3rd week, a turn for the worse

So ... it's come to this. A blog. Me. I guess it really had to happen, sooner or later - I like to write, I don't mind being around computers ... maybe it's because it's such a buzzword. Buzzwords turn me off.

I really like the simple text format of an email. All one needs to do is write it, add recipients, look it over one or two more extra times, press send. Done. I know exactly who gets it, and perhaps more importantly, exactly who does not get it. Sometimes there will be things that I write that are not intended for the whole world.

But then again, as has been pointed out to me, a blog does have certain advantages. The biggest one, as I see it, is that it's easy to post pictures as well as text. Or so I assume, I actually haven't gotten to that part yet.

Last time I let everyone know what was going on here, I had barely moved in to my little apartment. I was somewhat confused by the garbage sorting rules (I still am; the difference being now I know why I am) and quite tired.

Well. Since then, lots have happened. I spent that first weekend shopping - cell phone, electronic dictionary, computer speakers and what turned out to be a real jackpot - a Nintendo DS Lite. A jackpot, because I also bought software that translates Kanji (the Japanese chinese characters) and it's unbelievably useful, and WAY cheaper than a dictionary that has a pen for inputting Kanji. The little game machine has a pen and an input field, better screen than the dictionary I was considering, larger vocabulary and cost a third of the prize of the dedicated dictionary. Real sweet!

You're probably wondering about the title of todays blog ... getting there. It'll be a few more paragraphs first. Relax, chill, have another popcorn and read instead of worrying. And no skipping ahead!

At KDDI (the company that I'm writing my thesis at) we were, at that time, four foreigners. 2 Swedes, one French guy and one guy from the Netherlands. All the others have been here longer than me. On my second Friday in Japan, we went to Roppongi, met up with another friend there and a korean girl that he knew. And a Japanese friend of hers. We went to a club, got a flyer for way cheaper cover charge outside the door (oddest thing, to me - the flyer said "entrance fee with this flyer: 1000 Yen. Foreigners and Women only"). Now, I then assumed that there would be almost no japanese guys in there, but that wasn't true either, there were clearly many more of them than foreigners.

I later spoke to someone about this, and this person said "well, get the foreigners, then the girls come. If the girls come, the guys come". Good point, I suppose. I just didn't realize I was bait to lure girls to come to a club. Don't think that ever happened before. :-)

The club was pretty darn big - two huge dance floors and one smaller, plus a couple lounge areas. Unfortunately, lounge areas were either for VIP or girls only.

All trains and subways and such stop running just after midnight in Tokyo, so we really didn't have much choice except partying until the morning. Great fun. A Japanese disco dance floor is a most unusual experience... I'll get into that some other time.

After the club closed, at 5:20am or so, we went to a karaoke place and sang for an hour or two, then we headed out to the Tsukiji fish market for sushi breakfast. Yummy.

The whole night felt like a good thorough "welcome to Japan" party. The way it was supposed to be. :-)

Then a week passed without too much trouble. I ate some unusal stuff ... my group at work had a welcome party for me at a tiny izakaya (japanese pub) the proprietor of which ran an equally tiny butchers shop in the daytime. A lot of the food consisted of different raw meats. It was absolutely yummy ... I even ate chicken that has only been sauteed at the very surface. First when I saw what to me was basically raw chicken, I balked, but then my coworkers insisted it was safe and ate. So I did too.

Next day was Friday. I had dinner with friends and their friends, korean barbeque of some sort - they put big frying pans, basically, on our tables and came over and cooked right there in front of us. Lots of yummy meats again.

On Saturday I went to an Indian restaurant for curry for lunch.

On Sunday I was knocked out sick with a horrible, horrible stomach.

I had fever high enough to send me shaking during the night between Saturday and Sunday, and then, during the day, I was just running between the bed and the restroom.

I spent Monday the same way. Tuesday the fever was gone, but I still had to run to the restroom very, very often.

Today is Thursday. I'm getting pretty close to good, but I'm not quite yet there. I feel like I've lost a bunch of kilos. My apetite just started coming back today.

My guess, based on symptoms and what I've read up online, is salmonella. And it wasn't even that raw chicken - the only other person that had similar symptoms as me this week was the guy I had that Indian lunch with on Saturday.

Here I feel I need to insert a thanks - to Kristian who made me buy Advil when my back was messed up last summer. Without that to take the edge of the fever, the whole ordeal would have been even worse. Thanks, you saved me! :-)

And let me close with a few pics of my apartment. First, the hallway, just inside the door. Next one is my coffe table / work desk / dining table / et.c. I know, it's absolutely massive.





































Below, first, is the way up to the loft where I sleep. And then the view from up there.

































I gotta say, I find it pretty cool that I have a loft apartment AND a balcony. With a view no less!















I guess it's time for me to go to bed now...