Start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop.
I woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning and went to the elementary's Undo kai. It was so cute and fun, I almost couldn't tear myself away after lunch. Almost. The kids did a great job with performing all the things they learned and I got to participate in four races helping two kids to first place finishes!
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| The layout of the Undo kai arena |
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| The Student Body |
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| Five kids bound together at the ankles = 6 Legged Race! I'm told 30 people bound together is not uncommon. |
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| Heart mole! |
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| Recently Vaccinated Baby. Ouch! |
Lunch came around and it was a bounty! I couldn't eat everything so I packed it up and brought it home.
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| Met a neighbor on my walk home |
I showered and changed then started off my Okonomiyaki Party really well. I got on all the right trains and made it exactly where I wanted to be at exactly when I wanted to be there. I arrived in Harajuku and met up with Mike and Sara. We walked over to a religious group that was giving away free hugs. I got hugged by all 12 of 'em! We saw some greasers dancing to 50's rock and some girls in big frilly 50's style dresses dancing to a different song of the same style just twenty feet away. We walked back to the station to meet up with Laura then we walked down the really busy street in Harajuku that has all the crazy clothes shops.
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| The snoberries taste like snoberries! |
We all agreed we wanted to return after we had paid our first pay-check. We explored our way over to the restaurant and put my name on the wait list.
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| Audi building elevator tower |
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| Statue above restaurant entrance |
"Half-hour" the guy says. An hour later, we get our table. Dinner was super tasty!
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| Nummers! |
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| Round 2! |
With dinner over, we waited for Yuki to join us and then we walked to the karaoke place. It was hard to find because the giant sign outside the building advertising for the karaoke place was nowhere near the entrance, so we hard a good search. Finding it we went upstairs and made our reservation. Yuki and I went to get her some dinner and we also bought a bottle a rum. The karaoke bar was $20 for singing from 11pm to 5am and this included free drinks. We mistakenly thought it included free alcoholic drinks, but when I found out it was just soda and water that were included, I thought sneaking in a mixer would be prudent.
We sang. And sang. And sang. 6 hours solid of belting out tunes.
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| I'm looking for a song! |
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| Laura and Sara |
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| Awake Yuki and Laura |
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| Mikey |
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| "I wear my sunglasses at night" |
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| Candid photo that I knew I was taking |
I felt bad for Yuki since she was working on 24 hours with just 3 hours of sleep, but she was having a good time, and eventually sleep caught up to her anyway, and she was out.
Even with us singing at the tippy top of our lungs, she slept.
We all had a good time and when 5am rolled around we couldn't believe we hadn't run out of things to sing! We walked to the train station and then when things took a turn. Mike and Sara needed to get to Kashiwa and I needed to get back to Shimodate. Yuki had to get to Yokohama and Laura was able to easily find her way back to her town because it is on the same train line of the station we were at. Simple for her. Yuki knows what she is doing so she had no problems. I, on the other hand, wished for a swift death near the end of my journey.
After purchasing a $17 JR line ticket, I got on the subway (which is not JR, but I didn't realize that) and went to Ueno with Mike and Sara. My JR train ticket didn't work at the subway turnstyle in Ueno, a half and hour train ride from where we started in Shibuya, so the attendant let me through. Sara and Mike were able to get into the Ueno train station and therefore could get to their trains and go home. They waited for me though, as I talked with the station agent. My JR train ticket wouldn't work at the trainstation turnstyle either, because I bought it in Shibuya and technically didn't use it. This meant I had to go back to Shibuya and use it from there. Saying my goodbyes to Mike and Sara, I tried to reboard the subway and go back to Shibuya. The attendant wan;t sympathetic to my error and made me buy a ticket to ride the subway back. $2 later and I'm back on the subway, riding another half hour back to Shibuya. In Shibuya, my subway ticket should have been completely used up, but after I put it in the turnstyle, it let me through, and gave me back my ticket. I don't know how much is left on it, but I still have it!
I used my $17 JR ticket to get on a train going to where I thought I needed to be, but I ended up going the wrong way, by a lot. The reason I didn't catch my error sooner is I was asleep for most of the ride. It was 6am and I hadn't slept. I get on the right train after back tracking, but then I ride it in the wrong direction. Back track again and go the right way. Miss my stop because I slept through it. Backtrack, right train, fall asleep, luckily wake up at my home station!
I get off the train and head to the very local trainline. It doesn't have a turnstyle, it usually just has a guy you pay personally. He wasn't around, and in that case you usually get on the train and pay when you disembark. This train looked different but I didn't notice or didn't care, got on, and found a seat. As we leave the station the train begins to pick up some speed. More speed than it needs to travel the short distance from the home station to my station, one stop away. As we hurtle past my station, I glimpse my apartment building through the window. This is the point where I almost start crying. Almost. I figure I'll just have to ride this train until it stops and try to get a different train back. It's gonna cost me more through, but I this point, I don't care. I just want to be home. I have been on this train system since 5:30 and it's now 10:30. The train stops at the next station and I hope right off. I look for the guy to pay, and he is nowhere in sight. I can see the train I want to be on, but it's on the other side of the station and it leaves before I can board it. I check the schedule: next train in a half hour. I figure I can walk the distance back home in less than that so I leave the station to walk home. There is no attendant so that ride was free!
On the way home I begin thinking about this horrific sequence of events, and it dawns on me: I didn't get my JR ticket validated anywhere after I got on the train in Shibuya! This means I have a ticket to use the next time I'm in Tokyo! All I really paid to ride the train system for 6 hours and over 100km was $2! Silver lining?
Today is a day off from work for me because of a national holiday. Today is National Respect for the Aged Day. I think I will also celebrate another holiday: Keegan Public Transit Fail Day. How do you celebrate?
Go to bed!
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