Free Food, Not So Free Food

So yesterday I was busy hopping all around the city. Still trying to figure out how to get that cell phone- it's becoming quite the hunt. I spent all afternoon in Shibuya again, went to two different SoftBank stores, and found out I need my passport to purchase a phone. Umm, what? I have a residence card people. Doesn't matter, need both to purchase a phone. ... So then, we all went back to Nerima to go and get our certificate of residence. The people in that office are so nice, it really isn't any trouble at all. Made a quick stop at the dorm (for the passport) and then went to a Welcome party that the school was hosting. The party had lots of food; some Western and some Japanese. It was all very yummy, and I got full quickly (Too quickly to take pictures of the food, in fact).  I think my favorite was the creamed spinach/ potato gratin dish- not often I'll get food like that here.
 
I made friends! Funny though, in public the Japanese people seem very polite but very reserved. At this party though, they were pouncing on us. I think I met one girl, and within two minutes of meeting she was asking for my email. PS. In Japan email is a little different. Each phone has an email. Which means instead of texting (and asking for your phone number) people message each other. Except I don't have a phone... sigh.

After the party, we went back to Shibuya. You know, to try and buy a phone- again. The shop said it closed at 9. It doesn't. It closes at 8. Grrr. Except one of the girls knew where another electronic store was. And it was open. And they sold prepaid phones. They had one in stock. That's right, one. So, another boy in our group got a phone. I didn't. Though, I'm starting to wonder if it would just be easier to get a contract phone instead anyways.

But that's okay, it wasn't an entire waste of time. I looked at rice cookers again, they were still expensive. Then we all found this little restaurant that had food displays in the window and decided to get a snack.

 

I have discovered, parfaits in Japan are delicious. So much different than American style parfaits. There was no yogurt, there was no granola. There was fruit, but it was covered in chocolate so I'm not sure that counts. I love ice cream and this hit the perfect spot! 

 

Delicious.