Musings of a Drunken Monk: Individual Entry Archive

Yesterday I took a long-overdue trip to the nearest 100-yen store, which also happens to be the first one I've ever been to. These days a lot of things are happening with people leaving and my tenure drawing to a close, so I've been thinking a great deal about my time here. My reflections lead me to start a little mini-series I'll call Recollection. I hope to be able to include a little photo with each of my remembrances.

For maybe the first week in Gyoda, I had no real access to internet. I remember huddling in one uncomfortable corner of my apartment, trying in vain to get a suitable connection to a neighbor's unsecured wireless network. Failing that, I took to roaming the streets on my bicycle (a total "mamachari" or Mama Chariot if you must know) with my laptop tucked in the basket, screen open and ready to display any signal I might come across. It was summer (and damn hot) and I was ready to camp out just about anywhere so I could write home. Remember, at this point I don't even think I knew my phone number, much less how to call out. Regardless, I found no signal.

Unfortunately I don't quite remember how, but I stumbled across the best free internet in town on the top floor of Paseos, our local throwback-to-the-80s department store. If you sat in a certain area, you could get a signal that was reliable enough to send out some emails before conking out. The bonus was that the area in which you could sit also happened to be the cafeteria for Paseos, which meant that there were actually tables and food and drink! After my search, I had come to paradise. It was made doubly enticing by the fact that though it was sweltering outside, it was nicely air-conditioned within.

Once we got to know each other more, I remember sitting there for quite the long stretches with Nichole and Peter, sharing computers before we all had one and sometimes plastering ourselves to the window in vain attempt to get back a signal that had died. I've never eaten mediocre cafeteria curry so many days in a row, and I do hope I never do again! We always got soft-serve ice cream after our curry/wi-fi fix, and since we were still all furnishing our apartments to our liking, often a 100-yen store visit followed.

These days, any trip back to Paseos brings back those memories. All I have to do is look out the window and remember those first summer days.

You can read one of my original posts about it here: http://www.shock-e.com/archives/2004/08/a_town_called_gyoda.html