Wednesday, February 6

Tomorrow's D-Day...connection!

Today passed quickly and with little excitement (nothing compared to yesterday’s pandemonium), but it was an interesting and positive day all the same. I spent the entire day cooking (what a job!) different kinds of meats in the grill and recording the conditions and temperatures as they changed. I even ended up working a little bit late to finish my experiments. I ran to my Japanese lesson, which ended up going late, but was great! We went over counting again (I only made one mistake – yay!) and started learning particles….particles are confusing. The same particle has many uses and applications. Ago-San offered to do another lesson tomorrow, so we could finish up the particles – we only got halfway through. I jumped at the chance, and we will meet again tomorrow after work. I left super motivated to study Japanese, and that’s what I’ve spent my evening doing!
At the Bible Study I went to last week, we talked briefly about how many people we see in a day but don’t really notice – I was reminded and surprised at how true it was on my way home from work. A lovely lady stopped me in the train and asked, if I didn’t mind, if she could introduce herself. She works in the same building as me, and said she sees me often at lunch or around work. She had heard that the woman who held my position before me frequently had trouble reading and understanding the Japanese workplace. She offered to help me anytime I need it or to answer any questions. Typically, Japanese English isn’t English, it’s Japanese English – just like my Japanese won’t be Japanese, it will be English Japanese…but her English was perfect. You would never know it was her second language, and she has never studied outside of Japan! She was very kind and we chatted a bit about being new to Japan and work, etc. I realized that I’ve probably seen her dozens of times, but her face didn’t look at all familiar – a testament to how many people we do ‘see’ in a day but don’t actually see. I am looking forward to seeing her again at work – she’s one of those people who makes you instantly feel warm and comfortable.
Tomorrow is a big day – I am supposed to get internet, my alien registration card, and a mobile phone! I hope nothing goes awry and all my plans come to be…if so, expect me to be online tomorrow night! (Which is actually your super-early morning, so you probably won’t be…) It will be amazing to have internet and access to the world, again!

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