A lovely and tiring day :)

Today, my host mom made me my first ever obento!! It was a beautifully-packed lunch but I forgot to take a picture of it. This could be because I was so hungry in the morning that I ate half of it in the Nishi-funabashi station while I waited for my train to Kaihin-makuhari. Japanese people looked at me funny but I didn't care; the obento was so good.

On the Kainhin-makuhari train, I experience my first REAL "manindensha" (jam-packed train). There were so many people on it that I couldn't move my arms from where they were. When the train jerked to one side, people just smushed whoever was on the edges (like me!). It was extremely easy to see how a chikan could get away with groping someone without the person (or other people) even knowing. I have been lucky so far to only be on one manindensha, because I've seen other trains, mostly the ones going to Tokyo in the morning and away from it in the evening, that just look horrendous to be on. Despite the fact that my personal space was quite violated and I was touching and being touched on all sides, it was funny that I found myself thinking, "I bet we could fit a few more people on this train, because there's still room for me to inhale deeply!"

We got yesterday's quizzes back today and I got a 96%. :D

The best part of today came after class, when Ethan Fujita-san, Erica, and I went to the SALC (Self-Access Learning Center) where Japanese students go to learn English. We all filled out Language Exchange ads about ourselves so that other people could email/meet us and practice Japanese with us. I wrote mine in Japanese. :D At the bottom of each one is a series of tabs with my name and SALC ID, so people can tear it off and get my email address from the front desk. Usually it takes days for people to take the tabs. The SALC people hung my ad up with the others and 30-40 minutes later, when I came back, all of my little tabs were gone except for one! I'm so popular! :D In the photo, mine is the one at the top with only one left.

In the SALC there is an English conversation area with fluffy couches, so I went over there to see if people would like to go hang out with us at the mall. I figured we could speak some Japanese and some English and have an overall great time. So I picked the people who looked like they weren't studying, but just enjoying talking. There were six girls all in a circle. (Ethan and Erica were hiding because they were embarrassed at talking to strangers. But guess who is not! It's me. :D) I told the girls in slow English that I wanted to meet new friends and go to LaLaPort, the mall in Minami-funabashi, which is conveniently on my way home. They said they wanted to join me! But they couldn't because they had more classes that day. But then a guy, Ken, came over and he wanted to go to LaLaPort with us. :D We spoke in English for awhile to the girls and exchanged contact information, then said goodbye. On our way out, I saw my language buddy ad and was very excited. There were Japanese girls reading them at the time, and we invited them to come to LaLaPort. They said yes! :D So we all (me, Ethan, Erica, Ken, Mari, and Saori) rode the train together and went to LaLaPort to shop. :) Tanoshikatta!

The other Japanese college friends I met today are Aiko, Mami, Tomoyo, Miyuka, Yumi, and Sayaka. :D They all gave me their email addresses and phone numbers. Apparently Japanese students all have email on their phones. I don't!

Faux pas/cultural failure check:
1. I decided to try the various buttons on the toilet today when I got home from school. It was quite interesting! I tried the bum-washer first, and it shot a strong stream of water right at my butt! I wasn't sitting back quite far enough, so it hit my back and went everywhere, hahaha. I had to clean up water later. Then I tried the bidet function, which shoots a stream of water at the lady parts. Both things were so interesting. Maybe I'll try them more often. :)
2. I asked a Japanese man if I could pet his dog, and he said yes in Japanese. He asked me where I came from, but I didn't understand so I asked him to please repeat himself. Then I said, "Oh, yes, I came from Toyocho station, right over there!" But then his facial expression was very amused so I was like, "Oh wait, I came from America! Yes, from America." :) He was very kind and we talked about dogs.
3. In the LaLaPort mall, an Indian guy handed me a brochure for his Indian restaurant and I was like WOAH WOAH you are an Indian! My American friend is Indian too and there are so few Indians in Japan! And his attitude was like.......don't talk to me, just eat at my restaurant. I was simultaneously disappointed and amused. I haven't seen any Ecuadorians, Jews, or New Yorkers yet.

LaLaPort had even more buttons on their toilets than I'm used to. The "toilet flush sound" button made not only a water-flowing sound but also birds and a man speaking in Japanese. It was the #1 most interesting toilet sound combination. So of course I took a picture of the toilet. Look at all those buttons!

After shopping at LaLaPort, I took the train home. But I stopped at a SEIYU 24/7 grocery store to see if I could find more chocolate alcohol (which I saw at the AEON yesterday for ~$5 but did not buy for some reason). But I became very suspicious of the store because I think it is a Walmart In Disguise. They have Great Value items, which I believe is a Walmart-specific brand. Also, they don't serve any alcohol, which sounds like a Walmart thing to do. I can't think of any store in Japan that doesn't serve alcohol; even the convenience stores and vending machines have it! So I was wary in that store. An internet search confirmed my suspicions: SEIYU is the sneaky Walmart subsidiary in Japan. I can't stand Walmart one bit, and I hate their sneakiness. I remember in Mexico City they went by "Superama" (which I'm guessing is short for "super ama de casa" or "super-housewife"). Gross.

The only cool thing in there was that they had entire fishes for sale. I felt bad for the fishes but I really wanted to eat them.

Today I tried umeboshi, a pickled plum that my host mom makes. It takes an entire year to pickle them. But I did not like it. ;) Namiko-san said that of her four exchange students, only one has liked umeboshi.

The end, for today. :)