Dec
25
Reinforcements have arrived
Filed Under Newspost
Åland är för säljan
I was supposed to go get my friends at the airport at around 10 in the morning, which meant I needed to wake up at around 7. Due to karaoke-related issues I overslept and had to hop on my bike and haul ass to the station in order to be at the airport on time. I made it to KIX at 10:02, only to realize that the plane was half an hour late, and the boys were getting a cavity search or whatnot to further delay their entry into the country. I have to admit though, that getting my best friends up here to Japan was the best Christmas present ever. Besides the incessant sarcasm and jokes in very bad taste, there wasn’t much interesting stuff going on before we got to their hotel in Osaka and they could finally get the sleep they hadn’t been able to get in the airplane.
In the evening we went to Umeda to see all of the romantic glory that is December 24th in Japan. Visa came with us, which was a good thing considering I had no idea where to go once we got to Umeda station. Now this might not seem so weird to any Westerner because it’s not that uncommon overseas, but on the 24th, Japanese couples might actually walk hand in hand publicly. They won’t kiss though. Oh no, that would be blasphemous. Even in the station the density of couples walking hand in hand had multiplied compared to the norm, but we still decided to walk to the Floating Gardens Observatory and to a worryingly expensive Weihnachtsmarkt in order to take it to the next level. The entrance to the observatory cost 700 yen per person, but they did give us a paper star on which we could write our wishes so it was all worthwhile. The highest level of the tower was indeed a lover paradise. Sets of double chairs were set up so couples could look at the scenery and cuddle without worrying about anything, and by anything I mean Lauri sneaking behind them like a paparazzo and taking photos with his huge ass camera.
We had to go home in quite a hurry because the last train left relatively early and we weren’t really sure at what exact time that relatively early was. In the end, it wasn’t such a close call. Once home I spent a few hours providing IT support to a panicky girl on facebook before succumbing to the fatigue and sleeping for twelve hours straight.
Christmas, the Presents and Everything
As mentioned earlier, the best present this Christmas was to get my friends here. The second best was to get the Leivo Care Package from back home, a big bag full of goodies that I will put to good use sooner than I want to admit. Another positive thing was to get nominated for the JASSO scholarship for the spring semester, but it’s only a nomination so I don’t want to get my hopes up too much.
The worst fucking present is that on the 26th, at 9:30 in the morning, my whole room will have to be empty, clean and ready for inspection by the local Stasi that wants to check whether my drawers are empty and clean before I refill them 15 minutes later. Everything I leave in the fridge without a tag with my name will be compromised, as will be everything I leave in the kitchen cupboards. So ultimately I have to clean my room, throw all the stuff out in the lounge, hang in there in a paranoid hangover while hoping that I can even stay in the same room afterwards. These blatantly moronic rules are still beyond my grasp. I don’t know who devises them, but considering I’m staying here with the same roommate for the spring semester, maybe they could let us stay in the same room with the same stuff and check for all the broken things when we actually leave, INSTEAD OF DOING IT AT CHRISTMAS! I can gather some mild comfort by making myself believe I’m in the army again and I have to do stupid shit just for the sake of doing stupid shit. We will have a yakiniku party on the 25th with tabe- and nomihodai, and the situation will eventually escalate into a long night of drinking and having fun. However, I’ll be damned if I let some usefuckingless inspection ruin my Christmas day dinner.
Also, I have resigned from the duty of taking photos now that the fresh gaijins arrived, so until I get their pictures this blog will be dull and colorless. It’s a Christmas Miracle!
-Antti