Adventures of Carly

I'll have to do another dorm post soon. I haven't been doing anything of much interest lately, just school and wandering around my favorite shopping spots.

I'm always surprised to learn what is appropriate and what isn't in Japan. On Tuesday, I was sitting in my poli-sci class, listening to the three girls behind me gossip in Japanese. Granted, our class is about 70 students and that kind of behavior usually goes unnoticed in such a large class. They were in their own little world at the back of the class, not even trying to hide the fact that they weren't paying attention to the lecture. In America most kids have the sense to at least fake taking notes or seem inconspicuous, but these three Japanese girls were pushed away from the table, no pencils in their hands, not taking notes. Professor Anno made comments about people being too cool for his class, referring to the girls, and they didn't take notice. About halfway through class, Anno stopped the lecture completely and asked them to stop talking.

Maybe it was just those three girls, but I have never seen students so rude to a professor before. If I'm bored at Creighton, I usually bring my take out my laptop and go on the internet rather than interrupt class. You know a prof is boring at Creighton if more than half the students lugged their computers to class. (In fact, I have yet to see someone bring a laptop to class; I suppose the trains are too brutal for such a sensitive and expensive thing to be brought along for most people.)

I get lazy between contact changes, so I wore glasses a few days this week. I have stereotypical emo glasses -- thick black rims, rectangle lenses, etc. If I can find the cartoon version of myself my brother whipped up I'll post it. Anyway, girls don't really wear glasses (megane) in Japan. I've seen a few older women sporting spectacles, but the high school and university girls don't find them fashionable I guess. I've only seen nerdy otaku (geeks) wearing emo-style glasses.

I noticed I got a few more looks than usual when I wore glasses. This band was performing on the street in Ikebukuro (a typical activity to create buzz for a new band or artist), and Saniya *swears* the lead singer gave me a look. The type of look was not specified, but I assume it was one of "Oh my gosh GAIJIN wearing GLASSES AND A BACKPACK ew." Guys my age on the train also gave me such looks. I'd go off and swear at them, because I'm an American damnit and I don't put up with that crap, but I'm sure they wouldn't be able to understand.

Aside: Prof. Anno was talking about the immunity that representatives from other countries receive. "You can't just arrest the Chinese ambassador or the German ambassador or the American ambassador... actually you can't arrest an American, ever." The Americans in the room chuckled at the acknowledgement of gaijin smash.

Today, my mission is to find tampons. The girls say you can't find tampons anywhere (I don't know I haven't been looking myself), mother says she bought some at a convenience store, and the internet doesn't say much of anything. We shall see.