I woke, ate a free breakfast at the Denny's below my hotel (hotel gave me a voucher!), then cleared my stuff out of my room. For breakfast I had a traditional Japanese style replete with miso soup, a bowl of rice, a packet of nori, and a bowl of natto.
If you are not familiar with natto:
Fermented Soy beans, with slime!
It looks like boogers or semen and lentils. It smells old and musty. It tastes like bad coffee. I eat it. Why? I have been told it is healthy, and I don't think it tastes that bad...
So, I finished my brekkie and gathered my suitcases to bring them down to the lobby and check out. I took extra care not to forget anything in the room. Except the key. Oops.
I went down and apologized to the people at the front desk in my broken Japanese, (broken like a watermelon at a Gallagher show!) and went to the front to wait for my coordinator, here after referred to as Tom.
Tom is awesome!
Tom collected me and my 100lbs of clothes and we drove the hour distance to my town.
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| Chikusei |
We arrive and go to our meeting with the Board of Education for Chikusei City. So nervous! On the way over, Tom had told me about the previous ALT (Assistant Language Teacher, my official title) and how this guy got fired because he did bad things. Sexual Harassment, General Tomfoolery, Immature to the MAX! Tom said: "Don't be like him." I assured him I won't.
The meeting was longer than usual, Tom said later, partly because they wanted to make sure I wasn't like the last guy and partly because at the other meetings there are usually more ALTs at once.
Just me today!
Question after question they threw at me. I answered each with ease!
With the hard part of the day over, Tom took me to find my apartment. Tom's company car Nav is not so good. He used to work for Mercedes Benz, working on their Nav systems in the cars. He knows good Nav systems. This was not a good Nav system. We went around and around looking for my apartment building. When we found the building, it was very non-descript. No sign or numbers that I saw. I wonder how many times the postman has to practice his route before he is allowed to work it alone...
After putting my things inside, I met another ALT who lives just above me! This is rather lucky because he says the next nearest ALT is some distance away. He was just waking up, even though it was about noon...
Tom took me out to lunch next. We went to a 100yen sushi bar. Every sushi plate is...100yen! It travels around on a conveyor belt and you pick what you want as it passes. There is also a touch screen menu where you can order any sushi, have it made fresh (just a little more fresh than the stuff that spends time on the belt), and it arrives via tiny bullet train! Tom treated me because he just got paid yesterday! Sweet! Free lunch!
After lunch we went to a hanko shop to order me a stamp. A hanko is a personalized stamp that is made and acts as your signature on important documents. Some places, like banks, only accept a hanko stamp mark for transactions, and you can even have your hanko registered with city hall to deter against forgeries! Cost: 2650yen or $31.32
Then we traveled to a discount Supermarket where I could buy some of the necessities for living: shower towel, hangers, clothes drying apparatus, soaps, and detergents. Cost: 3879yen or $45.85
Then we went to a 100yen shop (Japanese Dollar Tree) for some other things that didn't need to be well made: Chopsticks, drinking glasses, a hand towel*, some notepads, etc. Cost: 1470yen or $17.37
After the 100yen shop, Tom took me back to my place and he went home. I set to work unpacking my clothes, putting away my new goods, and waiting for the repair guy to arrive. Previously, when Tom and I first arrived, Tom did an inspection of the apartment to make sure everything worked initially. One of the lights didn't work so he called a guy.
The guy was set to arrive at 4p.m., and so he very well might have. I don't have a clock yet and I wasn't wearing a watch at the moment, but the door bell rang and it was he. This guy turned out to be even more helpful than he thought he was to be. I was having some time of it trying to get my darned internet to work. All the instructions were written in Japanese and I was unable to figure the infernal thing out. Repairman Joe walked me through the steps after I was able to convey to him, in my broken Japanese (more than the dishes in "Don't tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead") what my major malfunction was. As you can see, the internet works for me now!
I thanked him and sent him on his way, then got back to putting everything away. The finished product:
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| Desk through the door to main room |
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| Bed, tv desk with computer, closet |
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| Bed, Party Panties!, TV. Note: under bed storage! |
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| one half of Closet |
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| Door leading out of main room->kitchenette and front door |
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| Kitchenette: two range electric stove, sink. Nothing more. |
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| Microwave, fridge, and a peek at the shower |
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| Washing machine, WC on the left |
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| Toilet on left, shower on right |
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| Shower room: tub left, shower right, everything gets wet. |
Now it's 8:17 and time for dinner!
Hey Keegan,
ReplyDeleteWas sitting here board at work, thought I check out some of your journal entry's. I'm not to familiar with this blog, so I hope you get this. Sounds like you have had some eventfull days being there, hows the weather? Have you had any sushi yet? Check out any historical landmarks? Tess and I said we will try to visit you once Tess saves up enough money maybe 6-7 years if lucky J/K. When you get time post your address and anything you need sent to you i.e deoderant, candy, In and Out Burger stuff that you might miss here in the U.S of A. I will try to keep in touch and I still want to see some sweet Japan pics, the place looks beautiful.
Michael Monitto