At The Speed of Steve

you know how when you are getting off a train there is a gap between the train and the station? well ordinarily i easily defeat these gaps.  On my trip to kamakura, on the way home to be exact, I wasn’t paying attention and stepped right into the gap with my left leg.  this left me in a position where my right leg was still on the train and my left leg was dangling in the abyss.  to make matters worse, to brace my fall i stuck out my hand and grabbed the platform, however i had my camera in my hand…which brings me to the purpose of this post.

My Camera Broke.

or to be specific, i broke my camera.  it can still take video and review old pictures, but when it is put in still camera mode it just power cycles.  so….I’m pretty much just going to take a bunch of videos for the duration of my trip and Dan offered me to use his camera (as long as i don’t break that one).

The Good news is that i have a warranty on the camera Through Best Buy, sporting the ADH coverage (that’s Accidental Damage and Handling) so i will be getting it fixed when i get back.  Its just most inconvenient.

i’d show you a picture of the broken camera but its much too ironic so here’s a cute bunny to make me feel better

ah, that outta take away some pain

An Earthquake hit this morning and wokme up at 7:15am.  It was the strangest feeling to have your bed shake around.  originaly i thought it was dan moving in his sleep but it was much too prolonged to be him, so i checked the news this morning and sure enough it was true. it was only 4.8 on the Richter Scale.

ps i really want a poptart

Japan has been a trip of first…

First time in Asia…

First time speaking Japanese to Japanese People….

First time in Tokyo…

First time in an Ambulance.

First time in a non-American Hospital.

so St. Luke’s Hospital isnt such a bad place, the people are friendly and their ER is open which is nice.

I guess to make things clear i have to give a bit of a refresher on those of you who werent paying attention in school when they taught the Japanese Health Care System

The Japanese have a nationalized medicine system, which to be fair is a beautiful and noble thing to give health care to everyone. kudos Japan. Everyone can go to hospital and get help, most of the time… i say this because when the hospitals are open, they are top notch. but, and heres the kicker, they close. thats right. closed.  as in, sorry come back in the morning.  only a select hospitals have ER’s that are open all night, and even fewer have english speaking staff.  how it works is you call the ambulance and they call the hospitals to ask if its ok to bring you there (this can take some time depending on the night, hospital operation hours are 8:30 - 5).  now once you get there and they are willing to help its A-game all the way. Also you dont have to worry about insurance because everyone is part of the national insurance program, so as long as the hospital accepts that you are ok (Yes some hospitals dont accept national insurance?!?!).

You’re worried now eh? wondering what happened? well if you have read this far i’m honored to know that anyone cares about what happens to me, luckily it wasnt me that needed all this fun modern medical care. it was my boy and roommate Dan T.

this guy:

Sometimes this Guy:

But mostly this guy:

late at night dan’s chest started to hurt, he was worried it might be his asthma so we wanted to go to the hopsital. luckily, it was just muscle tension in his chest and the doctor gave him some anti-inflammatory. hes ok now but it was a good idea we went. also mad props to our dorm manager who went with us to the hospital and translated as best she could.

two days prior we had signed up for the healthcare system (which is mandatory to have) so everything was covered mostly. we still had a co-pay to deal with but to be honest it wasnt that bad. (38 dollars for an ER visit, EKG, and chest Xray. not too shabby)  we were then advised by the ER doctor to see another doctor once the hospital was open again just to be sure (a lung specialist). so we waited like 3 hours for the hospital to open and saw the doctor. he spoke english much better than we expected and was a general nice person (but hey, isnt everyone here).  his vist lasted about a half an hour and he said not to worry, that its only muscle tension, which seems to be the case because dan has been doing fine.  his visit cost us a little less than $2 additional.

now the medical care isnt free, we have to pay a monthly charge  of about ten dollars(based on income, ours is zero). all and all their health care system is very interesting and leaves something to be desired in America.  i dont think the system would adapt well in America,(what with the closing of hospitals)  but it certainly shows its possible.

St. Luke Lobby

The college dream has come true.

i have made it so i only have classes on tuesday and thursday.

leaving me the other days of the week to do what i like.

the question is….what should i do with all my free time?

….i should get some legos

misc pictures:

-some shots from on campus-

-a rather large serving of pork-

servings here are much smaller than in the US if you missed my implied meaning, this is one of the larger pieces we found in a boxed lunch (bento).

At home i could owe my survival to probably a combination of wawa and giant food stores.  in Tokyo the reigning champion is the Tokyu Store. think of it as a Japanese Walmart…but much better.

without this little guy we would be forced to eat at local restaurants only, and although delicious, highly expensive.  observe:

average price of meal in restaurants: $10.00

average meals per day: 2.5

average days in a week: 7

average weeks in a month: 4

number of months in japan: 3.5

equation: ((((10*2.5)*7)*4)*3.5)= $2450

as you can see, buying your own food is quite adventageous. BUT! you can get so much more than food at the Tokyu store, they have 4 floors with everything from clothes to key grinding. (its also where i get my school supplies)

i’m not saying that Tokyu is the only supermarket in tokyo, its just the best i have found. The others i have been to are not quite up to par, not just with selection but with price. Tokyu is pretty reasonable, and if you go later at night things get marked down even further to make room for the next day’s stock. i think late night Tokyu trips are gonna become a staple.

So who wants to hear the word Tokyu some more? Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu Tokyu

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Good? Great.

lets talk about Boss Coffee:

its the only coffee drink thats endorsed by Tommy Lee Jones. The stuff is pretty good too, i kind of wish there was more than just starbucks served in a can back home. heres hoping boss makes its way over the pacific before me

Vending Machines are everywhere