.

Saying goodbye to Gordon was even worse.  When he drove me to the airport there was nothing but silence. I didn’t know what to say without choking up inside.  Now I wish I had said more.  We hugged and he set me on my way.  He was right I think though. Sure this was going to be a challenge and an adjustment but once I got through that period it would be something I would cherish forever.

My family is just a Skype call or email away.  Same with all my friends.

I hope I get visitors soon and I am looking forward to coming back to the States to visit every now and again.

Thanks mom, dad, Gordon, and the rest of my family and friends for helping my dreams come true.  We did it, guys.

Now here comes the hard part, lol.

On Monday, November 9, I got a call from my mom just as I was heading out to drop off some stuff for dry cleaning and go to the mall to pick up some last minute items. She told me that she was going out and therefore if my certificate of eligibility came that I would have to be home to sign for it. In a panic,  my best friend Gordon and I turned around in the car and rushed home as missing the package could greatly delay me getting my papers in time.

(BTW, a certificate of eligibility is just a piece of paper from Japanese government officials saying that you can legally enter the country for a certain period of time indicated and what you will primarily doing while you are in Japan.)

Well, as soon as we pulled up, the FedEx guy pulled up with an envelope i  his hand. The ironic thing is that it didn’t even require a signature even though the school said it would. But whatever. I now had my golden ticket to going to Japan as a pre-college student. I ripped open the envelope yet carefully avoided ripping up the documents to uncover my certificate in all of it’s glory.

The school even sent a brochure outlining some of the features of the school. Overall, I was quite pleased.
Now came the option of mailing the certificate of eligibility to Chicago and having them mail it back along with my shiny new visa OR I could drive about 5 hours to downtown Chicago and show up with the documents, turn them in, and get my visa the very next day. So, as you can guess from the title of the post that I drove to Chicago. Er, well Gordon did and I paid for gas.

Yup, it was about 5 pm but I was so determined to get the visa and terrified of it getting lost in the mail or not showing up on time that I asked my friend Gordon if he would like to do a road trip to Chicago to get the visa. He was actually excited and agreed to it.

So no longer than an hour later, we were on the road with the new car navigator he just bought to guide us along the way.

Part 2 soon of the actual stay in Chicago and the major mistake on my part.

So, yes I have disappeared for quite a while.  Essentially, life happened.  Though that really doesn’t give many details, it kinda sums up things a bit.

I didn’t end up starting in October as I had planned.  The dentist was part of the problem as I had a tooth that required immediate attention and *coughs* immediate money.  However, thanks to some miracles and careful planning I am back on my path to Tokyo.  I leave on November 20, 2009.  While very happy about the idea of going, it certainly wasn’t an easy feat to get there.

Once I realized that I might not make the October start of the course, I was absolutely devastated.  I talked to my homestay mom and told her the news.  I waited for the worse for her to say I couldn’t come or anything like that.  Her response was completely opposite.  She was so supportive and was still eager for me to come even if it would be later.  (Thank you, Miki!!)  It’s then I knew that staying with her for a while was the best choice ever

So I determined more than ever to make it work.  The next battle was to see if the school would let me still come to the next course in January.  However, since my certificate of eligibility was for the October course, I was once again at a loss of words to how I was going to make this work.

I emailed the language school with the situation and was terrified at seeing the reply.  Basically, I knew that if I didn’t go now there would be a chance I could never get a pre-college student visa again. 

Well things worked out as I was notified by the school that my certificate of eligibility was good until end of November and that as long as I got my visa before then, I could come to Tokyo and enter in the January class.  Yay!!

That brings things to now.  I have my pre-college visa (which I hate how my picture came out by the way), and have shipped out clothes and such to Fedex (crosses fingers it goes through customs or else I am screwed and out of a lot of money).

Getting the pre-college visa was easy.  Driving to the place to get it not and it cost a lot too.

Fedex-ing the stuff seemed nearly impossible and scary not knowing if my stuff will arrive safely.

Leaving everyone is hard also.  But with the plane ticket bought, and all the money spent on tuition, housing, and such-well there’s no turning back.

I don’t regret this at all.  I think once I settle in and everything, then I will really enjoy  it.

Let’s just hope everything gets there in once piece.

Next time, I think I want to talk about the Chicago trip because it was quite an experience.