Beaches, Britney and Beutification

The last five days have been incredibly sweet. Why? Well, days 1 and 2 were Saturday and Sunday (weekends are always sweet), day 3 was prefectural orientation in Niigata city (I got to see some favorite Niigata peeps), and day 4 and 5 (Tuesday and Wednesday) I didn't have to go to work! So I've basically had a 5 day break which rocks. Saturday I did some much needed shopping in the shopping mecca of Bandai in Niigata city. Basically Bandai is a shopping area covered in department stores of the 8-story variety. Bitchin'.

So sometime last week fellow Murakamian Katrina asked me if I'd go hang out with her and a Japanese fellow she met at last weekend's Niigata party and one of his friends. I said yes, as long as all involved understood this was not a "double date," at least not on my part. So the plan was to meet them at the train station (we thought they were coming in by train) and then figure out how to get to the beach since neither of us knew how. Luckily, said boys drove their tricked-out kit car with GPS to the station, so technology all-father lead our way.

We decided to simply drive up the coast till we found a suitable spot to hit the beach. Now, keep in mind two things: one, Japan is a volcano-formed island nation, so in our area, theres not necessarily a lot of "beach" since the mountains run straight into the ocean. Two, next weekend the jellyfish are coming, and apparently its an assload of jellyfish. This being the case, EVERYONE is going to the beach this particular Sunday, because it's their last chance to swim without fear of stinging Scyphozoa. So we had to ride for a little bit before we got anywhere with relatively open beach.

As we're riding along, I notice that the song on the radio is really familiar, but I'm not sure why at first. I listen more closely. Then it hits me, this horrible sound belongs to only one person. How could I have not recognized it? -- Britney Spears has a distinctly god-awful voice. The reason I had not recognized her squall at first is because this particular song (I believe it's called "I'm Not a Girl" ) was some sort of remix. Okay, Britney's on the radio. Okay, boys aren't changing the station. Sad, but whatever. Katrina and I share a laugh and continue on our merry way. Roughly three to four minutes later, however, I notice Britney hasn't left us, and we've moved on to "Overprotected" remix. I incredulously leer at the car radio. Nope, this ain't a radio station. These two guys, ages 23 and 27, enjoy rocking out to Britney. In fact, they enjoy it enough to spend money on a CD in order to do so. Oh God, what is this place? This kind of thing truly makes my soul hurt.

My ability to laugh at the situation paired with the breathtaking scenery helped my immense Britney-induced sadness fade. We ended all the way up in Sanpoku, a gorgeous little beach town at the north most part of the prefecture. And when I say gorgeous, I mean it...













That's Katrina and the J-boys above. We frolicked for 3 or 4 hours, then headed back Murakami way.

When I returned to my house Sunday night, I had a notice in my mailbox that the mailman had been by to drop off some packages my parents sent. I had been waiting very impatiently for these packages to come, so I was stoked that they made it but a little bummed that I hadn't been home to receive them. Of course the notice is in Japanese, so most of it I can't read, but I turned it over and found a phone number to call for "assistance in English." I call the number and talk to a very nice Japanese woman who speaks really good English. I cut straight to the chase and ask her "where should I go to get my packages tomorrow?" She says, "um, they'll be at Murakami post office. But, can you tell me if there is a circled or boxed-in number on the ticket?" I look... "Yeah, it's a 16." "Hold on a moment." I get the Japanese version of hold music which is very upbeat and extremely annoying. After about 20 seconds, she's back. "Will you be home tonight between 7 and 9pm?" "Yes, I will..." "I'll contact the truck driver and get him to deliver it."

WHAT? It's SUNDAY! I was shocked that the post office operated on Sunday at all, let alone as late as 9PM!! But not only did they deliver it to my house that night, I got the packages 15 minutes after I got off the phone with the lady! Damn, THATS service!

These precious packages contained my decorations for my house. So, I spent the rest of my week off deckin' out my house. Here's the pimpin' results:

Entryway.

Kitchen.

Kitchen sink.

America Love!!!!

Living room.

Living room 2.

My room. Not much different, but got rid of the god awful pink curtains.

Besides getting the chance to decorate this weekend, I also ended my time as a hermit by buying a bike and a keitai (cellphone). Now, to make you all jealous...


This beauty is the DoCoMo Foma d903i, in "Summer" turquoise. Its way cooler than any phone you chumps can get in America. 3.2 megapixel camera, mp3 player, wireless internet connected (with an awesome browser), GPS so if I get lost I can find out exactly where I am (or where the nearest 7-11 is), Japanese-English dictionary, and million other features I haven't figured out yet. It doesn't have TV or double as a Nintendo Wii remote (features found on other, fancier phones), but it slides out Matrix-style and is TURQUOISE. I love this place.