Has anybody seen Mark?!?

So classes started this week. I am taking a full time night load and 15 hours of language classes during the day. So far my classes seem fine, pretty uneventful. In contrast to my "education" in London, these classes seem moderately substantive. Its a little hard getting adjusted to the nightclass schedule but its good because it encourages us to get out and explore Tokyo on the week nights while we don't have to worry about waking up early for class.

The Search for Mark

Tuesday I came back from class to find Jenni, Vicki and David sprawled out with about 10 japan guides trying to plan out the things we have to make sure to do. I was very little help with all of this because I hate to plan and much prefer just following around the decision-makers, camera in hand. After looking at potential options for the evening we decided on Kagaya. It is, according to the guide books, the "nuttiest" bar in Tokyo. Apparently, a man named Mark comes out in a frog suit and serves you crazy drinks.

We ended up heading out around 9 but with no cell phones its hard to get in touch with everyone to let them know the plan. We had to just sort of be ready to try and cut off those en route to home as they left their class. Apparently we timed it wrong and ended up waiting quite a while on the side of the street until the stragglers decided to grace us with their divine presence. Matt tried to tell us he wasn't making it, but we clearly did not let him get away with bailing after waiting in the cold(In his defense he not only had no idea we were waiting but also had no plans to go out). The time spent hanging on the corner did provide for some entertainment as Jenni made some strong moves towards embracing the culture by purchasing and wearing one of the typical germ masks.

Jenni with her Germ Mask:

While this might appear as mocking a cultural habit, the germ masks really do have us all perplexed. Someone told us people wore them to prevent themselves from getting sick, others said it was to protect others from their sickness. Someone else tried to tie it to influenza... we're not really sure but they are EVERYWHERE. Literally like 1/10 people are wearing one of these things... takes some getting used!

Once the boys go there we headed off on the subway. Its becoming less of a production to navigate our way to the different stations but upon arrival we're always met with a new set of barriers. The road organization system in japan is pretty impossible to figure out. Buildings on a street generally aren't marked and a lot of times they are numbered out of order. Once we got to the station we tried to use the map to find Kagaya... which didn't work. Then we started asking people... which didn't work. It was really great though because the Japanese in general are so nice that they will drop what they are doing to help you. We had one Japanese business man, after hearing our broken request, take off RUNNING whilst beckoning us to follow because he thought he knew where the bar was... it didn't work. Pat yourselves on the back kids if you're noticing a pattern here. We FINALLY find this bar this nutty bar and when we walk down the long stairs we find ourselves in an empty room with one table on the floor.

Kagaya:
The tiny inside of Kagaya:

Needless to say it didn't appear very nutty, as Mark the frog was nowhere in sight, so we left. Afterwards we wandered around for a while and finally settled on a little restaurant and got a beer and some food. It was "traditional" seating, or at least was how it looks in movies. We had to take off our shoes and sat on a floor platform. They brought us a menu without pictures, so they boys disappeared with the owners somewhere when saying "Chaaa Iccck Ennnnn" didn't work. It appeared they eventually go what they wanted.

Pissed off no one is smiling for my picture, while myself not smiling for my picture:

Attempt # 924823984:

NOT Homeless

Yesterday was wednesday. I have been staying at a janky hotel since I got here but it is only for two weeks. They "strongly recommend" that you begin looking for housing before you arrive in Japan... of course I did not. Some relators came to orientation to show us places available but I thought they were all very expensive. I don't really care about the place being super nice, I am only for a few months. Plus considering I want to travel (to very safe places Mom, with large groups of people) it seems like I would rather allocate money elseware. However, I was worried this was going to mean having to commute from a further out part of the city like many other students do. I did a little online research and found a relator a few metro stops away. A friend from the program and I decided to walk to a relator on our block just to see if they had anything in our price range. Badda bing first place she showed us was cheap, walking distance, the works. Its actually a three bedroom placce but a woman uses the third bedroom for storage. We will probably use this woman's sofa to house couch-surfers. See Couchsurfing.com (Safe, friendly, couch surfers mom). So I ended up totally lucking out in only one trip. The woman who is renting the placce is so nice, shes taking us shopping for linens this week.

I like a Good Dorm Party

Last night we attempted to all go out for a beer... we tried to go to the karoke bar because it houses a lot of people (we had like 20) and japanese places are small. It ended up being a hug production, but fun nonetheless. I ordered mozzerella sticks which were excellent considering its the first time i've had cheese since i've been here. Afterwards there was talk of going out to Ropungi but with the Metro closing at 12 it was too strong of a move. Instead we grabed some drinks and had a little party in the dorms. We got the awesome idea to all wear the traditional robes that they have for us in our hotel rooms. Quite funny.

Pics of the robes: