Mission Achieved...Well Sort Of

So I headed out in the dreary weather yesterday and hopped on the JR line, which conveniently went straight to Akihabara, woot! It wasn't too bad of a trip, I think it only took a little over a half and hour to get there because I was on the rapid train. Anyways, I got off the train and left the station in search of the big electronics store that Isaac and I found last time we were here. I didn't even get too far though when I came across some stands selling outlets and such right by the station. I poked my head into one stand where a friendly looking young man was working and looked around a bit. They had other outlets and converters, so it looked promising. I explained in my bad Japanese that I had a computer with the 3 prong plug and I was looking for a converter. He immediately said, "Like this?", and pulled out exactly what I needed. I felt silly because it was just around the corner where I had been looking, but oh well, I'm the foreigner right?

So, back to the story. I asked him how much and he said it was 200 Yen. Whoo! Good deal! I paid and thanked him and then went on my way to wander around now that my mission was completed. Conveniently right across the street was a Sega arcade. Can we say taiko drumming game anyone? I looked around the first floor and not seeing began to climb the stairs. As I got halfway up to the second floor I could hear the don don don (noise of someone hitting the taiko in Japanese) of the game. Ahhh, what a sweet sound. =) I get up to the second floor and what do I find but a bunch of Americans (I think) playing it. Ah, how the Gaijin flock to the taiko game huh? The funny part is I think that they were the same group of people that were on the flight with me from JFK. I say that because I recognized one guy. He had a very distinctive look, was very tall, and had on a jacket that I remembered. But anyway.

So after waiting a good 15 minutes or so for them to stop playing I got my chance to play. While I watched them however I happened to look down and find a 100 Yen coin. Nice! Considering each game cost 200 Yen to play I now could play a second for half price. I had a blast playing though it wasn't quite the same as playing with someone. My song choices were the Super Mario Bros Theme, Flight of the Bumblebee, William Tell Overture, and the Can Can. After I finished I looked around the arcade a little more but ended up leaving in search of other things. I wandered back across the street in search of somewhere to eat and found a MacDonald's. I purchased a Double Cheeseburger set and enjoyed my meal down in the smoke free section of the restaurant. After I was done I went back out just to wander around. I got a couple of free tissue samples (the give them out a lot in Tokyo) and in my wanderings I came across the music store Isaac and I found last time we were there. It was a little strange for me to be nostalgic but I was.

After a little more wandering I came across a few stores that were selling a mini version of the taiko drumming game for the Nintendo DS. I was soo tempted to by one on the spot but I figured I would research if I could play them on my DS first and maybe see if it was any cheaper on Ebay. It was now a couple hours later and almost 1pm so I decided to head back and try out the converter and see if I could get my computer to go online. I hopped a train back and was pleasantly surprised to find that the rain had let up when I got back to Kita-Urawa. Apparently, as Terumi-san told us on the night we arrived, all the rain was being caused by a typhoon headed our way. Since it was only slightly overcast and not raining anymore I took the opportunity to take some photos on my walk back to the center. After I was done with that I scurried to my room took out my computer and viola! However, I wasn't getting an internet signal on my wireless. So I relocated to the lounge area, the designated area for wireless internet. After a little bit of setting adjusting and rebooting I managed to get a good signal and even to get Google to load, but after that nothing. I have no idea why it wouldn't work. Resigning myself to just using Skype on my laptop I tried that, but that too was acting wonky. I have no clue what was wrong but I spent the better part of 3 hours or so trying to make it work. Grrr.

While I was sitting out there doing that Casey, the other girl in the group, walked by and we chatted a bit. She decided to make some rice since the cafeteria is closed on weekends and we have a kitchen we can use to cook. I said I would gladly have some, I mean who am I to refuse free rice? So she went off to do that while I played with my computer. She went back to her room for a bit while it cooked and returned a little later to study while we ate. Meanwhile another woman had passed by and was talking to a gentleman who work here, I didn't really pay attention to them but I know she was telling them something. It turns out that the rice had burned smoking up the kitchen and of course making it smelly, Casey discovered this soon after the man had left.

The man returned, however, with someone who looked like a custodian in tow. They began to try to talk to Casey in Japanese, of which she knows none, and I soon got pulled into the conversation after she asked for help because she couldn't understand them. I couldn't do much better however. In the end the first gentleman, who turned out to be a guard, called a girl from one of the offices to come translate because she knew some English. Between her and I we figured out that he was trying to tell us that cooking rice on the stove was a bad idea (duh) and he showed us how to use the rice cooker.

I felt bad for Casey, that must have been a bit of a traumatic experience. She soon retired back to her room after cleaning out the pot of burnt rice but popped again to ask if she could borrow my converter for a while. I told her as soon as I was done with it I would let her use it for a bit and after a bit more frustration with the computer I went back to my room too. I let it run a check for errors in Windows while I went out to the 7-11 to get some dinner. I ended up getting another chicken pasta salad and ichigo sando, as well as a big Cup of Noodles, just to have on hand. When I got back I put that away and went to see if Casey was awake so I could give her the converter but I think she had fallen asleep. I was getting tired myself and decided I would just give it to her later. I went back into my room and watched some TV and puttered around. About 8pm or so I went to sleep. I again woke up a few times during the night and ended up giving up on sleep and getting out of bed at 6am again this morning. So that pretty much brings me up to the present. I'm actually going to go down to Yokohama today, where Maggie has been staying with her sister, to visit and have lunch with her before I go to my orientation meeting in Shinjuku. Until later everyone.