Today, I wore the plainest outfit since I've been here: brown cords, grey sweatshirt and a green t-shirt underneath. Hence, Chee Seng asking me whether I'm alright.. (lol). It's nice to be noticed.

Yesterday, on the train to Tabata, on my way home, there was a neglected umbrella and a dirty, possibly homeless, man wearing shorts and without an umbrella on the day a typhoon had been forecast to come to Tokyo (it rained all day). So I put the two together. As in most cultures, you're usually meant to leave people that don't ask for your help alone. But the umbrella probably would've just been thrown away if I hadn't given it to him. I waited until we were travelling to Tabata, where I got off and changed lines. before going to the umbrella. It was leaning against the wall by the door on the other side of the row of seats the man was sat on. I pretended that I needed to move closer to the television to consult the information it was broadcasting (a few train lines had been suspended cos of the typhoon). As we came into Tabata Station I stood in front of the umbrella, with my back to it, picked it up and the man sat by the door, at the end of a row of seats, so I hung it on his armrest as I walked past and out of the train. Until a few minutes after I sat down on my next train, I was worried about having grossly misbehaved. I acted against the norm, in a foreign country, and shocked a few people. I was even worried about someone coming after me cos of what I did.

Bought five rings today, despite it officially being the first day of glove-wearing season. Also, the rings are all tighter than when I tried them on in the shop, so it must be pretty cold.

Desperate to get out of here after seeing this

だいじょうぶですか

I've been in Japan for a whole month to this day and it does feel like I've settled here nicely. I've sorta gotten used to the commute, though I hardly ever leave on time or when I plan.

My group of friends come from all over the world and learning little things about their culture is really amusing. Just yesterday Eszter taught us that in Hungarian 'cookie' means penis and 'pussy' means kiss. When Aaron, from America, was a kid he would get disappointed when his 'fish and chips' came with fries (because they call crisps 'chips' and fries are what we call 'chips'). This came about when I said that I'd love to have a steak with some really fat chips and he thought I was being really daft wanting to eat a steak with crisps..

Marion is from Quebec and never introduces herself as saying that she's from Canada cos she's a hardcore Francophone. Plus two friends from France, Jenna and William, and these three sometimes talk to each other in French when they're with the rest of the group and it'll suddenly feel like we're not in Tokyo anymore.

Almost daily, Jenna and I will point out the same things simultaneously. Once it was the panda cream puffs in the cream puff shop, and it took Chee Seng a while to spot them. The other day it was the karaoke place where the rooms had big windows overlooking the street. And it turns out that on Sunday, without talking to each other about it, we both emailed the kimono club asking them of the details of their meetings.

Chee Seng is from Singapore and talks a helluva lot. He's always got a story to tell or make a joke out of something. He and Eszter are 23, I think. While Aaron is the baby of the group turning 20 in December. Oh, but Jessi is 24 or 25.. Though she doesn't seem it cos we're all just always goofing around, really.

I hung out with Gwynnie before we both had a class 4th period and we learnt that we are a lot alike but she's cooler for being able to speak some Hindi.

And I think that's everyone I hang out with.. I'll kick myself if/when I realise I've forgotten someone.