I creepily looked up the public transport route to my host family's house from the school, and googlemaps tells me I will be walking and taking two trains, so I'm curious about how often you have to buy train passes... do you know if it's like a monthly thing or a semester thing? idk.
Do you know if texting to American phones is still cheap?
lskf gaijin card. Oh, Japan, you and your xenophobia. How long do those usually take to process?
omg your host mom reading Genki sounds insanely adorable.
OH HEY what is it like living with kids?? I am excited but totally flying blind here.
I actually have no idea about train passes I was a 25 min. walk from school, so I didn't get any passes of any sort. :P I think they're for a few months at a time? I think most of my friends only paid for them once first semester, but they ran out by the last few weeks of December
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Yesssss oh man. I have a five year old boy and an eight year old girl. :> Their hobbies are abacus and swimming lskjslskf. :( poor little girls. I am bringing them stuffed animals and a big floor puzzle of the United States! :D
omg what great gifts. You will be the best host oneechan ever~ (Rui, my host brother, loved puzzles. I should really send him one for his birthday this year~)
alsdfjk abacus? hilarious. you have nerd host siblings. win. (also, tell me if you shamefully have the same hobby as I did, aka figuring out just how awesome your host brother will one day be when he obviously joins Johnnys and becomes famous. as;ldkfja it's such a sketchy but unavoidable thought. Rui is seriously going to grow up to be Ryo version 2.)
Yes, definitely. There is actually much less wireless in Japan than in America (in part, I suspect, because almost everyone has internet on their phone)
That cake looks kinda risky with the alcohol and the candles. o_o
Adding, because I'm obnoxious (and procrastinating) and read your whole post: conservative clothing is helpful in avoiding chikan (though I feel awkward saying this because it's not like it's your fault you got chikan'd if you decided to wear spaghetti straps, but some people actually act like it is).
Shinkansen aren't quite like normal trains-- you can buy reserved seat tickets for extra money. Not necessary, though I've heard not reserving a seat results in standing. The inside of a shinkansen looks a lot like a super spacy airplane!
Lastly, I don't think the Softbank thing was through our school in particular. They advertise their 学割 on TV all the time. (And I'm pretty sure continued to do so after Softbank stopped selling phones on campus.)
Oh, you forgot Kintetsu! I'm pretty sure they run in Kyoto, too? There's something that's not JR, because I kept getting the transfer stations confused.
ha ha, I was so lame at kyoto trains. I always had to make whoever was with me do the navigating. And I'm sure you're right about the softbank. Especially since Casey (?) and a few other people got their phone at the softbank stand in... wherever we were shopping that one time, instead of at school.
We luckily didn't blow our house up with the cake, though it would have been a great story if we had (as long as we didn't actually die. live on the wild side, baby~)
I basically failed at trains anywhere near Kyoto. I've spent ages staring at a train fare map trying to find Tambabashi or something only to eventually realize that I wasn't even on the right train company for it.
Casey had a prepaid, though. 学割 did not apply.
It would have been a great story. But you probably would've lost all your stuff, rofl.
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D: Alcohol cake....
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Also, you got a plan phone, right? I remember your phone was really adorable~
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Yeah, I got an AU phone plan all by my lonesome. *u* I wish I could still use it.
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SO THIS IS SUPER HELPFUL.
I creepily looked up the public transport route to my host family's house from the school, and googlemaps tells me I will be walking and taking two trains, so I'm curious about how often you have to buy train passes... do you know if it's like a monthly thing or a semester thing? idk.
Do you know if texting to American phones is still cheap?
lskf gaijin card. Oh, Japan, you and your xenophobia. How long do those usually take to process?
omg your host mom reading Genki sounds insanely adorable.
OH HEY what is it like living with kids?? I am excited but totally flying blind here.
Reply
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Yesssss oh man. I have a five year old boy and an eight year old girl. :> Their hobbies are abacus and swimming lskjslskf. :( poor little girls. I am bringing them stuffed animals and a big floor puzzle of the United States! :D
Reply
alsdfjk abacus? hilarious. you have nerd host siblings. win. (also, tell me if you shamefully have the same hobby as I did, aka figuring out just how awesome your host brother will one day be when he obviously joins Johnnys and becomes famous. as;ldkfja it's such a sketchy but unavoidable thought. Rui is seriously going to grow up to be Ryo version 2.)
Reply
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Adding, because I'm obnoxious (and procrastinating) and read your whole post: conservative clothing is helpful in avoiding chikan (though I feel awkward saying this because it's not like it's your fault you got chikan'd if you decided to wear spaghetti straps, but some people actually act like it is).
Shinkansen aren't quite like normal trains-- you can buy reserved seat tickets for extra money. Not necessary, though I've heard not reserving a seat results in standing. The inside of a shinkansen looks a lot like a super spacy airplane!
Lastly, I don't think the Softbank thing was through our school in particular. They advertise their 学割 on TV all the time. (And I'm pretty sure continued to do so after Softbank stopped selling phones on campus.)
Oh, you forgot Kintetsu! I'm pretty sure they run in Kyoto, too? There's something that's not JR, because I kept getting the transfer stations confused.
Reply
We luckily didn't blow our house up with the cake, though it would have been a great story if we had (as long as we didn't actually die. live on the wild side, baby~)
Reply
Casey had a prepaid, though. 学割 did not apply.
It would have been a great story. But you probably would've lost all your stuff, rofl.
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