Harrowing day at the post office... I decided that it was finally time to send my mom her birthday gift (only 4 months late) and a little package off to the Barrells, and so loaded up my goodie bag with all sorts of treasures: melon choclates, juice boxes of sake, dried-baby-salmon-and-cashew snacks, dozens of tissue packages (handed out instead of flyers for advertising here), a replica ramen truck for Nolan, a replica Japanese woman for my brother, gum, candies etc, etc. I purchased my boxes, filled them up, took them to the counter, and that's when the fun began. Japanese staff want to make sure you have every opportunity to choose the option that's right for you, but when we have hit a wall as far as limited language skills go, I really just want to be told what to do. I just kept on repeating wakarimasen, daijobu? wakarimasen, daijobu. (I don't understand, OK? Anything is OK, because I don't understand.) Everthing had to be unpacked, itemized. The sake was not an allowable item. OK. Everything was repacked. Then everything had to be taken out again and weighed individually, including the 2 dozen tissue-packs. I lost it. I teared up, ran my fingers through my hair, said "Chigau, CHIGAU, Totemo muzukashi desu! I give up, it's too difficult!" I huffily stomped off, emptied the boxes into a plastic back, stomped out, kicked my bicycle, rode off to the alley near here, kicked and swore at my bicycle as I parked it, and stomped some more right up into the Heartland Cafe. Two free melon slushes and an email-check later, I feel better, if a little sheepish. I didn't want to be that gaijin girl, the one who gets angry in Japan because things are different. I mean; it's not my country, of course things aren't going to be easy... but sometimes I can't help wishing they were. All I can do is keep plowing along with my Japanese language studies.

I think my rage at being misunderstood, and constantly misunderstanding has been building up over the last few days; my visit to the hospital was a farce as I waited for a full hour and a half in the wrong hospital... when I got up to the counter, I coulnd't explain what was wrong, so I drew a graphic picture. The nurse looked quite shocked when I showed it to her. She shook her head, saying she didn't understand, so-- waiting room full of curious patients be damned, I pointed to my crotch and said kore wa itai! (this hurts!) Only then did she explain to me that I was in an ear, nose and throat hospital... the Womens Hospital was out the door and 4 meters to the left. (Thank goodness the doctor in there had studied in the US for 3 years!) And yesterday, I decided to hang out spontaneously with my friend Yoshino. As it was a spur of-the moment decision, I had just enough time to eat a tomato and a chunk of tofu for breakfast as I dashed out the door. He and I went to Naruto, walked through the art museum (scale replicas of every famous piece of art from Western Art History, the early Greeks to the Sistine chapel to Jackson Pollack... printed on metal and ceramic so that you can touch them... so weird) for about 4 hours. "What do you want to do now?" Well, I am kind of hungry... then we went to see the famous tidal whirlpools under the Naruto Bridge. Interesting, but I'm hungry. Then we went to an onsen. It wasn't even a very good one, and now I'm really hungry. It's 7:30 pm. Not willing to put off eating any longer, I suggest we go back to my apartment, I'll cook. OK... so we're on our way, then Yoshino wants to stop at Hard Off, the Japanese equivalent of Value Village. My patience is running out, I'm dizzy. I look around Hard Off for about 5 mins, then declare, "Dekita (I'm finished), I'm HUNGRY." To which Yoshino says, "You're stubborn." I can only laugh, or else I'll cry. No, I assure him, I'm not stubborn, I'm just starving... a piece of tofu and a small tomato is not enough to keep me genki for a full 8 hours. "Oh. You're on a diet." NO. I'm NOT. I didn't have TIME to EAT TODAY. Yoshino finally clues in. "Oh. I'm very sorry." He takes the oppotunity to teach me how to say "I'm hungry" in Japanese. I was so fatigued that I don't remember it.

Today is the beginning of Golden Week, a stretch of 10 days during which most people in Japan have time off. There's a big festival in the park, and as I was on my way downtown, I could hear the exciting sounds of Taiko drums and smell the delicious aromas wafting from the various food stalls. It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, the multicoloured banners on all the bridges and lamp-posts are rippling merrily... and I'm inside in a darkened media cafe, sulking. Guess I better knock it off!