TGI Friday International Playgroup
We found an international playgroup (run by a lady from America and another from Australia) the meets every Friday evening. We made the hike over for a 5pm playgroup (weird as that is right in the middle of rush hour on the trains) and got on the wrong train twice. We have "somewhat" mastered the subway and rail system enough to understand which way to go and which train to take. Then, as luck would have it, a whole new subway line was thrown my way.
In our three visits, I've never taken the Odakyu line and I had assumed it was part of the normal subway system. On the contrary, I had to hike across Shinjuku Station to find it (even accidentally paid for entry into the JR train station only to find I couldn't go back out until I got on a train). That was fun trying to explain to one of the station workers when the exit stall kept buzzing at me and flashing a picture of a card with a red circle and line through it!
We finally located the right line, and I attempted to use my metro pass. Again, I was wrong! Requires a whole new ticket. So I pushed my way over to the ticket stall and dug out my 160 yen and actually purchased a one-way ticket on my first try. We headed through the entry stall, turned in circles several times trying to figure out which train to take, and finally headed for the dark blue line. The train was there when we walked up the stairs so we ran and jumped on.
Over the PA I vaguely hear the name of a stop three past our destination and pushed my way over to the map on the wall. We had boarded the blue train, not dark-blue, and were on the express line! It stops every four-five stops, instead of stopping at every stop. We got off the express train, and actually paid attention to the sign hanging from the ceiling. Sure enough, two different trains run along this line. The blue (semi-express) and the dark-blue (local)! Go figure!
We only had to wait a few minutes before the correct train arrived, but by then it was 4:59pm. So much for being on time for our first day. But, then, when have I ever been on time for anything? We got off at the Sangubashi station, and headed out the exit.
We arrived only about 7 minutes late, but we looked worse for the wear because I ran all the way up the street.
We walked in to the name game, where all children and their mom's introduced themselves, while holding a pretend microphone. When it came our turn, Andrew hid his face in my arm so I had to introduce us both. 
Throughout the hour allotted for playgroup, we sang songs in English and Japanese, went round and round in the parachute, had arts & crafts time, snacks for the kids and even wine for the moms!
In our three visits, I've never taken the Odakyu line and I had assumed it was part of the normal subway system. On the contrary, I had to hike across Shinjuku Station to find it (even accidentally paid for entry into the JR train station only to find I couldn't go back out until I got on a train). That was fun trying to explain to one of the station workers when the exit stall kept buzzing at me and flashing a picture of a card with a red circle and line through it!
We finally located the right line, and I attempted to use my metro pass. Again, I was wrong! Requires a whole new ticket. So I pushed my way over to the ticket stall and dug out my 160 yen and actually purchased a one-way ticket on my first try. We headed through the entry stall, turned in circles several times trying to figure out which train to take, and finally headed for the dark blue line. The train was there when we walked up the stairs so we ran and jumped on.
Over the PA I vaguely hear the name of a stop three past our destination and pushed my way over to the map on the wall. We had boarded the blue train, not dark-blue, and were on the express line! It stops every four-five stops, instead of stopping at every stop. We got off the express train, and actually paid attention to the sign hanging from the ceiling. Sure enough, two different trains run along this line. The blue (semi-express) and the dark-blue (local)! Go figure!
We only had to wait a few minutes before the correct train arrived, but by then it was 4:59pm. So much for being on time for our first day. But, then, when have I ever been on time for anything? We got off at the Sangubashi station, and headed out the exit.
We arrived only about 7 minutes late, but we looked worse for the wear because I ran all the way up the street.
We walked in to the name game, where all children and their mom's introduced themselves, while holding a pretend microphone. When it came our turn, Andrew hid his face in my arm so I had to introduce us both. 
Throughout the hour allotted for playgroup, we sang songs in English and Japanese, went round and round in the parachute, had arts & crafts time, snacks for the kids and even wine for the moms!
posted by Rachel :-) | 9:53 PM
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