old emails

#1.

Dear mom and dad,

This is my itouch so forgive the grammar and brevity. I'm with shota right now at hossei university waiting for ryu. I'm safe & doing surprisingly well with public transit here. Surpring but true. Japan has lost it's novelty for me, bit instead it feels like my other home. It's like abnormally comfortable for me...even more than last time.

This trip is making me tougher than before. I walk 10-20 miles daily.... I don't even need to run! It's like I'm a nomad. I've also gotten good with the train. I also sit ok only a pillow on a hard wood floor. I sleep on a loft on a thin rollup mattress. And yes I still wake up at four daily. Such is japan for me.

My first day was a bit awkward, but after that night my Japanese brain switched on and I started talking effortless and I rememeberef how to walk the narrow streets with cars and human traffic. I'm eating really healthily, and avoiding too many sweet temptations...at least so far. I know about the phones but it seems like a confusing hassle. I've been using payphones friends and strangers so I'm fine. I'm crafty. I do feel a bit naked but it's a bit liberating. It's ok.The iPhone is confusing....I can't scroll down. Maybe skype in Kyoto.Love heatherFruit is expensive but seafood vegetables and yogurt are not.

#2.
Im having an amazing time, but I too am strapped for time. I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow afternoon. I should get there around 4:00.

I went to Izakaya last night in Ginza...it was amazing! So classy and delicious. We got a huge discount, and my friends paid for part of my bill, so I only spent like $20, but for three of us without the discount it would have been like a $170 bill. We ate such amazing food. More pictures and details on that later.

The store owner is friends with my friend who works there, and they were so impressed with my Japanese (and they wanted to meet me), so they gave us a big discount and free stuff. I'm supposed to go to a club with some people from there and my friend Ryu later.

It's really humid right now...

Oh yeah I met my new roommate! She is awesome! I think we are going to get along so well. She seems very nice, and is very funny.

#3.
Dear Mom (and dad?),

My intenet has been really crappy, but I do have internet right now...internet in Japan is just really slow unless you pay for it or are willing to use a cell phone keyboard. I will see how my opportunities in Okayama are. I really want to keep up my blog! I have been in Kyoto for three days now, and I LOVE IT! I wish I was here longer. I foolishly thought that because I had spent a week in Kyoto before I needed to spend more time in Tokyo. Boy was I wrong...Tokyo has much to do, but it is all the same. Kyoto is so beautiful, but now I know, and now I have the Tokyo experience out of the way, so my next trip (I am sure I will come back again someday) will be more in Kyoto. Fortunately I do really like Yokohama though. I will be spending over a week there, so I better. Yokohama has much to do, but it's close to Tokyo so I can still meet with friends if I choose. That was one big convenience of Tokyo.

I really picked a fantastic time to go to Japan. It's the 150th year anniversary of Yokohama...Commodore Perry made his journey 150 years ago! Only that, but look how American Japan has become. There are also a lot of festivals going on or about to start, and there is a bunch of cheap shopping. I bought a cute pink leather purse, a skirt, a dress for really cheap in Kyoto. I also bought one high price item in Shinjuku, but you have to do that once right? It was nearly $100 for the "set" or outfit, which is adorable, and that was half off! ...but that is Tokyo for you. It is very classy though, and that was my one crazy thing. There are so many cute handbags that I want, but I am making myself hold back. I already have enough, but I am debating buying one and putting it away until Christmas. The really nice ones I want are all between 80-100 dollars, and they are all worth more than twice that, but there is a big sale. I kind of want to wait until Korea because that will be even cheaper. I am really excited for Korea, but I am enjoying my trip right now a lot.

Funny...I didn't realize it was 4th of July until midday. I actually coincidentally did fireworks at 1:30 AM today...isn't that funny? I was thinking, oh I love Japan, we can only do this on fourth of July, but it was Fourth of July!

Yesterday I did karaoke...I have gotten surprisingly good at it! At least some songs. I had a really good time with my friends last night. I guess I forgot how close I am to my Kyoto girlfriends. I guess I just needed to know more girls from Japan in high school and junior high. Today a bunch of my friends came from Osaka to meet me, and we went to my favorite temple, Kiyomizu, and after we ate splendid European cakes and parfaits. They were so pricy, but definitely something I had to do once. I spent about $6 for a small peice of cake, but it was one of the best peices of cake I ever had. It was raspberry mouse with 3 layers carefully scattered with berries on top. My friends spent between $8-10 on theirs.

I am actually not spending that much on food though, and I am eating pretty healthily. It is the awful train and subway that kill me. I easily was spending $10 a day on that in Tokyo, if not more. Now I am enjoying my JR pass, but I can't use it on the Subway, which Kyoto relies heavily upon. I am going to make sure to use that pass like crazy though.

Anyways, I go to Okayama tomorrow to meet Eri, my penpal from high school! I am excited. I will go to many gardens. After that I am going to stay at Ryu's house in Yokohama, go to Mt Fuji from there, leave some luggage there, and then spend a long time on the train going to Sapporo.

I am feeling really good about public transport. It's an amazing feeling. I feel so confident...I am so shocked!

...Did I mention I met my new roommate in Tokyo? It was so wonderful! She is awesome! I am so excited...oh can dad append a clause to the contract...actually I can do it. She wanted a clause that said if she was seriously ill or something along those lines where she had to return to Japan we could terminate it. She seemed really excited to live with me too. I really liked her.

...I just remembered I went to a really healthy buffet two nights ago! Everything was vegetable based with high quality organic vegetables. It cost me about $20 for dinner, but it was so good! Even the desserts were vegetable based, but they were amazing. They even had I vegetable drink I loved. I have actually been drinking a lot of vegetable and carrot drinks to try and stay healthy and keep my nutrition up. $20 was actually the most I have spent other than Izakaya and Monjayaki which were the same. Typically I can eat any meal deliciously and healthily for less than $10, if not way less. I am limiting my desserts, but indulging a bit. I am soooooo skinny/fit right now. Probably because I typically walk over 10 miles daily, and I have been running now.

I feel so at home here.

Oh yeah tell grandma thank you so much! You can forward her this if you want. =-) I actually barely use my cabellas card though. I typically use debit because they tend to make me use cash in Japan, but I did use it twice so I know it works. At clothing stores I can use it, but honestly I haven't even spent $200 on shopping yet, all clothes and presents included. I am very close, but not quite. I cringe to think how much I have lost on debit charges, international charges, and how crappy the exchange rate is right now. With that I have probably spent over $200 on shopping. It is not good, but not horrible. About 92-93 yen to the dollar, but I get charged $5 each time I do ATM. I wish I had more travelers checks, but oh well. I know for next time. Places where you can exchange travelers checks are also scarce.

Love you guys, and yes I definitely want to see King Tut! I can sleep on the plane! haha

NEWS: Yes I know about Michael...that is the biggest news here since I got here. I karaoked michael songs in his honor. Did you see him before, he looked very unhealthy...his hands looked like a corpse. I literally just found out about N. Korea on TV when I read this email. Yes I know about Sarah Palin, it was on Yahoo mail preview. I am very skeptical about that...I hope it's because she is being blackmailed not because why I think it is. haha ...does she honestly think she could win a presidential election when Hilary couldn't? She is the reason McCain got brought down. She reminds me of a character in 24....so scary!

Love,
Heather