Weekend in Tokyo

This past weekend I went to Tokyo for the weekend to see my friend Aya before she moves to Hong Kong tomorrow. I was able to spend a lot of time with her and see a bunch of other friends, too. Many interesting/funny/blog-worthy things happened, so I'm just going to write them all in one post!

1). After almost 3 and a half hours on the train I made it to my stop near my friend's apartment. The train was so packed you could hardly move. When the train stops, you have less than 10 seconds to get off the train and onto the platform. I was, unfortunately, on the other side of the train car from the door that opened. I started getting ready to get off the train well before it stopped. I've had to push through people to get off the train before, but this crowd would not move! I started panicking because if you can't get through the crowd, you don't get off the train and just keep going to the next stop! My "sumimasen's ("excuse me!") were having little or no effect, so I had to get a little aggressive and actually push people so that I could get off! It was really scary, and I felt really bad, but what can you do when you have to get off?!?! Through much force (I had to pull my backpack through the crowd of people after me- I'm sure I probably caused a few bruises!) I made it onto the platform!
2). I met my friend Yuka for dinner (Subway sandwiches! I love Tokyo!). It was great to catch up with her. As we were talking, she asked me if I remembered a girl I met a year ago at her church. I asked her how I could remember her (ex. pink glasses, tall, etc.) and Yuka said, "Oh, she has black hair." I couldn't contain myself- she started laughing to when she realized why I was laughing. She tried to explain that Japanese people have "kind-of" black hair, "really" black hair, "light" black hair, and so on, but I assured her that the difference is pretty small, at least to me!
3). If you want to go "out" in Tokyo, you earlier have to come home before the trains stop running (around 12:30) or stay out all night until the trains start running again (5:30). On Saturday we decided we wanted to go dancing, which meant that we had to pull an all-nighter. I'm not really a night person, so it was pretty challenging for me- but I did it! (Yeah, I was pretty grumpy on the train ride home at 6:00 in the morning!) We went to a place where lots of foreigners hang out, so it didn't even feel like we were in Japan (all the music is in English, too.) The club was so crowded, and the music wasn't that great, but it's always great to be with old friends! The next morning we slept for about 5 hours, so staying out all night wasn't too hard on me!
4). I often think that the image of everything being really expensive in Japan are exaggerated because you can get good, cheap food and products. However, when I met my friends at an average-looking coffee shop for a quick chat at the train station, I was blown away- my small cup of hot cocoa was the equivalent of $5.80. When I saw the prices, I thought these drinks might be really big, but they were pretty small. Yeah, Japan is expensive.
5). The local train ride from Tokyo to Tateyama takes about 2 1/2 hours and makes many stops. Yesterday, about an hour into my ride, the train stopped for about 5 minutes at the Soga train stop. As I was sitting in my seat, reading my book, I looked out the window and saw a guy that looked like one of my vice-principals. I often will think that I recognize someone, so I didn't think much of it until I really looked hard at him. It was raining so the glass window was wet, but the more I looked, the more I realized it was him. He finally looked at me, and then I went to the door of the train to chat with him. He was waiting for the express (faster and more expensive) train back to Tateyama. It was so random! The train is really long, but I was sitting in the seat that stopped exactly in front of the bench he was waiting for on the platform. Weird.
6). About a half hour from Tateyama the train stopped for a few minutes. Lots of people got off the train, but I continued reading my book. A guy came on the train and starting making strange gestures for me to get off the train. As I looked around, I saw that EVERYONE was getting off the train. I was really confused because I had checked the schedule the night before, and my itinerary didn't note any train changes. But, since everyone was getting off, I followed the crowd of umbrellas up and over the platform (into the pouring rain!) I finally figured out that I was going to have to take the bus back, because the train had broken or stopped for some reason. A nice woman (who first started talking to me because my shoes were untied due to a lack of preparedness for leaving the train!) assured me that I should just get on the bus and that it would take me to Tateyama. I boarded the bus, which ended up making my already long journey home about 45 minutes longer. I ran into another English teacher who told me that the trains had stopped because it was raining too hard. I've heard of the trains being stopped if it's raining too hard, because there is a landslide warning. I had to adjust my fare (by over $20), and I wasn't sure where to pay because we were dropped off outside of the station. I then realized that I didn't have to pay! I rode home for only $4.50. It was a nice surprise after a long ride, although I did feel a little bad because I'm sure if I went into the station and told them I hadn't paid yet, they would have asked me to pay! By the time I got home (on my bike, in the pouring rain), I was soaking and had been traveling for almost 4 hours!

That's it!!! Until more adventures... : )