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Okay brace yourselves for a fairly retarded post. As I type, I`m using the com in the common meeting room and people will start arriving and their presence seems to obviously hint that they want me to get off the com so they can use it...

Anyway, I`ve started unpacking in my room. Those who have not heard yet, my room is actually like a one room apartment, fully self sufficient. One step in and you see the washing machine and stove and sink to your right, toilet to your left. One more step in and you see the refrigerator. Many more steps in and you`re in the bedroom. The entire place is rigged with so many cupboards and drawers so theres actually tonnes of storage space. I was completely appalled the day I moved in, firstly at the floor because it was so dusty, then at the kitchen stove for all the dirt. And lastly I was most appalled at the fridge, it was SOOO dirty, I wish you could see it but you can`t cos I`ve not uploaded the pictures I`ve taken so far because this annoying computer doesn`t allow you to plug in devices like a thumbdrive in which I transferred the photos into.

The seniors recommended buying most of our stuff from the 100yen stores. There`re 3 altogether around our district. The nearest and smallest which is actually a 99yen shop which is probably great for buying the usual stuff, `cept there isn`t much variety to choose from, say two brands and that`s about it. The next one is at the train station, which is about 20 minutes walk from the hostel. That`s pretty far if you`re gonna lug home a few big bags of shopping. The shop is called DAISO, yea guess it`s the same one we have in Singapore, `cept its cheappppppeeeeerrr here, cos 100yen is about 1.30SGD. They do stock items priced more than 100yen too though. The last one is just opposite the station. This one`s the best in my opinion cos its so big, it spans 2 floors. The things are arranged in proper categories and there`s quite a range to choose from. Bought my pot and pan from there. Notice I didn`t say pots and pans cos yknow, I`m not that rich to buy so many things at once.

There are some really cool vintage shops one floor down the 100yen shop. They have that vintage feel, you know, psychadelic colored clothes, old-ish stuff that look inspired from decades before. Some of the clothes are reasonably priced as well and there was a lot of nice stuff. I saw a bag that looked very much like that ASOS bag I wanted to buy, it`s like the Jimmy Choo one, and it costs about 4,500yen, which is about SGD52, and I really wanted it, but no way was I getting it cos I`m not here on holiday. But if its still there next month I might get it if I have enough money:) I felt there and then that I would love to take Fang around cos I think she would really like the place, think she`d go mad over the quaint shops and snazzy buys. There was a shoe shop near the station that stocked mass manufactured shoes like those plain white maryjanes for going to school and a few other variations that I thought looked pretty nice. Woulda definitely been a haven for peeps in Singapore who like customising shoes like that.

Right, as of now, 2 days after I`ve moved in and cleaned up (`cept the floor), it feels a lot more homey. It just lacks proper internet access before I start to see my room as MY room. As I have mentioned before, it is rather retarded to use the common computer because people could hop in anytime and use the com for quite long, or its really just impossible to use the com in peace for like an hour or so. The teacher in charge subsribes for the internet, which is the same line as the one in the meeting room. We could tap into this line with his permission and pay a one time payment fee of 2,000yen to use the net for as long as we stay here, definitely a much cheaper alternative than subscribing for a personal line ourselves, for which we`ll have to pay 12,000yen initial payment (spread over a period of 1 year or so) and 2,800yen per month at a flat rate. Of course, I`m hoping the rest of the students don`t have laptops or aren`t MMORPG fanatics who will sap up phenomenal amounts of bandwidth and leave the rest of us waiting for our browsers to load. A senior has recommended that a few of us students living on the same floor subscribe for a personal line and share the internet among the few of us, but that seems a little more troublesome so I think I`ll just take the easy way out first, get the teacher to buy a cable to hook my laptop up and I`ll see how things go.

A list has just been put up for bicycles on sale and the teacher has asked us to write our name down on which bike we`re interested in buying. They are all second hand and cost either 4,500yen or 5,000yen. Three of them were left behind from students before and are therefore free. Sure a bike comes in handy I guess. Japan has a kind of bike riding culture. You see people cycling on the streets all the time. I think I`m quite fine without a bike. Afterall, I`ve lugged my grocery shopping and 100yen shopping for a good 20 minutes walk (if you exclude the time walking from shop to shop) and you gotta pay a fee for parking at the station. Parking your bike outside a shop to buy stuff is fine I guess, but you risk having your bike taken even though cases like that are really rare (senior says "It`s really weird if your stuff gets stolen.. it`s just really weird because nobody steals around here.") and having to learn how to ride properly without banging into people or a wall or lamp post or car because houses and such are packed so closely to each other and those bike riding Japanese are so capable of weaving in and around people, I wonder how they do it. Btw, one thing I`ve noticed is how the motorists here have the peace of mind to drive so blooody close to pedestrians. It`s annoying though. They drive through alleys where people are walking on both sides. My friend was crossing a zebra crossing and one driver just turned into the road just barely missing her. I`m curious to find out the accident rate around here.

Visited a store today selling second hand manga, games and soundtracks today. As in other stores, there was so much stuff and you have to really read and look at the signs on each shelf or dangling from the ceiling to know whats where and whats going on. Even though the things are organised properly, it is rather tiring for the eyes to discern whats of interest because there are just too many details. Anyway, most manga sell for 105yen (about $1.30SGD) and are unwrapped. Though I`ve seen very new-looking manga before, these definitely do not look new but are of readable condition. It`s the kind where you buy a book for dirt cheap and don`t bother really taking good care of it. Some PS2 games were selling for dirt cheap especially the older ones like about SGD30 per game. I`m not sure whether they were selling new PS3 sets but the price they quoted was somethinkg like 57,500yen, which is slightly cheaper than the release price of 59,800yen quoted by Sony. I do hope I can get one in the near future...

Anyways, I`m feeling hungry now. It`s 9.18pm here and I`ve yet to eat dinner yet. Intending to cook pasta with the pasta and gravy from the 100yen shop and the onions, ham and mushrooms and other stuff I got from the supermarket. Other people are also waiting to use the computer so I`m going now. Do hope the teacher buys the cable soon.

Cheers!