I want to move.

After I came back from my 5 days in Tokyo, I found my leather watch wrist bands covered with green mold in my bathroom and my kitchen counters drawers with weird light slightly greenish drippy stains on them. I usually leave my fan[s] running all day long to keep the air circulating, but I had kept them off while I was away. Unfortunately, it not only left a strong musty smell in my apartment, but my apartment seemed to have "sweat" and become a haven for fungal matter in my absence.

If that wasn't bad enough, my air conditioner hasn't worked since I moved in; I've come back home more than once sweaty and really wanting some shelter from the heat and humidity, but not finding any relief.

During the next week or so after getting back home, I began to find other tale tell signs of the very basement-like conditions of my living quarters. Everything leather has at least some green mold growing on it. My diploma casing, my Bible... even some other objects, such as a wooden desk that I keep my television on, has some green mold spots on them.

My apartment gets just a little sun and sometimes the walls start to glisten right before it begins to rain. Now, the summers in Korea are rainy and incredibly humid. I generally get over any discomfort caused by weather conditions quickly if I have a place I can get some relief from whatever the weather might be throwing at me. My apartment was fine during the winter. It was a little humid, but it was never as cold as it was outside.

Now, I can't even store my washed and dried blankets in the closet. I had taken one out and placed it on my bed and thought it smelled just a little bit musty. I was so tired that I decided to ignore it. The next morning, however, I was coughing away. The cough persisted all day. I slept without my blanket that night and in the morning I was as good as new. Apparently, my apartment is so humid that my blanket collected moisture and became a mold farm in the dark warm closet.

This frustrated blog post was probably going to be posted eventually, but was catalyzed by what happened when I got home from a day outside in the heat, wanting to wash my sweaty clothes and also really aching for a nice cleansing shower. When I walked in, I thought, "Well, it's not that hot today, I can deal. It'll be just fine after I shower."

Guess what?

I turned on the water and the shower head wheezed at me, making a slight gurgling sound as it produced absolutely no water.

Thank goodness I had bottled away from of the previous days' leftover boiled water. I was able to use it to at least wash my face and brush my teeth. I even poured it out in a big bowl to wash my face. I felt like I was in a scene from a period film.

Other than roughing it with no water, I'm doing all right. I just really really want to move somewhere that gets more sunlight, better ventilation (and no "sweating" walls), and a working air conditioner. I'm going to try to convince my school to start looking for a new place for me.

Being illiterate

I love bookstores. I could spend hours at them. That is if the majority of the books were in English.

Today, I felt suddenly handicapped as I wandered through a bookstore. All the books were in Korean. I can read some Korean, but very slowly. My reading comprehension of the Korean language is fairly elementary. I'm definitely not fluent when it comes to reading in Korean.

Walking through the bookstore, I saw various sections of interest, such as art or sociology; however, I could not read any of them. Two floors filled with books and information and imagination and I could only barely tap into any of it.

I searched for the English section and found two tables of books. My pickings were very limited, but at least I could understand the text inside the covers.

In any case, I realize that not being able to read feels like I'm locked out. I do love books, but when I realized I couldn't access the information within all those books that surrounded me, I felt a little saddened.

I missed hanging out at a local Borders or Barnes & Nobles back in the States. That's when I felt like I have a trove of treasure chests at my finger tips; all I had to do to get to the gold was open a book and turn the pages.

On a completely different note, I saw "Up" in the movie theater today and it was wonderful. I highly recommend it.

Japan reminds me of a Miyazaki film

I landed in Japan yesterday night and woke up late this morning, meeting up with my very jet lagged friend, Donna, and her husband, Morgan.

One thing that I've noticed in Seoul, Taipei and now Tokyo is the awesome juxtaposition of natural landscape and the cityscapes. Out of the three though, I've noticed the most impressive in Tokyo. We visited the Meiji Shrine, which was pretty much like a huge park. It was a mini-jungle in the middle of the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

I don't know if this is a bad thing or not, but I was reminded, so many times, of Miyazaki's films, such as Totoro, Spirited Away, Mononoke Hime, and many others. The relationship of nature and Tokyo, the way that the insects moved along the ground, the grindingly loud sounds of the cicadas in the searing summer sun, and the way the hills rolled all brought the feelings I had watching his animations. I think he really did capture the atmosphere[s] of Japan.

After looking around Harajuku (but didn't see too many people in "costume"), we went to Mayu, in Shibuya, which was a restaurant that had "cocoons" for patrons. Each table had a tiny room, wallpapered with cocoon-like paper, with lights wrapped in the same paper. In order to get to our seats, we had to take off our shoes and crawl. There was *just* enough room to sit and eat comfortably.

This restaurant was so strange, but I really enjoyed it. It's not for people who are claustrophobic, but for those who aren't very tall and at ease with small spaces, it's very cozy and comfortable. The background music was probably the most eclectic mix I've heard in a while. It went from classical to jazz to Celtic to Sigur Ros to dramatic sound track music.

I think Mayu has tied with my other favorite theme restaurant, which is in Itaewon in Seoul. That restaurant has rooms filled with sand, with sea and beach type decorations. You take off your shoes at the door of each room and put it on a shelf. Then you step in and enjoy the feeling of being on a beach, sand between your toes, while you dine.

But back to Tokyo - we discussed going to a ninja-themed restaurant. Supposedly all the waiters are dressed like ninjas and run back and forth from the table, surprising you with the menus and other such fun things.

Ninjas! Can't wait.