Third Day, up and down

So my third day started with something unrelated to Japan. Recurring dreams are a weird thing, especially ones which end up badly. Sometimes you realize early on that you have had the same dream before, but this time I didn't until the very end (the bad plot twist) because it had been a while. I don't want to get into too much detail but yeah, dreams can be a no-win situation if they are about something that didn't happen but you wished it did. If the dream goes bad (like this time) you wake up with a sour taste in your mouth; if it continues well you wake up and realize it is all fake (and still get a sour taste). So yeah, not the most promising start of the day.

Got some free stuff from Dan (previous Fulbrighter) in the morning before meeting up with Luo (the grad student here who is helping me) before lunch. Went to the International Student Center and got some info about house hunting (and how the university can act as my guarantor). Next, bike! You pretty much need a bike if you want to go anywhere in Japan (except maybe in Tokyo and some select cities?). Got one used at 7500 yen, which isn't the cheapest I could have gotten but it was in better condition than some of the other ones I saw and I pretty much needed to bike to get around. Convenience was probably worth the extra money.

House hunting we go! Since I am not very picky about housing, we looked over some places and finally decided that renting a place next to Luo could be beneficial to me. It is cheap (30,000 yen) with decent facilities (shared washing machine, but in some ways itis better than having your own since you don't pay for the water), relatively clean and in a decent neighborhood. I am slightly apprehensive that I did not look at many other options but I rationalized that another place would most likely be similar in price and size (I could get a bigger, more expensive place, but I have lived in so many small rooms before the standard small Japanese rooms should work for me) and would not be significantly different in other aspects. With the place I "have" now, there is someone next door who can help me with most problems I will encounter here (he is fluent, a Ph.D student studying Japan-Taiwan IR history). As he said, outside of your own country people have to help each other. I guess I have an advantage in that I can tap into the Taiwanese student connection (60-70 strong I hear) and the Western student connection (have not really met anyone yet). I'll probably go more into detail when I actually move in. I technically do not have the contract yet but I should finalize everything in a few days. Since I have never rented my own place elsewhere I can't say how the house hunting procedure is compared to other countries but it seemed a bit complex for me.

Went to lunch feeling pretty productive but that soon ended after I realized I lost the key for my bike lock (after 2 hours?!). To be fair the bike keys in Japan are SUPER light, like less than a pencil and really small. It must have fell out of my pocket when I took my wallet out to pay for lunch but I could not find it at all. Needless to say, I sort of panicked. Thankfully Luo was there and he helped me find a bike shop which was willing to help me with my problem. Some more important info, you need to register your bike (like you do for a car in the US) in Japan in order to stop theft. I guess there is such a big demand for used bikes in Japan that the industry is quite strong. Since I just bought my bike in the morning, the bike was not technically registered to me yet (doubt a shop owner is that diligent as they have to go to the police station and all). Thankfully, with some smooth talking by Luo (and pity of me?)I was able to get the lock removed and get a new one. Not the drama I planned to have so early in my stay but thankfully it ended relatively quickly.

Went to City Hall and registered as an Alien and got my Health Insurance. According to statistics from February, 2009, there are about 2200 registered Chinese Aliens (apparently Taiwan counts as China in Japan, but that is not unexpected) but only ~150 Americans. I guess that is what you get when your prefecture is known for its agriculture (btw, the rice fields are pretty). However, it seems that there are foreigners from literally almost every country in the world, including the African ones. Did not see that coming either.

Did some more paperwork, contacted my advisor, was shown around the campus/city a bit, blah blah blah. I applaud you if you are still reading. Pretty long day and pretty productive, now I just need to open my bank account, get a cell phone, and finish the paperwork for my apartment. Planning to do the first two tomorrow (can't touch 3 until Thursday).

Oh, and despite my distaste for Apple products (not the actual products but the price and advertising), I am thinking of getting an iPhone here. Reasoning, there is a huge discount on iPhones in Japan and phones are usually hella expensive in Japan. With the discount the price o the iPhone is really low (or so I hear, i have to check myself tomorrow). Jamie said his iPhone 3G 8gb is pretty much going to be free after his discount. I am hoping for a 3Gs (more future proof) so I will see what the prices look like, but it looks decent now. However, I have one more worry. Getting an iPhone means signing up for the data packet, which is basically ~$40 a month. I could get a nice phone and pay the extra money ($500+ for the year) or just get a simple phone and pay pretty much nothing for the entire year (student discount plus low usage, excluding the price of the phone). I have never been a huge cellphone user (sent...less than 10 texts in the past two years, reached 20-40 minutes of calling per month in college). However, it would be nice to have internet with you where you go, plus now I am actually living by myself I might need to use my phone more? One Fulbrighter suggested getting one while the other said he never really used his phone, so tie there as well. I want to save the money but I am tempted by the perks (plus, I might be able to use the iPhone when I leave Japan, unlike almost all other Japanese phones). Leaning towards iPhone but I do not want to be wasteful, especially since I want to get a good TV/monitor as well (I need two screens to watch my shows and work at the same time!). You can't really buy them used either.

This is wayyyyy too long and boring, so I will end it now. I'll update with more useless info later on when the battery og my laptop is not dangerously low. Oh, and a big shout out to Luo, who is literally saving my butt here in Japan. Without him translating for me and helping me get used to the environment, I would have probably gotten only 10% of what I did today done. Thanks!