The encounter with the roommate...

Okay, back again folks. Still no internet access. Well, not one that I don`t have to pay for anyways. I`m back at the internet cafe, checking emails and what not.

Anyways, I have been in Japan for about a week and when I last typed up a post, I was finishing up my whole adventure from Arizona to Japan. Now we get to the horrible part... The part where I met my new roommate.

Now, first off, my roommate hasn`t been bad to say the least. So no need to start thinking anything bad, yet.

Okay, I arrived at the dorms at what I could only assume was around 8pm or 9pm here in Japan. Honestly I couldn`t even remember the way to the dorm the next day because I was so tired.

We get to the dorm and are asked to wait in the lobby. The nice elderly gentleman behind the window at the entrance starts calling people on a PA system they have through out the entire building. I couldn`t understand a word of it. I kind of hoped it was because of the terrible quality. I waited about 8 minutes before a student came to claim me down stairs. He was the complete opposite of what I had imagined. By that, I mean that he was literally a kid. I mean, a kid in the sense that he seemed fresh out of high school.

Anyways, you`ll get to see a picture of him eventually. He leads me up to our room and I open the door to find a room twice the size of what I had imagined. And, given what other people had told me about room sizes in Japan, it turned out to be the size of an average dorm room in the States. It even has a divider curtain thing that runs through the middle of the room so that you can block out the light from the other half of the room. Its pretty nifty.

After the initial view of the room wore off, I realized one thing that had up to that point slipped my mind... I couldn`t understand a word my roommate was saying. I mean, nothing, zip, nada. Not one word. He speaks waaaaay too fast for me to understand with my now deteriorated Japanese and when I ask him to slow down a bit, he slows down for only about two sentences and then goes back to full speed. Also, whatever Kanji I knew is gone... But that's another story for later.

I managed to pull out my dictionary and since then, everyday it has been one word search fiesta after another. It is rather frustrating, but that is my own fault for not practicing enough before coming here. You reap what you sow folks, remember that!

Aside from the language barrier, he is perhaps the most quiet individual I have ever met. He is constantly on his cellphone or either has his headphones on listening to music. Also, he sleeps more than any human being I have ever met and has a gift for doing disappearing acts. I wake up, he`s still sleeping. I leave the room and come back, he`s not there anymore. I come back later in the day, he`s back in the room sleeping some more. I leave to go have dinner or something, and THEN he`s awake. He`s awake only long enough for me to talk to him 30 minutes or so and then I have to go to sleep because its close to midnight already.

He`s an odd person. I`m sure eventually he`ll be forced to stay up the whole day. I mean, he has to study too once classes begin, right? Guess we`ll find out eventually.

WELL, that`s it for me again folks. My time is almost up. Untill next time!