My (Mis)Adventures in China: First Night - Swindled!

A better title for this post might be: "How I Was Swindled By A Taxi Driver And Later Got Myself Blacklisted From A Chinese Market In Less Than 20 Minutes." Yes, if the title wasn't clear enough - I did in fact make the Guinness World Record for being the 'China's Biggest Sucker'.  Not only that, I am quite  certain there is a warning out to every Chinese shopkeeper to never let me step foot in Beijing's "Pearl Market" ever again.

Before your mind goes crazy with all the idiotic and salacious things I could have done to earn these lovely honors, let us start at the beginning, shall we?

Well, it started with my birth 24 years ago...

....blah blah blah...

....and then one day I decided it would be an awesome idea to go to China! 

So off I went (dragging my friend Rochelle along with me - Sorry! I owe you one!) to Beijing - the home of the Great Wall, Forbidden Palace and wonderfully oppressive Communist regime! Upon arrival, I was, well - underwhelmed to be honest. After being spoiled with the beauty, politeness and honesty of Japan; I was wholly unprepared for the grittiness, rudeness and frankly, dishonesty that China had in store for me - well, us (AGAIN I owe you Rochelle!).

     My first taste of dishonesty happened quite literally when we stepped off the plane and into the lobby of the airport to look for transportation to our hostel. Before we even had a chance to blink, we we acosted by taxi "touts" which are annoying people who hassle you to use their taxi services. Our tout, a lady who holds a special fiery place in my heart, saw our confused, naive faces and immediately pounced on us like a lion on a baby gazelle. She quickly offered us what we thought was a normal price for a taxi (about $15) and led us down to where our "taxi" was. Now, I say "taxi" only because it was essentially a random guy's car with nothing more than a crappy GPS system inside. There was no license, no screen to tell us how much we owed or anything of the sort. At this point, I should have walked away and flipped them the bird, but I was unprepared and quite lost being that it was my first time in China (Mistake #1).

    After helping to load our bags into the "taxi", our tout lady demanded 500 yuan from us for her services. Now, for two foreigners who knew  next to nothing of Chinese currency, this seemed like an fine price - any Chinese person reading this is probably shaking their head in shame or ROFL because this equates to about $73 dollars!!! Yes, we paid all that to this lady who did nothing more than show us to a random unmarked car - she wasn't even the driver y'all!! It wasn't until the actual driver had already had us down the freeway did I realize our unfortunate mistake. >_< If that driver could understand Japanese - he would have had an earful of what I thought of him and his partner in crime!

To make our night even better, our taxi driver became lost. Yep, we pay 5 times the normal taxi price and end up lost! Luckily, after calling up our hostel for directions, we were able to make it to our lodging unscathed - pissed, but unscathed. After being swindled and driven around aimlessly for several minutes, I was ready to kill several people and call it a night. I hopped out the "taxi", grabbed our bags and was ready to leave. It was at this point that our "taxi" man stopped us and asked that we pay him 40 yuan (about $6.50) for his freeway travel.


At this point it would be helpful to share a little quirk about my family - my Mom in particular. Whenever someone make a beyond stupid, nonsense statement, question or comment to her, she gives that person a very obvious 'how-dare-you-interrupt-my-life-with-your-ridiculousness' stare-down. This  special "look" can probably make a strong man cry and even scare small children - but she is usually completely unaware that she actually gives anyone this look. recently, I have come to the conclusion that I have inherited this particular "look". As such, I try my hardest to keep this 'look' in check and stop myself from scaring innocent passerbys.

However, on this particular night I could hold back no longer. I gave him the most intense "Austin Family Stare Of DEATH" and then proceeded to berate him for even suggesting I give him one more cent after fleecing me of $73 for one measly cab ride! While the "taxi" man didn't wet his pants as I hoped during this scolding, he gave up within seconds and quickly drove away without his 40 yuan fee.

Now, keeping this $6.50 doesn't compare to the bounty these scammers walked away with, I am glad I was able to stand my ground and fight back. Perhaps they'll think twice about scamming someone else (one can only hope).

As for Rochelle and I, this was only the very beginning of a whirlwind adventure in Beijing.
That night, I made a solemn promise to recoup my losses and reclaim my pride by ruthlessly bargaining at the infamous Chinese markets.The next day I did just that - at least until I was driven out ;)

Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion to "My (Mis)Adventure in China"!!


じゃまた

Ashia A.

Best 24th Birthday Ever in Japan

A few weeks ago I turned 24 and celebrated my birthday Japan-style. There really isn't much to say or brag about when turning 24 - there is no "Sweet 24" and I have been 21 for a few years now so there really isn't any need for a celebratory drink. If anything, turning 24 gave me a weird, slightly apathetic feeling of being excited for all of the things to come in my future and horrified that I am not further along in my life and career despite being older than some grad students. -__-
Despite these feelings, I decided to have a great birthday, because I am turning a year older in JAPAN of all places and there was NO WAY I was going to not have a good time. My plans for the big day (well, the entire week actually) was to head over to a Cat Cafe in Tokyo with some friends, take adorable purikura, hit up a club in Tokyo and the next day, make my first (but not last) visit to the Mega Pokemon Center in Tokyo.

Here are some pics from my amazing birthday week:

Taking purikura. The middle picture with glasses is my absolute favorite!

Later on I went to my first cat cafe. Meow.

That night, we hit up the club. Lots of cute guys, weird middle aged men obviously on the hunt for some young *ahem,* many drunk guys (including one drunk US navy guy who disrespected me and I had to curse out. Whoops!) partied with us all night long. Fun was had by all!!!

Finally, my birthday wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Mega Pokemon Center. I collected all the Poke Gear that could be bought with $50 (alas this was all that was left in my wallet). The Pokemon Center is actually not a Pokemon Center but a regular store with tons of Pokemon merchandise. Sadly, there are no Nurse Joys', Officer Jennys', Ash Pokemon hats or even Poke balls available. The store itself was smaller than I envisioned and really crowded on the day I visited. On the bright side, there were many people of all ages there - from small kids to grown a** men - which made me feel a lot less of a loser for still being obsessed with Pokemon in my now mid-20's. The merchandise was all very cute and squeal-worthy, but unfortunately featured almost none of the original 150 Pokemon (save for Pikachu) that we all know and love . For example, finding any Dragonite, Ditto, or Lapras dolls and other merchandise was all but impossible :( Booo. Nevertheless, I'll come back and shop again because, well, POKEMON!!

A few days later, my tutor Mizuho gave me a mini-belated birthday baking party where we enjoyed baked enchiladas and choco cake. I even got a cute birthday mug as a present! Thank you Mizuho!

Overall, I had a amazing birthday and I am soo very blessed that I was able to celebrate it in Japan.

じゃまた,

Ashia A.

Posing with my Elmo :D

Very Busy Times Up Ahead

Today's post will be brief due to all of the activity coming up in the next few weeks :)

Tomorrow (Feb. 8th) is my birthday - my very first birthday in Japan!! I'll be turning 24 (so basically I am a fossil) and I can't wait to celebrate with my friends in Japan. The plans so far are to head out to Tokyo today and chill with some kitties at a cat cafe, take some super かわいい(cute) purikura pictures with all of the girls and then go out to a Tokyo club. On my actual birthday, we are heading to the Mega Pokemon Center in Tokyo, wherein I intend to catch ALL of the Pokemon. ALL OF DEM!!

After my birthday on Sunday, I'll be having a mini belated birthday celebration with my awesome Japanese tutors.  We'll be baking cake and enchiladas, because nothing says happy birthday like enchiladas and cake! However, birthday fun DOESN'T STOP THERE!!! The next day, Rochelle and I will be heading off to visit Korea for a few days!! We'll be able to meet up with friends from Sac State studying abroad at Yonsei University in Korea and do some sightseeing, shopping, trying out authentic Korean food. Apparently Korea also has a Taco Bell (Japan does not, CURSES!), therefore you can probably deduce where my first stop will be.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!! - A few days after Korea, we will be heading to Okinawa!! This trip is actually included with the CSU IP Program so I'll be going along with all of the CSU students studying abroad in Japan this year. It will be lots of fun!

So, as you can see I have a lot of activity coming up in the next few weeks. I'll make sure to write all about it in due time.

Cheers to another year better, older & wiser!!

My friends Matt and Suzi's farewell party on February 6th. What awesome friends I have!

Stay Tuned.


じゃまた

Ashia A. 

Thoughts on Dating (While Black) in Japan

Long before coming to Japan, I have had a thing for Asian men. I have always found them attractive in many ways - probably too numerous to name.  I would say that more than 75% of the men I have dated in my life have been Asian men and I foresee that this theme will continue indefinitely. I guess you could say I am suffering from chronic 'Asian Persuasion'.

Because of this, ...ahem..."infliction," I have spent a great deal of time thinking about what it would be like to date a Japanese man once I finally made it to Japan. I hoped to meet a great Japanese guy to date, perhaps fall in love, and blah blah blah... I spent many hours researching the topic of 'black women dating in Japan' and "foreigners dating in Japan' and my initial results were pretty dismal. Black women don't seem to have as much luck on the dating scene in Japan. Nevertheless, I was not defeated - I was determined to prove every statistic wrong!

Now that I am here, I am more or less on the fence about finding that special person. I haven't given up, but I am more cautiously optimistic about anything like that happening. There are three main reasons for this:

1.   Japanese men are not forward, hard to read and not really emotional. Perhaps I am "too American" in my belief that a guy who likes a girl should just testicle-up and say what he wants; but I honestly believe that Japanese men are far too quiet about their feelings. You can never be sure if a guy likes you or just thinks you are fun to hang out with and wants to be friends. In my mind I am often volleying the thought - "Is he friendly or more than friendly? Which one is it??!!" It's exhausting.  Clear, blatant flirting does not seem to happen here - at least it's NOWHERE near as blatant as in the US. If Japanese couples didn't occasionally hold hands (and even more rarely - KISS! *gasp*), I really could not tell who was in a relationship or who just happened to be sitting next to a stranger.
2.  Japanese guys may or may not be intimidated/enthused/horrified by Black women. Well you guys, I cannot hide behind this facade any longer, so I am going to just come out and say it - I am Black. Yes, its true, I am a Black woman. Take a time to absorb that if you need to. As a Black woman, I have encountered many curious onlookers in my daily life and most of them have been Japanese men. I have been stared at for nearly 45 minutes straight while on a train from Akihabara (to wake up from a mid-train nap and have an old Asian man staring you down from the far end of the train car is pretty creepy), I had chefs at a restaurant smile and gawk at me (these guys still do this even after I eaten at this restaurant a few times - I would stop going there, but the チャハン is soo delicious) and I have had guys literally stop what they were doing and watch me, unblinking, as if a unicorn had suddenly appeared out of thin air. I'd like to think it was because they had never seen such a beautiful creature, but lets be real - its because I am currently the blackest and weirdest thing in the room. I'm a stubborn girl and I believe I can do or be anything that someone says I can't, but this is one area where I somewhat little powerless. I feel sad knowing that my ethnicity might prevent people from actually trying to approach me or get to know me.
3. Japanese guys may want to date me just for the "cool" aspect.  I have read many articles about foreigners (mostly Caucasian men) who have been tracked down by so called "Gaijin Hunters" which are Japanese women/men who seek out foreigners just to brag about dating a foreigner and to have half gaijin babies. I certainly do not want to be someone's trophy - I have way to much to offer to be relegated to "Hey guys! Check out my cool American Black girlfriend!" One time while at a bar a Japanese guy came up to me and sparked a conversation with me. Not long after hearing that I was from California, he blurted out, "I like you." So I asked him, "Do you like me because I'm American?" His answer? "Yes." I'd like to think that some language barrier interfered with this conversation, but the truth of the matter is, some guys will want to have a relationship with me simply because I am foreign- and that is NOT what I am looking for. Although I like Japanese guys, I refuse to date a guy simply because he is  Japanese. He will also have to be nice, cute,  smart, interesting, have a sense of humor, honest, and many other things. I expect a guy who is interested in me to feel the same way. 

Overall I can say that from my present experiences, that dating/building relationships will not be easy, in fact, it may be very challenging. But I am confident in myself and believe that God will bring me the right person when the time is right. After all I shouldn't settle for anything less.

The ultimate conclusion to this post is far from over. Stay tuned.

Until then,

じゃまた

Ashia A.

Trip to Jigokudani Park: Monkeying Around Nagano

After New Years, I thought it would be a fun idea to go to Nagano and visit the Jigokudani Park. For those who don't know, Jigokudani Park is park up in the mountains where you can visit and see snow monkeys hanging out and even relaxing in a man-made hot spring. The monkeys are generally pretty relaxed around people and you can get up fairly close to them and takes photos.

Me riding the Shinkansen!

If you want to see the snow monkeys, I suggest you plan to go around December - January when it cold and snowy and the monkeys are most likely to come down for a dip in the hot spring. You will also want to make your hotel reservations ahead of time. I made my reservations in December and just barely caught the last of the cheapest rooms.  I booked through Hotel.com at Chisun Grand Nagano and highly recommend it. While the rooms themselves were pretty basic and not fancy at all, they were clean, relatively cheap (about 5000~6500 yen for a two person double bed), had all the basics you would find in any other hotel (towels, shampoo, body wash, etc) and had staff at the service desk who could speak excellent English. Also, the hotel was located close to some restaurants (and some pizza place, I think Pizza Hut - anyway it was delicious), several convenience stores and also about 5-7 minutes away from Nagano Station. There is also a temple and many 温泉 (hot spring) located within Nagano. If you have the time, it is worth checking them out.
  
From our hotel room, we were able to quickly get to the train station and onto the NagaDen Bus which took us on an 1 -1 1/2 hr long drive toward the park. NagaDen bus is the easiest and probably the cheapest way to get to Jigokudani Park. The stop is located outside the station on the ground floor. There will most likely be a sign that says "Monkey Park" as well as a bunch of foreigners waiting in line, so it shouldn't be too hard to locate. The bus costs about 1400 yen but basically takes you right to the trail. Here are some sights that may be helpful in finding the NagaDen bus: Go!Nagano and Nagano Bus Schedule - be warned, the schedule is in Japanese. However, the front desk at the hotel will have no problem helping you catch the right bus/trains to the park. 

From the trail it was about a 40 minutes walk through snow and rocks until we reached the actual area where the monkeys were. The walk was not terribly difficult, but with snow and ice, it made for a somewhat perilous hike. I recommend bring snow shoes, but if you don't have any, at least bring your most sturdy boots and several pairs of socks. Also make sure to being a nice, warm jacket as the trees occasionally like to drop a load of snow on your head.

Overall the experience was awesome and totally worth the $200+ dollars I spent on the whole venture (riding the Shinkansen was the priciest - about $85 one way to Nagano from Tsukuba! Ouch!) Make sure to take lots a photos of the monkeys; but please, please be respectful of the monkeys. Don't get too close, touch them (they will bite), glare at them or try to feed them.

Here is the Schedule for the Monkey Park (based off their website):

        ■ Summer season (generally between April - October)
             8:30-17:00
        ■ Winter season (generally between November - March)
             9:00-16:00

 Admission for adults is 500 yen; or 420 yen for a group of 20 or more people.

Have an awesome time at Jigokudani Park!

Enjoying the world's hottest chocolate at the gift shop in the park. Seriously it was still tongue-burning hot after 20 minutes.

じゃまた

 Ashia A.

New Year, Improved Me: My Goals and Resolutions for 2015

Now that 2014 has ended and 2015 has begun, I have been thinking more and more about the many goals that I want to accomplish both here in Japan and when I return home. Following the end of my study abroad program, I will be only 1-2 years away from graduating with my Bachelor's degree in Biology and Minor in Japanese and Chemistry. It won't be much longer until I am out living in the real world - an undergrad no longer!  As scary as it is and as much as I want to stay in college forever, it is time to seriously plan out my life's dreams/goals and how I plan to accomplish them. 

My most immediate goals though are for my study abroad program in Japan. Here is what I hope to accomplish while I am abroad:

• Become near fluent in Japanese.  This will of course take a lot more than 1 year of living in Japan. I would however like to be able to watch a Japanese movie or anime without relying on the subtitles and be able to comfortably have a conversation in Japanese. If I were to grade my level in Japanese, I probably  give myself a solid B - which is good, but could be a lot better. By the time I leave, I hope to have an A!
• Get solid A's and B's in all of my courses at University of Tsukuba.  Admittedly, the grading system and education system in Japan completely works in my favor for this goal. First off, at University of Tsukuba, 80% and above with earn an A and 70% and above will earn you a B. This alone makes it much easier for me to get good grades. Secondly, the classes are a lot less demanding than American college courses, although you take a lot more of them (9+ classes) in a semester.  This is not to say that they are incredibly easy, but I don't have nearly the same amount of homework, tests, quizzes, in class assignments, and essays that are a constant in American classes. That said, I am confident I will leave with good grades.
• Make 10 new friends in Japan.  This goal has been far surpassed, although most of my friends are other foreigners. I hope to change that and make a lot more Japanese friends this year. 
• Be open to any and all new experiences. While in Japan I want to say yes to any new experience no matter what it is - and I am well on my way to accomplishing this goal. Recently, I tried octopus for the first time. In the US, this would have never ever happened; but now that I am becoming more open person, I won't shy away from unusual or different things, but instead run to them! (P.S Octopus is very chewy, but not too bad tasting ;D)

I will add to this list as more ideas come to me and update this list as each goal is reached.
What are your goals for the new year?

Stay tuned for my progress towards an even better me! よいお年を！！ Happy New Years!!


じゃまた

Ashia A.

First Days Revisited: #2 First Night at the University of Tsukuba

After arriving at Narita International Airport, I was anxious to make my way to University of Tsukuba campus and start my life as an official 学生 (student)! Unfortunately, that would take a lot longer than expected. In fact, even though we touched down around 3pm, we wouldn't make it to campus until about 8pm. While waiting at the airport, I was able to better acquaint myself with some of the other students and learn about their particular goals and interests. There were students from all over the world, from Slovenia to China and beyond. It was truly amazing to see such a beautiful rainbow of cultures and ethnicities all coming together to live and learn in Japan.
Eventually after wrangling everyone together, we all loaded onto a charted bus and took a 2+ hour bus ride to University of Tsukuba. In Japan, the sun begins setting around 4:30 and turns pitch black by 6pm. Needless to say, it looked as though it was midnight by the time we arrived at the University of Tsukuba and transversed our way through the gargantuan 636 acre campus to our dorm rooms at Ichinoya. When the bus finally arrived at Ichinoya dormitory, we were each greeted by our respective tutors who would help us with the basics of living in Japan - things like opening bank accounts, buying a 自転車 (bicycle) and　携帯電話 (cellphone). My lovely tutor, Mizuho, who is a wonderful aspiring English teacher, was gracious enough to help me to my room and take my friend Rochelle and I to eat our first authentic ramen (wherein I proceeded to commit a major faux pa by forgetting to say いただきます(loosely means: I humbly receive this meal) before inhaling my noodles!)
My first impression of my new living quarters was..."this is it eh?" The rooms were small, plain, a little dirty and obviously a few decades old. Believe it or not though, getting a room in this particular dormitory was actually like winning the dorm lottery. I was lucky enough to receive a room with air conditioning/heat, a small stove range and an even smaller bathroom inside - students in adjacent dorm buildings don't have any of these things and actually have to pay $1 per 9 min for their showers (and have to make it home before 11pm if they want their shower hot)! My room, which was on the 4th floor (no elevators) of the building, contained the following: an old metal desk, chair, wooden bed with hidden drawers, a blasphemously uncomfortable microbead pillow, a table lamp (which was broken), a wire storage shelf, a stove, sink, a bathroom with a shower attachment. I was most excited about the bathroom - it was nothing like I've ever seen before! At first glance, the bathroom looks like little more than a mirror and a toilet and a large sink. However, when you move the sink cover over the toilet, the entire room becomes a shower! Not only that, the hot water controls are on the outside of the bathroom. We went through 2 days of ice cold showers before we found out from our tutor that you had to press a particular button to make the water hot (D'oh!!).
Currently, having lived in this dorm room for the past 4 months, I can say without hesitation that it is like a second home to me. As I write this I am in Texas, thousands of miles away from Japan on a short holiday visit to America, and honestly all I can think about is missing my tiny little dorm room and my awesome life in Japan. I'll be back in Japan in a few short days and I am beyond excited!


じゃまた

Ashia A.