Today I meet up with a representative from Sakura House, a housing company that has sites all over Tokyo. She will help me find a place close to the school that meets my stringent requirements: bigger than a closet, cheaper than an apartment, and nice like a Swedish lady (youtube Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime, you'll get it!)．The nice thing about Sakura House is that it advertizes forigner-friendliness and they don't have all the traditional upfront costs that all housing in Japan seems to have...in some places up to 6 months rent!!
Aya, the Aoyama Gakuin Daigoku University counciller, helped me apply for one of the "guesthouses" in Japanese. Though I was rejected for being a functional retard, I really appreciated the help! I was interested in that place, Enzo something something, because it allows pets, which is very, very hard to find! Oh, I got to use "犬をさわてええですか。" (May I pet your dog + petting the dog hand motion). Speaking of dogs, most 犬 ("eeee-new", dogs) are understandably small here: chihuahuas, shiba inu, weiner dogs <3, but I saw a standard yellow lab too! I have a soft spot for dogs to which Rich can attest - much to his chagrin, last time we visited Japan I stopped every single dog owner I saw to pet their dog. What can I say, they make me feel like I'm at home! It's something familiar. And I miss my doggies. :/
Also very popular here are Scottish fold kittens. You know the scene in Shrek where Puss (Antonio Banderez) takes off his hat and does the pitiful puppy dog eyes? They look like that all of the time!!
Reading katakana and hirigana, the simple writing systems, is getting easier very quickly. You know, since it's on everything. Interactions with people are kind of like a game where I don't know the rules yet. I know that I probably come across as rude even though I am trying to be overly polite...it's just the culture difference. "Thank you. I'm sorry. Yes, please. Excuse me, I'm sorry." But they are fairly forgiving. At least I'm doing my part to reinforce the stereotype!
What else, what else...many foriengers here in the hostel. I have heard English, French, Belgium-ian (whatever they speak), and some Spanish. Also I think there was another Asian language, maybe Korean? I'm sharing a room in part with a French-Japanese girl and we probably had the most multi-lingual conversation I've ever experienced. French <-> Japanese <-> English!! We had both of our translation dictionaries out, though fortunately she still spoke some English. I even spoke Spanish to her since French and Spanish are more similar than French and English! We are going shopping tomorrow! Well...today. I am lucky that I can buy clothes in this country!!
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