Shopping! ...and Internet Problems

So it's the weekend, which means I got up late, just like I would do at home. Must mean I'm getting acclimated. Tomoko, in her infinite kindness, took me shopping today! We went to two secondhand stores, the dollar store (here called Daiso, or Hundred Yen, or Hyaku Yen, take your pick),the grocery store, a furniture store and a couple of electronics stores to ask about hooking up the internet in my house. We had fantastic luck everywhere except the electronics stores. Let me tell you about it.

Secondhand Store #1: Located right in Nishihara itself, this store is basically like a giant garage sale. Not much in the way of clothes, but plenty in the way of furniture, dishware, hardware, house parts, and Random Things. I got two extension chords ($3), a hair dryer ($5), and two vases ($4) in which to put the fake cherry blossoms that I found in a closet in the house. It was a rather dusty place, but cheap, which is the point, after all.

Electronics store: We then went into the city looking for Yahoo BB, one of the major internet providers here. The first store couldn't help us, so we went down the street to a 'computer & internet' store. Here, the agent exlained to Tomoko who then explained to me that in order to connect through Yahoo BB, I would have to apply to be on the waitlist. Huh? A waitlist for internet? Apparently there are only a limited number of internect connections provided in Nishihara, and all of the Yahoo BB ones are full. But there is another company, NTT, and they have open connections right now. Great. But, if you sign up with NTT, you have to sign onto a two year contract, and the monthly payment is about $50. Compare to Yahoo BB's $32 per month and no contract required, and I think you can see why I'm now on the waitlist.

But wait, there's more! If I can somehow manage to get into the exclusive Yahoo BB internet club and sign up for a one year contract, I get a free gift! And I mean, a really cool gift! I chose a bike. Other options included a Nintendo DS, a digital camera, a rice cooker (go figure, it's Japan), a $250 gift card, and a Wii. Crazy, right? It gets crazier. As I was signing up to be on the waitlist, Tomoko told me there would be a connection fee. I asked how much it was. She said I could either get the first month of internet free or get $10 off each month for the first six months. So, how much is the connection fee? About $1 a month. And I'm required to do one of those first two options? Yes.

Head explosion.

How can there be a connection fee that requires you to get a discount worth so much more than the fee itself?

Japan.

So anyway, it looks like I'll be waiting for internet. I mean, for a deal that good, why wouldn't I wait? I can use the internet at the BOE every day of the week, including weekends, which it is right now. Remember how I said someone is always on call here? Well, that means as long as I mention it before hand and come in before 9pm, I can use this computer for internet. Yay! But that also means no Skype for anywhere from 1-6 months if I decide to keep waiting. The average wait time is apparently 2 months. If I'm lucky, it'll be less. But then, I'm already lucky to have this much access to the internet. I've talked to other JETs and they're not quite so lucky. This is basically the first real disadvantage of living in the country side that I've encountered. That and the smell of cows.

Secondhand Store #2: Was amazing! It was a much nicer store than the one in the village, since this was more of a chain of 'recycle stores' going by the name of Second Street. This one had furniture and nice towels and electronics downstairs and shoes, clothes, jewelry and purses upstairs. It was basically the equivalent of a Ross or Marshalls, but it sold more and cooler stuff. Tomoko found an ipod, never been used, at half price and so she finally bought one. I found a new, used purse, since mine is a bit too small for all the documents I have to be carrying around. The store had DVD players for $20-60 and digital cameras in the $50-150 range. It was awesome. I'm looking to get a sofa eventually, but I definitely want to look around first and organize the house a bit more before I buy one. The old one left in the house is unappealing and semicircular in shape. And an ugly shade of green. And has leather upholstery, which I also don't like much. So yea, I'm going to replace it and make this house my house. I'm going to change the curtains, too, especially since I saw some nice curtains for $10. I really like shopping.

At the dollar store I got de-humidifiers (the house NEEDS those), and super glue (I NEED it), and I got tons of stuff at the grocery store. I should be stocked for the next month, with both Japanese and American food, anything from cereal and oatmeal to soba and miso. Mostly Japanese stuff, though, since I want to learn how to cook it, and it will be cheaper in the long run.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, last night there was a local festival where people set up stalls and sold yummy food, beer, and light-up children's toys. The program consisted of 1.5 hours of karaoke and some fireworks. I met a few people that Tomoko knew, got a few stares, and a few eager students came up wanting to know my name and to try out their English. The popular question (in Japanese directed at Tomoko) is what university did I go to. The rumor has spread around the village that it's a famous one, but no one is sure which one it is. Ha-vaa-do. EEEEEEHHHH??!?! It's not the same typed out, but that's the standard Japanese expression of disbelieve. It has ridiculous intonation that goes with it. Very amusing.

Ok, time to go attempt to cook some of this Japanese food I brought home. You'll probably hear about a few of the many disasters I'll be having in the next few months.