Day 69 and 70: Shinjuku with Jimmy and getting a bank account

Hello!

Wednesday 15th of April

So today I had two classes of Japanese, which went very well. We finished unit 2 and 3.

Unit 2:

• （Aより)Bのほうが X です = (B is X than A)
• X（のなか）でAが一いちばん Y = (A is the number one among three)
• AはBより X です = (A is X than B)

Unit 3

Noun-modifying clause

• 明日、見る映画　(The movie that I am going to watch tommorow)

Ekpression for "to put on"

• put on something over your head = きる
• put something from below = はく
• put on a hat = かべる
• put on glasses = かける
• put on small accessories = する

After school I went home and did some homework, ate lunch and cleaned my room. Then I filled out some papers that had to be delivered by mail, before I went to Shinjuku to meet Jimmy at 17:30. We went out to by new Sim cards for our phones. It's called "Travel Sim" which gives you 2 GB of internet data for 3 months. So either you use up all the data and have to buy new, or the 3 months pass and you have to buy a new one. My 3 months are almost up (and my data) so it's good to have a new on hand in case you run out and need to contact someone. My phone doesn't work here so internet is the only communication I've got while in Japan. I'm planning to buy a japanese phone very soon.

After buying the Travel Sim we went out to eat

After eating we went back to my places and watched a movie.

Thursday 16th of April

So today dear Kazuki went with me to get my address registered, get a health insurence and get a japanese bank account. It would be impossible to do it without him so I was very thankful!

First stop 08:30:Register my address + health insurance. We took the bus and were the first customars there! It's alway good to be first so you hopefully won't have to wait too long. First I got the adress on my card then I got a health insurance. I already have an insurance from Norway, but it makes things a little easier when I pay in adcanced. I only have to pay 30% of the bill/for medicin when going to a clinic or a doctor. I'm not 100% sure what my insurance from Norway covers, but in the worst case I only have to pay 30%. Often when you have a cold you go to a doctor to get some medicin, and this may not be covered from norway as we maybe don't see it as a necessity... I should check it out...haha

Then we went to UFJ bank in Seiseki Sakuragaoka to open a japanese bank account. At this point I'm hating my name soooo much because I had to write it so many times! I think I wrote my WHOLE name around 10 times, both in Norwegian and in katakana ( japanese). And on one of the papers I wrote my name in the wrong order and I had to start it all over again! WHY JAPAN!!?? But I finally got my bank book and then later I'll get a card.

 This is all my papers I got today, too much! (not my TMU card thou...)

 This is my sign which I got to use for the first time today! It's the kanji "美" (read as "bi") which means beauty. It matched the start of my name "Vi"beke (because they don't have "vi" they write "bi"). It was actually my friend Dave's idea! 

 On top is my japanese bank book, on the left it my address and on the right is my health insurance.

 I put in 10,000 yen (about 650 kroner), and I'll get my card in the mail in about a week.

 When I got home I prepared myself a cup of tea, toast, scrambled eggs and smoked salmond!

 So delish~

 I listened to norwegian music while enjoying my lunch in the awesome hot weather :)

 じゃ、またね！

*ビッキー*

Day 45 and 46: Picnic in Yoyogi and Minami-Osawa

Hello!

Sunday 22nd:

So today I went to Yoyogi Park in Shinjuku. This time it was to have a picnic with Ai, Steffi and many others, I think we were about 12-13 at most :) We had two big blankets and everyone brought food, snacks or drinks.

There were an crazy amount of people in the park! We were not the only one thinking about a picnic in the park. It was a little windy and cloudy, unfortunately, but we had a good time! We brought frisbee, badminton and other ball-games. But the wind made it a little difficult, but it was fun either way.

There was also a Norwegian guy there! He said that he hasn't spoken Norwegian in a veeeeery long time, so it was very weird for him, haha! He didn't even react to his real name once, because he's so used to his nicknames. It's just like me: Vibeke --> Vicky or Bikki. So he's name: øyvind --> Vinny.

Pictures from Ai:

We started like this

 And ended like this, and this is actually after we had started to clean

Jimmy (a different Jimmy, not my boyfriend), had made marinated roastbeef!!! He also brought bread and cheese, so we made delicious sandwiches~ It was amazing, and super kind of him!
We were out till the sun went down, and some headed to the cinema, others to other places and some went home. I was invited to watch "American Sniper", but I was tired so I went back home with Steffi instead.

Monday 23rd

So since I had problems with the bank when I tried to pay my rent I had to go back to Minami-Osawara. This is because it's the main bank for the University, or something like that...

But first thing first was getting Jimmy a haircut. It was only 1080 yen (70 kroner). Wish I only had to pay that...

Jimmy and I then took the train to Minami-Osawaa and everything went fine at the bank! It didn't take more than 10 minutes. So when we were done there we hung around at the malls.

Here is our lunch

 Jimmy with his new haircut! (Not so easy to see though...)

Then we had some hot chocolate~

 And later: dinner

Do you like my new t-shirt?

Tomorrow, Jimmy and I are going to have a completely lazy day~

じゃ、またね！

・ビッキー・

Day 39: Failed trip to the bank, and Ebisu

Hello!

So today was kind of a bad day, again...

Went to the bank to pay the rent for my apartment from April. From April I'm moving in to a shared apartment, that is chosen by my University. It's very cheap, only 192,000 yen for 5 months (13.000 kroner). So I got this bill from when I visited my University, that I have to pay in a bank. Sounds easy, right? Apparently not! I took out the money, brought my passport and my bill, and headed for the bank. I had to fill out a paper, but I got help for that. You know, because they don't speak English and I can't read kanji. Then I got a number, and I had to wait. That far it was very easy. But when it was my turn it got difficult. 

First of all: the more "polite" you speak in Japanese, the "complex" are the sentences. So for me it's very difficult to understand when people in a bank, post office etc, talk to me. It would be SOOO much easier if they talked to me like I'm a child. But of course they don't, so they keep talking polite and make me more confused the more they speak. Then maybe you're asking, why did you go to a bank if you don't know enough Japanese? Well, I though it was just to hand over the bill and money and everything would work out, so... That's what I got informed about when I talked to my contact at the University... 

Either way: after a lot of talking, I understood they needed a Student ID, but the problem is: I DON'T HAVE IT! I start in April, and I haven't got it yet... So after a about 45 minutes of waiting, they got hold of a guy that could speak English. He then told me that without my Student ID, could not pay a bill (or tranfer money, whatever I should call it) over 100.00 yen! Now, who made up that rule!? I could have understood it if it was the other way around, that I was the one receiving money, but I'm giving it from me.... So yeah, they couldn't help me. I felt very bad for the staff, because they were trying so hard to figure it out. I even got a pen as an apology because they couldn't help me. 

I then went home and sent an e-mail about it to my University. And my contact though it was very weird, because a different exchange student paid without problem. So at this point I'm waiting for guidance from my contact. But it's so frustrating to use time and effort on something that doesn't work out... Well, I went home, made dinner that sucked (because I used way too much sauce on it and it was destroyed). I washed some clothes and time just flew away, 

I picked an awesome outfit, but forgot to take a picture of it~ Oh noo~
I met Jimmy in Ebisu, we ate dinner, visited a shrine and went to the mall before going to his place. We bought strawberries, and enjoyed those while watching supernatural. 

So I didn't do that much today, but sometimes the time just flies away! 

じゃ、またね！
・ビッキー・