ASIJ New Student Orientation
This post will show you what my first experience at my new school was like.
We met in the park next to the school, Nogawa Koen. We had food there and introductions. We went to the school and filled out our class schedules. One of the things we had to do was to get tested for placement into foreign language classes. My language was spanish, so I was tested with a group of others (Yael, Brad, Yuki, and I don't remember who else) by Javier Fernandez. If you don't know who this man is, let's just say he's like a spanish Napoleon! That is probably the easiest way to describe him. Although it may not be entirely accurate. Anyway, he tested us by asking us to conjugate verbs and such. I can remember that every single one of us had to conjugate the verb "tener" which means "to have."
Javier - "Tener"
Andrew - "Yo tengo, tu tien-"
Javier - "NO NO NO NO NO, it's TEngo, not tengo!"
Andrew - thinks to himself "He's saying the same exact thing!?!?!"
Javier - "The T in tengo is a hard T, you do not pronounce it like a D. Try it again"
Andrew - "Yo TEngo ... tu tienes, usted tiene, nosotros tenemos, ellos tienen."
Javier - "That's better."
Everyone had the same experience with him and walked out thinking "What the hell is wrong with that guy?" Most of us were placed into Spanish 2 and ended up taking it together, but that will be a post for another day!
Anyway, after all the stuff with classes, they told us we would be going on a scavenger hunt around Tokyo! That sounded like fun, but I hadn't been out and about yet so it was a bit daunting. At this point I should mention that there was a girl named Lauren at the orientation that I was somewhat attracted to. Remember (if you already knew) that at that point in my life I considered myself to be "bi" and was sometimes attracted to girls. Well anyway, we started on this scavenger hunt and I don't remember all the details, but I know that we went to Kichijoji and were wandering around there. Lauren and I were flirting a bit and at one point, she grabbed me and pulled me out of the street because a car was coming at me. She totally saved my life! Haha, probably not but that's how I felt at the time. Now Lauren had made friends with this other girl named Candy. Candy was psycho but I thought she was nice. After Kichijoji we ended up in Shibuya. Lauren and I ended up walking around holding hands for a while. This was my first time walking around in the city since the last time I had lived in Japan when I was about 9 or 10 years old. It was pretty fun. Anyway, Candy got on my case about Lauren, telling me something about how she liked me but that I should be bold enough to make the first move or something. That's when I started holding her hand. At that time, holding hands was kind of a big deal (at least for me it was when I was in middle school). After Shubuya, we ended up at a house party for all the new students. I believe it was hosted at Connor's house. Most of the students had been in JApan for a while and lived downtown, which is where the party was. The house we were in was huge and was not typical of the way a Japanese person would live at all. I found this to be quite common in the ASIJ community, although most of my friends lived much more like real Japanese people do, in small apartments or houses. Anyway, the counselors (Mr. Bradley, Mr. Olsen, and ... not sure who else) were there along with a number of students who lived out by school. I had told them that I would need a ride back to the school area because that's where we were living. Then, later in the evening, a bunch of people I had been hanging out with during the day came up and said they were going to Roppongi and did I want to come. "What is Roppongi?" I asked. They said it was where all the bars were. This totally confused me because I was entering 9th grade and coming from the States. "Bars?" Anyway, I wanted to go because Lauren was going, but I didn't know how I would get home. Remember that I had only been in Tokyo for about 2 days at this point. I had no clue about train systems or anything. I didn't even know where I was except that I was far away from home. A bunch of the other people said they knew how to get me home so I should just come. Well, I was the type to easily succomb to peer pressure, so I decided to go along.
We walked (seemingly forever) from the house to Roppongi. Nobody really knew where to go because they had only been there once before, and some of them never, like me. We ended up at this Australian bar. I forget the name of it but someone had given us a flyer. We went in and everyone ordered drinks (I didn't because I was terrified of drinking underage). The guy at the bar said something like "I'm not totally sure what the law is here, but I don't think you guys are old enough to drink." Now you should be thinking to youself two things right now. Number 1, Why the hell didn't the bartender know what the legal drinking age was?? and Number 2, OF COURSE WE WERE TOO YOUNG TO DRINK! You're talking about a bunch of 14 year olds out in a bar!!!
One of us said "Well someone on the street gave us this flyer and told us to come, so we thought it would be okay." The bartender said "Well I guess it's okay then" and served drinks. Of course, he brought them over (mostly screwdrivers because no one knew the names of any other drinks) and as soon as he put them down, someone dropped theirs and broke the glass and spilled it all over the table. How embarrassing! To be drinking illegally and then to break a glass!! The bartender came over and brought a new one for free and cleaned up the spill. It was crazy. At this point, Lauren and Candy left to see if there was a better place. They came back and said there was a cool place down the street. We followed them down to Club Peace. I wonder if Club Peace is still there ... Anyway, we went in there and it was okay, I guess. People kept drinking while I just sat around and talked and such. I remember there was a bowl of popcorn or something and when we got to the bottom of it we found a sealed condom placed there. It was a bit bizarre. After a while, Lauren and the others got pretty wasted. Lauren was all over me and finally started kissing me. We kissed for a long time. This was the first time I had ever "made out" or "french kissed" with someone if you know what I mean (of course you know what I mean!). Pretty nutso. Anyway, at one point Lauren decided she had to go home in order to catch the last train. I, of course, also needed to leave in order to take the train home. Lauren said she could get me to Shinjuku and then would take a different train home. I knew how to get home from Shinjuku (just look for the orange train!) so I was thankful. We took the train together and I got home fine. I don't think my dad was really that worried about me, which is good. Well that was my first real experience in Tokyo and what an experience it was! I wish I could remember more details, but this is all I could come up with. Those of you who know Lauren and Candy will appreciate this more I think. You know who else went out with us that first night? Yael and Patrick. I'm not sure who else went though.
We met in the park next to the school, Nogawa Koen. We had food there and introductions. We went to the school and filled out our class schedules. One of the things we had to do was to get tested for placement into foreign language classes. My language was spanish, so I was tested with a group of others (Yael, Brad, Yuki, and I don't remember who else) by Javier Fernandez. If you don't know who this man is, let's just say he's like a spanish Napoleon! That is probably the easiest way to describe him. Although it may not be entirely accurate. Anyway, he tested us by asking us to conjugate verbs and such. I can remember that every single one of us had to conjugate the verb "tener" which means "to have."
Javier - "Tener"
Andrew - "Yo tengo, tu tien-"
Javier - "NO NO NO NO NO, it's TEngo, not tengo!"
Andrew - thinks to himself "He's saying the same exact thing!?!?!"
Javier - "The T in tengo is a hard T, you do not pronounce it like a D. Try it again"
Andrew - "Yo TEngo ... tu tienes, usted tiene, nosotros tenemos, ellos tienen."
Javier - "That's better."
Everyone had the same experience with him and walked out thinking "What the hell is wrong with that guy?" Most of us were placed into Spanish 2 and ended up taking it together, but that will be a post for another day!
Anyway, after all the stuff with classes, they told us we would be going on a scavenger hunt around Tokyo! That sounded like fun, but I hadn't been out and about yet so it was a bit daunting. At this point I should mention that there was a girl named Lauren at the orientation that I was somewhat attracted to. Remember (if you already knew) that at that point in my life I considered myself to be "bi" and was sometimes attracted to girls. Well anyway, we started on this scavenger hunt and I don't remember all the details, but I know that we went to Kichijoji and were wandering around there. Lauren and I were flirting a bit and at one point, she grabbed me and pulled me out of the street because a car was coming at me. She totally saved my life! Haha, probably not but that's how I felt at the time. Now Lauren had made friends with this other girl named Candy. Candy was psycho but I thought she was nice. After Kichijoji we ended up in Shibuya. Lauren and I ended up walking around holding hands for a while. This was my first time walking around in the city since the last time I had lived in Japan when I was about 9 or 10 years old. It was pretty fun. Anyway, Candy got on my case about Lauren, telling me something about how she liked me but that I should be bold enough to make the first move or something. That's when I started holding her hand. At that time, holding hands was kind of a big deal (at least for me it was when I was in middle school). After Shubuya, we ended up at a house party for all the new students. I believe it was hosted at Connor's house. Most of the students had been in JApan for a while and lived downtown, which is where the party was. The house we were in was huge and was not typical of the way a Japanese person would live at all. I found this to be quite common in the ASIJ community, although most of my friends lived much more like real Japanese people do, in small apartments or houses. Anyway, the counselors (Mr. Bradley, Mr. Olsen, and ... not sure who else) were there along with a number of students who lived out by school. I had told them that I would need a ride back to the school area because that's where we were living. Then, later in the evening, a bunch of people I had been hanging out with during the day came up and said they were going to Roppongi and did I want to come. "What is Roppongi?" I asked. They said it was where all the bars were. This totally confused me because I was entering 9th grade and coming from the States. "Bars?" Anyway, I wanted to go because Lauren was going, but I didn't know how I would get home. Remember that I had only been in Tokyo for about 2 days at this point. I had no clue about train systems or anything. I didn't even know where I was except that I was far away from home. A bunch of the other people said they knew how to get me home so I should just come. Well, I was the type to easily succomb to peer pressure, so I decided to go along.
We walked (seemingly forever) from the house to Roppongi. Nobody really knew where to go because they had only been there once before, and some of them never, like me. We ended up at this Australian bar. I forget the name of it but someone had given us a flyer. We went in and everyone ordered drinks (I didn't because I was terrified of drinking underage). The guy at the bar said something like "I'm not totally sure what the law is here, but I don't think you guys are old enough to drink." Now you should be thinking to youself two things right now. Number 1, Why the hell didn't the bartender know what the legal drinking age was?? and Number 2, OF COURSE WE WERE TOO YOUNG TO DRINK! You're talking about a bunch of 14 year olds out in a bar!!!
One of us said "Well someone on the street gave us this flyer and told us to come, so we thought it would be okay." The bartender said "Well I guess it's okay then" and served drinks. Of course, he brought them over (mostly screwdrivers because no one knew the names of any other drinks) and as soon as he put them down, someone dropped theirs and broke the glass and spilled it all over the table. How embarrassing! To be drinking illegally and then to break a glass!! The bartender came over and brought a new one for free and cleaned up the spill. It was crazy. At this point, Lauren and Candy left to see if there was a better place. They came back and said there was a cool place down the street. We followed them down to Club Peace. I wonder if Club Peace is still there ... Anyway, we went in there and it was okay, I guess. People kept drinking while I just sat around and talked and such. I remember there was a bowl of popcorn or something and when we got to the bottom of it we found a sealed condom placed there. It was a bit bizarre. After a while, Lauren and the others got pretty wasted. Lauren was all over me and finally started kissing me. We kissed for a long time. This was the first time I had ever "made out" or "french kissed" with someone if you know what I mean (of course you know what I mean!). Pretty nutso. Anyway, at one point Lauren decided she had to go home in order to catch the last train. I, of course, also needed to leave in order to take the train home. Lauren said she could get me to Shinjuku and then would take a different train home. I knew how to get home from Shinjuku (just look for the orange train!) so I was thankful. We took the train together and I got home fine. I don't think my dad was really that worried about me, which is good. Well that was my first real experience in Tokyo and what an experience it was! I wish I could remember more details, but this is all I could come up with. Those of you who know Lauren and Candy will appreciate this more I think. You know who else went out with us that first night? Yael and Patrick. I'm not sure who else went though.
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