August 5, 2002

Today was very eventful. Aside from the fact that I'm writing this entry in safemode because my computer is acting crazy! I had a great breakfast of fresh fruit hashbrowns, rolls and eggs. The orange juice glasses are so smallthat someone said we were drinking shots of fruit juice...these JETs are so funny.

The seminars were very interesting this morning. The first one I attended was one on vegans and vegetarians in japan. They were giving us tips on what to look out for and what kanji means msg or pork or meat product. The also told me that being a non-pork eater I should stay away from ramen because it often has a pork stock base...all those years of not eating pork and eating ramen just cancelled all of that out. Also they told us if there is anything that you do not eat, don't just say NO! tell they you are allergic and they will be much more sensitive, so that is what I plan to do about beef and pork.

I went to another session after that one on being a rural JET. Most of the information was some that I'd heard already but I did get some information about some rural JETs who have been here at least a year. That works for me so I can contact them about different things that I might come up against.

We were supposed to go to a welcome reception this evening but my roomates and I came back here and fell asleep so that didn't work very well. The girl who is sleeping next to the alarm turned it off and we all went back to sleep! Oh well! So then we got up about 8pm and went to dinner at this restaurant called Heaven and Hell. Its like a theme restaurant. It was actually really nice, and the bathrooms are sooo funny. There is this one toilet that is in a mirrored stall with a big statue built into the wall in front of the toilet. So when you start to use it the statue comes alive starts laughing and singing and moving close to you. Its actually very alarming if you aren't warned in advance. In the men's room there is one that is a urinal that swings back and forth moving while the guys are using the toilet and then the head switches around and a woman's face appears and she begins to sing. Then all of a sudden a flash snaps from no where! Its so funny!! I took pictures of it all, I'll have to develop them later so they can be seen. Then we were on our way back from the restaurant we taught this Japanese guy with dreads how to give a "Black" hand-shake and danced in the street to the Backstreet Boys! It was so fun. I can't believe I'm in freakin' Tokyo! Its wild...

Oh, I decided something tonight...I, Eboni Staton, am NOT a group person!!! Gosh I don't know how many times I will have to say that but I don't like doing the group thing. It just gets to be too much when you have to try to wait on 10 people to do dinner then wait on 10 folk to finish and walk back with 10 people. Or to pick up 5 from another hotel and hope that they are all there and waiting, its too much for me. I don't want to seem anti-social but I'd rather kick it with a few folks I know I'll have a good time with and leave it at that. It works out though because on a few occasions I've met some cool people doing the group thing but tomorrow night, if we go out, I think that we are just going to try to get directions for everyone so we don't have to make all those pick-up drop-off stops.

"If I hear Ashanti one more TIME in Tokyo, I'm going to scream"

One more night left here, I have to make the most of it. Okay...Usher is on the radio now.. I did say no more Ashanti right..so I guess he's alright..wow..the US influence on this country and Hip Hop in particular is very interesting. I'm going to have to look further into that. Jah, Matta.