Travel Journal – Friday 25/4 – 08
Today’s Friday, once again. Today more things happened it’s like we actually have started to do things again now. Thou we haven’t done anything new. Today Nathalie was going to get a guided tour of Tokyo so she left around 8-9 or something. We took it a little bit slow cause we had to wait for Miiko to come to the classroom with the router so we could do everything we were supposed to do without any disruptions or needing to get back here. So after breakfast we just went to the supermarket and then we got the router to start our day.
Yesterday I bought some postcards, a bunch of them actually, so I wrote them and checked up the address before we went away doing things. I don’t really like postcards but I’ve promised some people to send them postcards so then I just bought the cheapest package I saw with six postcards and managed to actually write something on all of them. I hope they’ll get back to Sweden before I do, because otherwise some of them will be a little bit stupid I think. However, it’s the thought that counts I guess.
Well, when we got the router we went to Urawa1 to go to the central post office, Danielle needed to exchange her Traveller’s Checks for yen and I took the opportunity to post the postcards which wasn’t that expensive actually. I think it was a lot cheaper than it would have been in Sweden. However, when we were finished there the plan was to go back to Asakusa and Sensoji-Temple to buy Kimonos and a Japanese jacket or two, but Danielle wanted to go back to Kita-Urawa instead so I went to Akihabara by myself.
This is actually the first real trip alone I’ve had in Tokyo I think, at least if you count to do whatever I wanted for as long as I wanted without needing to adjust to other people. This suited me very well, cause I’ve been in a very bad mood lately. Well, since yesterday… my mood is actually shifting all the time but every now and then it’s like I get to much of always being social with people all the time. I’m not the really social type of person but I’ve almost been social constantly for two weeks. Not to mention the ten days I spent in the mountains with my class, which is another story.
Well, it’s really different to be in Tokyo all by yourself actually. I found out that while being in Akiba. To begin with I walk in a higher pace, my own actually, and I go into stores I usually ignores cause they may seem or be boring for my company if they aren’t geeks like me. I also spent more time with looking at things and so on. But things you most of the time think are funny you don’t laugh about and you don’t say a comment like you would if you would have been with someone. You’re also2 a little aggro towards the crowds, and quickly and impatiently get trough them, and you think a lot more about things you’ve often put out of your head. Like what to do in the end of the month when Danielle will go away or if you would try to get a job here and move here etcetera.
Well, I actually went to the store where we bought the router first. Well, it’s not strange due to the fact that, that actually was the sole reason for going here in the first place. There I tried to find a router for Miiko that was strong enough to go trough all the concrete for three floors but I didn’t find a decent one with a reasonable price. The only idea I’ve got was if one would have two routers and use one as an enhancer or whatever to call it to widen the signal and the area, but that would only be a greater risk for problem with two units instead of one. So in the end I decided to return the router and not buy another one. If I come over and start to work for her with the couchsurfers then I’ll set it up. But as it seems like now Jim will leave soon and when I leave the probability of some problem appearing when she’s all alone is pretty high. She’s 61 years old after all, and she has managed without internet so far…
Well, I spent about three hours in Akiba before I went back to Kita-Urawa. One of the reasons to why is that I’ve gotten a real bad headache. I’ve had that same kind of headache sometimes back home, it’s usually because I haven’t been drinking enough water or if I’ve been to stiff or something. It feels like it’s from the back of your head or the top of the neck, and it feels like it gets better or even disappears if you press the muscle that are feeling sore. Well, it was getting to much so I just got back to Kita-Urawa. Once again this day have taken about a 1000 yen in train-expenses, and I haven’t even used the train so much… all this speaks for getting a JR Railroad pass next visit.
I’ve started to figure out what I want to buy right now, when I’ve checked some prices and started to find out where everything is. I will probably buy some presents for some people I think are worth it, like my mother that has her birthday today. I saw something in Ueno Park that I think she would like. I won’t tell what, because she’s reading these posts. As for the others I may buy something but if you think that you are that important to me then probably you won’t get one, I am the Stingy Accountant after all3.
So well, the rest of the day…
So when I got back I rested a bit, even thou Danielle were nagging me all the time about how she wanted to use the internet, so after a while we got out to use the internet and then go buy some more things at the supermarket, mostly breakfast and snacks. When we got back Nathalie had returned so we talked for a bit and we drank some tea and discussed a lot of things about where she had been during her tour and what she had done and what we had done, even thou we haven’t done anything. Then after a while of much conversing we went out again to check the internet and then when we returned we had some salad, this time with vinegar, it was so good! One thing I’ve really missed during this trip is some food that I really like. Like meatballs, they don’t really have meatballs here, and those they have are kind of gross.
Hmm, it always feels like I forget the things that I wanted to write about earlier today when I’m actually writing it. But well, I guess that’s the way it is when you write things after they have happened. I’ve tried to write things in episodes between the events, that makes it a longer post with more thoughts, but then again you need to have a fully charged computer with you all the time or write in your notebook all the time, which would be boring and a bit asocial. If I would really have been alone I would have done that I think. Well, I were supposed to go back for the internet right now and post this post… but the other two are sleeping and I don’t really feel to go out right now so I’ll guess that I’ll just go there in the morning.
Tomorrow we have a pretty packed schedule… We are going to the Ueno Zoo, Sensojii-Temple and to one or two concerts, after that we may go out again to take a drink… but after what happened the last time I’m not quite sure I’m willing to do that. But well, Aya4 can’t come so maybe we won’t go, but we’ll see. Now I guess I’ll just go to bed or watch something, even thou I feel a little bit tired. I wonder how it will be come back to Sweden. Will I still be sleepy around 18-20 and go up around 00 or will I just adjust to the light? I hope on the latter cause I have school to attend…
Best regards,
Herid Fel
Kita is north, so if you would translate the name of this part of the city, it would be North Urawa. Which actually is a part of the city of Saitama, so we aren’t actually living in Tokyo… ↩
At least I am ↩
It’s my nickname for those who have missed it, I mentioned that in the Protected post… ↩
Ayaha for those who haven’t read the protected post ↩
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