Just home! I got stuck into this word game on my iPod and missed my stop, so I went all the way down to 43rd Ave, meaning I had to walk back 11 blocks to 32nd then down about 5 to Moraga from Judah. The next muni was 17 minutes away, and I got home in about that time, so I got home quicker and it saved me freezing in the cold but those hills are not kind. Anyway, I had a fantastic day. I had agreed to meet Dave from work at Japantown at 12pm to see the end of the festival, so I left a little early (about 10.30am) to get there in plenty of time. I read on my511.org that I needed to be at the south-east corner of Moraga and Sunset Boulevard at 10.37am, which I was, and I saw the 25th-California (the bus I needed to ride) sail past me. I walked up to Judah and just got on the N-line which brought me to Church St (look at how well I know the geography now!), where I got on the 22 bus line up to Geary. On the bus, there was a white girl dressed up in all the Japanese dolly-outfit gothloli gear, and a Japanese girl dressed in usual Japanese clothes (pink sweater with matching tartan skirt, and matching everything else). She was standing beside me and I asked if she was Japanese, and she replied in the positive. Chiyo’s her name. We got off at Geary and met up with some of her friends and wandered around for a while. I said I had to meet Dave at 12 so she asked for my number (thank you Site For Sore Eyes and the hairdresser around the corner!), I obliged, and we parted ways.
I watched a pretty cool karate performance while waiting for Dave and when he arrived we got some lunch in the mall and then checked out the parade. I forgot my camera but we took a lot with his so I’ll be able to upload some soon. Chiyo said she’d send me her shots too (she gave me her email address too, so I sent an email so she’d know where to send ‘em). After the parade we checked out some of the stalls set up in Japantown and wandered around Kinokuniya (the bookstore), and just some general floating around the shops. At 6 we said goodbye and I met Patrick and his friend Mischa (correct me if the spelling’s wrong, Patrick) and we went got dinner and rode that horrid 38th-Geary bus down to Market. Mischa had to get back to Stanford but myself and Patrick went to the Century cinema and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was a great film and it was nice to see it with its intended audience; not a load of Japanese who don’t get the jokes and wouldn’t laugh out loud even if they did (they’re allowed cry though). Everyone was in stitches through the whole thing and it really made it even funnier.
Weird thing: saw my old friend H Lee Burton, the same guy I met at Social Security Administration two weeks ago and on the bus last weekend. I’m seeing the same people a lot here… it’s really not as big a city as you’d think. There’s one girl who works in the same building as me and rides the same train in in the morning, and it’s starting to get weird that even though I see her half the days of the week I still don’t know her name or who she is. I’ll do my best to introduce myself next time we’re waiting for the elevator or something… it’s just strange seeing someone so often and not knowing a thing about them.
Well I’m sure there’s lots more I could say about my day, but it’s already way past my bedtime, so I’m gonna finish up. Night!
In Tokyo when riding the train in the morning I often saw the same people over and over. It was kind of bizzare given the literally hundreds and hundreds of people on every train. In particular I remember this really clingy couple who were often on the second/third train (can’t remember which one) that I’d get in the morning. It was kinda cool in a way, and it makes the place feel more “personal”, though I was content to be a mere cog in the great Japan machine in any case.
In my case though I never had the urge to introduce myself!
Yep, it’s Mischa. Film was class. I kinda want to go again, and sit further back.
Hi Daniel! Do you work part time? Why don’t you publish some photos!? I’m curious…
Hey Viviane! I work full time! 9am to 6pm with a one-hour lunch! The visa says I can’t do less and my contract says I can’t do more (without clearing it with my supervisor anyway). An interesting provision of the visa is that 15% is the maximum allocation of my time that I can spend doing ‘clerical work’ and the rest has to be proper work. Fortunately this company has a great attitude towards interns/students, so I’m doing no clerical work, but I’m sure that little rule in the visa has helped people out a lot before.