"I think Im turning Japanese... I really think so"

Ive been here a week and haven't really had a chance to give my thought on the Japanese culture, so hereyago.
Now Ive been a Resident Assistant so I have been trained not to stereotype so I will do my best not to say "those people."

Those people (whoops!) have very clean side walks. You walk around everywhere and will rarely ever see even a droplet of rice on the sidewalks...annddd good luck finding a trash can you stupid Americans that walk around outside eating your food and beverages. It is considered rude to walk around eating or drinking anything so it makes sense that you probably wouldn't have anything to throw away when you are walking down the street.

One interesting thing you will notice is that about 85% (I scientifically made up that stat off the top of my head ;)) of the Japanese people will be working or walking around with a surgical mask. I have heard this for a number of reasons:they were sick, are sick, don't want to get sick, or have bad allergies. You'll find that the majority of the workers at a place of business will be wearing one. It almost makes me feel like I'm gross for not wearing it. I would take a picture just to show you what I'm talking about but you'll have to take my word for it. I don't want to make any enemies yet.

If I could describe Japan in one word thus far it would be efficient. Everything here seems to have its place and it all kind of lives in harmony. Anybody that saw pictures of my apartment would agree that I have exactly enough room for everything I need. The cars here are super quiet and smaller. Ive never seen a big truck or a huge gas guzzler car. My microwave is also a toaster and an oven. They don't seem to have full size ovens like we do, luckily for my mom she wouldn't be able to break the oven door trying to sit on it to keep warm :). I actually tried cooking a small pizza in mine and took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to get the oven to work because I can't read Japanese. Basically, you have to set it at oven and then turn on a timer. You can't just preheat and let the oven stay on.

Last Saturday, after meeting up at Starbucks (of course they have it), we took the train to get to downtown Sendai. It was relatively easy to walk to. I feel confident I can do it by myself without getting to lost when I go. Downtown Sendai was pretty sweet. Its much like a cleaner version of Chicago. There are tons of shops stretching for about a mile, kinda like a huge outlet mall. My favorite store is the 100 Yen store. Its sort of like the Dollar Tree but 5 different floors and the quality of stuff is much better. We also got to stop by a pet store that had monkeys. Anybody want one for about 450,000 Yen? ($5000). For lunch a group of us went to a Sushi restaurant. This place was super nice. We had to take off our shoes and were shown to a private room and sat down on these pillows on the floor. The food looked beautiful (see pic). The only issue we had was trying to interpret whether dessert was included or not. The waitress spoke very little English.

Random Interactions in Japan:

Saturday, a group of us were walking through Sendai when we came up on a man with a guitar and a guy handing out flyers. We just stopped to listen. Obviously, we stick out. He asked us all where we were from in good English. It turns out he's from Washington and is a pastor at a local church. Long story short, he talks us all into singing some christian songs with him at the side of the road as tons of Japanese people walked by. Must have been quite a sight!

Sunday, we went to the bus station and Starbucks (sounds like the new hangout location) and were sitting outside talking. Out of Nowhere this lady and her dog comes up behind us on the bench and puts her dog up on the bench and makes him wave at us. She says he doesn't speak English (she didn't seem to either) and lets one of my new friends pet him. How random it was still cracks me up.

Also, on the way home from the store, a little chubby Japanese boy turned around and waved to us with excitement saying "hello." It just made my day thinking that I would soon be teaching kids just like him. Honestly, it is a big shock to hear anybody outside of the 30 or so MeySen employees say anything in English.

The Subway

Downtown Sendai

100 Yen Store. Literally has just about anything you need

Of Course McDonalds.

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New Friends at the Sushi Restuarant

The appetizer. I actually thought it was the best tasting part. The beer was actually pretty good to. It better be for $8 a glass.

DINNER! The fish eggs were pretty tasty

Random Samurai break dance time. Sorry its hard to see.

Monkey for sale

This is what the mall looks like for about a mile.

Random Organ playing that sounded like Mario Bros.

Sunday, we all got together and had a Japanese food tasting party. Some of the drinks were real weird. Seems they love to put chocolate in everything, tea, soda, etc.

The good news is I kinda know my way around this place. Im getting used to having no clue what people are saying to me. I'm also getting used to having people stare at me wherever I go. Still miss all of you back in the US.