January 22nd

For some reason I’m very upbeat today – not that I’m complaining! Perhaps it’s the covert emails from friends and families, the completed task at work, the wonderful ringo (apple) I had after work, the yummy supper, or my new ability to recognize some Japanese letters. Either way, upbeat! It was rainy today, too – I like rain. Work is going well – I find that I am able to recognize a few more Japanese words every once in a while, I finally figured out the food ticket machine, and I have interesting work to do. It takes me 3 trains, 1 bus, and an hour & twenty minutes to get to work in the morning. The train station is only a 5 minute walk from my dormitory – I leave the dorm around 7:10am. I generally get a seat on the first train, sometimes the second train, and never the third train. From the last train station, I walk around the corner and get on the bus. It stops across the street from work. I have an ID card, which I use for everything. That includes getting into work, logging into my computer, and getting into my dorm. I have a in/out magnet at work – red is out, white is in. When I get in in the morning (around 8:30am), I flip my tag then head back outside to another building to change. I wear a jacket and pants as a uniform – and I have a warmer jacket for when it’s cold. Which is practically all the time. From the changeroom, I head back to the first building to my work area. I share my workspace with my boss, Takemori-San, and another lady, whos name I can’t remember. I’m usually the first person into work, so I grab the key to unlock the office. Because I’m a keener, I usually start working almost right away. Lunch is at 12. I’m generally starving by time lunch rolls around. I wait for Takemori-San, who likes to wait five minutes to avoid the rush, then we walk to the cafeteria building. Examples of all the meals are set out on the table, and I buy tickets depending on what I want. I usually pay 500 Yen (slightly less than $5), and for that I get a main dish (rice and fish/meat or ramen noodes, similar to Mr. Noodles), a salad-type thing, miso soup, and gohan (rice). I’ve discovered that in Japan, a lot depends on your boss. It would be very rude of me to leave for lunch without waiting for him, and it would be disrespectful not to sit with him (especially if he then ended up sitting by himself). Sometimes we sit with three other people who work in our department. I’m very bad with Japanese names, but there are to men and one young woman. She’s pretty quiet. The two men know some English and are a lot of fun. One of them often tucks his chin into his chest and giggles – it’s the cutest thing ever. I don’t typically refer to men as ‘cute’, but this guy is definitely cute when he giggles. There’s always lots of laughing at lunch as we try to communicate. Everyone at the table waits until everyone else at the table is finished eating, then when there’s an awkward pause, someone (then everyone else) kind of bows, then starts to get up. We drop off our dishes and head back to work. I finish work at 5:40, but generally end up staying a few or many minutes late, depending on what I’m working on and what I do (or don’t, as the case usually is) have to do after work. I change again, and wait at the sidewalk for the bus. When I get home, I’m usually starving again, so I eat supper right away. I don’t know if it’s because it’s less food, a different eating schedule, I don’t drink enough water, or I just always feel slightly bored, but I always feel hungry! I’m still trying to find a reasonably cheap and healthy Japanese snack food. After supper I usually hang out in my room and study my Japanese. At least for now. Hopefully I’ll get a life and some internet, soon. I’m starting to feel settled here…maybe I can survive the seven months, after all.  My nails have gotten long very quickly…I have the feeling it’s all the rice I’m eating. Lunch and supper always include rice – at least a fist-sized (my fist, not yours) amount, sometimes more. I think that when I go back to Canada, I will have to buy and cook a lot of rice, or my body will go into shock. I don’t mind, though, it’s very good. I’m definitely a fan of sticky rice (all rice in Japan is sticky) over loose rice. I’ll have to learn to make it, but I think it’s just the addition of rice vinegar or something. Well, that’s it for today! I’ll try to take some more pictures (like of me in my work uniform…hehe) to post with this, when I finally get internet! PS – I’d like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and support while I’m here…the first week was really hard, but it was a lot easier knowing people back home were thinking of me (or at least I was pretending they were), and it’s only going to go up from here! Ja matta….

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!