wakarimasen

LOVE LOVE LOVE JAPAN!
just posted a heap of photos and its only been 48hrs!

ive pretty much revised the equivalent of four years beginners japanese!
its hilarious talking to japs
because they have the really funny expressions
and when walking into a restaurant,
because youre asian they assume youre japanese too.
and then they are confused when you
pull words out of your butt like
`i dont understand` -(wakarimasen)
but with the phrasebook ive gotten by
and with the little japanese learnt in high school has finally come to a use

on the first night,
we ran around our neighbourhood
and went through pretty much every store that was still open
the first one we went to knew no english besides a few words
and being the first japs we talked to,
it was amazingly difficult
but after going through our phrasebook,
and taking forever to find what we were looking for
all was well.
i think the chef even laughed at me when i asked if there was anything vegetarian!
(sounded like he was shouting in japanese to the other crew `omg shes a vegetarian ahahhahaha what are we going to feed her`)
but he was always friendly and laughed heaps!
shannon even came back to the store
to have drinks with him whilst i went exploring in the shopping plaza

i think its awesome that we blend in as well
so i can do what ever i like and not have to hang with shannon 24/7
which we previously discusses that by the end of this trip
we would not be able to bear each other anymore

so first morning in japan
was spent travelling to shinjuku station
to get me my camera ive been waiting for 3 months for
then we went exploring around and shopped
(didnt buy anything though besides my camera which i was ecstatic about)

then down the little streets we look through the arcades
shannon accidently blew too much money on the pachinko machines LOL
only because his mind kept converting yen into vietnam money
5000 vietnam money = 5 dollars AUD
whereas 5000 yen = 70 AUD
he only realised it when i asked him how much he spent on the games
and i went.. you do realise that like.. (does calculation)

first night out has been hilarious too!
going to pubs and japanese style bars.
made friends with a couple of people and had quite a long conversation
until shannon and i took our last photos with them]and bolted to the train!
luckily we caught the last train home
which was immensely packed to the core!
everyone was touching me from left to right, front to back
and being short i didnt have the best view.

such an awesome journey so far though!
the jap people we met at the bar told me my japanese was very good
(they even put their two thumbs up)
even shannon was amazed of how much jap i knew
(and so was i)
when asked what had led us to japan and what we were interested in
my answers were...
cheap flights (showing hand actions of a plane flying)
haha gotta love body language
and then at the top of my head
told them i wanted to visit buildings, temples, harajukus
and then i got more creative and pulled out
utada hikaru and ayumi hamasaki from the past
and that i use to listen to their music LOL

the nights been hilarious!