The forever walk (Thursday)

This is the tale of the forever walk. I was given very general directions that were, obviously, impossible to follow! I set out in the direction I was told to go and was looking for a JTB. (I still don't know what a "JTB" is - some sort of business.) In any case, I walked and walked and walked. On facebook I touted it as a 75 minute walk. In reality it was 90 minutes. In any case, after walking and walking and walking, I reached the Southern outskirts of the city. That sort of panicked me. I was like, "Oh no!" I've gone WAY out of my way. So I started walking West as I knew I needed to go in that direction. When I came to one of the 3 rivers that runs in Morioka, I followed it back into the city. As luck would have it (that is, mmm), I came to a bridge that we had crossed (Limor, Allie, and I) on the way home from the hospital. Suddenly I knew exactly where I was! So off I went into the city. I FINALLY arrived at my destination: AU, to get a phone. Oh man, getting a phone was tough. Hey! I think this is the first time I've realized that typically I say "They spoke more English than I spoke Japanese," but this time it was a case of I spoke more Japanese than he did English. However, that wasn't much help as cell phone specific words are still out of me reach. LOL In any case, he called customer service and they called back about 5 minutes later and handled translation. As far as I understand it, I have unlimited data and tethering (I asked for it specifically) and I have free calls to other AU users between 01h00 and 21h00. Limor had gotten AU when she first got out here so we all decided (our friend group and most of the Morioka group too I think) that we'd get AU so we could call one another if we wanted to do so. Any other outbound calls I make are ¥53/30 seconds. Or maybe it was a minute. I only plan on calling for emergencies! The important thing for me is to have access to skype and the internet. So after 75 minutes there, I walked away with an iPhone5! I've never owned anything made by Apple and suddenly here I am walking around with the latest and greatest! The iPhone 4 wasn't even available. My choices were: iPhone 5, iPhone knock-0ffs, flip phone full of Japanese. Hmm.. I went with a 32 gB iPhone 5. If Phil sees this, he'll be so proud. It's kind of funny. I had never planned on owning an iPhone ever in my lifetime and suddenly I had to have one (so I could tether). Really, I could have gotten the internet separately, but then that required getting a landline and then paying for the internet on top of THAT. And the internet alone was ¥5000-¥7000. So paying for my plan of ¥7000 which includes the phone (texting, etc), and internet, and tethering (being able to use my laptop) ... it was an easy choice.

So off I go with my phone to the hotel where we had stayed before. (My apartment was who knows where and the hotel was 40 feet away.) I went into the lobby and pretended to wait for our 2 guys who were still staying there. In the meantime I started playing with my new toy. I was able to email my family and they were getting ready for bed so I downloaded the Skype app and we skyped for an hour. It was really nice. Considering last night I had freaked because I had no contact with the world, it was very nice to be able to see my family and do it all from my phone! As we talked I showed them the lobby and out the window (into Morioka) and they oo-ed and aw-ed. It was a beautiful beginning to the day. I tried to talk softly so as not to disturb the hotel staff and I even had gone to sit in a corner. Well, I guess I DID bother them as soon after I hung up with my family they came over and asked if I had a reservation. I was only able to say in Japanese, "My friend (watashi no tomodachi ha)" and pointed upstairs. They asked for his name. I said, "Scott" then I added "Scott to (and) Peter." A few ladies gathered around the computer, but I took my leave bowing my way out.

Next I headed to the branch office. I needed to ask them how to get to my apartment. (On the way I stopped by my real estate agency to give them my phone number as they had requested yesterday that I give it to them once I had it. I'm sure we'll have riveting conversations "*rapid Japanese*" "Uhhh... wakarimasen (I don't understand)." LOL Anyway... the office...) I also needed to hear some English spoken. :) So I walked down to the office. They were very kind to me and we chatted for a bit. I saw Johnny there and chatted with him for a little bit too (if you want to know who Johnny is, the story is in the funny moments). I explained that I had typed in the address for my apartment but my phone couldn't find it and could they please help. Tsukasa quickly typed it in (in Kanji) and BING! There it was. I bookmarked the location so I could find it at any time. To my chagrin, it was 10 minutes from the office. From the office to the AU is another 10-15 minutes. So I had walked WAY out of my way. Doh. I told them about it and they all laughed at me. :) Well, with me. So with my map programmed into my phone, I limped my way home (by then I had a blister on the bottom of my left foot and my right knee was killing me). It was so close! But hey, I got to see the Southern outskirts of the city. I'm getting to know my way around a little bit. :)

Once I got home, I got to unpacking and putting my place together some more. I also tried to put my guitar together. It was very difficult and I knew the neck was not aligned properly. It was very dismaying for me and in the process, I snapped the top e string. I wanted to sit down and give up/cry. (This is incidentally when I found out my period started - which explains my deep despair yesterday and the "end of the world" feeling with my guitar.) It's just overwhelming to imagine trying to find a place to take my guitar and then explain to them what I needed done. So I set the guitar down and kept saying aloud, "It will be fine. I will take care of it tomorrow." I also posted on facebook a plea for help finding a guitar place as my searches had only turned up places in the US! I figured it was the same problem I had had when trying to find my apartment. I needed to search for the Japanese name. In any case, I was mostly successful in not worrying. It was rough to see poor Vic lying in pieces with a snapped string but at the same time, I had done all I could do. In an effort to cheer myself up, I made popcorn for dinner. It's amazing how much your favorite food can just turn things around. I sat down with a small bowl of popcorn and my book (the last one of the 9 I brought as my travel reading - incidentally... I need books! That is, if you want to send me a gift, there are foods I miss, but more than that, I need reading material! Horror or mystery please. :D) and just relaxed. I finished unpacking one of my big suitcases completely and made a list of the things I realized I hadn't bought and would need. I also discovered that I needed some clean clothes so I did my first load of laundry! It was a bit intimidating even though Maruyama-san had explained the buttons to me. However, I eventually figured it out and that was an empowering moment for me as well.

After that I texted a friend for a bit. At the end of the evening, it was hard to see poor Vic undone, but I really accomplished a lot. I felt really proud of myself. :)

Funny moments:

I obviously didn't know it at the time, but when I told them I was waiting for Scott, I had mistakenly called "Johnny" the wrong name. He's from Scotland and Kimi James called him Scotty at times for it, but his name is John. Also, Peter had checked out that morning. Daaah! They're making me look bad! LOL Ok, maybe I did it all on my own. Ya! I don't need help for that! ;)

While texting my friend I almost had my first "DYAC." Luckily I caught it, but I almost sent "What about his Holstein?" When it should have said, "What about his children?" o.0 I'm sure she would have laughed, but the thought of my calling someone's children cattle!? *wince* LOL

So that was my eventful day! Think of you all, all the time. XOXO, A