I'm in Tokyo!

Hello friends and family! I'm in Tokyo! (in case you hadn't noticed.) I technicaly live jut outside tokyo to the west in a suburb called Tokorozawa.

A Day in the Life

I get up every day around 6:30, groan, roll over, and go back to sleep. Then I get up around seven, get dressed and head down stairs. Kyoko san, my homestay mother who had been up sence five, greets me with an Ohyoo! Which I return with an Ohyoo Gozaimasu! She serves me breakfast which usualy consist of japanese omlits (take a scrambled egg and arfully make it square), miso soup, and a vegtible of some kind. Lately we have been having meat too, usualy a suasage or unidentifiable something of some kind. I tend to eat whats been handed to me with out much question and see if I like it or not. Then it's out the door to catch the 7:50 express to Seibu-Shinjuku.

If I catch the train, and I stress If, then the train ride takes about 45 minutes. If I'm lucky I get a seat, but usualy I don't. The trains are packed tight with people in the mornings and on the way home. You will touch the people around you. It's sad but Japanese people perfer not to sit next to Gaijin, or foriegn people, on the train. Just as well, more room for me. I change lines at my favorite stop: Takadanobaba. I just like saying it. A quick "catle drive" esque people shuffle and I'm on the Yamanote line for Shinjuku. I used to get off at Shinjuku, one of the largest trainstations in Tokyo, but a new found friend showed me how to change lines in Yoyogi instead, saving me the crazyness of early morning Shinjuku. At Yoyogi I get on the Chuo for Yotsuya, which is my stop for school. a hop, skip and jump later and I'm in my first class.

I allways have Japanese 111 at 9:15 am. It's pretty easy, but my other classes arn't so it evens out. Plus it will get harder later, I'm gonna know 200 kanji by the end of class! after that my day differs. Here's my scedual:

Japanese 111 M-F 9:15-10:45

Topics in the Performing Arts T+F 11:00-12:30

Individual Culture in Society T+F 3:30-5:00

Youth and Capitalism M+TH 1:30-3:00

Plus CIEE has a class in the afternoons on wenedsdays. A lecture or day trip usualy. I'll give you a better class descriptions in a latter post. On fridays and Mondays I have Amadaeus Choir from 5:00 till 8:00. We als0o meet at lunch times as well. It's kind of come and go, but they are actualy quite good... I wonder if they have a CD so that I can send you a sample?
When I'm not in class I am usualy in the library. I use the comp rooms to work and the 8th floor to hang out, cus it has some of the only comfy chairs on campus.

After School I come back to Tokorozawa by crowded train. If it's not monday or friday, I eat with my host parents. We eat some very interesting stuff I must say. I've been having them watch movies. I like them and they seem to enjoy it too. We watch american films that have crossed over the pond and Miazaki. If you don't know who Miazaki is shame on you! Look him up! He draws anime and is curently working with Disney. We watched The Terminal whit Tom Hanks tonight, which my host parents liked very much.

After dinner we watch some crazy, crazy Japanese TV. around 9:00 I excuse myself, take a shower, finish my homework, watch, read, or write something on my lapu topu and then go to bed. And So... now you have some insight into what it's like to be me.