Thanksgiving: First Encounters with Plume IS roommates

Keeping with my goal of one themed post for every month (last month's was Uncle's Taxi Ride for Halloween), here is this month's themed post. Its Thanksgiving, of course (someone needs to show that fat man that November belongs to turkeys, not reindeer). Unfortunately, with work, all the video games released this month, all the TV shows I've been following, The Magicians (just finished and on my way to buy the next book), and my general laziness, I haven't had time to write a Thanksgiving story. Instead, you'll just have to deal with some true stories this month.

Thanksgiving, or at least what I can remember about it from elementary school, was mainly about cut-out hand turkeys and vests made of paper bags. Its also about being thankful for what you have, but you don't want to hear those stories and, more importantly, I don't want to tell them. To get out of this, I'll also accept that Thanksgiving was about first contact between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. No, I don't know if this is true but I'm the one writing, plus I need a transition sentence to put these themes together so I can finally start writing. Anyways, today you'll get some of the first meeting stories I had with my Plume IS dormmates (I think that's a real word) when I spent a semester studying abroad in Japan a couple years ago. If you're wondering why you don't see your name on this list, its probably because I have a different story associated with you (trust me, I have one for everyone I met at Plume IS), and this is just meant for those first encounter stories. More than likely, some of these stories may not be the first meeting but they are at least early enough that I'll believe they were. And if you remember things a little differently than I do (or a lot differently), please feel free to leave a comment correcting me on it.

Welcome to Plume IS. red circle=my room

Yutaro a.k.a. "Yuty"

Literally, the first person I met in Japan (not counting the customs officer who confiscated my beef jerky or the taxi driver who looked at me like I was playing a prank on him when I handed him the address to the dorm). Honestly, I'm just happy you were awake to let me in the door or I probably would've spent the night sleeping outside and freezing my ass off (if you don't remember, my flight that day was delayed so I ended up arriving after what was supposed to be closing time). Thanks to you, not only did I get to spend my first night in a bed, but I also got a quick tour around the dorm and directions to the Lawson at the corner to get some dinner. Unbeknownst to me, though he was our R.A., Yuty would come and hang out with us all the time, from just hanging out in the lounge to guiding us around. Meeting Yuty would also become the bookends to my trip as he was also the last person I saw before getting on the train to the airport, though that time was to smoke on my balcony after my room check. Just to let you know, if you're reading this, after standing for two hours on the train to the airport making sure my bags didn't fall over, I thoroughly regretted giving you my last pack of cigarettes. There are few times I can remember when I needed a smoke so badly as after that train ride.

Terry

When I think about it, I probably met Terry just a couple hours after meeting Yuty on my first day in Japan. After a four-hour delay, an 8-hour plane ride, a bus ride to Yokohama, a taxi ride with a driver who I swear never once checked his blind spot when changing lanes, and getting lost right next to the dorm, I was thoroughly exhausted when I got to Plume IS. By the time I managed to get some cup noodles and a bag of chips into my stomach all I wanted to do was sleep in my freezing cold room (I had yet to figure out how to change the temperature on the A/C). That's when I heard a knock at my door. After determining that I wasn't dreaming, I struggled out of bed to find this guy standing at my door. To this day, I'm still not sure what Terry said, only that it had something to do with "tomorrow around noon" and "forms". The next morning, not quite remembering if it was a dream or not, I ended up just sitting around my room to see if someone was actually going to come by. Turned out it wasn't a dream and we ended up going to pick up those Registration cards with Julia and Yesle (both of whom I rarely saw ever again). Surprisingly, Terry ended up living on my floor so it was pretty cool having someone just as new as I was living just down the hall (especially since the only other first-semester people I ever saw on a regular basis were Hui Hui and Jane and they lived two floors up, I think...maybe just one?)

Rahel and Ricarda

Its a kind of embarrassing story but I'm sure we can all look back on it and laugh. Well, I met the two of you in the hallway on our floor at quite literally the same time (that's right, did I forget to mention that both Rahel and Ricarda also lived on the fourth floor?). I'm pretty sure that I either asked the two of you a question about something or else made some lame joke which caused you to regret ever engaging me in conversation as these tend to be my typical reactions when surprised by people I haven't met before. Actually, it might have been the two of you warning me never to cook fish without warning everyone else on our floor first, possibly under penalty of death. Anyways, I can't remember quite what happened... just that I kinda forgot your names right after we met. Not that I forgot your names were Rahel and Ricarda, but that I forgot which name belonged with which person I just met (I promise I've gotten better at remembering names since then). So... for about a week I think that whenever I would refer to the two of you when talking with someone else, I would just say your names really fast so it would come out as "rahelandricarada" or "ricardaandrahel". Eventually I would get everything sorted out and we became good friends, the end (I assume you're probably swearing at your computer screen right about now...)

Jane

Its a pretty short story, but memorable since you would actually be the first person I met outside the dorm. If anyone reading has been paying any attention, all the settings for these previous stories take place within the walls of Plume IS. But back to the story. I'm wandering around the Lawson Hyaku-en (it differs from the typical Lawson because EVERYTHING is only 100 yen), grabbing food like cup noodles and coke as well as a couple of random things like chopsticks and bowls. Its still only my second week in Japan and I'm still getting used to everything as well as still going through a whole mental list of things that I need to survive when suddenly this girl comes up to me as I turn into the aisle. I'm pretty sure its because I was still in the daze that comes from living in a new place, but I seriously only remember you hurrying right to me to ask if I was living in the dorm down the street and I think mentioning that we should find the other first-semester people to hang out together (unfortunately, I forgot what your room number was so I couldn't call you to come out with Terry and I).

Ben

Okay, no joke, I know I've asked you several times, but how is it that you are only in Japan for a semester and everyone in my dorm (not your dorm) knows you? So I got to Japan and even before I met up with you again, whenever I tell ANYONE I'm from Hawaii, they immediately ask, "Do you know Ben T.?" (since we already had a Ben in Plume IS, I guess you became Ben T.). The only thing I could figure was that you must've gotten in with the local Shin-Kawasaki yakuza and now control the flow of prostitution, drugs, and manga in and out of the city. But, back to the story. The dorm goes to Ueno Park (I think) for Hanami when I hear everyone start yelling and shouting as you turn the corner. In complete awe, I still have no idea how you did it, but, seriously, you should've just asked if you could move into our dorm.

Allison

I think the first time I met Allison was the first week of classes when I tagged along with Ben and Allison on their own exploration of Daikanyama. By this point I'd gotten used to the fact that Ben knew everyone in my dorm better than I did. I'm assuming I got in the way of most of the pictures both of you were taking that day. Mostly, I remember walking around Daikanyama, taking pictures and wandering into interesting shops. It was actually a discovery to me that even the smaller sections of Tokyo itself could have their own distinct personalities separate from each other. I think this trip was definitely the inspiration for using my Thursdays to explore when I could.

The Okonomiyaki Party (I think I spelled that right...)

A lot of you might be wondering why I'm not writing about our first encounter... well, I can honestly say its probably because I met a lot of you at the dorm welcoming party. Let's see, I remember being surprised by just how many people spoke German in our dorm (Thomas, Yuty, Dinah, Rahel, Ricarda, Stefan). as a side note, I did try to take German back at UH, but that went so horribly that I ended up dropping the course. Just the same, how many people spoke Korean (Suel, Amy, Terry, Hyemin, Julia, Yesle). I remember confusing Lindsay for Michelle since everyone kept asking if I met Michelle when I mentioned that I came from Hawaii. I also met Michelle. I remember going for ramen with Austin, Jon, Sunny, L, and probably some other people I'm missing after we ran out of Okonomiyaki. And I remember Sunny laughing for the longest time, though I cannot remember what was so funny.

The Ashtray

Honestly, I don't remember the first time I used the ashtray outside the dorm. Originally I used to smoke down by the river while I wrote crappy stories (none of which I've even looked at since I got back). but it turned out to be a good friend to visit every once in a while. I would go down with my pack of Marlboros, a bottle of coke, and a bag of chips just to sit on the ground, write, and occasionally scare anyone who came down to toss their garbage out at night in that barely lit area.

Drunken Alan

What can I say about drunken Alan? I remember I first met him (as did everyone else) at Allison's birthday party at this Izakaya we went to.

photo courtesy of Allison, I think...someone took it

I don't remember a whole lot about the first time I met drunken Alan except that he gave away a lot of my cigarettes that night and that he almost made us miss our train because he decided to sit down on the platform and didn't want to stand up when the last-fucking-train-that-night finally arrived. Magically, he left the next morning and I made it to class the next day.