January 16th

It has occurred to me that jumping into a new city, culture, and language is similar to becoming 1 year old again. You have to be taught everything. How to eat, how to use the bathroom, how to get around, what to say, what not to say, what to do, what not to do – everything! Someone shows you or tells you, once, perhaps when you’ve done it wrong or you don’t know how. Sometimes you remember, sometimes you have to ask again. But little by little, in baby steps, you start to be able to take care of yourself, without everyone’s help. If this analogy holds true, I took another tiny step today! I got myself home from work without getting lost or getting on the wrong train, or standing in one place looking like a hikachi (idiot). I went with a friend to work (Hicky), and did get lost trying to find my way to the changerooms. Takemori-san was away this morning, so at lunch time (my first lunch at work), three people I met yesterday came to get me. The showed me where the cafeteria was, and how to pick my food and get it. As usual, their English was just okay, and my Nihongo was terrible. But we had such a fun meal! We talked about the different foods in Japan and Canada. I told them about Canadian sushi and they asked questions about different pasta noodles and a dish that I don’t think we have. There was lots of laughing and giggling (some Japanese men like to giggle - it’s the cutest thing, ever!) and smiling and shrugs. After work, I got myself home and stopped by the Supermarket. I didn’t really feel like it, again, but when I got there, I was glad I did. It was like finding a little slice of heaven down the road and around the corner. There was fruit, vegetables, bread, butter, cheese, sliced meat! I haven’t had any fruit since I got here, no vegetables that haven’t been deep fried or cooked with many other things, or bread and butter, etc. I bought bread to make toast for breakfast (I wish it was breakfast, already), tomatoes for my toast, and – apples! I think the apples excited me the most. I didn’t realize how much I missed fruit. It’s funny how much we take for granted. I’m going to have to make myself a grocery budget so I don’t buy the store out of fruit and raw vegetables. I floated home and managed to get my supper (another baby step) by myself. I’ve also discovered that I’m not too bad at eating with chopsticks, and improving, fast! Now here I am – revived. There were a couple times today when I wanted to scream “I want to go home!”, but between my encouraging baby steps and the Supermarket, I’m almost ready to tackle another day in Nihon. But it’s only 8pm, so I think I’m going to go attempt my first Japanese-style bath. Wish me luck!

January 15th

I have discovered that it is entirely possible to think and feel two completely different things in the same moment.
1) “What have I got myself into!?” accompanied by the desire to either curl up in a dark corner and cry, or jump on the nearest and soonest plane to something – anything – familiar.
2) The notion of how much I have accomplished so far and a fierce sense of determination to not only survive the next 7 months, but impress the socks off my boss and learn enough Japanese to conduct myself in a normal conversation.
My day today was filled with the sensation of containing both these mindsets in my head.
…
The most frustrating thing I’ve found so far is the inability to communicate. I like to talk. I like to be a part of the action that’s taking place around me. However - it has also hit me how important being able to communicate with words, or very few words, is. I am slowly (half-life of chromium slowly) learning Japanese, but I do my best to use the few words that I have. Hand motions and pictures are also infinitely useful. I think that the ability to communicate so easily is something we often take for granted – I know I do, at least. I never realized how essential and desirable it is.
…
I successfully used the train by myself to meet my boss at Yao station, this morning. We travelled from there to register me as an alien (yes, I am green and I will definitely suck your brains out and cattle prod you), and open a bank account (yay!). I get a pretty green ATM card that I can use at any ATM in the country, for free (take note, Canada - free). Next we travelled to Sumitomo Precision Products. Fortunately, I had worn business-wear because it was my first day at work, but nobody told me that I would be in a lunch business meeting and meet some important people! I met the Manager and General Manager of Sumitomo, two students working with them, and the President of Functional Fluids (FF). We had lunch (my first official Japanese lunch), for which I took all the clues on how to eat politely I could get from everyone else. Surprisingly, there were only one or two things that I didn’t quite like, but nothing that made me want to gag. There was a leg of something with many suction cups on it (all about a half to one centimeter in diameter), which took an interesting trip around my mouth. All in all, everything was ‘oishii’ (delicious). Then we proceeded to a small project room and I got to help build the graphite trays for a heat exchanger. I ended up cutting wire lengths for the two students and trying to use my minimal Japanese to communicate. The President of FF spoke some English and she was very nice to me. Then we got a tour of the plant and factory at Sumitomo. I was beyond impressed! Sumitomo makes a variety of products from landing gear for airplanes (F-2 support fighter, T-4 trainer, etc), propellers (eg. P-3C anti-submarine patrol plane, etc), a variety of other heat-related systems for aircrafts; heat exchangers used around the world (eg. Shinkansen (bullet trains) cooling systems); ozone generators; semiconductors; motion sensors – this includes 3-axis accelerometers and vibrating structure gyroscopes, used in projects such as anti-lock braking systems, mobile dish antennas, bipedal robots, radio-controlled helicopters, and those little electronic puppies that you can buy for your children. It was quite amazing to see some of the parts being put together and how they progressed throughout the factory. I believe I managed to make it through the afternoon without being rude or making a fool of myself. Then we went to Osaka Gas – where I will be working. I was introduced to many people and was able to use my carefully practiced Japanese introduction. I also noticed something very neat and kind of amusing about the Japanese people. You bow a lot – when you say hello, goodbye, sorry, thank you, etc. If I bow, they bowed. And if I bowed again (trying to be super polite), they bowed again. I caught myself wondering how many times they would bow if I kept bowing. Bad Stephanie. They were all very nice and friendly, though. I got my work uniform which consists of pants and a jacket, and some nice new safety shoes. I get a desk and a computer and for the last hour or so used it to start learning about heat pumps, heat exchangers, and write down the Laws of Thermodynamics (heaven forbid, I have forgotten. But I will be needing them, so I thought it best to brush up on them). I stayed a little late because Takemori-san was still working and I had no idea how to get home from where we were. At 6:30 we left and took a shuttle to the train station. Takemori-san rode 2 trains with me then gave me instructions on how to get home. I left praying I wouldn’t get lost, because that would be a terrible mess. I did make it home safely, however, and ventured into the cafeteria where the cafeteria lady showed me how to get my supper (you would think that would be easy, but it’s not). And here I am! I should probably go to the supamaketo (supermarket) and buy some tabemono (food) for asa gohan (breakfast), but it’s dark and samui (cold) and I don’t feel like it, so I’m having noodles in a cup for asa gohan! :) And that’s a wrap on Day 2 of a so-far-successful Japanese adventure.

January 14th

My clock tells me it’s 4:30am Nihon (Japan) time, on Monday morning – but my head tells me it’s 1:30pm on Sunday.
Throughout my seventeen hours of travel (both flying and waiting included), my head carefully controlled a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. I arrived at YVR just after 5am, and soon had to say goodbye to my parents before entering the ‘Passengers Only’ area. I’ll be honest – as I said goodbye to my parents, my only thoughts were those of blind panic. I have flown on my own before, and I have travelled to a different country before. But I have never flown on my own to a different country, where I will live for 7 months, on my own! Fortunately, I had a decent handle on my panic and focused on getting through the customs & security checkpoints and checking my baggage.
Once I hit the terminal, I still had two hours to wait – my flight was delayed by half an hour. I took a nap, got some breakfast, and purchased some ‘Canadian’ chocolates for my Japanese supervisor & coworkers. Once my flight finally boarded, we had to wait another half hour. Due to bad weather at San Francisco, my first destination, they were requesting that all flights delay takeoff. I had my own personal TV which provided me with a variety of music, movie, and TV options, so I listened to some country and watched some Grey’s Anatomy and Without a Trace. According to my itinerary, I had an hour and a half in the San Francisco airport, but due to the flight delay, I knew it would be tight to get to my connecting flight. The thought of having to deal with finding the next flight to Osaka (which I think was the next day, at the same time), did not thrill me. Fortunately, once we got close to San Fran, they announced that an agent would escort the five people who were heading to Osaka to their flight. This ended up being myself, one other guy, and a family with two small children, running through the airport, following an agent through back doors and onto shuttles. We did arrive in time; there was even still a lineup to board when we arrived. Even though it wasn’t my doing that I got there on time, I felt a sort of accomplishment, having got this far on my trip by myself.
The flight to Osaka was also delayed while they cleared some debris off of the runway. We left almost 45 minutes late. I was sitting in the middle seat. To my right was an Asian guy who slept the entire flight (and I do mean almost the entire flight – I don’t know how he did it!). To my left was a guy named Scott who I chatted with a bit. For this 11 hour flight (as opposed to the 2.5 hour flight to San Fran), I did not have a personal TV. I was also starving, since I hadn’t had a chance to pick up some lunch in San Francisco as I planned. An hour into the flight, they served a meal. Between the meal, cat naps, magazines, and a book, I wasn’t too bored for the first half of the flight. At one point, Scott opened the window and tapped my leg and pointed outside. It was beautiful! You could see the ocean below with some small islands or perhaps just collections of dirt created by waves, and a quilt of clouds that never ended. I remember thinking that it reminded me of Saskatchewan, because it just went on and on until the earth dropped off. It made me want to jump out of the plane and go bounce from one to another. It was an amazing sight. The second half of the flight, I alternated between being nervous about my new experience, very excited about my new experience, and wondering if I was going to go insane from sitting so long. If you know me at all, you probably know that I don’t do well with that. I watched a movie, read some more, dropped my boxes of chocolates on some poor man in front of me when I opened the overhead bin (oops! Scott thought that was pretty funny). Finally, we reached Osaka – an hour late, which isn’t too bad, I suppose. I collected my things and deplaned into the Great Unknown…

When I finally got through Immigration, Security, Customs, and picked up my baggage, Takemori-san found me immediately. He helped me carry my suitcase (which, by the way, was very heavy), and said we would be taking the train to my dormitory. Once we boarded the first train, there were several awkward conversations where he tried to say something in Nihongo (Japanese), and I replied with ‘Wakarimasen’, which means, “I don’t understand”. So he would go through it word by word, some of which I did understand. I was carrying my laptop case, purse, and hiking backpack. He was dragging my suitcase and smaller carryon suitcase. We went from that train, to another, to another, and then to a fourth train. I found myself wondering how I could possibly need enough stuff to make my bags as heavy as they were. I got to purchase a train ticket, and received my first Nihon change. Someone (I can’t remember who) asked if it had holes in it – yes it does.  Takemori-san and I continued to have random awkward conversations. When we finally got off the last train (about an hour and a half after leaving the airport), he showed me where I would meet him on Tuesday morning. Then we left the building (me hoping that I could remember how to get to where I had to meet him)….he had said something earlier about a 5-6 minute walk from the dorm, so I figured this was it. Lo and behold, no, it wasn’t. We walked a bit longer, and I thought I was going to die. It was about 2am my time, I had been up since 3:30am my time, I hadn’t eaten as much as I wanted, and what I was carrying was heavy. Finally we stopped at a taxi stand and got in. I tried to pay attention the where we were going, as I thought I would have to walk from our destination back to the train station. I soon figured out that couldn’t be true, it would have been a long walk! Takemori-san told me a little bit about the dorm. There is a woman’s only section, which houses 4 other women, and a men’s section which houses 95 men. One of the women was an exchange student at UBC for a year, and speaks English. I didn’t realize until later how happy that made me.
We arrived at the dorm and a lady came to meet us. We removed our shoes and put on slippers that she gave us. Then the dorm manager came out as well. Me, Takemori-san, and the dorm manager (Yoshida-san), lugged my luggage up a flight and a half of stairs to my room. My room is larger than I expected, and has lots of closet space. Then I got the tour…the bathroom at the end of the hall, and then down a flight to a kitchen area with tatami mats and a low table, another kitchen area with two North-American style tables, another kitchen area with no tables, an area with a TV and couches, a laundry room (all in Japanese…I may ruin my clothes trying to use it!  ), and a bath area, which was very pretty with a pink curtain and big tub. All the areas were common areas that I share with the other women. Then we went downstairs and I was shown the cafeteria that is shared by the men and the women. If I won’t be eating here, I stamp a card and leave it in the cafeteria. The tour was winding up, and I met a guy who works in R&D at Osaka Gas (where I will be working). I didn’t catch his name (he said it too fast. But I think it started with an M.). I bowed and he bowed and we both kind of laughed. We were standing near the entrance (me, Takemori-san, Yoshida-san, the woman, and M). They were having a conversation, I was doing the ‘smile-and-nod’. Takemori-san threw bits of information my way, but mostly, I was just completely lost as to what was going on. I realized how little Japanese I understand, and how out of place a person feels when they don’t understand what the conversation around them is, especially when you think it’s about you! Takemori-san asked if I was tired (yes!!), or hungry (no). Takemori-san left after some awkward bowing (I do know how to say thank you – “arigato” – and I said it a lot and bowed a lot). Then I stood for a minute with the lady Yoshida-san, and M before bowing and saying ‘arigato’ and motioning back towards the women’s dorm to indicate that I was going to go to bed. None of the three spoke English, and I had no idea what they were talking about, or if it was rude for me to leave. I got back up to my room, pulled out my sleeping bag, put the sheets and blankets on the floor, unrolled the sleeping bag, and climbed into bed, thrilled to rest my head on the nice, puffy, soft…beanbag pillow. Not so soft, not so puffy. Literally a nice, pretty hard beanbag pillow. But I didn’t care, and once I managed to quell the infinite thoughts running through my tired mind, I was out. Until now, 4:30am, when I am wide awake. However, the best antidote for jet lag is keeping the new schedule, so I am going to head back to my beanbag pillow and sleeping bag, and try to sleep for at least another four hours or so. I need to be well-rested for my party tomorrow. I forgot to mention that – they’re throwing me a welcome party tomorrow. Very nice, kind of exciting, but I’ll definitely have to learn as much Nihongo tomorrow before the party as I can. So goodnight, and arigato!

-Picture: This is the welcome sign the posted in the lobby for me...I have no idea what it says except I know that the first line of blue writing is my name. :)