This is the tale of the forever walk. I was given very general directions that were, obviously, impossible to follow! I set out in the direction I was told to go and was looking for a JTB. (I still don't know what a "JTB" is - some sort of business.) In any case, I walked and walked and walked. On facebook I touted it as a 75 minute walk. In reality it was 90 minutes. In any case, after walking and walking and walking, I reached the Southern outskirts of the city. That sort of panicked me. I was like, "Oh no!" I've gone WAY out of my way. So I started walking West as I knew I needed to go in that direction. When I came to one of the 3 rivers that runs in Morioka, I followed it back into the city. As luck would have it (that is, mmm), I came to a bridge that we had crossed (Limor, Allie, and I) on the way home from the hospital. Suddenly I knew exactly where I was! So off I went into the city. I FINALLY arrived at my destination: AU, to get a phone. Oh man, getting a phone was tough. Hey! I think this is the first time I've realized that typically I say "They spoke more English than I spoke Japanese," but this time it was a case of I spoke more Japanese than he did English. However, that wasn't much help as cell phone specific words are still out of me reach. LOL In any case, he called customer service and they called back about 5 minutes later and handled translation. As far as I understand it, I have unlimited data and tethering (I asked for it specifically) and I have free calls to other AU users between 01h00 and 21h00. Limor had gotten AU when she first got out here so we all decided (our friend group and most of the Morioka group too I think) that we'd get AU so we could call one another if we wanted to do so. Any other outbound calls I make are ¥53/30 seconds. Or maybe it was a minute. I only plan on calling for emergencies! The important thing for me is to have access to skype and the internet. So after 75 minutes there, I walked away with an iPhone5! I've never owned anything made by Apple and suddenly here I am walking around with the latest and greatest! The iPhone 4 wasn't even available. My choices were: iPhone 5, iPhone knock-0ffs, flip phone full of Japanese. Hmm.. I went with a 32 gB iPhone 5. If Phil sees this, he'll be so proud. It's kind of funny. I had never planned on owning an iPhone ever in my lifetime and suddenly I had to have one (so I could tether). Really, I could have gotten the internet separately, but then that required getting a landline and then paying for the internet on top of THAT. And the internet alone was ¥5000-¥7000. So paying for my plan of ¥7000 which includes the phone (texting, etc), and internet, and tethering (being able to use my laptop) ... it was an easy choice.
So off I go with my phone to the hotel where we had stayed before. (My apartment was who knows where and the hotel was 40 feet away.) I went into the lobby and pretended to wait for our 2 guys who were still staying there. In the meantime I started playing with my new toy. I was able to email my family and they were getting ready for bed so I downloaded the Skype app and we skyped for an hour. It was really nice. Considering last night I had freaked because I had no contact with the world, it was very nice to be able to see my family and do it all from my phone! As we talked I showed them the lobby and out the window (into Morioka) and they oo-ed and aw-ed. It was a beautiful beginning to the day. I tried to talk softly so as not to disturb the hotel staff and I even had gone to sit in a corner. Well, I guess I DID bother them as soon after I hung up with my family they came over and asked if I had a reservation. I was only able to say in Japanese, "My friend (watashi no tomodachi ha)" and pointed upstairs. They asked for his name. I said, "Scott" then I added "Scott to (and) Peter." A few ladies gathered around the computer, but I took my leave bowing my way out.
Next I headed to the branch office. I needed to ask them how to get to my apartment. (On the way I stopped by my real estate agency to give them my phone number as they had requested yesterday that I give it to them once I had it. I'm sure we'll have riveting conversations "*rapid Japanese*" "Uhhh... wakarimasen (I don't understand)." LOL Anyway... the office...) I also needed to hear some English spoken. :) So I walked down to the office. They were very kind to me and we chatted for a bit. I saw Johnny there and chatted with him for a little bit too (if you want to know who Johnny is, the story is in the funny moments). I explained that I had typed in the address for my apartment but my phone couldn't find it and could they please help. Tsukasa quickly typed it in (in Kanji) and BING! There it was. I bookmarked the location so I could find it at any time. To my chagrin, it was 10 minutes from the office. From the office to the AU is another 10-15 minutes. So I had walked WAY out of my way. Doh. I told them about it and they all laughed at me. :) Well, with me. So with my map programmed into my phone, I limped my way home (by then I had a blister on the bottom of my left foot and my right knee was killing me). It was so close! But hey, I got to see the Southern outskirts of the city. I'm getting to know my way around a little bit. :)
Once I got home, I got to unpacking and putting my place together some more. I also tried to put my guitar together. It was very difficult and I knew the neck was not aligned properly. It was very dismaying for me and in the process, I snapped the top e string. I wanted to sit down and give up/cry. (This is incidentally when I found out my period started - which explains my deep despair yesterday and the "end of the world" feeling with my guitar.) It's just overwhelming to imagine trying to find a place to take my guitar and then explain to them what I needed done. So I set the guitar down and kept saying aloud, "It will be fine. I will take care of it tomorrow." I also posted on facebook a plea for help finding a guitar place as my searches had only turned up places in the US! I figured it was the same problem I had had when trying to find my apartment. I needed to search for the Japanese name. In any case, I was mostly successful in not worrying. It was rough to see poor Vic lying in pieces with a snapped string but at the same time, I had done all I could do. In an effort to cheer myself up, I made popcorn for dinner. It's amazing how much your favorite food can just turn things around. I sat down with a small bowl of popcorn and my book (the last one of the 9 I brought as my travel reading - incidentally... I need books! That is, if you want to send me a gift, there are foods I miss, but more than that, I need reading material! Horror or mystery please. :D) and just relaxed. I finished unpacking one of my big suitcases completely and made a list of the things I realized I hadn't bought and would need. I also discovered that I needed some clean clothes so I did my first load of laundry! It was a bit intimidating even though Maruyama-san had explained the buttons to me. However, I eventually figured it out and that was an empowering moment for me as well.
After that I texted a friend for a bit. At the end of the evening, it was hard to see poor Vic undone, but I really accomplished a lot. I felt really proud of myself. :)
Funny moments:
I obviously didn't know it at the time, but when I told them I was waiting for Scott, I had mistakenly called "Johnny" the wrong name. He's from Scotland and Kimi James called him Scotty at times for it, but his name is John. Also, Peter had checked out that morning. Daaah! They're making me look bad! LOL Ok, maybe I did it all on my own. Ya! I don't need help for that! ;)
While texting my friend I almost had my first "DYAC." Luckily I caught it, but I almost sent "What about his Holstein?" When it should have said, "What about his children?" o.0 I'm sure she would have laughed, but the thought of my calling someone's children cattle!? *wince* LOL
So that was my eventful day! Think of you all, all the time. XOXO, A
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The big bad day (Wednesday)
Today started out well. I got 7.5 hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep and woke a minute or two before my alarm went off. For me, that's the perfect timing. I don't have to wake up to an electronic device but I also am not waking FAR before the time I have to do so. In any case, I showered and got everything packed and headed down to the lobby to wait for Maruyama-san. I got to spend some time with Saz, Dustin, and Peter before it was time for Saz and Dustin to head out (they were taking the bus to Kuji). Peter has another day at the hotel before he heads out and Johnny (the Scotsman) wasn't at breakfast, but he is staying another week or so while they sort out his housing. (He came as an alternate and they found him a placement in Iwate, so yay! We got Scottish John!) In any case, soon enough Ms. Maruyama showed up and she walked in tentatively. I jumped up when I realized she must be looking for me and introduced myself. She then told me to wait there as she was going to get her car from the station. I read for a few minutes but got too antsy and nervous to keep doing so, so I watched out the window for her car. As soon as I saw her I jumped up and went out the door to meet her. In retrospect I can see how I was cocooned and shielded as today was SO STRESSFUL. When I stayed in that other hotel room alone, I had access to the internet, I could do what I wanted, and I stuck to myself. Training was hell, but I had others with me. I made some really great friends and we were able to spend time together. (That reminds me, Limor bought beer a couple days ago for her good friends. As she was pulling them out she remarked that she was one short. However, she handed me one. (I'm a top-tier friend! LOL) I reminded her I don't drink and she said, "Oh! That's why I thought I didn't have enough. I didn't buy one for you." I remarked back, "Even your subconscious thinks about me!" ;) Anyway, then I was in this new hotel and I hated having my own room as I wanted to be with Limor (or Saz or someone - just not by myself), but I adapted to that as well and was able to go down to the lobby and always find people there. So today when all these scary new changes came at once.. it was not pretty. Poor Maruyama-san could tell something was wrong but I didn't feel like I could burden her with my sobbing. :/
So, back to the beginning of the day: we got into her car and were off to the real estate office. It was really hard to sit there and listen to them speak Japanese and not know what was going on. This was MY apartment and I couldn't even understand the information about it! The other thing was that the agent went on and on and on and by the time Maruyama-san turned to me, she gave me a couple sentences and that was it. It was really hard to feel so left out. They were both very kind to me though. So we got the keys and went to the apartment as we had to open it for the furniture company so they could deliver my things. I couldn't NOT walk in and see the place so I ran in. It's bigger than I thought (thank goodness) but it's the strangest layout I've ever seen! I'm sure I'll get used to it soon. I've been trying (as you can probably see from the photos) to make the space my own. But that came later. So we went in and she taught me how to use the ac/heater in my room (YAY that I have that!). My feet were FREEZING through my socks on the wooden floor. So I was glad to have a temperature control somewhere. She then showed me how to turn on my water and also how to turn it off during the winter (I have to let the water run then turn off the water so that the pipes clear. If the pipes freeze and burst, I have to pay for them. :/ So she showed me how to do that. (She spoke relatively good English, mmm, however she had to look up many words - still, she was very helpful.) I asked her to reassure me considering spiders. I said to her, "There are no spiders here, right?" And she said, "Oh no! There are MANY spiders." Then she saw my panic-stricken face and said, "You can buy poison." So I can have spider carcases everywhere? That IS preferable to live spiders, but not by much. So please everyone pray for me - seriously. I am terrified of insects and spiders and need to have a "safe space" since I am so far from home. So please pray that my safe space will remain safe. Or that I never see the invasion. Either is good. After that, off we went to City Hall to register me as a citizen. (I'm so very glad that Maruyama-san continued to talk to me all day. I would lapse into silences because I was so overwhelmed and trying not to cry and she helped to distract me. mmm It was very hard to initiate anything myself because I would get trapped into a little loop and start freaking out. Ick.) A guy helped us and once again I was the odd person out. I understand that she had to get the information of how to fill out the sheet and then talk to the person at the desk and then to the guys upstairs but it was very disconcerting, very alienating to have absolutely no clue what was being said. I tried to catch anything and every now and then was able to catch a word (mmm) but it was ROUGH. So, we got my residence card stamped (I have to have that in order to get my phone and that's my quest tomorrow - though you don't know that as I only got to have a few minutes of internet (mmm) before I was cut off. But you'll see this HOPEFULLY tomorrow.) So, we got my residence card handled, I signed up for National Health Care (as required by law), and then we had to go upstairs to opt out of the pension fund as I am only planning on being here for a year. After that was handled, she asked me if I wanted to eat lunch. I wasn't very hungry yet so I declined and we headed for the post office (where we were going to set up my bank account).
On the way looking for the post office (which had been moved so we, that is Maruyama-san had to ask for directions as they would have meant nothing to me,) Maruyama-san asked me if I liked beer. "I don't drink," I replied and she was shocked. "Oh," she remarked knowingly, "Wine." I shook my head and "smells bad" and said, "No, I don't drink at all." "Aaah? Sou ka?" She was really surprised. I wanted to bring up the church but I was warned about talking about religion without being asked so I left it at that. So we finally found the post office and it took FOREVER to get me set up. It also didn't help that my name is so long. LOL The computer couldn't fit it all on my bank book so they had to write some of it by hand. Kinda strange but it was a cool thing for me. :) I'm sure it doesn't happen with many other people here. In any case, they told me I had to put money in the account so I handed over my money. I kept some out to buy supplies (as we hadn't yet gone to do that and I knew I needed dishes and cleaning supplies, etc) but the girl counted my money and handed back a third of it. She told me to keep it just in case. It's a large sum of money so I felt like.. "Why can't YOU keep it? I already have some to buy supplies!" Maybe they will allow me to deposit it later. I'll keep a little on-hand for emergencies, but ya I have WAY more than I need out.
After we finished at the post office, we went back to Maruyama-san's car. (She had parked before we went to City Hall - there are very few places you can park for free in Japan. Even if you have an apartment, you have to lease a spot from them.) She was having a really hard time finding the apartment again and I was totally and completely lost! - Finally I started noticing things that were familiar and I helped guide her to the road that we had walked down to get to the apartment. Yatta! (She said that a lot - we really did have a lot of fun together. We made each other laugh a lot, mmm. I was just freaking out in my brain because I was the only Anglosaxon I saw for the rest of the day. Once I left the group, I felt completely alone and isolated.) When we got to the apartment, I checked out my furniture and planned to move my desk (it was where my bed is before). I wanted my layout to be very Feng Shui. I used to laugh at things like that but Jerod convinced me we had to change our apartment around to meet the rules of Feng Shui and it actually did make a huge difference. Since I know I'm prone to stress, I wanted to make rearrangements for my own mental health as well! The more I think about it, the more I want to buy a big rug. I can put it in front of the desk or if I roll up my bed, I can put it against the other wall. It's appealing to me to have to sit and stretch in the mornings and to use for guests. That way we could all sit on it together. -Oh! I forgot to mention - I got a set of 4 for all my dishes. I figured, "Plan for company." If you buy enough dishes, they will come, right? Man today really taught me how much of a people-person I really am. I crave people. Without them I feel off. - I like anonymity at times, but being surrounded by people you know and love is infinitely preferable to being a stranger in the crowd. Although I can't even really pull that off here either. I stick out like a sore thumb! I'm not only white, I also am 10' tall - or at least for the looks I get you'd think I was! So, we waited for the gas man and he arrived shortly. He set up everything and taught Maruyama-san about the gas. When he left, she taught me. I asked her about emptying the washer and luckily the gas man came back just then. She was able to ask him and he also found out that they hadn't hooked up my washer correctly. (If I'd tried to use it, I would have flooded my apartment! Sheesh.) So she found out and I was told to write those things down (and about the information about the gas) as she had to send it to Interac to prove that she had taught me and that I was, in this way, accepting liability but with a foreknowledge of what to do to prevent such an event. I asked her to teach me how to use my washer as well. All the buttons were labeled in Kanji so I'm glad I thought to ask her and didn't have to experiment and potentially ruin anything. By this time I was STARVING. (It was around 16h00) So we got back into her car and headed actually quite far to the Aeon mall. I was worried about going to the mall as all the shops I've seen have been very expensive. As soon as we got there, we went to get lunch. I had asked for curry but there were no curry places there. So she showed me a French bakery (the Japanese are OBSESSED with French words and 1/3rd of their shops have French names - most of which make no sense.), a pasta place, and a Japanese place. I asked for katsu but the Japanese place didn't have it. However, I really wanted chicken so we went there. I got something similar to chicken katsu (only this chicken was dipped in a batter rather than breaded). So I ordered the chicken and Maruyama-san got beef tongue. She didn't offer me any and I'm not sure yet whether I'm happy about that. LOL I asked for the tartar sauce to be put on the side. Well, I asked Maruyama-san to ask the woman to put it on the side. The food was SO good. I mean, I was starving but it was still very good. The chicken was so juicy and tender and the sauce was so delicious I spooned it onto my rice. I got cucumbers that came with a little miso dipping sauce (very good), plain rice, miso (with carrots and large slices of onion - I liked miso before but I'm really coming to LOVE it), coarse tea, pickled veggies (yum), and this really delicious salad that was composed of thinly shredded carrots and cabbage with a heavenly dressing. I was worried at first because it looked like they'd topped it with mayo, but the dressing was ... I can't describe the taste but to say it tasted like lemon and spring. I couldn't get enough of it! Although I was worried about the cost of things at the mall, I was able to get everything I found there for a very good price. (I got a small frying pan and medium sized pot for ¥980!) As I mentioned I got 4 sets of dishes (plate/bowl things, cups, chopsticks, bowls), 3 kitchen rags, a pillow, and 7 things of tupperware (3 of a bigger size and 4 of a smaller). We then went downstairs and I got some clasps (frogs) to sew onto my black jacket as it drives me nuts since it doesn't have a zipper or any other type of closure. I also got black thread and some new needles of various sizes (to add to my "habberdasher set" as Limor called it). Then I got a broom. I had to buy it in pieces though! It's actually more like a dust mop, but I had to buy the head, the fluffy head, and the pole! But I'm glad to have a way to clean my floor. (Somewhere in there I had a bathroom break. I'm so glad they had a regular toilet. There were too many new things and changes today for me to have taken on that toilet today!) After we finished at the mall, we walked out to M-s's car. (And it was dark by now so I was alarmed as I had planned on getting my phone so I could skype and use the internet - but I had to type this up on Notepad to post later. It's fine, just not preferable.) M-s said to me, "Ok, we'll go to the hundred yen shop then get your groceries." By this time it was 19h00 and I was disheartened as I had been fighting tears since we went to City Hall.. *sigh* In any case, I got some really great stuff at Daiso. I got a sushi roller, a rice scoop, wooden tongs, a rice steaming basket, a toilet scrubber, a metal mixing bowl, a strainer, a laundry basket, a cutting board, and dish washing fluid. Then we went to a Supermarket as it's the cheapest place to get food. I got two things of yogurt (that came with 4 cups - vanilla and half some fruit we don't have in the US and half grapefruit!), toilet paper, tissues, nori (seaweed for making sushi), rice, salt, a little bag of potatoes, an onion, vinegar, katsu sauce, frozen veggies, edamame, chicken, eggs, curry, one instant ramen (for a lazy day let's call "tomorrow" lol - maybe not...), and a sauce that M-s recommended to me. She says she uses it all the time when cooking so I'm excited to try it. I forgot to get measuring cups and spoons. Doh! Still, I think I can look up the conversion for mL-cups and eyeball it so I can make some chicken curry! I'll make a giant batch and then tupperware a bunch of it for lunch. I also need to learn how to make miso. Turns out it's a wonderful breakfast food! I miss having it everyday. After all that, she dropped me off at the apartment. I was nearly in tears since I was going to be by myself and we really did, as I mentioned above, have a lot of fun together.
M-s helped me bring in my bags of stuff and then asked me if I was sure I was alright, I nodded, and she said she'd see me on the 8th (to go see the school and meet the staff, principal, vice-principal, etc.). I was really freaked I couldn't talk to anyone and had no internet. I was unpacking stuff while sobbing. I turned on my MP3 but found out that I didn't have any hymns on it. So I unpacked my computer and external harddrive (that has all my music) and plugged everything in and pulled it up. (I can't simitaneously listen to music and charge my computer though because I only have one 3 to 2 prong converter. Oh! Did I tell you? I can plug thing straight into the wall here! mmm) I took out my camera and took pictures of everything mid-unpacked. Then I thought I'd check to see, just in case, if there was the net avaiable. I found a wifi spot that advertised a first time free access (after that is .14/min - which if I don't have my phone tomorrow, I'll just pay). However, it was a GREAT BLESSING, a MIRACLE for me to be able to access the internet for 5 minutes. I sent a quick email to my mom and told her I had a rotten day and sent a msg to her phone asking her to skype me when she got up. Unfortunately I got cut off. I hope I didn't worry her. I consider it a miracle and blessing for me that I was able to reach out to her and it really calmed me down. I've also been listening to Motab while I type this and I'm feeling much calmer. I can't say I'm at 100%, but at least I'm not pitifully sobbing about the apartment like I was before. I have no idea how to get back to the part of town I know nor back from there to here, but I'm determined tomorrow to get a phone! This thing better save as I've spent a couple hours typing it! Hope you had a wonderful day and that you enjoyed our karaoke vid. (I was the only sober one in the room! LOL) I'm going to unpack a little more then head to bed. Gn!
Funny moments:
When Maruyama-san picked me up, we got my bags into the back and I started around to the right side of the car. She politely said, "Maybe you want to go to the other side?" LOL I realized what she meant (the driver side is on the right in Japan) and mockingly outraged exclaimed, "What!? You don't want me to drive?? That's ok, me neither."
While at the store for supplies, I got dishes, two pans (they were RIDICULOUSLY cheap!), a pillow as I hadn't seen one with my bedding (turns out I DID have one but I got a Mickey Mouse one that's fluffier!), and a few other things. I wasn't TOO worried about how much I was spending - especially since the girl at the bank had left me with more cash than I had intended to take. However I did try to get good deals and didn't go crazy buying up everything. (I think I'm going to get a rug - they aren't too expensive compared to the American price and my wood floor is cold! I like to stretch while I read my scriptures and it will be a nice place to sit (I think) if I have company over.) So we get to the register and the girl rings everything up. As she's bagging and packaging everything, I get out my money and put it in the tray. Maruyama-san gets wide-eyed, grabs my money and gives it all back but one bill. I put down (for comparison sake) $500 when what I owed was $50. Oops. Still getting used to foreign currency. I mean... just showin off how much money I have! What!! ;)
When Maruyama-san was lost looking for my apartment and I helped her, we came to the road that went past my apartment. I told her, "It's right around that curve." -"Yes but the sign." She pointed to a one-way sign. "If only I were driving, because I didn't even know what that was!" She then looked both ways, and I could see her thinking, "Screw it." And she drove the wrong way down the street. I accidentally convinced someone to break the law! Doh! But it was a very short drive (40 yards maybe) so we were right off the road.
During lunch, shortly after we sat down a mother came in with her two kids. She had a little Down Syndrome boy in a stroller (he was SO cute) and a little girl who looked to be around 5-6. As I suspected, the little girl couldn't help herself and her little head kept popping up over the booth wall to stare at me. I kept turning and smiling at her but she would duck. Finally she said, in EXQUISITE English (almost completely accentless), "Hello!" -"Hi!" -"What's your name? My name is (I think she said Miyako)" -"My name is Ann. Nice to meet you." -"Nice to meet you too." (No hesitation, so adorable!) She popped down. Then a few seconds later, "Do you like apple?" (Japanese people use counters and don't really have a notion of plurality versus singularity.) -"Yes I do! Do you like apples?" She'd already ducked back down. Then up she came again, "You like apple?" -"Yes, I like apples a lot." -*smiles* That's when we got up to leave. I smiled at her mom and said, "She's very cute. Kawaii ne." Then the little girl said to me, "See you later!" -"Bye! Nice to meet you again." I walked away from the table but then walked back as Maruyama-san (who gave me her first name once but said it so fast I didn't catch it :/) had not followed me and I'd left the bill (they put it on the table in a little cup for you). The little girl said again, "See you later!" -"Bye!" It was so fun to keep seeing her little eyes pop up and so great when she spoke to me. Note: I said "EXQUISITE" English because everyone has been saying our classes are really going to struggle and very low level English ability. So finding someone so young who was so confident and spoke so well was great!
Hope this post finds you soon and in good health and spirits. Pics below as I didn't think to leave the spots open above. XOXO, A
So, back to the beginning of the day: we got into her car and were off to the real estate office. It was really hard to sit there and listen to them speak Japanese and not know what was going on. This was MY apartment and I couldn't even understand the information about it! The other thing was that the agent went on and on and on and by the time Maruyama-san turned to me, she gave me a couple sentences and that was it. It was really hard to feel so left out. They were both very kind to me though. So we got the keys and went to the apartment as we had to open it for the furniture company so they could deliver my things. I couldn't NOT walk in and see the place so I ran in. It's bigger than I thought (thank goodness) but it's the strangest layout I've ever seen! I'm sure I'll get used to it soon. I've been trying (as you can probably see from the photos) to make the space my own. But that came later. So we went in and she taught me how to use the ac/heater in my room (YAY that I have that!). My feet were FREEZING through my socks on the wooden floor. So I was glad to have a temperature control somewhere. She then showed me how to turn on my water and also how to turn it off during the winter (I have to let the water run then turn off the water so that the pipes clear. If the pipes freeze and burst, I have to pay for them. :/ So she showed me how to do that. (She spoke relatively good English, mmm, however she had to look up many words - still, she was very helpful.) I asked her to reassure me considering spiders. I said to her, "There are no spiders here, right?" And she said, "Oh no! There are MANY spiders." Then she saw my panic-stricken face and said, "You can buy poison." So I can have spider carcases everywhere? That IS preferable to live spiders, but not by much. So please everyone pray for me - seriously. I am terrified of insects and spiders and need to have a "safe space" since I am so far from home. So please pray that my safe space will remain safe. Or that I never see the invasion. Either is good. After that, off we went to City Hall to register me as a citizen. (I'm so very glad that Maruyama-san continued to talk to me all day. I would lapse into silences because I was so overwhelmed and trying not to cry and she helped to distract me. mmm It was very hard to initiate anything myself because I would get trapped into a little loop and start freaking out. Ick.) A guy helped us and once again I was the odd person out. I understand that she had to get the information of how to fill out the sheet and then talk to the person at the desk and then to the guys upstairs but it was very disconcerting, very alienating to have absolutely no clue what was being said. I tried to catch anything and every now and then was able to catch a word (mmm) but it was ROUGH. So, we got my residence card stamped (I have to have that in order to get my phone and that's my quest tomorrow - though you don't know that as I only got to have a few minutes of internet (mmm) before I was cut off. But you'll see this HOPEFULLY tomorrow.) So, we got my residence card handled, I signed up for National Health Care (as required by law), and then we had to go upstairs to opt out of the pension fund as I am only planning on being here for a year. After that was handled, she asked me if I wanted to eat lunch. I wasn't very hungry yet so I declined and we headed for the post office (where we were going to set up my bank account).
On the way looking for the post office (which had been moved so we, that is Maruyama-san had to ask for directions as they would have meant nothing to me,) Maruyama-san asked me if I liked beer. "I don't drink," I replied and she was shocked. "Oh," she remarked knowingly, "Wine." I shook my head and "smells bad" and said, "No, I don't drink at all." "Aaah? Sou ka?" She was really surprised. I wanted to bring up the church but I was warned about talking about religion without being asked so I left it at that. So we finally found the post office and it took FOREVER to get me set up. It also didn't help that my name is so long. LOL The computer couldn't fit it all on my bank book so they had to write some of it by hand. Kinda strange but it was a cool thing for me. :) I'm sure it doesn't happen with many other people here. In any case, they told me I had to put money in the account so I handed over my money. I kept some out to buy supplies (as we hadn't yet gone to do that and I knew I needed dishes and cleaning supplies, etc) but the girl counted my money and handed back a third of it. She told me to keep it just in case. It's a large sum of money so I felt like.. "Why can't YOU keep it? I already have some to buy supplies!" Maybe they will allow me to deposit it later. I'll keep a little on-hand for emergencies, but ya I have WAY more than I need out.
After we finished at the post office, we went back to Maruyama-san's car. (She had parked before we went to City Hall - there are very few places you can park for free in Japan. Even if you have an apartment, you have to lease a spot from them.) She was having a really hard time finding the apartment again and I was totally and completely lost! - Finally I started noticing things that were familiar and I helped guide her to the road that we had walked down to get to the apartment. Yatta! (She said that a lot - we really did have a lot of fun together. We made each other laugh a lot, mmm. I was just freaking out in my brain because I was the only Anglosaxon I saw for the rest of the day. Once I left the group, I felt completely alone and isolated.) When we got to the apartment, I checked out my furniture and planned to move my desk (it was where my bed is before). I wanted my layout to be very Feng Shui. I used to laugh at things like that but Jerod convinced me we had to change our apartment around to meet the rules of Feng Shui and it actually did make a huge difference. Since I know I'm prone to stress, I wanted to make rearrangements for my own mental health as well! The more I think about it, the more I want to buy a big rug. I can put it in front of the desk or if I roll up my bed, I can put it against the other wall. It's appealing to me to have to sit and stretch in the mornings and to use for guests. That way we could all sit on it together. -Oh! I forgot to mention - I got a set of 4 for all my dishes. I figured, "Plan for company." If you buy enough dishes, they will come, right? Man today really taught me how much of a people-person I really am. I crave people. Without them I feel off. - I like anonymity at times, but being surrounded by people you know and love is infinitely preferable to being a stranger in the crowd. Although I can't even really pull that off here either. I stick out like a sore thumb! I'm not only white, I also am 10' tall - or at least for the looks I get you'd think I was! So, we waited for the gas man and he arrived shortly. He set up everything and taught Maruyama-san about the gas. When he left, she taught me. I asked her about emptying the washer and luckily the gas man came back just then. She was able to ask him and he also found out that they hadn't hooked up my washer correctly. (If I'd tried to use it, I would have flooded my apartment! Sheesh.) So she found out and I was told to write those things down (and about the information about the gas) as she had to send it to Interac to prove that she had taught me and that I was, in this way, accepting liability but with a foreknowledge of what to do to prevent such an event. I asked her to teach me how to use my washer as well. All the buttons were labeled in Kanji so I'm glad I thought to ask her and didn't have to experiment and potentially ruin anything. By this time I was STARVING. (It was around 16h00) So we got back into her car and headed actually quite far to the Aeon mall. I was worried about going to the mall as all the shops I've seen have been very expensive. As soon as we got there, we went to get lunch. I had asked for curry but there were no curry places there. So she showed me a French bakery (the Japanese are OBSESSED with French words and 1/3rd of their shops have French names - most of which make no sense.), a pasta place, and a Japanese place. I asked for katsu but the Japanese place didn't have it. However, I really wanted chicken so we went there. I got something similar to chicken katsu (only this chicken was dipped in a batter rather than breaded). So I ordered the chicken and Maruyama-san got beef tongue. She didn't offer me any and I'm not sure yet whether I'm happy about that. LOL I asked for the tartar sauce to be put on the side. Well, I asked Maruyama-san to ask the woman to put it on the side. The food was SO good. I mean, I was starving but it was still very good. The chicken was so juicy and tender and the sauce was so delicious I spooned it onto my rice. I got cucumbers that came with a little miso dipping sauce (very good), plain rice, miso (with carrots and large slices of onion - I liked miso before but I'm really coming to LOVE it), coarse tea, pickled veggies (yum), and this really delicious salad that was composed of thinly shredded carrots and cabbage with a heavenly dressing. I was worried at first because it looked like they'd topped it with mayo, but the dressing was ... I can't describe the taste but to say it tasted like lemon and spring. I couldn't get enough of it! Although I was worried about the cost of things at the mall, I was able to get everything I found there for a very good price. (I got a small frying pan and medium sized pot for ¥980!) As I mentioned I got 4 sets of dishes (plate/bowl things, cups, chopsticks, bowls), 3 kitchen rags, a pillow, and 7 things of tupperware (3 of a bigger size and 4 of a smaller). We then went downstairs and I got some clasps (frogs) to sew onto my black jacket as it drives me nuts since it doesn't have a zipper or any other type of closure. I also got black thread and some new needles of various sizes (to add to my "habberdasher set" as Limor called it). Then I got a broom. I had to buy it in pieces though! It's actually more like a dust mop, but I had to buy the head, the fluffy head, and the pole! But I'm glad to have a way to clean my floor. (Somewhere in there I had a bathroom break. I'm so glad they had a regular toilet. There were too many new things and changes today for me to have taken on that toilet today!) After we finished at the mall, we walked out to M-s's car. (And it was dark by now so I was alarmed as I had planned on getting my phone so I could skype and use the internet - but I had to type this up on Notepad to post later. It's fine, just not preferable.) M-s said to me, "Ok, we'll go to the hundred yen shop then get your groceries." By this time it was 19h00 and I was disheartened as I had been fighting tears since we went to City Hall.. *sigh* In any case, I got some really great stuff at Daiso. I got a sushi roller, a rice scoop, wooden tongs, a rice steaming basket, a toilet scrubber, a metal mixing bowl, a strainer, a laundry basket, a cutting board, and dish washing fluid. Then we went to a Supermarket as it's the cheapest place to get food. I got two things of yogurt (that came with 4 cups - vanilla and half some fruit we don't have in the US and half grapefruit!), toilet paper, tissues, nori (seaweed for making sushi), rice, salt, a little bag of potatoes, an onion, vinegar, katsu sauce, frozen veggies, edamame, chicken, eggs, curry, one instant ramen (for a lazy day let's call "tomorrow" lol - maybe not...), and a sauce that M-s recommended to me. She says she uses it all the time when cooking so I'm excited to try it. I forgot to get measuring cups and spoons. Doh! Still, I think I can look up the conversion for mL-cups and eyeball it so I can make some chicken curry! I'll make a giant batch and then tupperware a bunch of it for lunch. I also need to learn how to make miso. Turns out it's a wonderful breakfast food! I miss having it everyday. After all that, she dropped me off at the apartment. I was nearly in tears since I was going to be by myself and we really did, as I mentioned above, have a lot of fun together.
M-s helped me bring in my bags of stuff and then asked me if I was sure I was alright, I nodded, and she said she'd see me on the 8th (to go see the school and meet the staff, principal, vice-principal, etc.). I was really freaked I couldn't talk to anyone and had no internet. I was unpacking stuff while sobbing. I turned on my MP3 but found out that I didn't have any hymns on it. So I unpacked my computer and external harddrive (that has all my music) and plugged everything in and pulled it up. (I can't simitaneously listen to music and charge my computer though because I only have one 3 to 2 prong converter. Oh! Did I tell you? I can plug thing straight into the wall here! mmm) I took out my camera and took pictures of everything mid-unpacked. Then I thought I'd check to see, just in case, if there was the net avaiable. I found a wifi spot that advertised a first time free access (after that is .14/min - which if I don't have my phone tomorrow, I'll just pay). However, it was a GREAT BLESSING, a MIRACLE for me to be able to access the internet for 5 minutes. I sent a quick email to my mom and told her I had a rotten day and sent a msg to her phone asking her to skype me when she got up. Unfortunately I got cut off. I hope I didn't worry her. I consider it a miracle and blessing for me that I was able to reach out to her and it really calmed me down. I've also been listening to Motab while I type this and I'm feeling much calmer. I can't say I'm at 100%, but at least I'm not pitifully sobbing about the apartment like I was before. I have no idea how to get back to the part of town I know nor back from there to here, but I'm determined tomorrow to get a phone! This thing better save as I've spent a couple hours typing it! Hope you had a wonderful day and that you enjoyed our karaoke vid. (I was the only sober one in the room! LOL) I'm going to unpack a little more then head to bed. Gn!
Funny moments:
When Maruyama-san picked me up, we got my bags into the back and I started around to the right side of the car. She politely said, "Maybe you want to go to the other side?" LOL I realized what she meant (the driver side is on the right in Japan) and mockingly outraged exclaimed, "What!? You don't want me to drive?? That's ok, me neither."
While at the store for supplies, I got dishes, two pans (they were RIDICULOUSLY cheap!), a pillow as I hadn't seen one with my bedding (turns out I DID have one but I got a Mickey Mouse one that's fluffier!), and a few other things. I wasn't TOO worried about how much I was spending - especially since the girl at the bank had left me with more cash than I had intended to take. However I did try to get good deals and didn't go crazy buying up everything. (I think I'm going to get a rug - they aren't too expensive compared to the American price and my wood floor is cold! I like to stretch while I read my scriptures and it will be a nice place to sit (I think) if I have company over.) So we get to the register and the girl rings everything up. As she's bagging and packaging everything, I get out my money and put it in the tray. Maruyama-san gets wide-eyed, grabs my money and gives it all back but one bill. I put down (for comparison sake) $500 when what I owed was $50. Oops. Still getting used to foreign currency. I mean... just showin off how much money I have! What!! ;)
When Maruyama-san was lost looking for my apartment and I helped her, we came to the road that went past my apartment. I told her, "It's right around that curve." -"Yes but the sign." She pointed to a one-way sign. "If only I were driving, because I didn't even know what that was!" She then looked both ways, and I could see her thinking, "Screw it." And she drove the wrong way down the street. I accidentally convinced someone to break the law! Doh! But it was a very short drive (40 yards maybe) so we were right off the road.
During lunch, shortly after we sat down a mother came in with her two kids. She had a little Down Syndrome boy in a stroller (he was SO cute) and a little girl who looked to be around 5-6. As I suspected, the little girl couldn't help herself and her little head kept popping up over the booth wall to stare at me. I kept turning and smiling at her but she would duck. Finally she said, in EXQUISITE English (almost completely accentless), "Hello!" -"Hi!" -"What's your name? My name is (I think she said Miyako)" -"My name is Ann. Nice to meet you." -"Nice to meet you too." (No hesitation, so adorable!) She popped down. Then a few seconds later, "Do you like apple?" (Japanese people use counters and don't really have a notion of plurality versus singularity.) -"Yes I do! Do you like apples?" She'd already ducked back down. Then up she came again, "You like apple?" -"Yes, I like apples a lot." -*smiles* That's when we got up to leave. I smiled at her mom and said, "She's very cute. Kawaii ne." Then the little girl said to me, "See you later!" -"Bye! Nice to meet you again." I walked away from the table but then walked back as Maruyama-san (who gave me her first name once but said it so fast I didn't catch it :/) had not followed me and I'd left the bill (they put it on the table in a little cup for you). The little girl said again, "See you later!" -"Bye!" It was so fun to keep seeing her little eyes pop up and so great when she spoke to me. Note: I said "EXQUISITE" English because everyone has been saying our classes are really going to struggle and very low level English ability. So finding someone so young who was so confident and spoke so well was great!
Hope this post finds you soon and in good health and spirits. Pics below as I didn't think to leave the spots open above. XOXO, A
 |
| Close up of my tub |
 |
| My kitchen cupboards - they're even high for me! |
.JPG) |
| Contents of my freezer |
 |
| My kitchen and low to the ground cupboards |
 |
| My foods I got at the grocery store! |
 |
| View from my bedroom doorway |
 |
| View from the bathroom doorway |
 |
| The tub drains onto the ground into another drain! |
 |
| View from the front door into my bedroom (the washer and fridge are on the right) |
 |
| My bedroom! Thas my bed! |
.JPG) |
| Better view of the washer and there's the doorway to the br |
 |
| This is my bed! :D |
 |
| Top of my fridge |
 |
| This is the extent of my bathroom - no sink, no mirror! |
 |
| View from my closet |
 |
| View from behind my desk |
 |
| So relieved I got a few minutes access to the net |
 |
| No access? I was VERY distressed |
 |
| Feeling better |
 |
| Small place, but homey :) |
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Wonderwall
The guy on the left is Kimi James, the guy you see in the beginning but disappears later is Little James and then the other guy who finishes the song with us is Scott. (Shoot... It won't let me upload it.. but here's the link on fb: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151370186551608¬if_t=video_tag)
Last day of training...
I feel badly for the guys putting on the training. At this point, we're so exhausted and our heads are bursting with knowledge we're not sure we'll be able to use in our own schools. We did our best but there was a feeling of unrest during the whole morning. At lunch I finally tasted my natto sushi. The sushi itself was VERY slimy but it didn't taste bad. I couldn't finish it because of the texture. The inari was DELICIOUS. It was very sweet though. I think that American sugar has cleared my system because the first couple times I ate inari it wasn't that sweet.
After lunch, we walked to the hospital. Sato-san (the branch manager) was our escort and he wasn't paying attention and walked a few blocks out of our way. (LOL) We entered the hospital and gave our papers that we had pre-filled out to the receptionist. After that, we were called back for the urine test. Inside the bathroom there was a window and a woman who gave us our cups and took our charts. o.0 It was like seeing take out in a bathroom! I waited for the Western toilet as I feared I would pee all over myself with the Japanese one! (It looks like this:)
So, I get into the stall and the seat is WARM. It was a heated seat but it freaked me out because it was like I was feeling Allie's butt heat (who had used the stall ahead of me). Then I went to height and weight and stomach circumference. After that, I went to get my blood pressure taken and blood drawn. The nurses spoke a little English and I communicated with words, but mostly ASL (depicting verbs - showing with my hands), that my veins were big but deep. The nurse didn't even try for a normal vein, she took one near the surface! In any case, I looked away as I had accidentally seen the needle when Allie got her blood drawn and it was BIG (long). I asked Allie how to say, "Scary," and thus told the nurse with a very serious face, "Kowaii!" The nurses laughed at me and I looked the other way. The nurse who stuck me, in the meantime, was saying, "Daijobu? Daijobu!?" I didn't realize she was talking to me so I freaked her out when I didn't answer. Oops! She was finally yelling it and tapping me and I answered. After that, I got my ears checked. They ushered me into a wooden box and I put on those GIANT archaic headphones and was to press a button when I heard the sound and let up when it stopped. I passed, flying colors! Then I got to have an echo cardiogram. It was less exciting than it sounds. And it involved all sorts of nudity! ;) Limor told me that she hasn't shaved in 3 or so weeks and the girl laughed and laughed at her. She said that she heard the nurse say something to the other nurse and they started giggling. She assumes it was about her hairy legs. LOL Anyway, after that I went to the doctor. He listened to my heart and then I was told it was all done and to give my chart to the front desk. I did so and then started waiting with my other coworkers. All of a sudden, two nurses ran out of the first room (which had the weight, height, circumference, blood pressure, and blood draw). They were yelling, "Sensei! Sensei!" They rushed around frenetically and when they spotted Sato-san, they grabbed him speaking rapidly to him. He disappeared after them then came back to us (the ladies). He informed us, "Brandon is sick. You can go." I was worried wondering if this was something that would get him quarantined or sent home. I asked, "Brandon is sick? Is he ok?" Sato-san then mimed fainting. Brandon passed out after the blood draw! Poor guy! He said it's something that's happened since he was little. Anything to do with needles always puts him down. LOL So off we ladies went to go back to the hotel.
When we got to the hotel, we agreed to change and meet back in the lobby. We needed to meet with Sato-san at 17h30, but it was only 15h05. So we changed and met back downstairs. We decided to check out some of the shops in the train station. Saz (Sarah) got some new clothes and I said I needed vinegar (for my rinse). So we kept walking until we stumbled across Jupiter. Jupiter is like, "Many Lands." It had products from all over. I tried finding the vinegar on my own but couldn't find anything. So I steeled myself (since the last time I tried this no one understood me), and went to the front desk. I asked, "Sú ga arimasu ka." The girl replied, "Osu?" -*nods* Inside I was JUMPING FOR JOY! She called another girl who showed me to the Japanese vinegar and then the salad dressings. LOL However, I ended up getting some Apple Cider vinegar from France! :D I also grabbed some Australian chocolate and Japanese crackers to share. When we got back to the hotel, the 4 of us (Allie, Limor, Saz, and I) hung out together and ate crackers and waited for Sato-san to show up. We had a good time talking and laughing then when Sato-san arrived he told us about our travel plans and gave us free mints. At one point, he was looking for the "right" James. Out of all the trainees, our prefecture got 3 James (Kiwi James or Tall James, Beardy James, and Small James), and we got 2 Prestons (who were both African American!). In any case, we joked about how so many people were called James in our group and I said that I felt left out. I told them to call me James from then on. "But which one will you be?" -"Busty James." That offended Kiwi James and he protested, grabbing himself, "I wanna be Busty James!" LOL Limor came in just in time to see that and was like, "Why!?"
Anyway, so the 4 of us girls had made plans to go out to eat together so when Sato-san started to lead out a group to show them which train platform and the bus station, I started to follow. However Saz informed me that Limor was staying back too (and Sato-san was like, "Aniku!? You stay here." hahaha) so I decided to hang back and wait for everyone to get back. As soon as the ladies were back we were heading out when one guy said, "Hey! Do I have time to change before dinner?" We didn't know what to say to him since it was supposed to be a ladies' dinner but felt badly turning him down. So we invited everyone (but it meant we had to wait for the guys to change - some of them are very slow). 8 of us headed out together (Allie, Limor, Saz, and I and then Nate, Peter, Tim, and Dustin) and we finally ducked into a place in the train station. I got a sort of chicken and egg soba udon:
We ate in the traditional style only our girls table was invaded so I couldn't stretch my legs out in front of me and both of my legs fell asleep. It sort of soured my experience to be so uncomfortable (I also couldn't sit cross-legged as there were too many of us crammed on one side). The food was good, however, and off we went to go back to the hotel. We stopped at Jupiter on the way so Limor could grab some tea and we walked back. When we got back to the hotel, Limor broke out the tea and Tim Tams and we did Tim Tam Slams Australian style. She had gotten regular and caramel. The caramel was INCREDIBLE. We hung out a bit longer (and really most of the others are still down there) but I made my excuses and came up to pack my bags for tomorrow as I am meeting my IC (independent consultant - Japanese citizen hired by Interac to help me open a bank account, register with the town hall, take me to my apartment, take me to buy supplies, etc.) at 10 am. It feels so very feel and scary to be going "out there." But I'm terribly excited. Also, as soon as I have my residence card officially stamped at the Town Hall, I will be able to get a cell phone (which is actually required by the company and I found out that doing unlimited tethering is cheaper than getting the net so I need it to email family and keep up this blog..)! So I'm anxious to get that handled.
Oh! During the meeting at the office today, I got my work schedule for the year. It is actually really lovely! My first official day of work is the 15th and I have a day off this month (well I also have the rest of this week off and next week with a training on the 13th). I have a day off in May, some time off in July (summer vacation starts at the end of the month), time off in August (still summer vaca), a Saturday I have to work in August which means a school event (most likely, yay!), a compensatory day off in September for having worked that Saturday, a day off in October and training, a day off in November, Christmas break in December and at the beginning of January, a day off in February, and I have 3 scheduled work days in March and then I have "work days" (where I am essentially "on call") through the 18th of March. Friday is my day at the Deaf school and I am just STOKED about my schedule. (Sorry for the gigantic sentence...)
I will go on the 8th to meet principals and vice principals and see the schools. Eee... it's nerve-wracking for me. I'm hoping against hope that the principal at the Deaf school will let me do my self-introduction in ASL. (Well, slightly modified ASL as it's very rude to point in Japanese culture but the pronoun "you" is pointing. It's been a rough habit to break and still working on it!!)
Funny moments (above, and):
Last week (I believe it was Tuesday), I was just silly and tired. We were listening to another NS (HS ALT) teach and were supposed to pretend to be Japanese students. Well.. we don't really know how to do that. So anyway, I'm throwing out the few Japanese phrases that are coming to mind. At the top were: Yosh, Yokatta, and Yatta. So at one point, I gruffly cheered, "Yokatta!" Limor turns to me and says, "You're such a dude!" LOL I guess the word choice plus gruff voice=man. I then started saying, "But I have a low speaking voice," and started trying a few phrases in falsetto. We laughed and laughed. Good times.
XOXO, A
P.S. Saz has a video of me singing Wonderwall with Kiwi James and Scott. I've been bugging her to post it and she has a cute photo of us. As soon as I get those, I will post them here and on fb! :D
Here's some photos she took:
After lunch, we walked to the hospital. Sato-san (the branch manager) was our escort and he wasn't paying attention and walked a few blocks out of our way. (LOL) We entered the hospital and gave our papers that we had pre-filled out to the receptionist. After that, we were called back for the urine test. Inside the bathroom there was a window and a woman who gave us our cups and took our charts. o.0 It was like seeing take out in a bathroom! I waited for the Western toilet as I feared I would pee all over myself with the Japanese one! (It looks like this:)
 |
| Japanese toilet (the front is the right side) |
When we got to the hotel, we agreed to change and meet back in the lobby. We needed to meet with Sato-san at 17h30, but it was only 15h05. So we changed and met back downstairs. We decided to check out some of the shops in the train station. Saz (Sarah) got some new clothes and I said I needed vinegar (for my rinse). So we kept walking until we stumbled across Jupiter. Jupiter is like, "Many Lands." It had products from all over. I tried finding the vinegar on my own but couldn't find anything. So I steeled myself (since the last time I tried this no one understood me), and went to the front desk. I asked, "Sú ga arimasu ka." The girl replied, "Osu?" -*nods* Inside I was JUMPING FOR JOY! She called another girl who showed me to the Japanese vinegar and then the salad dressings. LOL However, I ended up getting some Apple Cider vinegar from France! :D I also grabbed some Australian chocolate and Japanese crackers to share. When we got back to the hotel, the 4 of us (Allie, Limor, Saz, and I) hung out together and ate crackers and waited for Sato-san to show up. We had a good time talking and laughing then when Sato-san arrived he told us about our travel plans and gave us free mints. At one point, he was looking for the "right" James. Out of all the trainees, our prefecture got 3 James (Kiwi James or Tall James, Beardy James, and Small James), and we got 2 Prestons (who were both African American!). In any case, we joked about how so many people were called James in our group and I said that I felt left out. I told them to call me James from then on. "But which one will you be?" -"Busty James." That offended Kiwi James and he protested, grabbing himself, "I wanna be Busty James!" LOL Limor came in just in time to see that and was like, "Why!?"
Anyway, so the 4 of us girls had made plans to go out to eat together so when Sato-san started to lead out a group to show them which train platform and the bus station, I started to follow. However Saz informed me that Limor was staying back too (and Sato-san was like, "Aniku!? You stay here." hahaha) so I decided to hang back and wait for everyone to get back. As soon as the ladies were back we were heading out when one guy said, "Hey! Do I have time to change before dinner?" We didn't know what to say to him since it was supposed to be a ladies' dinner but felt badly turning him down. So we invited everyone (but it meant we had to wait for the guys to change - some of them are very slow). 8 of us headed out together (Allie, Limor, Saz, and I and then Nate, Peter, Tim, and Dustin) and we finally ducked into a place in the train station. I got a sort of chicken and egg soba udon:
 |
| This is almost EXACTLY what I got - just a stoneware bowl and bigger onions in the udon |
Oh! During the meeting at the office today, I got my work schedule for the year. It is actually really lovely! My first official day of work is the 15th and I have a day off this month (well I also have the rest of this week off and next week with a training on the 13th). I have a day off in May, some time off in July (summer vacation starts at the end of the month), time off in August (still summer vaca), a Saturday I have to work in August which means a school event (most likely, yay!), a compensatory day off in September for having worked that Saturday, a day off in October and training, a day off in November, Christmas break in December and at the beginning of January, a day off in February, and I have 3 scheduled work days in March and then I have "work days" (where I am essentially "on call") through the 18th of March. Friday is my day at the Deaf school and I am just STOKED about my schedule. (Sorry for the gigantic sentence...)
I will go on the 8th to meet principals and vice principals and see the schools. Eee... it's nerve-wracking for me. I'm hoping against hope that the principal at the Deaf school will let me do my self-introduction in ASL. (Well, slightly modified ASL as it's very rude to point in Japanese culture but the pronoun "you" is pointing. It's been a rough habit to break and still working on it!!)
Funny moments (above, and):
Last week (I believe it was Tuesday), I was just silly and tired. We were listening to another NS (HS ALT) teach and were supposed to pretend to be Japanese students. Well.. we don't really know how to do that. So anyway, I'm throwing out the few Japanese phrases that are coming to mind. At the top were: Yosh, Yokatta, and Yatta. So at one point, I gruffly cheered, "Yokatta!" Limor turns to me and says, "You're such a dude!" LOL I guess the word choice plus gruff voice=man. I then started saying, "But I have a low speaking voice," and started trying a few phrases in falsetto. We laughed and laughed. Good times.
XOXO, A
P.S. Saz has a video of me singing Wonderwall with Kiwi James and Scott. I've been bugging her to post it and she has a cute photo of us. As soon as I get those, I will post them here and on fb! :D
Here's some photos she took:
 |
| Me tonight trying to be creepy |
 |
| Nomihodai - I'm under the picture of Cheese in the background - March 29 |
 |
| Tonight - being a creeper behind Limor |
 |
| I believe this was last night (April 1st) |
 |
| Travel day! I'm on the left - I was listening to music and dancing and singing :D - March 29 |
 |
| Tonight at dinner - Saz and me :D - that's my duck face. Ya, be jealous. |
Monday, April 1, 2013
Dance, Monkey, Dance!
 |
| Narita at night (took this from my first hotel) |
I woke up at 06h30 almost on the dot. It was really frustrating for me as I wasn't able to sleep until around 00h30 and I needed and wanted more than 6 hours of sleep. I laid in bed until my alarm went off 45 minutes later and then sort of stumbled around. I moved too slowly to say goodbye to Shawn, and Patrick who left for their areas today. :/ Dang it. I actually made it down so late I had to sort of wolf my breakfast which made me ill. I'm determined to get better sleep tonight!
We walked to the building where we were having our meeting and went upstairs. We rented out a conference room and a ballet studio! It was actually really fun. A few us got along the barre and started doing some ballet warm-ups. :D
We finally sat at the tables and got started. We did some quizzes (including grammar ones and we won one of those which was gratifying for me), we learned more techniques and I took lots more notes. Then they told us it was lunch time. I had brought lunch that I bought last night at the grocery store. <-- That felt like it took forever. Some things I just wasn't sure what it was! I brought yogurt (white peach), edamame, and some chicken. Yuuuum! My lunch was so good! It was sort of nerve-wracking though because I was up for my 35 minute lesson afterwards. However, I was glad I was going to be able to get done first!
My lesson went very well but my wasn't that great. HOWEVER, I made it all by myself so there! It was HARD to make and it was OK, but in the future I will take ideas from the company site. It wasn't so much pride for me as I just didn't think to check there and pull something off their site. Doh.
After that we gathered and left. Most of the people were going to the office but I had already paid for my housing so I went home. At first I was walking alone but then Allie caught up to me and we chatted on the way back. I left her at the mouth of the ally (leading to our hotel) and went on to the train station to get some dinner. Iwate is known as THE prefecture to get noodles. So I found the place Allie recommended and sat down. One of the guys had taught me how to ask to get food to go (and I wasn't sure I was saying it correctly as he'd taught it to me days ago, but) I said: kore ha, moishi kaite. The girl shook her head no and did the "smells bad" motion which is also "no" so I stayed in to eat. I asked for "soba to tempura" (to = and), and she pointed something out on the menu and I nodded. The noodle were cold and I didn't care for them, but the tempura was REALLY good! I then stopped at a grocery store on the way home to grab my lunch for tomorrow's training. It was more of the same, picking things up, examining them and still being clueless. So I asked for help, "Sumimasen, niku ga arimasu ka?" (It's meant to mean, "Excuse me, is this meat?") The girl shook her head no (and the "smells bad") and said it was actually natto. I have eaten natto twice. I have also thrown up natto twice. However, I bought the natto sushi (6 small rolls) packaged with 2 brown little pockets. I had moved away, but then moved back and asked, "Natto (pointing to the natto sushi) to natto?" (Natto and natto - I wanted to make sure I could eat at least some of my lunch if my stomach rejected the natto!) But she said, "Nnn (shaking head no), inari desu." I thought inari was a type of meat, but it's just the kind of food it is. Here's a picture.
 |
| いなり |
 |
| Natto sushi & inari, pastrami, yogurt |
Here is my tiny hotel room:
 | |||
| View from outside my hotel room looking in |
 |
| This is the bathroom. That's the size of it! (You step down into it and the tub walls are about 3' high!) Notice the faucet is also connected to the shower. You turn that little switch to make the water come out of the shower rather than the sink! |
 |
| The information panel, thermostat, and clock |
 |
| The bedroom - you can see I've pushed the bed into the far wall (the headboard shows the offset) |
 |
| Better view of the corner and offset... crazy! That button on the headboard controls the lights. (So you don't have to get out of bed to turn the lights off.) |
At breakfast they had one basket of what looked like those mini turnovers you can buy at the store. I was very interested until I saw they were labeled, "Tomato." I was hoping for a strawberry or raspberry but I thought, "What the heck" and grabbed one. (I also had some beef consomme. First time, but it was good!) The "tomato" inside was, literally, spaghetti. I'm thinking spaghetti was on the menu last night and they made it into a pastry. What the!?
 |
| This + |
 |
| this = breakfast? hmmm |
During lunch we filled out medical forms as those of us teaching in high schools have to have a more thorough medical screening. I'm going to the screening itself tomorrow but they wanted us to be ready. I asked about lying for the sake of making things easier (that is I know how to keep myself from being anemic but I regularly have a very low hematocrit), but Bryan advised me to be honest. As I was filling it out, I got to a box titled "Medical history." However, there were roman numerals to the side which were titled: I: medical treatment, II: observation, III: neglect, IV: operate, V: medical treatment ends. So I called Satou-san, our branch manager, over to ask him if I should list my previous surgeries. He speaks some English, but not very much as I found out he had no idea what I was asking. So I asked Bryan and at first he said to list it but as I couldn't circle any roman numerals out the side, I eventually scratched it out. I told him, "I'll just list kidney stones, kidney infections, endometriosis, and PCOS." So then he asked me what endometriosis was. I calmly explained but I was the only one in there with a room of guys and the shifty eyes started. It made me laugh as I could tell it was sort of a, "I'm not here. I'm not hearing this. LALALALA!"
During one of the other guys' lessons, one of them made a "secret code" game. The numbers corresponded to letters of the alphabet and the first code he put up was: 3.1.15.1.4.1 ...For those you who didn't work that out yourself, that spells: caoada. Ya... he meant to do 14 (n). Pretty funny!
During that same secret code activity, he gave us: 23.15.12.6. The guy sitting in front me goes, "What the!? What's that?" I look on his paper, and he wrote, "Wolg." Oh man, James (the Kiwi) and I laughed and laughed. Poor Scott! The rest of the class we were teasing him and joking about it. In fact, I drew this (below) while he was teaching and he came back and saw it. LOL I think it helped him though as he was able to laugh about it.
 |
| Mr. Wolg the Panda |
At the restaurant, the cold noodles were piled on top of a little bamboo tray. However, they gave me liquid for the noodles (since they were plain). I tried dumping the liquid on top (and poured some) when the girl came running over. "Iie!" (No!) She then modeled for me to pick up the noodles, dip them into the cup, THEN eat them. Oops. She also showed me how to eat the tempura (but that one I already knew!). It was pretty funny then I saw her go over and tell the story to her two coworkers. They all laughed at me, but hey! I'm tryin and still learning. In fact, today I learned the correct way to eat cold soba. So there!
Out of the guys who went to the doctor, two have a severe phobia of needles. In fact Tim said, when we found out that we had physicals, "Will there be any blood tests or needles? I'm not afraid of needles, but I'm asking for other people who maybe are." Wow... I thought those kinds of phrases were only uttered in television shows and movies. (Tim is an African American from Tennessee.) So Nate is getting his blood drawn and he said he must have looked awful as the nurses kept asking if he was ok (daijobu desu ka?). They couldn't get the blood from that arm so they switched arms and he turned his face the other way. When he did that, he saw Tim carrying on (throwing his arms over his face in horror) which caused him to panic and they both said it was probably the most fun those nurses have had all week. When it was Tim's turn, they asked him a question. Peter, the only guy in our training group still here in Morioka who speaks Japanese fairly well, was playing translator. "They want to know if you're going to faint." AHAHAHA That poor guy!
Tom (the Brit) said when he was putting his shoes on, the nurse was trying to ask him how to say that in English (put your shoes on). He said he stared at her blankly then blurted out loudly, "Shoes!" She shook her head and did the motion of slipping her foot into something and he asked, "Put on your shoes?" He said that by her facial expression he thinks that she thought he lied to her and wasn't going to use it. He also started worrying that if she said it to the other guys and they didn't respond correctly that she'd come after him.
Then Tom, after finishing his physical said loudly to the doctor and the nurse, "Yukatta!" The doctor and nurse sort of just gaped at him in astonishment and confusion and he looked from face to face waiting for some sort of acknowledgement then said he quickly uttered "gomen nasai" and took off. Yukata is a woman's dressing gown. YOkatta means "I'm good," or "That's good!" or "It was good!" So ya, not the same. AHAHAHA Tom is so great!
Oh one more interesting thing: the Japanese sell caffeinated gum! I'm going to try some the next time I have my period. Hopefully it helps as they don't sell Rockstar here. (They have Monster which I like fairly well and Redbull that tastes like carbonated tylenol and sweat. Just sayin...)
XOXO, A
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)