This weekend was pretty laid back, despite the still-far-too-early mornings. I managed to get some sleep, even if I was a little dopier than usual to start off the days. I went downstairs after lying in bed yesterday morning, wondering when my sleep was going to make me wake up at more ‘normal’ times. I had a bit of a chat with Mark in the common area downstairs, arranging to have dinner later, before heading out to start my exploring for the day.

First up was finding the local 100yen store, which has all kinds of food, snacks and useful bits and bobs for about NZ$1.25. Not bad! I managed to get a few basic things like some washcloths, washing powder, some string, some scissors… bits and pieces that you always end up needing but are never worth taking with you. I also managed to get some basic groceries – bread, juice, etc. No cheese, though. I’ll have to go to a supermarket for that, although I hear it’s absurdly expensive here. Anyway, after that I head back to the dorm to unpack my haul.

Back at the dorm I had a bit of lunch, then took stock of my money for a bit – there aren’t really as many places here that take credit cards as I thought there would be. Also, my feet have some serious blisters – I’m certainly not in the mode of walking around everywhere, that’s for sure. They’ll turn into some regular callouses soon enough I guess, but in the mean time they look kind of nasty.

Despite my feet’s protests, I then went to Shibuya to have another wander around there for a few hours. I was trying to make a mental map of the place and I did manage to find almost all the places I saw with Stefan earlier this week. My wanderings eventually culminated in an electronics shop, where I proceeded to get the right kind of plug adapter before heading abck to the dorm. I don’t think I’d be able to give you directions to anywhere yet, but I figure if I keep going there eventually I should be able to orient myself pretty well.

One thing I noticed while I was walking around actually was the people. I mean, I know there are these stereotypes about Asian people being (by and large) short and thin… but seriously, I can see why that’s a stereotype, particularly for the women that were walking around Shibuya today. I’m sure after I’ve been here for a while I’ll have a more discerning eye for the kinds of people, but right now it kinda feels like I’m in a country full of people as scrawny as myself, which is kind of neat. ^^

Back at the dorm I ended up just answering a whole lot of email before heading out to dinner with Mark. I ended up taking another walk down to the 100yen shop with him, since he didn’t know where it was. We also noted a whole lot of little side streets that are probably going to make the trip a lot shorter once we figure out how to navigate them! Mark also invited me out to practice some cricket with his buddies today, which I thought sounded like a bit of fun and somewhat nostalgic, I haven’t done that in a while!

After talking to Anastasia online all morning, it was a quick shower and running out the door to get the train out to Kita-Senjuu, where I was meeting Mark. In my rush I didn’t take his phone-number, which turned out to be something of a problem when I arrived and couldn’t find the meeting place. I wandered around, looking in vain for a while and slightly cursing my lack of cellphone. In the end I gave up, it was well past when I was due to meet him. No cricket for me this weekend. I had some McDonalds (the Teriyaki McBurger, heh) and just wandered around a little before heading back to the dorm and jumping on my computer for the rest of the afternoon, reading some manga online and talking with people back in NZ. I set up a few bits of software, then re-watched the start of Tantei Gakuen Q (Detective Academy Q) to unwind.

Oh yeah, my second earthquake was today. I don’t think I posted about the first one, which was earlier in the week, but so far it looks like they’re going to be a bit more of a regular (if minor) occurrence. I’ve been in a bunch of earthquakes in NZ, so they don’t really bug me out all that much, but I know that there are a lot of people in the dorms that have never experienced earthquakes before, so it’ll be a bit of an adjustment for them!