MOVING IN TO THE DORM
Today I have finally figured it out... Every day, regardless of the day of the week, big and small trucks are parked in front of our dormitory and workers carry millions of boxes inside. Before I was thinking, that some floors of the building were not yet finished (it is a new building and just got constructed). But I was wrong, all the rooms are finished.
Finally Japanese people explained, that those are transportation companies bringing stuff of the students. Students move in the dorm for a long period of time and their rooms are not as equipped as ours (only bed, a table and a cupboard and a chair). Thus their parents buy TVs, washing machines, microwaves, other kitchen equipment, lamps, chairs and more things. They usually have to hire a transportation company for that because it is really a lot of things. I remember when I was living in dorms in St.Petersburg, it was a little different. =)
ABANDONED BIKES
As usually we went for a run with Ondrej. Today we took a new root in a new neighbourhood. Along the way we spotted a garbage place with a few bikes there. Apparently, their owners didn't want those bikes anymore and wanted to get rid of those. We decided to take a closer look. The bikes were not new, on with rusty chain, but still in a great condition. Wow, great success for us! We don't need to by a bike now! That's what we were thinking until we figured out that the bikes were locked. All Japanese bikes have a small lock on the back wheel. So Japanese people do lock their bikes, we just didn't notice the locks before...
Having looked around, in a pile of trash we spotted 3 more old bikes. We decided to leave them there. But other 2 newer bikes were definitely still in a good condition and no one needed them anymore. Why do people lock a bike when they throw it away... This is what we couldn't and still can't understand... If someone can explain that to me, please do!
PACKAGED FOOD
Prices in Tokyo are really high. It is one of the most expensive cities in the world for a while. What I found interesting, is that often to cook yourself is more expensive than to buy already cooked meal from a supermarket.
In Japanese supermarkets there is a great variety of cooked packaged food in a range from 2-5 euro. From sushi and maki to rice with salads and meat. You simply need to pick one (of many) and heat it up in a microwave. Eating habits here in Japan are definitely different from those in countries I have lived before. Apparently I am not the only one buying this packaged cooked food, as every day supermarkets have it in quite high quantities.
Around a hundred meters from the dorm there is a place that sells only cooked packaged food. You can choose either from already cooked sets or order a set or a meal and wait around 10 minutes before they will cook and package it for you. Once I picked up a set of packaged rice with meat and salad and wanted to pay. The lady started to explain me something, but with my not yet high level of Japanese I couldn't understand what it was about. Turned out, that the packaged food I wanted to buy was already outdated (if this food is not sold in a few hours it goes to waste). So they asked me to pick another set and threw the initial one away. This is how it should be! Really impressive.
JAPANESE POLICE
Here is a scene of Japanese police kicking out illegally parked cars. Japanese-style.
BIRTHDAY PARTY
The first unproductive in terms of activities day so far (had to work till the evening). As I couldn't concentrate anymore, I went downstairs to hang out. Today was a birthday of Japanese students, our residence assistant, Kyohei and the people were supposed to gather downstairs in a small room to celebrate.
The Japanese birthday seems to be a little different from European or Russian one. People were just hanging out and talking and drinking tea with Japanese cakes. The birthday party was supposed to start downstairs at 20:00 and last till 22:00. That is exactly what happened, 5 minutes to ten everyone left the room and went to a park to continue celebrations there.
By that time, our CEMS students have all arrived to our dorm and we decided to occupy the small common room downstairs. Kotani-san was awesome as always. He told us stories, that he has been to Prague and to Lisboa, and to Vienna. He said, that in Vienna he stayed all the time in heurigers (traditional wine places around the city). He kept filling our cups with different tea flavors and bringing his Japanese cakes and other sweets. I was wondering, where is all that supply from... Apparently, when Japanese students move in the dorm, the first time they come with parents and it is polite to bring some sweets or presents to the residence chief (in our case Kotani-san).
Seems like our CEMS people also liked Kotani-san a lot, as they were impressed by his hospitality and great English (unusual for Japanese person of his age). The phrase of the day by Kotani-san: "Take it easy, guys!" LOL
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