Ok, so. I haven’t done this in way too long. I’m sorry. Hum… I wrote a bit about “German night” a while ago… But never got around to actually uploading it. Here’s that particular blog…
Tuesday - Ok, well Tuesday was hilariously surreal. After I did buffet stuff, loads of people finished their shifts and went home so it was just me, Tomo and Masaki-san. Then Tomo went to the office and Masaki-san dissapeared off somewhere... So I was left all on my own in the refectory, changing the roses. So I put on some Jpop and just chilled out. Occasionally people would walk through... A few times I saw Masaki-san running past... Then there was a phone call at the refectory, someone asking for Masaki-san and I was like "um... I'm not sure where he is..." Had a quick look around for him, but failed... After an hour it came to my lunch break... But there was nobody around to get permission from. But I figured I'd already done everything that needed to be done, so I wrote a note saying that's where I'd gone and left.
When I came back I quickly counted who was there... And realised I was the only gaijin. This meant I had to do guest control. Basically, with guest control you give a speech welcoming everyone in, telling them where the food is and where to put dirty stuff afterwards. Then you guide them in and just make sure they're all safe and happy. This was a new group as well, which meant I had to do a full speech.
"Good evening, welcome to the refectory. For dinner we are serving buffet, including 6 different kinds of hot foods, salad and soup. There are drinks here and when you have finished please take everything to the wash room (and for some reason I always say "on my right"... Even if it's very not on my right!!!)"
So, I'm there, letting groups in, using the crazy map drawn for me by their teachers (they wanted me to send in 3 boys... THEN about 15 girls... Seperately! WHY?!)... The first time I did it I found it hilarious as I had a table of boys and they were all cheering and being silly teenage boys.
Oh yes, then Masaki-san appeared and was like "hey Faye, we're doing service upstairs tonight... They'll be here in a few minutes. Now, carry on sending guests in!" WHAT?! They'll be here in a few minutes! I've had no time to prepare, I don't know what's on the menu, I haven't lit any candles or done any drinks or anything! And now I'm doing two peoples jobs?!
By the last table I wanted to just hide. The last table was the worst. They'd been waiting for ages (because of the crazy order I was supposed to send the groups in by) so when I finally arrived they all cheered... Then they started perving on me and whistling and stuff... Which was horrifically disturbing... One even shouted "dance!"... So I welcome them in and then get on with restocking the drinks. The boys by the door were horrific "hey, do you have a boyfriend?", "how old are you?", pervy eyes, pervy eyes. So I went and hid behind the barrier, under the pretence of drinking lots of water.
Then my guests arrived. I always find service stressfull as I've still not fully got the hang of it... So I keep clearing from the left or serving from the right, or I drop the bread or I burn myself on the plates, so I jump and the food moves around on the plate and looks less beautiful. But I'm learning... Thankfully this group was the guy who's been eating here all week and sat with me in the pub for a bit, watching me revise with some vague interest. He was there with a work colleague and someone who works at BH.
It wasn't so bad. They all know I've only been here a few weeks so everyone was very nice to me and I even got given a taste of the beef and at one point Masaki san excitedly called me over to try some delicious dessert wine... Oh, that man loves wine... And dessert... It was good... And went straight to my head... (apparently the altitude makes it easier to get drunk up here).
When I got back I found nobody was in the house and the living room was tidy and completely changed around, the TV had gone and there were several more sofa's and tables and there was a hell of a lot more room than I thought there was. I felt so confused, I was slightly drunk and things were different... So I freaked out a bit.
After I'd recovered, finding that James and Dennis had spent the whole day making it look beautiful for German night, loads of people came over. It was an amazingly fun night, Dennis had made a load of really good German food, loads of people were there, laughing, having fun, I was drinking wine out of a bowl (Yuki then told me that her Grandmother used to do the same, apparently. There you go). I loved that night. After loads of people went home I went outside and played in the snow for a bit... Actually... I spent the next two-three hours in the snow, building an epic snowman!! Pictures are on facebook. After that I went inside and sat next to my heater after the cold had sent me quite insane... I should wear more than jeans and a thin jumper next time I spend hours in the snow. That was a VERY weird day...
Since then a lot has happened. However, I can’t remember most of it. It’s all been a bit of a blur since I’ve arrived here really. I was reading some of my blogs back earlier and none of it seems real really.
Ok, so memorable things that have happened recently… Becoming poor in one day, Aizu, staff party, new people, speed dating… I’m sure other stuff has happened, but I way can’t remember.
So I’ll start with the day I spent all my money -
I had a day off when very few other people did, so I decided to spend the day shopping in Shirakawa on my own. I wrote myself a good, long shopping list and packed my camera and a simple map of Shirakawa. It was a really good day (even though my camera batteries ran out). I really enjoyed just walking around, at my own pace, completely relaxing, not worrying about annoying whoever was with me by my slow pace of shopping or my inability to concentrate on one thing. I had a good, long look around the clothes shops in my hunt for a warm coat and new boots. Japan has amazing shoes. Seriously, I saw so many amazing styles of shoes and boots you’d just never see in England. There were a few that I really wanted to buy because of how awesome they were, but I knew I’d just never wear them. Even though I never found a good pair of boots, I did find a nice coat. It’s nothing amazing (which it should be, considering how much I spent on it), but it’s warm and is quite smart, so I suppose I can’t complain too much. I bought a load of stuff for the kitchen and some baking stuff, as well as a big map of the world (it was only 100 yen, so…). Yeah… When I got home, I had a look through all my stuff, then in my purse. I was horrified to find I only had 6000 yen left (around £30... Although the exchange rate’s changed now that Japan’s gone into recession, which is annoying and confusing!). So yeah… That was about… 5 days after my pay day… I blame it on the fact that I had an advance on my wages so they were reduced that month. It was a good day though, I enjoyed it.
Ok… On to Aizu - The original plan was to go down to Koriyama with Helen, Yuta and Ayano. But that morning Ayano said she was too scared to go in the car with Yuta as there was a little bit of snow and she’s still shaken up from the crash… So as Helen, Yuta and I left for Koriyama Yuta was like “I don’t know how to get to Koriyama”… So we went to Aizu instead, which is his home town, and about an hour away from Koriyama. We went into this massive Avail (a clothes shop)… The one in Aizu is way bigger and better in Aizu than in Shirakawa. There was a little bit attached, full of adorable house things. I didn’t buy anything from there though, because I’m poor (this has been my excuse for not doing many things… Also, my excuse for complaining). We then checked out a few other shops and stopped for curry. I loved Japanese curry, it‘s got the perfect amount of spice in for my tastes (not much)… I had cheese curry, which is the weirdest thing ever, but quite nice. Yuta then went on a new phone hunt because his old one was broken (I’m pretty sure I’m the one broke it… Whoops.). Japanese phones are amazing. So many strange, amazing gadgets and stuff… They spin and flip in ways I never imagined possible. After about 30 minutes of talking to some woman he found out that he needs his mom there with him (because being 19 still makes you a child in Japan). So he told his mom and we continued shopping. He then met his mom in a different phone shop and we waited there for another hour and a half!! Why it took an hour and a half to buy a new phone, I have no idea… We met his 6 year old brother though, who’s adorable. He spent the whole time in the “kids corner”, jumping around, entertaining me and Helen, giggling insanely. I really wanted to sit and play with him (I actually miss working with kids), but my head was exploding…. I don’t know why I keep getting these headaches, but it‘s so annoying! (I blame mom‘s genes).
After he eventually bought a phone, Yuta apologised so much… Seriously, he wouldn’t stop. He then bought us doughnuts. His mom also bought some beautiful boxes of chocolates for us. We then went to this big shopping centre, that looked really cute… I think there were lots of floors, although Yuta only took us to one. If I go again, I’ll definitely check out all the floors. I bought an apron for when I cook and clean. It’s a proper Japanese housewife apron with the strip of fabric on the back and the button… I don’t know how to describe it… But you always see them in anime’s and drama’s.
I can’t remember a lot more of the day. I bought some more baking stuff… Mainly stuff that was too heavy to carry in Shirakawa (milk, flour, butter etc). Baking keeps me sane here. Oh yeah, did I mention that Nami got our oven fixed? Yeah, we love Nami, she’s so lovely.
On the 10th of December, there were absolutely no guest bookings, so Masaki-san organised a staff party. We had to pay 1000 yen per person and then people would go shopping for food and drinks and we would have the party in one of the rooms in the castle. This just happened to be the same day that new people were arriving.
So in the morning of December the 10th, about 10 minutes after I woke up I had Yasu banging on my door, telling me that we were going shopping. I had no idea that I was going to be one of the people shopping for supplies, but apparently I was. Apparently Yasu had called Yuta and Yukina at about 9am telling them as well. Yasu normally stays up until stupid o’clock drinking, so where he got all this energy from, so early in the morning, I have no idea.
Yasu drove us all down to Shirakawa and Yukina had all the money people had given her. The whole time Yukina, Yasu and Yuta (am I the only one amused by the fact that their names all begin with Y?) talked to each other in Japanese, which was way fun. I love just sitting and listening to Japanese, even though I rarely know what they’re saying. When we got back I helped Yasu take all the stuff to the party room. Oh god, the rooms in the castle are amazing! They spend most of the year being unused and they’re so beautiful. They’re basically small apartments with a living room, a kitchen, a huge bathroom, two bedrooms and a small tatami-mat covered room which just looks generically Japanese and so pretty. I complained a lot, saying that it should be staff house! I still think it should be.
Anyway, I had decided to make Cornish pasties following a conversation a few days before in which (I think) Mel and I were trying to describe them to Japanese staff. Once we got back, I got stuck straight in to making pastry. I briefly met Lawrence (one of the new guys) as I ran up to my room, to get my apron.
I’ve got to say, my pastry was pretty good, I accidentally put too much water in, so tried to save it by putting more flour in. Once I got it out of the fridge though, it seemed to have fixed itself and was a beautiful consistency, strong and stretchy and soft and just generally awesome. I may make some more pastry at some point… Maybe make a pie or something… I also make some cornflake cakes using the spare cereal I’d saved from the refectory (Yasu had been saving leftover cereal for ages, but did nothing with them, so they were going to throw them away. I wouldn’t let them.)
When I got the party, loads of people were already sat around, relaxing, drinking. It was so nice. There were two tables pushed together with alcohol and food ready to be consumed. I was welcomed in by Masaki-san and they all made a big fuss of the pasties, it made me feel so happy. Japanese people are so nice like that. Masaki-san took the first pasty and very carefully cut it open with his chopsticks, it was so funny watching him trying to pick up half a pasty with his chopsticks. I explained that it should be eaten with your hands, then tried to imagine Cornish miners sat there, in the mines, eating their pasties with chopsticks. Very fun.
It was a good night all around. I drank some of James’ wine… Which came in a MASSIVE bottle and apparently was very, very cheap… It tasted it too. I then had some nice wine. At this point I was at that happy state of drunk, where everything feels relaxed and there’s a faint buzzing somewhere in the back of your head. I hadn’t had alcohol for a long time before this, so it didn’t take long to get there. I then played some cards in the tatami room before getting bored and wandering off. I then tried to find the toilet, which was hilarious and bizarre. I entered one room, saw tiled walls, a sink and assumed it was the toilet. I locked the door… And then looked for an actual toilet… There was none… In my semi-drunk state this was very, very confusing… So I went back into the hallway and just stood there, feeling confused… I had a good look in every room (even in a cupboard in the bedroom), before eventually finding it.
I also met James that night. New James, that is. Old James now goes by Whiteside (his last name) or Shirakawa-san (because the kanji in shira means white… And kawa means river… I don’t know why that works… But it’s the name of the nearest town so…). Anyway, before long I found myself the only gaijin surrounded by Japanese people. All sat there, watching some Japanese comedy… I had no idea what was going on, they all talked too quickly. If I laughed at the same time as the Japanese people, I’d have no idea whether it was at the same thing and if I found something funny, but nobody else was laughing, I’d feel really hesitant to laugh. It was still fun though… As I said, I really enjoy being the only gaijin with Japanese people… It’s such a beautiful language to just sit and listen to. I’ve realised, it’s really pouty too. A lot of the words require you to pout a lot when you speak because there are so many vowel endings, I assume.
After I started getting tired, I quickly helped clear up and did some washing (also broke a glass… Somehow…). As I was leaving, I suddenly felt really woken up by the night air. It was about 11:30pm at this point. I got to the end of the path leaving the castle, which led on to the main road. If I turned right I would head back towards the main part of BH, with the manor house, guest houses and staff house… If I turned left I would go towards the pavilion and to the “Georgian garden”. After a few seconds of deliberating, I decided it would be more fun to go on a walk through the wilderness of British Hills in the middle of the night. So I went left. It’s so creepy in the middle of the night. The trees were bare and the branches looked like long, thin hands silhouetted against the deep orange sky. The ground was so soft and I could hardly see what was ahead of me. At one point I saw a row of young evergreen trees that actually made me jump because they looked kind of like small people in the darkness. I watched them suspiciously for a few minutes before throwing myself down a steep slope. I then travelled into the depths of the forest behind the staff residence. It was so good, all the spiky trees clawing at my arms. It was absolutely silent and there was some mist forming… It was so amazingly atmospheric, I want to do that again some time.
I finally got back at about 1am, desperate to learn Japanese. It was such a good day.
Hm... New people are awesome. We've got Lawrence, Phil's friend. Jess, Mel's friend and new James, who didn't have any friends here until he arrived. They're all really lovely people. I think I get on well with all of them. Although Jess won't be staying for long, which makes me kind of sad, she's really sweet.
Ok, so apparently the Japanese government has a special initiative in which it sets up "speed dating" events in rural area's, like this, in an attempt best described to me by Nolan as "to encourage them to breed!" They were holding one of these events at British Hills... It was awesome. They set up the library with several tables and chairs, with candles and Christmas trees and a buffet table. Lawrence and I were the gaijin assigned to that area. It was way awesome! Because the people at this event weren't guests, they generally couldn't speak any English, so I got an amazing chance to use my Japanese (we're not supposed to speak Japanese to guests...). Hm... Rather than go into every detail, I'll skim over the highlights.
They had two (apparently well known) comedeans there talking really quickly to eachother through microphones, making people laugh. They were speaking far too quickly for me to even guess what they were saying. Then one of them turned to me and was like "Heart? Is it heart?" I assumed he was asking if he was saying it right, so I nodded... But I still have no idea... Then the other one was like "give me your e-mail address!!" (In Japan, that's like your phone number, they e-mail instead of text on phones) I was hoping I'd missheard him... But then Yasu started laughing at me and was like "he wants your e-mail Faye!" That was funny and surreal.
Also, despite being from Australia and, I think, an Italian last name, Lawrence looks quite Japanese, which was hilarious, as he speaks very little/none. The guests kept coming over and asking him for things in Japanese. I really enjoyed his very blank look. Then I'd come over and try to help with my little knowledge. At one point there was a woman asking him for "bii-ru"... Which, in English, is "beer"... Although I didn't know where the beer was, so I had to ask Yasu for help anyway.
At one point we'd run out of oolong tea, so I was sent to get some more jugs. As I was about to head down the stairs to the kitchen, I noticed a woman blatantly belonging to the speed dating, looking very lost. So I went and asked her "daijobu?" (are you ok), to which she replied "toiru wa doko...?" (where's the toilet)... At the point she trailed off, looking rather confused at me, I assume because I was a gaijin. So I was like "ok, shita" (ok, down) and pointed to the stairs. I then had her follow me as I tried to remember where the toilet was. I asked Tammy and then poined down a corridor, saying "migi" (right)... I'm sure I spoke much more Japanese to her, but I can't remember... Either way, I felt way pleased with myself afterwards...
Yeah, after that I had to help with a big service, which is always fun.
Once we'd finished service and setting up for the next morning and everything, someone brought down the love heart shaped balloons from the event... Which was awesome. Yasu ripped one of them open (which had several smaller balloons inside)... And then the helium games began. There's nothing quite like bonding with your work mates over several helium baloons. There were some really funny ones... I think the best one was Masaki-san saying "I'ma kick your ass!" With his helium voice... Masaki-san's awesome. That night was so much fun, we spent the whole time laughing, deciding who should go next and stuff. I really love working here.
So, today (23rd of December) is a special event, for either Christmas or the Emperer's birthday (which is today)... I'm doing a buffet type thing upstairs and stuff... Tomorrow is Christmas eve, in which I will do some shopping (Nami's exchanging my English money for me... Have I mentioned how awesome she is?!) and prepare for Christmas in general. Christmas day I also have off and will spend trying to enjoy Christmas in general, and making a proper Christmas dinner for loads of people, which I'm looking forward to. Then it's new years... Oh, and on the 9th of January, I'm going to Tokyo! ^0^ I organised it yesterday. I've got a hotel booked in Ueno, I know how I'm getting there and I've pretty much decided what I'm doing on each day. It's so exciting!
Anyway, I need to get ready for work now! Ja ne!
Saturday 29 November 2008
Monday 24 November 2008
FINALLY there!
I don’t remember Saturday too well… It must’ve been quite average… Either that or it was so amazing that my memory couldn’t handle it and decided to erase it! I’m going to assume it’s the former.
On Sunday morning I actually had a really good cup of tea and a really nice breakfast. So I was in a really good mood already. And, Ayano came back! I quickly went to the toilet before going to work, and when I walked in, there she was, washing her hands. I actually gasped and said “AYANO!” We talked for a few minutes about how I’d missed her and asked if she was ok and everything. This made me even happier.
In fact, I spent the whole day feeling really cheerful Ayano had given everyone these pastry things as a thank you for being so nice to her. When it came to getting one, I read the packets. One was apple and the other had, in katakana “chizu” written on it… And I just said “cheese” out loud, trying to imagine what a cheese pastry would taste like. Then Misaki-san was like “you can read!” this made me grin. I don’t know… It just pleases me that I can read hiragana and katakana… It’s so useful and makes me feel special. In the end I had the apple one… I was in the mood for something sweet. It was tasty.
We had to do a wedding service, which I’ve never done before. We had to wear these really uncomfortable white jackets that made us look like sailors. So, Dennis, Mel and I were stood at the door, waiting for the bride and groom to arrive so we could open the doors for them and smile. We then followed behind them towards the royal balcony. It was so funny, as we approached, everyone was still clapping, at the bottom of the stairs were Helen, Misaki-san, Saito-san, Ayano and Yukina, clapping. Mel, Dennis and I started bowing and saying thank you. Then Dennis started walking as if we were welcoming him. So Misaki-san linked arms with him. Oh god, it was so funny. Misaki-san is awesome.
Anyway, during service, loads of guests left a lot of food unfinished, either because they were busy socialising and doing wedding stuff or because they just didn’t want it. So between serving we all just sat in the back “sampling” the foods. Oh god, it was good. As we were clearing away I had 5 cakes… They were only small, but still… Two slices of wedding cake, some green thing, some pink thing and a chocolate cake. Doing wedding service is fun, although a tad stressful… With the constant fear that I’m going to trip and throw soup all over the bride and ruin her day forever. Also, there was an adorable little girl there, who was, supposedly 4... Although she looked about 2 (Japanese kids are TINY!)… Yeah, while she was adorable to watch, I actually found myself missing my baby. I tried to imagine what she’ll be like now… She must’ve changed so much. I tried e-mailing Abby the other day to ask how she’s doing, but apparently it didn’t send. I really need to try again.
The rest of the day was pretty cool, I gained a few fan girls too. I noticed one girl had four slices of cake and two sorbet’s and she was scoffing them down really quickly (I assume because everyone else was ready to go). This caused great amusement for all of her friends and one of her teachers… And me. So, just as she was finishing her last bit of sorbet, I approached her with a plate holding yet another sorbet and two slices of cake. Oh god, it went down well. Everyone killed themselves laughing. Then, as I was walking away a load of the girls cooed “kawaiiiiiiii”…. Heh. They then asked for endless pictures.
After everyone had gone I ate the leftover sorbet… Otherwise it goes to waste… I ate nine! I can’t believe it!! But I couldn’t stop… I’d finish one and want another… Afterwards I felt really sick and twitchy.
After work I headed over to the pub with my studying bag. (I need to take a picture of my study bag, it’s adorable!). I talked to Ayano for a bit before sitting opposite Yuta on the table and studying. I studied nice ‘n’ good! I really feel as if I learned a lot while I was there. In one of my breaks, I was talking to Ayano and told her that she should sit with me and Yuta and study English. After a while she came over and she had a flick through my book and really tested my Japanese listening skills, then Yasu joined us. Yuta, Ayano and Yasu then just sat there talking to each other really quickly in Japanese while I sat there trying to pick up the conversation (I’m getting far better. I can now pick out important words and get the mood of the conversation, even if I don’t know the details). Then they started randomly writing in hiragana and kanji. (Apparently Yuta has very nice hiragana… Although I find it really scruffy…). Then Ayano was like “we want to make your name in kanji”. I then sat and watched the three of them scribbling down random bits of kanji, talking to each other really quickly. At one point Yuta and Yasu were both waving their phones at Ayano saying “kore! Kore!” (Here, here!). It was amazing to watch. I really felt so honoured that they were trying so hard to give me a kanji name. I felt so happy I could have cried, honestly. In the end they agreed on ““. (Fu E I) Apparently  means a flower that is still beautiful, even when it dies. My translator translates it as “Lotus”.  Means drawing and  means reliable. So there we go. I’m a reliable drawing of an endlessly beautiful flower. On the “I” part of my name, they were torn between the one that means “reliable” and another one that apparently means something like “loved by everyone”… Although I can’t find the character they’ve written here. Oh yeah, I felt so touched by this that I decided to keep the paper they scribbled it down on.
So yeah, awesome day. Plus, I learned so much Japanese and finally felt like I was understanding bits of it… There’s still a lot to learn… But I’ve already learned so much. I just need to kill my fear of getting things wrong. I’m going to be fluent one day… What an exciting idea, ne?
On Sunday I had a 7:00am start. Normally it’s not a problem, but I guess my week of fun just decided to catch up with me on that day. I felt exhausted. After I’d finished my breakfast I found myself with only 10 minutes of break left. So I sat down in one of the big, red, comfy seats and relaxed… And fell very easily into a surprisingly deep sleep. I even had a dream. I was woken up about 5 minutes later by Yuki moving tables around. So I carried on working… Then, after my initial cheerfulness at having had a few minutes of sleep, I suddenly felt exhausted again and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. Slowly this exhaustion turned into irritation… And then into a migraine. Oh god, it was awful! I actually felt sick from the pain. For buffet we had 200 odd kids, so we had to do another set up straight away, which added to the work. I was trying so hard not to let it get to me. I even snapped at Yasu, which I felt awful for! Nobody snaps at Yasu. He’s the nicest person ever. Earlier in the day he told me not to worry because “every day is a party!”. After I’d snapped at him, I instantly apologised and just felt awful. Thankfully, Ingrid was one of the teachers having dinner with the kids and after I told her about my agonising pain, she went and got me some pain killers! Ingrid is a saint.
I did get over the pain eventually, but the rest of the day really dragged… I even missed out my second break so I could finish half an hour earlier. Although I stayed for another 15 minutes because Saito-san was making “butter beer” for the Harry Potter event… It’s really tasty!
Anyway, once I got home, I took all my revision stuff and laptop downstairs. The plan was to finish writing this and then do some revision. So I put The Matrix on and started typing. 30 minutes later I was fast asleep… Part way through the film I woke up and thought “Oh, I get this film now!!!” and went back to sleep. Then woke up to watch the last hour or so, then took my laptop and books to the pub instead. About 15 minutes in, loads of people came down the pub and decided to start socialising. This was fine, I put my stuff away and started socialising. Then, they all decided to go again. They all went off and played chess or talked to people at the bar… In the end it was just me and Nolan sat talking about random stuff. For a bit Yuta came and joined us, but then disappeared again. I then realised that he’d gone off to study without telling me! Some study partner he is! So yeah, I then went and studied with him. I’m starting to get the hang of verbs, I think. Which is exciting. I think once I’ve got a handle on verbs I’ll really begin to excel at Japanese. I just need to find the best way of remembering all the different ones. I already know a few… But there are billions!
Yeah, one of the guests here was at the pub, socialising with everyone. He’s a nice guy. He kept talking to me in Japanese, except he did it really clearly so I could understand. I thought it was really nice of him. Yeah, Japanese people are cool.
So, we’re FINALLY all caught up!!! This morning… I slept… In fact, I woke up at 1:30pm… So, desperate not to miss lunch and end up eating my emergency food (for when I miss meals accidentally) I quickly got dressed and rushed down to the staff kitchen, arriving at 1:45. As I pushed the door open I read on a sign “Closes at 14:00, last meal order at 13:30”… I was gutted. I went in to find the rice cookers empty and the “example food” all packed away and the guys in the back packing all their stuff away. There was a little bit left on the cold buffet, so I piled some of that into a bowl. Just as I put my food in the microwave I heard The Chef (the one who got drunk at the staff party) call my name. He then spoke to me in his usual ridiculously fast, incomprehensible Japanese. All I could pick out was “tabemasu” (eat) as he poured half of his lunch into a bowl and handed it to me. Oh god, that was so sweet of him… He’s such a lovely guy! I’ve been telling everyone, just so they all know how kind he is. (Even though everyone already knows he’s awesome).
I then went home and did some washing and ironing before having yet another good cup of tea (it must be the milk I’ve bought). Oh yeah, Helen went to Shirakawa today and bought me some pain killers… Which I’m so grateful for. I just need to get someone to read the instructions, so I don’t end up taking an overdose.
At 4pm, Yuta finished work so we decided to hang out for a bit. As we drove off he was like “I need to go to the convenience store, do you mind?” No problem, right? Convenience stores are convenient in their location. About 20 minutes into the journey, after passing SEVERAL convenience stores, Yuta was like “we’re nearly there”… Apparently he wanted to go to the one in Aizu (his home town)… But this was fine, I actually really enjoyed seeing some different scenery. Aizu looks really pretty. We then went to a different shop and Yuta bought an Arashi CD and we looked at some DVD’s… Oh god, they’re cheap! He got The Ring for 380 Yen and X-Men for 400 yen (both about £2). I then saw Enchanted and was like “that’s an amazing film” but we both said it was too expensive… Afterwards I realised it’s just come out in Japan and it was only 1000 yen (about £5)… Seriously! Also, I had a quick look at the PS1 games and was so happy to find FFVIII at number 3 best seller (the top two were games I didn’t recognise), with VII and IX below it. Maybe it shouldn’t have pleased me so much… But 8 was above 7... That would never happen in the UK.
Yeah, then Yuta got a text. Apparently his friend wanted to “look at me”… This made me laugh. He wanted to come and look at the gaijin! Ahh, language barriers. Whenever I say “meet”, Japanese people blatantly think I mean “meat”… It’s the same with when I say “wear” and they instantly think “where”… Ahh, I need to learn Japanese.
Let’s see… What words have I learned recently…
Ryouri - Course (of a meal)
Tsugi - Next
Kyoukenbyou - Rabies (there is an incredibly long, hilarious explanation to the reason behind knowing this. Maybe tomorrow…).
Oru/Tadamu - The verb for “folding”
Imo - Potato (pronounced “emo”… Now imagine that emo potato! I can’t remember the longer version because I had too much fun repeatedly talking about emo potatoes!)
Komatta - Confused
Komatteiru - Confusing
Yukurri - Slowly
Zoo - Elephant
Kusai - Smells bad
Ii ni oi - Smells good
Itamimasu - The verb for pain
Um… There are more… But I’m too tired… It is quarter to 2 though so… There’s good reason… Oh god, I can’t let my sleeping pattern go crazy.
Oh yes, I’d just like to quickly mention…. It’s snowing REALLY heavily… And, after 3 weeks of being here I’m beginning to believe I’m in Japan… Not fully there yet though… I’m sure it’ll hit me eventually…
On Sunday morning I actually had a really good cup of tea and a really nice breakfast. So I was in a really good mood already. And, Ayano came back! I quickly went to the toilet before going to work, and when I walked in, there she was, washing her hands. I actually gasped and said “AYANO!” We talked for a few minutes about how I’d missed her and asked if she was ok and everything. This made me even happier.
In fact, I spent the whole day feeling really cheerful Ayano had given everyone these pastry things as a thank you for being so nice to her. When it came to getting one, I read the packets. One was apple and the other had, in katakana “chizu” written on it… And I just said “cheese” out loud, trying to imagine what a cheese pastry would taste like. Then Misaki-san was like “you can read!” this made me grin. I don’t know… It just pleases me that I can read hiragana and katakana… It’s so useful and makes me feel special. In the end I had the apple one… I was in the mood for something sweet. It was tasty.
We had to do a wedding service, which I’ve never done before. We had to wear these really uncomfortable white jackets that made us look like sailors. So, Dennis, Mel and I were stood at the door, waiting for the bride and groom to arrive so we could open the doors for them and smile. We then followed behind them towards the royal balcony. It was so funny, as we approached, everyone was still clapping, at the bottom of the stairs were Helen, Misaki-san, Saito-san, Ayano and Yukina, clapping. Mel, Dennis and I started bowing and saying thank you. Then Dennis started walking as if we were welcoming him. So Misaki-san linked arms with him. Oh god, it was so funny. Misaki-san is awesome.
Anyway, during service, loads of guests left a lot of food unfinished, either because they were busy socialising and doing wedding stuff or because they just didn’t want it. So between serving we all just sat in the back “sampling” the foods. Oh god, it was good. As we were clearing away I had 5 cakes… They were only small, but still… Two slices of wedding cake, some green thing, some pink thing and a chocolate cake. Doing wedding service is fun, although a tad stressful… With the constant fear that I’m going to trip and throw soup all over the bride and ruin her day forever. Also, there was an adorable little girl there, who was, supposedly 4... Although she looked about 2 (Japanese kids are TINY!)… Yeah, while she was adorable to watch, I actually found myself missing my baby. I tried to imagine what she’ll be like now… She must’ve changed so much. I tried e-mailing Abby the other day to ask how she’s doing, but apparently it didn’t send. I really need to try again.
The rest of the day was pretty cool, I gained a few fan girls too. I noticed one girl had four slices of cake and two sorbet’s and she was scoffing them down really quickly (I assume because everyone else was ready to go). This caused great amusement for all of her friends and one of her teachers… And me. So, just as she was finishing her last bit of sorbet, I approached her with a plate holding yet another sorbet and two slices of cake. Oh god, it went down well. Everyone killed themselves laughing. Then, as I was walking away a load of the girls cooed “kawaiiiiiiii”…. Heh. They then asked for endless pictures.
After everyone had gone I ate the leftover sorbet… Otherwise it goes to waste… I ate nine! I can’t believe it!! But I couldn’t stop… I’d finish one and want another… Afterwards I felt really sick and twitchy.
After work I headed over to the pub with my studying bag. (I need to take a picture of my study bag, it’s adorable!). I talked to Ayano for a bit before sitting opposite Yuta on the table and studying. I studied nice ‘n’ good! I really feel as if I learned a lot while I was there. In one of my breaks, I was talking to Ayano and told her that she should sit with me and Yuta and study English. After a while she came over and she had a flick through my book and really tested my Japanese listening skills, then Yasu joined us. Yuta, Ayano and Yasu then just sat there talking to each other really quickly in Japanese while I sat there trying to pick up the conversation (I’m getting far better. I can now pick out important words and get the mood of the conversation, even if I don’t know the details). Then they started randomly writing in hiragana and kanji. (Apparently Yuta has very nice hiragana… Although I find it really scruffy…). Then Ayano was like “we want to make your name in kanji”. I then sat and watched the three of them scribbling down random bits of kanji, talking to each other really quickly. At one point Yuta and Yasu were both waving their phones at Ayano saying “kore! Kore!” (Here, here!). It was amazing to watch. I really felt so honoured that they were trying so hard to give me a kanji name. I felt so happy I could have cried, honestly. In the end they agreed on ““. (Fu E I) Apparently  means a flower that is still beautiful, even when it dies. My translator translates it as “Lotus”.  Means drawing and  means reliable. So there we go. I’m a reliable drawing of an endlessly beautiful flower. On the “I” part of my name, they were torn between the one that means “reliable” and another one that apparently means something like “loved by everyone”… Although I can’t find the character they’ve written here. Oh yeah, I felt so touched by this that I decided to keep the paper they scribbled it down on.
So yeah, awesome day. Plus, I learned so much Japanese and finally felt like I was understanding bits of it… There’s still a lot to learn… But I’ve already learned so much. I just need to kill my fear of getting things wrong. I’m going to be fluent one day… What an exciting idea, ne?
On Sunday I had a 7:00am start. Normally it’s not a problem, but I guess my week of fun just decided to catch up with me on that day. I felt exhausted. After I’d finished my breakfast I found myself with only 10 minutes of break left. So I sat down in one of the big, red, comfy seats and relaxed… And fell very easily into a surprisingly deep sleep. I even had a dream. I was woken up about 5 minutes later by Yuki moving tables around. So I carried on working… Then, after my initial cheerfulness at having had a few minutes of sleep, I suddenly felt exhausted again and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. Slowly this exhaustion turned into irritation… And then into a migraine. Oh god, it was awful! I actually felt sick from the pain. For buffet we had 200 odd kids, so we had to do another set up straight away, which added to the work. I was trying so hard not to let it get to me. I even snapped at Yasu, which I felt awful for! Nobody snaps at Yasu. He’s the nicest person ever. Earlier in the day he told me not to worry because “every day is a party!”. After I’d snapped at him, I instantly apologised and just felt awful. Thankfully, Ingrid was one of the teachers having dinner with the kids and after I told her about my agonising pain, she went and got me some pain killers! Ingrid is a saint.
I did get over the pain eventually, but the rest of the day really dragged… I even missed out my second break so I could finish half an hour earlier. Although I stayed for another 15 minutes because Saito-san was making “butter beer” for the Harry Potter event… It’s really tasty!
Anyway, once I got home, I took all my revision stuff and laptop downstairs. The plan was to finish writing this and then do some revision. So I put The Matrix on and started typing. 30 minutes later I was fast asleep… Part way through the film I woke up and thought “Oh, I get this film now!!!” and went back to sleep. Then woke up to watch the last hour or so, then took my laptop and books to the pub instead. About 15 minutes in, loads of people came down the pub and decided to start socialising. This was fine, I put my stuff away and started socialising. Then, they all decided to go again. They all went off and played chess or talked to people at the bar… In the end it was just me and Nolan sat talking about random stuff. For a bit Yuta came and joined us, but then disappeared again. I then realised that he’d gone off to study without telling me! Some study partner he is! So yeah, I then went and studied with him. I’m starting to get the hang of verbs, I think. Which is exciting. I think once I’ve got a handle on verbs I’ll really begin to excel at Japanese. I just need to find the best way of remembering all the different ones. I already know a few… But there are billions!
Yeah, one of the guests here was at the pub, socialising with everyone. He’s a nice guy. He kept talking to me in Japanese, except he did it really clearly so I could understand. I thought it was really nice of him. Yeah, Japanese people are cool.
So, we’re FINALLY all caught up!!! This morning… I slept… In fact, I woke up at 1:30pm… So, desperate not to miss lunch and end up eating my emergency food (for when I miss meals accidentally) I quickly got dressed and rushed down to the staff kitchen, arriving at 1:45. As I pushed the door open I read on a sign “Closes at 14:00, last meal order at 13:30”… I was gutted. I went in to find the rice cookers empty and the “example food” all packed away and the guys in the back packing all their stuff away. There was a little bit left on the cold buffet, so I piled some of that into a bowl. Just as I put my food in the microwave I heard The Chef (the one who got drunk at the staff party) call my name. He then spoke to me in his usual ridiculously fast, incomprehensible Japanese. All I could pick out was “tabemasu” (eat) as he poured half of his lunch into a bowl and handed it to me. Oh god, that was so sweet of him… He’s such a lovely guy! I’ve been telling everyone, just so they all know how kind he is. (Even though everyone already knows he’s awesome).
I then went home and did some washing and ironing before having yet another good cup of tea (it must be the milk I’ve bought). Oh yeah, Helen went to Shirakawa today and bought me some pain killers… Which I’m so grateful for. I just need to get someone to read the instructions, so I don’t end up taking an overdose.
At 4pm, Yuta finished work so we decided to hang out for a bit. As we drove off he was like “I need to go to the convenience store, do you mind?” No problem, right? Convenience stores are convenient in their location. About 20 minutes into the journey, after passing SEVERAL convenience stores, Yuta was like “we’re nearly there”… Apparently he wanted to go to the one in Aizu (his home town)… But this was fine, I actually really enjoyed seeing some different scenery. Aizu looks really pretty. We then went to a different shop and Yuta bought an Arashi CD and we looked at some DVD’s… Oh god, they’re cheap! He got The Ring for 380 Yen and X-Men for 400 yen (both about £2). I then saw Enchanted and was like “that’s an amazing film” but we both said it was too expensive… Afterwards I realised it’s just come out in Japan and it was only 1000 yen (about £5)… Seriously! Also, I had a quick look at the PS1 games and was so happy to find FFVIII at number 3 best seller (the top two were games I didn’t recognise), with VII and IX below it. Maybe it shouldn’t have pleased me so much… But 8 was above 7... That would never happen in the UK.
Yeah, then Yuta got a text. Apparently his friend wanted to “look at me”… This made me laugh. He wanted to come and look at the gaijin! Ahh, language barriers. Whenever I say “meet”, Japanese people blatantly think I mean “meat”… It’s the same with when I say “wear” and they instantly think “where”… Ahh, I need to learn Japanese.
Let’s see… What words have I learned recently…
Ryouri - Course (of a meal)
Tsugi - Next
Kyoukenbyou - Rabies (there is an incredibly long, hilarious explanation to the reason behind knowing this. Maybe tomorrow…).
Oru/Tadamu - The verb for “folding”
Imo - Potato (pronounced “emo”… Now imagine that emo potato! I can’t remember the longer version because I had too much fun repeatedly talking about emo potatoes!)
Komatta - Confused
Komatteiru - Confusing
Yukurri - Slowly
Zoo - Elephant
Kusai - Smells bad
Ii ni oi - Smells good
Itamimasu - The verb for pain
Um… There are more… But I’m too tired… It is quarter to 2 though so… There’s good reason… Oh god, I can’t let my sleeping pattern go crazy.
Oh yes, I’d just like to quickly mention…. It’s snowing REALLY heavily… And, after 3 weeks of being here I’m beginning to believe I’m in Japan… Not fully there yet though… I’m sure it’ll hit me eventually…
Sunday 23 November 2008
Sunday, through to Friday night...
The three words that seem to be said most in the refectory are, in both languages.
Nemui - Sleepy
Atsui - Hot
Daijobu - Are you ok?/I'm ok
Just thought I'd mention that...
Ok! So, Sunday and Monday were normal days at work really… Although, I feel bad saying nothing… So, I’ll quickly mention just how much I’ve started loving working in the refectory.
Tuesday was my day off. I woke up at about 11am… Fantastic stuff! Helen and I had decided that we wanted to go do Karaoke, so had roped Yuta into taking us and asked Tomo to come (although he never turned up). I spent most of the day relaxing and getting ready for karaoke. It was good. Before Karaoke, we went for some ramen, which was amazingly good. Although I got full very quickly and Yuta had to finish it. Also, I had my first ever Melon soda… Oh god, it’s amazing!!
So anyway, on to karaoke. There’s a not a lot I can write about it… We all sang songs… And generally had fun. Yuta has an amazing voice. He sang Arashi and News songs and it’s only when he stopped singing to cough or something that I realised that there were no backing vocals. I really want to sing some of the Japanese songs next time we go. They have the furigana above the kanji when the lyrics come up on screen… But I’m way not fast enough at reading yet to be able to sing along to them, so I need to learn a song off by heart. If anyone has any suggestions for Japanese songs to learn, e-mail me or send me a face book message. So yeah, awesome fun day.
It started snowing on Wednesday morning. It made me really happy when I woke up and saw snow on the mountains in the distance and a few flakes falling. Although it stopped by the time everyone else had woken up. Anyway, Nolan, Helen and I had decided to go down to Shirakawa that morning, so, for some reason not even I can fathom, I forced them both to get up about 2 hours before the bus would arrive and made them go down to breakfast with me. I’m sure it was a good thing in the end, I’m sure if I hadn’t they would’ve woken up late and missed breakfast or something.
So, anyway, to Shirakawa. This time I didn’t end up spending hours walking around aimlessly because Nolan and Helen actually know where they’re going. We went to some huge shopping centre and I somehow managed to find myself in the 100 yen (50p - ish) section. Oh god, the random things you can get at a 100 yen shop. To my memory I bought… Several hair things, an adorable little bag (which is now my revision bag) a Japanese practice book, pens, ruler, corkboard, pins for my board, a little clock for the kitchen (which still needs batteries)… Um… And other stuff I can’t remember.
I then found another shop where I bought a lot of adorable accessories for my pigtails. (Hey, if I’m going to be called “kawaii” several times a day by hundreds of teenage girls, I might as well give them more of a reason), oh, and I also bought a new pocket watch! I was so annoyed when I realised I’d left my pocket watch at home and I refuse to buy a wristwatch, they annoy me so much. I was so happy when I found a whole display counter covered in different, adorable watches. Even happier when I saw the selection of pocket watches. I was torn between three different ones; a silver one with a butterfly on, a smaller, gold version (about the same size as my pocket watch) and a silver one with a crown on. I decided on the one with a crown on, because it reminded me of Nana Kitade. Seriously, it only cost 1000 yen (£5 - ish). If I go back there, I may buy a few more as spares, they’re really nice watches.
Anyway, I didn’t really buy anything else that was too exciting.
When we got back to British Hills I sat downstairs and watched “My Neighbour Totoro” with James, Nora and sometimes Kenny, while I looked at all my new, exciting stuff. It’s a really weird film… And the voices of the girls in it are really annoying. I have yet to see a Studio Ghibli film that has lived up to all its hype… In my humble opinion.
That night I went down the pub and talked to everyone at the bar for ages. Then I noticed Yuta, sat on his own, looking all down. So I went and asked him what was wrong, and, glancing at his phone once again he was like “Ayano’s had a car crash…” Ahhh!!! I felt sick! He told me that Saito-san, Yasu, Tomo and Yuichi had gone to help. But I really wanted to go as well… Even though I knew it was stupid. Yuta got phone calls throughout the night updating him on what was going on. In the end we found out that she’d gone off the side of the road (originally we heard that she’d fallen off the mountain!!!) and got whiplash, so was spending the night in hospital. I went around telling all the gaijin staff I could… Nobody seemed nearly as upset as I was. So in the end, Yuta and I just sat next to each other, in silence, worrying. I decided that we needed to get our minds off it, so I told Yuta we should go for a walk…. In the snow… Falling heavily. We walked through the woods, towards view point. It was beautiful… The snow was completely untouched and glittered beautifully in the gentle moonlight. I then threw a snowball at Yuta and we had a good snowball fight. Ahhh, there’s nothing quite like acting like a child to cheer you up. I felt much better after this. In the end, all I could do was hope for the best, worrying about it wasn’t going to help.
Thursday was amazing. At work in the morning it was only me, Mel, Yuta, Helen and lots of snow. We did the work we needed to do… Then we played! James appeared part way through and started throwing snowballs at us and attacking us with icicles (yes, we have icicles! They‘re huge!). He then started attacking the passing school children with snowballs. Which gained him more fan girls. Damn him! There was general silliness all day really. Later on, I was going around replacing the flowers. I love doing this as it is… Because I get to play with pretty flowers. I decided to keep a few that weren’t pretty enough to stay on the tables, but still weren’t dead (they’re now taped to my door to dry them). Then Misaki-san was like “come here and try some wine”… So, there we were, sitting around, drinking wine, playing in the snow, admiring roses. Then I went home at 4 because I was on an early shift.
On Friday, work was normal, as far as I can remember... Something exciting probably happened... But it seems like weeks ago.
Helen had decided to do curry and cakes for Friday night. Oh god, it was so good. The oven in our kitchen has stopped working so apparently she had to go to the teachers houses and had to run from room to room stirring each pot on their single hobs and the cakes had to be cooked in the toaster oven. The curry was amazing… Helen’s a damn good cook! It was really nice having everyone sat around the table like that. Let’s see if I can remember… Me, Helen, Mel, Phil, Mansell, Anna, Bruno, Ingrid, Tammy at one point, James… Nolan… Um… Dennis? I’m sure there were other people there… Seriously, it was amazing, we were all sitting around, sharing dishes, making repeated toasts, everyone talking… We’re like one big, multicultural family. England, Holland, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Canada… Um… Yeah… I love everyone here. The mixture of cultures and personalities makes for very interesting conversations and interactions.
Anyway, after the curry, as everyone was leaving I suddenly decided to start building a snowman. I wanted him to be sitting on the chair in the smoking area. So, I got to work moulding his arm first, then his body... Then I realise that if I carried on, my hands would drop off, so I grabbed some gloves and snow boots. I then moulded the rest of him. At one point Yuichi and Noriko came out of the pub and were bewildered by me. Nolan decided to stay out and play in the snow too. He built a snow "mushroom". But yeah, once I'd finished my man, I decided to build a whole army of men. But by this point my whole body was starting to sieze up from the cold (I was only wearing jeans, a thin jumper, snow boots and gloves) so my second man kind of turned into a snow lizard, inspired by a huge one Owain did when I must've been about 8... Yeah. Then I went back inside. That was hilarious. I kicked off my boots and stepped into the house, then my legs gave way from underneath me and I spent about 5 minutes crumpled on the floor in the hallway, laughing to myself because I couldn't get back up.
Once I got to my room I turned my heater onto maximum and just sat next to it, letting it blast me with hot air... It felt good.
But I don't care about the amount of pain I went through, the end product is awesome! He's still there... Sort of... His heads fallen off and his legs are seperate from his body, but you can still sort of tell what he's supposed to be. Plus, a lot of people have commented that he's awesome and actually looks like someone has been covered in snow. I can see him from one of the windows at the refectory as well, which pleases me greatly.
Today is Sunday... (Well, sort of, it's 1:30am on Monday). I have a random day off tomorrow... And I have no idea what to do with it... I don't have enough money to go down to Shirakawa... Plus, I'm feeling quite tired... So I might spend most of tomorrow in my Kigurumi, drinking lots of tea and maybe tidy my room so I can take and upload pitures of it.
I should be caught up on blogs by tomorrow.
Nemui - Sleepy
Atsui - Hot
Daijobu - Are you ok?/I'm ok
Just thought I'd mention that...
Ok! So, Sunday and Monday were normal days at work really… Although, I feel bad saying nothing… So, I’ll quickly mention just how much I’ve started loving working in the refectory.
Tuesday was my day off. I woke up at about 11am… Fantastic stuff! Helen and I had decided that we wanted to go do Karaoke, so had roped Yuta into taking us and asked Tomo to come (although he never turned up). I spent most of the day relaxing and getting ready for karaoke. It was good. Before Karaoke, we went for some ramen, which was amazingly good. Although I got full very quickly and Yuta had to finish it. Also, I had my first ever Melon soda… Oh god, it’s amazing!!
So anyway, on to karaoke. There’s a not a lot I can write about it… We all sang songs… And generally had fun. Yuta has an amazing voice. He sang Arashi and News songs and it’s only when he stopped singing to cough or something that I realised that there were no backing vocals. I really want to sing some of the Japanese songs next time we go. They have the furigana above the kanji when the lyrics come up on screen… But I’m way not fast enough at reading yet to be able to sing along to them, so I need to learn a song off by heart. If anyone has any suggestions for Japanese songs to learn, e-mail me or send me a face book message. So yeah, awesome fun day.
It started snowing on Wednesday morning. It made me really happy when I woke up and saw snow on the mountains in the distance and a few flakes falling. Although it stopped by the time everyone else had woken up. Anyway, Nolan, Helen and I had decided to go down to Shirakawa that morning, so, for some reason not even I can fathom, I forced them both to get up about 2 hours before the bus would arrive and made them go down to breakfast with me. I’m sure it was a good thing in the end, I’m sure if I hadn’t they would’ve woken up late and missed breakfast or something.
So, anyway, to Shirakawa. This time I didn’t end up spending hours walking around aimlessly because Nolan and Helen actually know where they’re going. We went to some huge shopping centre and I somehow managed to find myself in the 100 yen (50p - ish) section. Oh god, the random things you can get at a 100 yen shop. To my memory I bought… Several hair things, an adorable little bag (which is now my revision bag) a Japanese practice book, pens, ruler, corkboard, pins for my board, a little clock for the kitchen (which still needs batteries)… Um… And other stuff I can’t remember.
I then found another shop where I bought a lot of adorable accessories for my pigtails. (Hey, if I’m going to be called “kawaii” several times a day by hundreds of teenage girls, I might as well give them more of a reason), oh, and I also bought a new pocket watch! I was so annoyed when I realised I’d left my pocket watch at home and I refuse to buy a wristwatch, they annoy me so much. I was so happy when I found a whole display counter covered in different, adorable watches. Even happier when I saw the selection of pocket watches. I was torn between three different ones; a silver one with a butterfly on, a smaller, gold version (about the same size as my pocket watch) and a silver one with a crown on. I decided on the one with a crown on, because it reminded me of Nana Kitade. Seriously, it only cost 1000 yen (£5 - ish). If I go back there, I may buy a few more as spares, they’re really nice watches.
Anyway, I didn’t really buy anything else that was too exciting.
When we got back to British Hills I sat downstairs and watched “My Neighbour Totoro” with James, Nora and sometimes Kenny, while I looked at all my new, exciting stuff. It’s a really weird film… And the voices of the girls in it are really annoying. I have yet to see a Studio Ghibli film that has lived up to all its hype… In my humble opinion.
That night I went down the pub and talked to everyone at the bar for ages. Then I noticed Yuta, sat on his own, looking all down. So I went and asked him what was wrong, and, glancing at his phone once again he was like “Ayano’s had a car crash…” Ahhh!!! I felt sick! He told me that Saito-san, Yasu, Tomo and Yuichi had gone to help. But I really wanted to go as well… Even though I knew it was stupid. Yuta got phone calls throughout the night updating him on what was going on. In the end we found out that she’d gone off the side of the road (originally we heard that she’d fallen off the mountain!!!) and got whiplash, so was spending the night in hospital. I went around telling all the gaijin staff I could… Nobody seemed nearly as upset as I was. So in the end, Yuta and I just sat next to each other, in silence, worrying. I decided that we needed to get our minds off it, so I told Yuta we should go for a walk…. In the snow… Falling heavily. We walked through the woods, towards view point. It was beautiful… The snow was completely untouched and glittered beautifully in the gentle moonlight. I then threw a snowball at Yuta and we had a good snowball fight. Ahhh, there’s nothing quite like acting like a child to cheer you up. I felt much better after this. In the end, all I could do was hope for the best, worrying about it wasn’t going to help.
Thursday was amazing. At work in the morning it was only me, Mel, Yuta, Helen and lots of snow. We did the work we needed to do… Then we played! James appeared part way through and started throwing snowballs at us and attacking us with icicles (yes, we have icicles! They‘re huge!). He then started attacking the passing school children with snowballs. Which gained him more fan girls. Damn him! There was general silliness all day really. Later on, I was going around replacing the flowers. I love doing this as it is… Because I get to play with pretty flowers. I decided to keep a few that weren’t pretty enough to stay on the tables, but still weren’t dead (they’re now taped to my door to dry them). Then Misaki-san was like “come here and try some wine”… So, there we were, sitting around, drinking wine, playing in the snow, admiring roses. Then I went home at 4 because I was on an early shift.
On Friday, work was normal, as far as I can remember... Something exciting probably happened... But it seems like weeks ago.
Helen had decided to do curry and cakes for Friday night. Oh god, it was so good. The oven in our kitchen has stopped working so apparently she had to go to the teachers houses and had to run from room to room stirring each pot on their single hobs and the cakes had to be cooked in the toaster oven. The curry was amazing… Helen’s a damn good cook! It was really nice having everyone sat around the table like that. Let’s see if I can remember… Me, Helen, Mel, Phil, Mansell, Anna, Bruno, Ingrid, Tammy at one point, James… Nolan… Um… Dennis? I’m sure there were other people there… Seriously, it was amazing, we were all sitting around, sharing dishes, making repeated toasts, everyone talking… We’re like one big, multicultural family. England, Holland, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Canada… Um… Yeah… I love everyone here. The mixture of cultures and personalities makes for very interesting conversations and interactions.
Anyway, after the curry, as everyone was leaving I suddenly decided to start building a snowman. I wanted him to be sitting on the chair in the smoking area. So, I got to work moulding his arm first, then his body... Then I realise that if I carried on, my hands would drop off, so I grabbed some gloves and snow boots. I then moulded the rest of him. At one point Yuichi and Noriko came out of the pub and were bewildered by me. Nolan decided to stay out and play in the snow too. He built a snow "mushroom". But yeah, once I'd finished my man, I decided to build a whole army of men. But by this point my whole body was starting to sieze up from the cold (I was only wearing jeans, a thin jumper, snow boots and gloves) so my second man kind of turned into a snow lizard, inspired by a huge one Owain did when I must've been about 8... Yeah. Then I went back inside. That was hilarious. I kicked off my boots and stepped into the house, then my legs gave way from underneath me and I spent about 5 minutes crumpled on the floor in the hallway, laughing to myself because I couldn't get back up.
Once I got to my room I turned my heater onto maximum and just sat next to it, letting it blast me with hot air... It felt good.
But I don't care about the amount of pain I went through, the end product is awesome! He's still there... Sort of... His heads fallen off and his legs are seperate from his body, but you can still sort of tell what he's supposed to be. Plus, a lot of people have commented that he's awesome and actually looks like someone has been covered in snow. I can see him from one of the windows at the refectory as well, which pleases me greatly.
Today is Sunday... (Well, sort of, it's 1:30am on Monday). I have a random day off tomorrow... And I have no idea what to do with it... I don't have enough money to go down to Shirakawa... Plus, I'm feeling quite tired... So I might spend most of tomorrow in my Kigurumi, drinking lots of tea and maybe tidy my room so I can take and upload pitures of it.
I should be caught up on blogs by tomorrow.
Saturday 22 November 2008
So.. Three weeks....
Wow... Three weeks ago I arrrived in Japan. Only three weeks!! This time three weeks ago I was stuck in Tokyo Station, attempting to catch a Shinkansen...
Anyway... I've managed to type up Thursday through to Saturday. So, only a week out of date... I may miss out Sunday and Monday as I'm pretty sure nothing exciting happened...
On Thursday I there were people there, filming a J-drama about boy love. So, Helen and I started walking around trying to find them… Then we gave up because we couldn’t find them, and decided to go on a bike ride instead. Just before we left Helen decided to take some pictures of the main building… And there they were. On the roof. Some rodie guy leaning over the wall and waving at us. Anyway, after this excitememnt, we left. It was a really nice ride. We rode to the end of the main drive and saw some really beautiful scenery. We’ve decided we should go on bike rides more often… Maybe even down to Shirakawa one day. When we got back they’d started filming right in front of the refectory. As we walked up the steps we bumped in to one of the actors, he bowed and I said “ohayo gozaimasu…” all confident and stuff and he replied politely. As soon as he was out of earshot I squealed excitedly. Oh god, he was so pretty. So petite and elf like… His hair clips in and everything…. Yay for fangirling. After this, we just watched them filming for ages, taking loads of pictures and fangirling some more. At work, they were filming just outside of the window. I can’t wait for the drama to come out so I can be like “I was in the background there, behind the window, watching the back of their heads!”
Anyway, after lots of distracted working Helen and I managed to hunt down two of the actors and asked for a picture. Only one of them would though (I think they misunderstood and thought we only wanted a picture with one of them…). After the picture was taken Mel just said “playboy”, to which he was like “no, no, no, no, no!” And we all laughed a lot… (It amuses me especially that his limited English vocabulary includes playboy).
On Friday I felt really gross for some reason… I don’t know. You know those days where you just don’t feel pretty and you don’t want anyone to look at you or anything? Yeah. That was one of those days. Unfortunately, I had to go to work… At 6:30am. Work was pretty generic. Fangirls screaming “kawaii” at me… Then telling me it means “cute”. Chefs scaring me with their glares… Or laughter. The chefs scare me a lot.
Oh, and on their second day of filming… All of the pretty boys were there… Not just the two. Helen and I went to the relaxation room for our morning break where we met Mansell and told him all about it. We then saw the pretty boys sitting just outside the door, on the benches. So, after much persuasion by Mansell we went and asked for a picture (guess what Ayano’s phrase of the day was on Thursday?! =D ).
“Sumimasen, shashin o totte kudasai.” (excuse me, please can I take a picture?)… They all looked quite scared and bewildered by us… But agreed and came inside and we got us some pictures of us with pretty boys… Mansell took the picture for us… And the moment he said “everyone move in closer.” I loved him forever. The guy stood just to the right of me was standing really close. Yeah… Very childish fangirling, but I don’t care! Although I still felt very gross and especially unattractive stood next to these boys.
I finished work at about 3pm, and as soon as was humanly possible (considering everyone else wanted to use the shower in which all my stuff is kept), I had myself a bath. I used my mango body wash as bubble bath and filled it loads with really nice, hot water. I then had a shower and cleaned myself before getting in. Oh god, it’s awesome. Japanese baths are really deep and shorter than Western baths. It was so nice to sink into the mass of bubbles and not have to lie right back to enjoy the sensation of hot water lapping at my neck. Friday night was the staff party, so I got changed into something pretty and made a bit of an effort with my make-up… This made me feel a little better. But I still felt really glum… I have no idea why.
I was stood at the entrance, about to put my shoes on, considering not going at all and just going to bed early, when Kenny came in and I told him I didn’t want to go… So he offered to walk me there. Kenny gained 10 points.
When I arrived at the party, I started off feeling really out of place. Everyone had already been there for a couple of hours and had started on the food and drinks long ago. They were already sat in groups, talking and laughing and I felt like such an outsider. I got myself a bowl of soup and sat myself near James, Helen, Mansell and Mel. It wasn’t long before everyone welcomed me and we all got chatting. This was good… This made me feel very happy.
Since “chess night”, I decided to drink as little as possible. I never want to feel like that again. So, I had one cup of some weird grape flavoured beer type thing which was surprisingly nice and watched everyone around me getting drunk. Oh god, drunk people are hilarious… Especially when you’re tipsy and the most sober person in the room. Helen spent the whole night giggling at me. The chef was the best though. Apparently he’d had about 5 glasses of whiskey. He was completely out of it. He kept groping people, men and women. A good few times he’d come over to me and say “beautiful, beautiful!”, before grabbing my hands and talking really quickly in slurred Japanese. At one point, he decided to take a picture of me with Helens camera. He took one picture, then decided to sit somewhere else, fell off the chair and took pictures of me from the floor. After the party at the pavilion (mausoleum) closed, we all headed to the pub. This added more hilarity to my night. Everyone was struggling to walk, using each other to stay upright. As we walked along the road, I kept turning around to tell people that there was a car coming and that they had to move out of the way. It was fantastic. I spent the rest of the night chilling out, watching everyone around me and attempted to get an early night. Due to various different things, I didn’t get it.
But I’m glad I went to that party.
On Saturday morning we had a fire drill. Hm, do you think they organised this carefully to coincide with the morning after? It was brilliant to see other people all hung-over and tired, and me feeling brilliant. For the fire drill we had a Japanese fireman explaining the dangers of Hydrogen Sulphide gas with someone translating into English. It was great fun, we were all sitting on the floor of the sports hall, everyone giggling and talking quietly between themselves while the teachers talked. I felt like I was back in school.
It was quite interesting anyway. Apparently there have been lots of cases of people going to hotels, making hydrogen Sulphide gas in their room and using it as a method of suicide. It smells like rotten eggs and is colourless. If someone creates Hydrogen Sulphide gas we need to stay as high up as possible, as it’s heavier than air. We can’t go into the room in which it’s created. We need to get everyone in the building out and up wind and all neighbouring houses need to close their doors and windows.
We then learned how to use the fire hose. Way fun. Push button, open cupboard, two people grab the hose and run for the fire while one other person stays by the wheel. You then shout back to that person and they open the valve while the other two fight the fire. So we split into two groups and on the other side we could just see people running around shouting “fire, fire” before pulling out the hose and blasting it at Shakespeare. Then the people on our side did it… Oh, it was so fun. Some guy was walking up the main courtyard just as they turned the hose on while Yuta was holding it. It was hilarious, this guy was running away, desperately trying to avoid getting soaked while Yuta struggled to control the direction of the water.
Anyway, we went back to work and for some reason I spent the rest of the day feeling progressively moodier and moodier. Um… Yeah… I eventually cheered up though, so it’s all good.
Anyway... I've managed to type up Thursday through to Saturday. So, only a week out of date... I may miss out Sunday and Monday as I'm pretty sure nothing exciting happened...
On Thursday I there were people there, filming a J-drama about boy love. So, Helen and I started walking around trying to find them… Then we gave up because we couldn’t find them, and decided to go on a bike ride instead. Just before we left Helen decided to take some pictures of the main building… And there they were. On the roof. Some rodie guy leaning over the wall and waving at us. Anyway, after this excitememnt, we left. It was a really nice ride. We rode to the end of the main drive and saw some really beautiful scenery. We’ve decided we should go on bike rides more often… Maybe even down to Shirakawa one day. When we got back they’d started filming right in front of the refectory. As we walked up the steps we bumped in to one of the actors, he bowed and I said “ohayo gozaimasu…” all confident and stuff and he replied politely. As soon as he was out of earshot I squealed excitedly. Oh god, he was so pretty. So petite and elf like… His hair clips in and everything…. Yay for fangirling. After this, we just watched them filming for ages, taking loads of pictures and fangirling some more. At work, they were filming just outside of the window. I can’t wait for the drama to come out so I can be like “I was in the background there, behind the window, watching the back of their heads!”
Anyway, after lots of distracted working Helen and I managed to hunt down two of the actors and asked for a picture. Only one of them would though (I think they misunderstood and thought we only wanted a picture with one of them…). After the picture was taken Mel just said “playboy”, to which he was like “no, no, no, no, no!” And we all laughed a lot… (It amuses me especially that his limited English vocabulary includes playboy).
On Friday I felt really gross for some reason… I don’t know. You know those days where you just don’t feel pretty and you don’t want anyone to look at you or anything? Yeah. That was one of those days. Unfortunately, I had to go to work… At 6:30am. Work was pretty generic. Fangirls screaming “kawaii” at me… Then telling me it means “cute”. Chefs scaring me with their glares… Or laughter. The chefs scare me a lot.
Oh, and on their second day of filming… All of the pretty boys were there… Not just the two. Helen and I went to the relaxation room for our morning break where we met Mansell and told him all about it. We then saw the pretty boys sitting just outside the door, on the benches. So, after much persuasion by Mansell we went and asked for a picture (guess what Ayano’s phrase of the day was on Thursday?! =D ).
“Sumimasen, shashin o totte kudasai.” (excuse me, please can I take a picture?)… They all looked quite scared and bewildered by us… But agreed and came inside and we got us some pictures of us with pretty boys… Mansell took the picture for us… And the moment he said “everyone move in closer.” I loved him forever. The guy stood just to the right of me was standing really close. Yeah… Very childish fangirling, but I don’t care! Although I still felt very gross and especially unattractive stood next to these boys.
I finished work at about 3pm, and as soon as was humanly possible (considering everyone else wanted to use the shower in which all my stuff is kept), I had myself a bath. I used my mango body wash as bubble bath and filled it loads with really nice, hot water. I then had a shower and cleaned myself before getting in. Oh god, it’s awesome. Japanese baths are really deep and shorter than Western baths. It was so nice to sink into the mass of bubbles and not have to lie right back to enjoy the sensation of hot water lapping at my neck. Friday night was the staff party, so I got changed into something pretty and made a bit of an effort with my make-up… This made me feel a little better. But I still felt really glum… I have no idea why.
I was stood at the entrance, about to put my shoes on, considering not going at all and just going to bed early, when Kenny came in and I told him I didn’t want to go… So he offered to walk me there. Kenny gained 10 points.
When I arrived at the party, I started off feeling really out of place. Everyone had already been there for a couple of hours and had started on the food and drinks long ago. They were already sat in groups, talking and laughing and I felt like such an outsider. I got myself a bowl of soup and sat myself near James, Helen, Mansell and Mel. It wasn’t long before everyone welcomed me and we all got chatting. This was good… This made me feel very happy.
Since “chess night”, I decided to drink as little as possible. I never want to feel like that again. So, I had one cup of some weird grape flavoured beer type thing which was surprisingly nice and watched everyone around me getting drunk. Oh god, drunk people are hilarious… Especially when you’re tipsy and the most sober person in the room. Helen spent the whole night giggling at me. The chef was the best though. Apparently he’d had about 5 glasses of whiskey. He was completely out of it. He kept groping people, men and women. A good few times he’d come over to me and say “beautiful, beautiful!”, before grabbing my hands and talking really quickly in slurred Japanese. At one point, he decided to take a picture of me with Helens camera. He took one picture, then decided to sit somewhere else, fell off the chair and took pictures of me from the floor. After the party at the pavilion (mausoleum) closed, we all headed to the pub. This added more hilarity to my night. Everyone was struggling to walk, using each other to stay upright. As we walked along the road, I kept turning around to tell people that there was a car coming and that they had to move out of the way. It was fantastic. I spent the rest of the night chilling out, watching everyone around me and attempted to get an early night. Due to various different things, I didn’t get it.
But I’m glad I went to that party.
On Saturday morning we had a fire drill. Hm, do you think they organised this carefully to coincide with the morning after? It was brilliant to see other people all hung-over and tired, and me feeling brilliant. For the fire drill we had a Japanese fireman explaining the dangers of Hydrogen Sulphide gas with someone translating into English. It was great fun, we were all sitting on the floor of the sports hall, everyone giggling and talking quietly between themselves while the teachers talked. I felt like I was back in school.
It was quite interesting anyway. Apparently there have been lots of cases of people going to hotels, making hydrogen Sulphide gas in their room and using it as a method of suicide. It smells like rotten eggs and is colourless. If someone creates Hydrogen Sulphide gas we need to stay as high up as possible, as it’s heavier than air. We can’t go into the room in which it’s created. We need to get everyone in the building out and up wind and all neighbouring houses need to close their doors and windows.
We then learned how to use the fire hose. Way fun. Push button, open cupboard, two people grab the hose and run for the fire while one other person stays by the wheel. You then shout back to that person and they open the valve while the other two fight the fire. So we split into two groups and on the other side we could just see people running around shouting “fire, fire” before pulling out the hose and blasting it at Shakespeare. Then the people on our side did it… Oh, it was so fun. Some guy was walking up the main courtyard just as they turned the hose on while Yuta was holding it. It was hilarious, this guy was running away, desperately trying to avoid getting soaked while Yuta struggled to control the direction of the water.
Anyway, we went back to work and for some reason I spent the rest of the day feeling progressively moodier and moodier. Um… Yeah… I eventually cheered up though, so it’s all good.
Monday 17 November 2008
Gomen ne!!
I'm so sorry I haven't been posting lately! But, god, this week has been so hectic... But so fun. I'm either too busy having fun to post... Or too tired from having fun...
So, I've decided to post retrospectively until I catch up...
I've really started to enjoy working in the refectory now that I've got to know everyone and feel comfortable with the routine. It's good fun.
Ok, so on Wednesday I woke up, went to the toilet... And when Helen said "hi" to me from her room, I assumed it was still night time and went back to bed... Then checked the time and learned that it was in fact 12:30pm... So, a very long lie in to say the least. I considered just locking myself away in my room until we went to the onsen, but then I realised that I still hadn't applied for my gaijin card, so I went and asked Nami if she would take me.
So, after I'd done what I needed for my gaijin card and come back it was about 3pm... I really needed to get the food sorted... And get myself ready for the onsen.
So, I'm there, running around trying to finish doing my washing, cook chicken and make soup all at the same time. Oh, and I hadn't eaten all day... So I was shovelling food down my throat at the same time.
At about 4:30pm, Yuta and Yukina arrived to take us to the onsen. So I kind of left everything half-cooked for when we got back. So, off we set; me, Dennis, James, Yukina and Yuta.
By the time we arrived at the onsen the sun had already set and it was quite dark. Now, I've never been to an onsen, so in my mind I was imagining the onsen I saw in the Pita-Ten manga... All big, with seperate area's for boys and girls, with a changing room and rock gardens and the like. I was a little suprised to find us walking for about 5 minutes down a steep, rocky path towards the sound of a rushing river... And a tad more suprised to find at the bottom a sort of stone bath set into the ground, just a little above the river. There was a pipe running into it, bringing in hot water... Which was apparently from an actual hot spring.
We actually got changed on the rocks next to the bath. I quite liked this... It was like we were out of some silly teen movie, all getting changed, in the dark, next to a river.
By the time I was in my bikini, I was absolutely freezing. Bear in mind that we're up a mountain in Northern Japan in November... It was a tad chilly. So, I raced towards the onsen, with all it's beautiful steam rising and looking so welcoming and just stepped right in.
You know that feeling when your feet are really, really, icy cold and you just dunk them into really, really hot water? Yeah... I squeaked a little... But it was so good. I was desperate for my body to adjust to the change in temperature so I could just sink my whole body into the water.
It was amazingly hot. There was steam everywhere. For about five minutes I don't think any of us said anything, and we just sat there looking stupidly happy.
We sat in there for a good hour or so, I think... I don't know, time sort of stopped. For a while we talked about silly things. James and I talked about England. We then talked about national pride... Apparently I'm the only one who doesn't know the words to my country's national anthem... However, I can play it on the flute! We then all tried doing tongue twisters in English, Japanese and German, which was hilarious and crazy.
It's fun to get Japanese people to say "red lorry yellow lorry"... Although I can imagine it'd be good practice for them to get their tongues around the l/r thing.
When we got out, I felt so relaxed that I could hardly move. I just sat there in my towel smiling inanely for about 10 minutes while everyone else got dressed... I didn't even have the energy to change out of my bikini, I just put my clothes on on top... But that was fine... I was so hot that it dried almost instantly. Oh god, I felt so clean afterwards... It was beautiful, the moon came out from behind the mountain while we were getting ready to go and it was a full moon, and so bright... We were just bathed in the stunning glow... I wish a picture could've captured that moment in all its glory. But you know it can't.
So we all got back to the house and I finished cooking the chicken and soup… I then served everyone pink chicken, got depressed and James took over. Once James had taken over, it was all lovely… I take no credit for any of it, even though people tried to force it upon me. Next time I’ll make a stew. Oh, and I made a cake, which was incredibly nice. Although our oven is broken. I still need to beg someone to fix that for us so I can make cakes for everyone.
So, I've decided to post retrospectively until I catch up...
I've really started to enjoy working in the refectory now that I've got to know everyone and feel comfortable with the routine. It's good fun.
Ok, so on Wednesday I woke up, went to the toilet... And when Helen said "hi" to me from her room, I assumed it was still night time and went back to bed... Then checked the time and learned that it was in fact 12:30pm... So, a very long lie in to say the least. I considered just locking myself away in my room until we went to the onsen, but then I realised that I still hadn't applied for my gaijin card, so I went and asked Nami if she would take me.
So, after I'd done what I needed for my gaijin card and come back it was about 3pm... I really needed to get the food sorted... And get myself ready for the onsen.
So, I'm there, running around trying to finish doing my washing, cook chicken and make soup all at the same time. Oh, and I hadn't eaten all day... So I was shovelling food down my throat at the same time.
At about 4:30pm, Yuta and Yukina arrived to take us to the onsen. So I kind of left everything half-cooked for when we got back. So, off we set; me, Dennis, James, Yukina and Yuta.
By the time we arrived at the onsen the sun had already set and it was quite dark. Now, I've never been to an onsen, so in my mind I was imagining the onsen I saw in the Pita-Ten manga... All big, with seperate area's for boys and girls, with a changing room and rock gardens and the like. I was a little suprised to find us walking for about 5 minutes down a steep, rocky path towards the sound of a rushing river... And a tad more suprised to find at the bottom a sort of stone bath set into the ground, just a little above the river. There was a pipe running into it, bringing in hot water... Which was apparently from an actual hot spring.
We actually got changed on the rocks next to the bath. I quite liked this... It was like we were out of some silly teen movie, all getting changed, in the dark, next to a river.
By the time I was in my bikini, I was absolutely freezing. Bear in mind that we're up a mountain in Northern Japan in November... It was a tad chilly. So, I raced towards the onsen, with all it's beautiful steam rising and looking so welcoming and just stepped right in.
You know that feeling when your feet are really, really, icy cold and you just dunk them into really, really hot water? Yeah... I squeaked a little... But it was so good. I was desperate for my body to adjust to the change in temperature so I could just sink my whole body into the water.
It was amazingly hot. There was steam everywhere. For about five minutes I don't think any of us said anything, and we just sat there looking stupidly happy.
We sat in there for a good hour or so, I think... I don't know, time sort of stopped. For a while we talked about silly things. James and I talked about England. We then talked about national pride... Apparently I'm the only one who doesn't know the words to my country's national anthem... However, I can play it on the flute! We then all tried doing tongue twisters in English, Japanese and German, which was hilarious and crazy.
It's fun to get Japanese people to say "red lorry yellow lorry"... Although I can imagine it'd be good practice for them to get their tongues around the l/r thing.
When we got out, I felt so relaxed that I could hardly move. I just sat there in my towel smiling inanely for about 10 minutes while everyone else got dressed... I didn't even have the energy to change out of my bikini, I just put my clothes on on top... But that was fine... I was so hot that it dried almost instantly. Oh god, I felt so clean afterwards... It was beautiful, the moon came out from behind the mountain while we were getting ready to go and it was a full moon, and so bright... We were just bathed in the stunning glow... I wish a picture could've captured that moment in all its glory. But you know it can't.
So we all got back to the house and I finished cooking the chicken and soup… I then served everyone pink chicken, got depressed and James took over. Once James had taken over, it was all lovely… I take no credit for any of it, even though people tried to force it upon me. Next time I’ll make a stew. Oh, and I made a cake, which was incredibly nice. Although our oven is broken. I still need to beg someone to fix that for us so I can make cakes for everyone.
Tuesday 11 November 2008
"Stupid Yuta!"
Ok, so today I went down to Shirakawa with Yuta to buy ingredients for cakes and this meal I'm doing tomorrow. I was kinda relying on Yuta to help me get around without getting lost...
It didn't start well when we got to the station and he tried to go through the ticket barrier, then, when he realised he'd gone the wrong way, he just walked off while I was left trying to explain to a very angry ticket guy that we'd gone the wrong way in my broken Japanese!!!
A bit later on, I asked him where we were going and he said "I don't know... I've only been here 3 times." I've been to Shirakawa twice! So, he's only been there once more than me!
Anyway, we decided to go for sushi for breakfast (genki sushi again! It's so good!). So we're walking along and along and along... And I'm thinking it didn't take this long last time I went and Yuta's there like "don't worry, trust me!"
Then we ended up in some back alley, no idea where we were. So I directed us to what looked like shops... And we did a bit of shopping... But still had no idea where we were.
After about an hour of randomly walking, "trusting" Yuta, we found a taxi company building and decided to get a taxi. There was nobody in the cars at the front, so I suggested we checked the office. When Yuta got to the front door he turned me and was like "am I allowed?" Oh, I did tell him off! Seriously, he's the one who knows what the signs outside say... He's the one who's Japanese.
So yeah, turns out we were going the completely wrong direction.
We finally had sushi and did some shopping. I bought a dalmation Kigurumi. This is a Kigurumi:
It's amazing! I saw them hanging up at the back of some random clothes store (I meant to buy a winter coat... But failed... So I got my Kirugumi and leg warmers instead. I also bought some Christmas presents and got the ingredients I needed for the cake and chicken from another shop. Although, Japan doesn't do whole chickens... I ended up having to get chicken wings. But yeah, Japan is amazingly random, I love it! I kept laughing in the shop because of the random stuff I saw... In a generic shopping centre!
Also, Japan does amazing socks! They do hundereds of them, in beautiful, unique styles and they're all so cheap! I'm in heaven!
Anyway, we then tried finding our way back to the train station... Which was yet another exciting adventure. I started by following Yuta, letting him redeem himself... Until we somehow found ourselves in a back alley asking a very sweet lady for directions. Once we were back on the main road (and I'd noticed that we'd actually just gone in a big circle), I decided to take control. I then started walking in what I thought was the right direction... We must've been walking for hours...
We ended up at Shirakawa station... We needed to get to Shin-Shirakawa station... They're different apparently... So... Another taxi. It took us about 15 minutes to get there by taxi... Oh god, how did we make such an epic fail?
I attempted to tackle Black Shop again... This time I was able to walk around without feeling faint... But it's still so disorientating... I wanted to buy a games console... But couldn't find one I wanted... So we headed back to the station.
When we got back I jumped straight into my Kigurumi! Oh god, it's amazing!! It's so warm and comfortable and adorable! I'm so going to wear it around the house when I've got nothing better to do.
I had a nice walk around the BH grounds with Nora as the sun set and we discussed Japan... And by that, I mean, I talked a lot... And we looked out for bears. Then I made cakes! This was an adventure in itself... I found out that our oven is broken AFTER I'd made the mixture... So I had Nora desperately trying to find us an oven before the mix went all weird... We had to be creative, to say the least... Must mention the broken oven tomorrow. Anyway, the cakes came out really well... They're really tasty.
I decided to wear my Kigurumi down the pub tonight and I brought cake. It was really fun. I played Nora at a couple of games of chess, and failed, massively. Then, we all sat around talking for a bit... Well, they did... I was too tired... So I just listened to everyone around me and smiled inanely to myself.
I've been feeling really cheeful and chilled out recently. Life is very good. Everyone here is really awesome.
Onsen tomorrow, woo!
It didn't start well when we got to the station and he tried to go through the ticket barrier, then, when he realised he'd gone the wrong way, he just walked off while I was left trying to explain to a very angry ticket guy that we'd gone the wrong way in my broken Japanese!!!
A bit later on, I asked him where we were going and he said "I don't know... I've only been here 3 times." I've been to Shirakawa twice! So, he's only been there once more than me!
Anyway, we decided to go for sushi for breakfast (genki sushi again! It's so good!). So we're walking along and along and along... And I'm thinking it didn't take this long last time I went and Yuta's there like "don't worry, trust me!"
Then we ended up in some back alley, no idea where we were. So I directed us to what looked like shops... And we did a bit of shopping... But still had no idea where we were.
After about an hour of randomly walking, "trusting" Yuta, we found a taxi company building and decided to get a taxi. There was nobody in the cars at the front, so I suggested we checked the office. When Yuta got to the front door he turned me and was like "am I allowed?" Oh, I did tell him off! Seriously, he's the one who knows what the signs outside say... He's the one who's Japanese.
So yeah, turns out we were going the completely wrong direction.
We finally had sushi and did some shopping. I bought a dalmation Kigurumi. This is a Kigurumi:
It's amazing! I saw them hanging up at the back of some random clothes store (I meant to buy a winter coat... But failed... So I got my Kirugumi and leg warmers instead. I also bought some Christmas presents and got the ingredients I needed for the cake and chicken from another shop. Although, Japan doesn't do whole chickens... I ended up having to get chicken wings. But yeah, Japan is amazingly random, I love it! I kept laughing in the shop because of the random stuff I saw... In a generic shopping centre!
Also, Japan does amazing socks! They do hundereds of them, in beautiful, unique styles and they're all so cheap! I'm in heaven!
Anyway, we then tried finding our way back to the train station... Which was yet another exciting adventure. I started by following Yuta, letting him redeem himself... Until we somehow found ourselves in a back alley asking a very sweet lady for directions. Once we were back on the main road (and I'd noticed that we'd actually just gone in a big circle), I decided to take control. I then started walking in what I thought was the right direction... We must've been walking for hours...
We ended up at Shirakawa station... We needed to get to Shin-Shirakawa station... They're different apparently... So... Another taxi. It took us about 15 minutes to get there by taxi... Oh god, how did we make such an epic fail?
I attempted to tackle Black Shop again... This time I was able to walk around without feeling faint... But it's still so disorientating... I wanted to buy a games console... But couldn't find one I wanted... So we headed back to the station.
When we got back I jumped straight into my Kigurumi! Oh god, it's amazing!! It's so warm and comfortable and adorable! I'm so going to wear it around the house when I've got nothing better to do.
I had a nice walk around the BH grounds with Nora as the sun set and we discussed Japan... And by that, I mean, I talked a lot... And we looked out for bears. Then I made cakes! This was an adventure in itself... I found out that our oven is broken AFTER I'd made the mixture... So I had Nora desperately trying to find us an oven before the mix went all weird... We had to be creative, to say the least... Must mention the broken oven tomorrow. Anyway, the cakes came out really well... They're really tasty.
I decided to wear my Kigurumi down the pub tonight and I brought cake. It was really fun. I played Nora at a couple of games of chess, and failed, massively. Then, we all sat around talking for a bit... Well, they did... I was too tired... So I just listened to everyone around me and smiled inanely to myself.
I've been feeling really cheeful and chilled out recently. Life is very good. Everyone here is really awesome.
Onsen tomorrow, woo!
Monday 10 November 2008
"Welcome to the British Hills Mausoleum!"
Ok, first, I'm so sorry I haven't been updating this as often as before. But I've really settled in recently and have either been too busy having fun or so tired from all the fun to actually put into words what I've been doing and how I'm feeling.
So, yesterday was hilarious and strange. There was a big tea event... That was literally translated... Seriously, it was called 大茶会 - Dai cha kai. Big tea event.
Anyway, this meant that there were hundereds of people everywhere... So we were nice and busy all day. I started work at 6:30am... Which I've never done before. That was fun. We got to have buffet food for breakfast, which was delicious.
Anyway, later on I went to the pavillion to serve lunch to the Japanese Boy Scouts who couldn't fit into the actual refectory. I was with Saito-san, Tomo and a load of Japanese chefs. It was hilarious. They were all stood around talking to eachother really quickly in Japanese, and I was just stood there, listening, watching, picking out occasional words. I'm so glad they didn't talk to eachother in English for my sake...
I really enjoy watching Japanese men talk to eachother. They talk so loudly and react so dramatically. I love watching them completely relax with their peers, randomly shouting words or exclaiming "EHHHHH?" loudly and laughing. I love watching them talk to their superiors, and see how they change and watch them bow and are so careful to pay attention.
Because I was the only gaijin there, I had to give the speeches to the 64 Japanese boy scouts, welcoming them to the pavillion, showing them where the food was and telling them where to put their dirty stuff... So...
"Good afternoon and welcome to the British Hills......" Mausoleum "...." Mausoleum! "...... PAVILLION! Tonight..." It's the afternoon "... We have a buffet including....." Food... "Pasta, rice, meat and fish..." You forgot to mention soup and potato "we also have a salad... Including..." What? Salad stuff? "...Salad stuff... And afterwards there will be pudding" No there won't. Why did you just promise these poor chidlren pudding?! "Once you've finished please take everything to the trolley over there and put any leftovers in the bin. Thank you, please stand up and follow me to the buffet table!"
This happened... Or something smilar... Every time I gave a speech. The itallics are what I was thinking... I did actually say "salad stuff!"
This was both hilarious and horrific... Thankfully their English was practically non-existant, so they had no idea that I was talking absolute rubbish.
After that, I ate some more delicious buffet food. They have these battered chicken things... That are absolutely delicous and moreish... I can't stop eating them, they're so sweet and tender and juicy. They're amazing!
Anyway, I finished work at 3pm... Which completely threw me for the rest of the day. I'm so used to finishing at 9pm that I had no idea what to do with my afternoon... And I completely wasted it. I slept for a lot of it, then I sat on the internet and when Nora finally came home I watched him game for a bit before playing shot chess.
I lost at shot chess... I'm never, ever playing again... And I may never drink again.
So, today, I woke up in a complete state because of the damn chess... I had a shower... And noticed that my legs are considerably thinner than they used to be... Although they're absolutely covered in bruises. Just thought I'd put that out there...
Work was awesome. For most of the day it was only me and Ayano. We spent ages just talking about random stuff. Later on, James and Dennis came and we all just stood around joking, being silly. Good times.
It was really busy, so I had lots of fun running from one buffet table to the next, doing as many things as possible. I'm always happier when I feel like I'm in an impossible situation and I'm handling it.
It was so funny, one girl put some gravy on her rice and James just tutted and said "That's no good. You're supposed to put it on your beef..." To which she pulled her head away from her plate and loudly exclaimed "EHHHHHHHHHH?!" As if she'd done something awful. Oh god, I laughed for so long.
Later on another girl was asking for a lemon to put in her tea. So James went and got her a whole lemon and offered it to her. He then actually cut it up and presented it to her on a dish. Once she'd finished she gave James the last 3 slices of the lemon she didn't have. So James wrapped it up in cellophane and gave it to her on her way out. Oh god, she wasn't impressed at all. James is funny.
Oh yeah, yesterday Yasu taught me a new word "saigo" (last). If I say "saigo no hitotsu" I'm saying "last one" or I can say "____ wa saigo" which is "Last ____"... Which is important when I'm doing the buffet and we're on the last one of something. I can just shout it to the chefs... So, today I tried it out. The first time the chef just shouted back "haii" and everything was fine. The second time, as I left I heard a couple of them laughing saying "saiko" (awesome)... =/ The chefs laugh a lot when I leave the kitchen... It makes me feel very paranoid... But I will keep talking to them in Japanese, even if they do mock me!
Tomorrow I'm going down to Shirakawa to buy stuff. And on Wednesday a group of us are going to an onsen. I'm really looking forward to it. It should be really good. After that, we're all heading back to the staff house and eating a roast chicken dinner I plan on making. I'm looking forwards to it.
Also, my favourite collection of kanji ever.
大丈夫 Daijoubu (It's alright). We all say this a lot... As a question and as an answer to stuff. It's a useful word...
That's all for now, I think...
So, yesterday was hilarious and strange. There was a big tea event... That was literally translated... Seriously, it was called 大茶会 - Dai cha kai. Big tea event.
Anyway, this meant that there were hundereds of people everywhere... So we were nice and busy all day. I started work at 6:30am... Which I've never done before. That was fun. We got to have buffet food for breakfast, which was delicious.
Anyway, later on I went to the pavillion to serve lunch to the Japanese Boy Scouts who couldn't fit into the actual refectory. I was with Saito-san, Tomo and a load of Japanese chefs. It was hilarious. They were all stood around talking to eachother really quickly in Japanese, and I was just stood there, listening, watching, picking out occasional words. I'm so glad they didn't talk to eachother in English for my sake...
I really enjoy watching Japanese men talk to eachother. They talk so loudly and react so dramatically. I love watching them completely relax with their peers, randomly shouting words or exclaiming "EHHHHH?" loudly and laughing. I love watching them talk to their superiors, and see how they change and watch them bow and are so careful to pay attention.
Because I was the only gaijin there, I had to give the speeches to the 64 Japanese boy scouts, welcoming them to the pavillion, showing them where the food was and telling them where to put their dirty stuff... So...
"Good afternoon and welcome to the British Hills......" Mausoleum "...." Mausoleum! "...... PAVILLION! Tonight..." It's the afternoon "... We have a buffet including....." Food... "Pasta, rice, meat and fish..." You forgot to mention soup and potato "we also have a salad... Including..." What? Salad stuff? "...Salad stuff... And afterwards there will be pudding" No there won't. Why did you just promise these poor chidlren pudding?! "Once you've finished please take everything to the trolley over there and put any leftovers in the bin. Thank you, please stand up and follow me to the buffet table!"
This happened... Or something smilar... Every time I gave a speech. The itallics are what I was thinking... I did actually say "salad stuff!"
This was both hilarious and horrific... Thankfully their English was practically non-existant, so they had no idea that I was talking absolute rubbish.
After that, I ate some more delicious buffet food. They have these battered chicken things... That are absolutely delicous and moreish... I can't stop eating them, they're so sweet and tender and juicy. They're amazing!
Anyway, I finished work at 3pm... Which completely threw me for the rest of the day. I'm so used to finishing at 9pm that I had no idea what to do with my afternoon... And I completely wasted it. I slept for a lot of it, then I sat on the internet and when Nora finally came home I watched him game for a bit before playing shot chess.
I lost at shot chess... I'm never, ever playing again... And I may never drink again.
So, today, I woke up in a complete state because of the damn chess... I had a shower... And noticed that my legs are considerably thinner than they used to be... Although they're absolutely covered in bruises. Just thought I'd put that out there...
Work was awesome. For most of the day it was only me and Ayano. We spent ages just talking about random stuff. Later on, James and Dennis came and we all just stood around joking, being silly. Good times.
It was really busy, so I had lots of fun running from one buffet table to the next, doing as many things as possible. I'm always happier when I feel like I'm in an impossible situation and I'm handling it.
It was so funny, one girl put some gravy on her rice and James just tutted and said "That's no good. You're supposed to put it on your beef..." To which she pulled her head away from her plate and loudly exclaimed "EHHHHHHHHHH?!" As if she'd done something awful. Oh god, I laughed for so long.
Later on another girl was asking for a lemon to put in her tea. So James went and got her a whole lemon and offered it to her. He then actually cut it up and presented it to her on a dish. Once she'd finished she gave James the last 3 slices of the lemon she didn't have. So James wrapped it up in cellophane and gave it to her on her way out. Oh god, she wasn't impressed at all. James is funny.
Oh yeah, yesterday Yasu taught me a new word "saigo" (last). If I say "saigo no hitotsu" I'm saying "last one" or I can say "____ wa saigo" which is "Last ____"... Which is important when I'm doing the buffet and we're on the last one of something. I can just shout it to the chefs... So, today I tried it out. The first time the chef just shouted back "haii" and everything was fine. The second time, as I left I heard a couple of them laughing saying "saiko" (awesome)... =/ The chefs laugh a lot when I leave the kitchen... It makes me feel very paranoid... But I will keep talking to them in Japanese, even if they do mock me!
Tomorrow I'm going down to Shirakawa to buy stuff. And on Wednesday a group of us are going to an onsen. I'm really looking forward to it. It should be really good. After that, we're all heading back to the staff house and eating a roast chicken dinner I plan on making. I'm looking forwards to it.
Also, my favourite collection of kanji ever.
大丈夫 Daijoubu (It's alright). We all say this a lot... As a question and as an answer to stuff. It's a useful word...
That's all for now, I think...
Friday 7 November 2008
Oh gosh, I love Japanese people.
Loving family and friends. Fear not, I have not been swallowed into a black hole of dispair and self-hatered and stopped doing these blogs. In fact, I've been having too much fun to do these blogs... And the one I did write, crashed when I tried to post it and got lost into the abyss of crashed blogs.
Ok, so... When was my last blog? Oh god, I don't know... Tuesday? Ok, wow... Lots of time to make up then.
Oh, right, I remembers (that was a typo I decided to keep in)!
Wednesday was my second day of work! I've got to say, it was quite awesome. So, most people who know me know that I actually perform better when I'm under stress. So, on Wednesday I'm in charge of my own buffet table. And this time I don't have any help, because I'd already had a day of training, so therefore knew exactly what I had to do. So, I notice that I'm running low on Fish as well as several other things. Being in Japan, fish is usually the most popular choice of the discerning Japanese school student, so I decide to get that first. So, I ran into the kithchen and started looking through the heating cupboards (there are 3, and I still can't remember where all the different dishes go). So, the chef looks at me and goes "hai?" Now, the chefs in the kitchen speak very little Japanese, so feeling the pressure, I shout back to him "Sakana? Doko desu ka?!" And it just came so naturally... I was shocked. He then pointed to a cupboard. So I grabbed it and refilled my food.
A few moments later Yuta walked past me and said "Faye? You are good Japanese." Seriously, this made me smile... It was so nice of him. Then Ayano came over and spoke to me really quickly in Japanese, all I picked out was "nihongo" (Japanese), so I was like "eh?" (this is an incredibly Japanese thing to do... And I can't stop doing it recently...) then she just said "sugoi" (good!)... I've got to say, this didn't hurt my confidence.
Ayano spent the rest of the day being really nice to me. She would stop and chat to me for ages about stuff. I found out that she plays the clarinet, and I told her that Katherine plays the clarinet. Then we said we should start up a BH band with me on flute and Helen on violin. We spent the rest of the day talking about music tastes, boyfriends, my Japanese learning, families... Practically everything. I really like Ayano, she's so sweet, and she's not afraid to tell me bluntly if I do something wrong, which I really respect.
Anyway, after the repeated positive response from wearing my mitsuami I decided to wear them again to work. One girl came over to me very nervously and was like "can I have a picture? With you?" Then bowed repeatedly before beconing me in a manic way... Then started throwing random English words at me. I told her to calm down. Oh god, she was getting so worked up, it was adorable.
Then, later on, a load of Japanese school girls came over to me when I was cleaning the table and started talking to me, asking me questions and stuff. When I told them I'm 19 they were shocked... And I'm pretty sure it's because I look older to them (apparently Japanese people seem to think Westerners look older than they are, I suppose it's because they all look so young). I had about 10 pictures taken with various groups of girls... And just as I thought one was over, another group would arrive.
Later on, we were told that we needed to wave goodbye to the school busses as they left. Then, all the girls who had talked to me leaned out of the window and started shouting "kawaii" and waving manically at me. Ayano then asked me if I knew what this meant (of course I do. It's one of the first Japanese words any otaku learns). So then she was like "you are, cute I think."
Later on, when we were struggling to find things to do, Misaki-san (our manager) came in and told us that we were needed in the tea room because it was so busy. Oh, I love the tea room. It's so pretty and cute, it looks like a dolls house. The atmosphere is so nice and the staff there are so sweet... Plus, the whole place smells like cakes and apparently you can eat any left overs. Woo!
Anyway, that night I was so exhausted from the night before that I HAD to go to bed early.
Thursday, I woke up feeling very refreshed and cheerful and found out that the interns were leaving that morning. So James, Nora and I went to say goodbye to them. Oh god, they're all so sweet. I'm really going to miss them. Ayumi's got my e-mail address, although she still has yet to e-mail me, which sucks. We all had pictures taken together on the steps and the girls cooed a bit more over my mitsuami.
Work was cool... Pretty quiet, so we just sort of chilled out, folding stuff and polishing stuff, talking about random things.
Then Mel got a phone call and told us that someone named Anna was planning a night out in Shirakawa and asked who wanted to go. I agreed, always happy to join in social events.
That evening, I had my first ever "service". Instead of just standing at the buffet smiling sweetly, I was actually serving people, carrying plates and taking stuff away. Oh god, it was scary (kowakatta). I burned my fingers at one point because I picked up a plate that had only just come out of the plate heating thing. But yeah, I dropped about 8 pieces of cutlery (in front of the guests. I dropped about 30 behind the scenes). I nearly dropped two plates and I took some poor guys bread away before he'd finished it. But all in all, I think did pretty well... Considering I've never done anything like it before. It was exhausting though.
That night I met Anna and Brian for the first time. They're both teachers and, even though I didn't talk to them for long, they were lovely. So, 9 of us piled into a mini-bus and headed down to Shirakawa. We went to this really lovely resteraunt. Seriously traidional too, which was fantastic. I got some sort of platter of things on skewers because Yuta told me there were nice... Although everyone else was grossed out because apparently it consisted of things like chickens liver and quail eggs and stuff... I didn't care... It all tasted nice (apart from the chicken liver, it's so chewy and quite bland!). I also ended up sharing three bottles of Sake with Mansell, James and Yuta. I had all three of them topping up my cup (as is custom in Japan) constantly. Now, the thing I find with sake is that you drink loads... And you only realise you're drunk when you try standing up. Then you find that you've actually left your brain and motor functions on the floor. It's a real struggle. I did get quite drunk. On the way back I shared a taxi with Mansell, James and Yuta (the taxi company screwed up and we ended up going back in two taxi's). Mansell and James are awesome. They spent the whole journey back being really nice to me and generally making me feel happy. We got back, and, after a big mix up between the taxi's and BH, we finally got back into the house and played a game involving a bottle stopper and a lot of imagination. It was quite fun... Although I was far too full of Sake to think of stuff. We then watched Romeo and Julliet...
Yesterday was pretty dull really... Although, in the evening I had my own table. Instead of just taking plates to them when I was tol to, I had my own two customers to look after. I needed to talk to them, take them food and organise with the kitchen when to serve the next course. Although I had a lot of help from Ayano, as we were on the top floor and she had to message down to the kitchen with walkie talkies to get more stuff. Then she'd tell me what to do every step of the way.
Today was awful. I felt really grumpy this morning because I'd had a rubbish nights sleep. I was then told to do "guest control". Which nobody had told me how to do. I was just told to give them a speech. So I went over and told them where to get buffet stuff and to put their dishes in the wash room. I then walked off again. When I got behind the barrier everyone told me that I was supposed to lead them in. So I had to go back... Getting severely laughed at by a bunch of 15 year olds... Not fun!
Although, Ayano did cheer me up when she told me to buy a flute so that we can make a British Hills band with her, me, Helen and Mel. Ayano is so sweet. I think I will actually. I love playing the flute and I do miss it. Plus, it'd be a nice way of spending time with other people.
After lunch I cheered up a lot, and became happy and bouncy again... Until I felt really sick. As in, I thought I was going to throw up, sick. It was so hot and there were so many people everywhere. Plus, we kept running out of stuff and the chefs were taking ages to get more stuff out... There were pepole even asking for specific things that just weren't there.
I was then lucky enough to do service again. Just me, again, looking after two people. It was going pretty well, up until the main course. I burned my hand on one of the plates, then the women took ages to eat their damn food. So I was just stood there, watching, trying to ignore the pain in my head by focusing on the pain in my feet.
Then, I was told that Helen couldn't make it in to take her table and was asked if I would. I had no problem with it and agreed instantly... Only to find that it was the General manager and his friends... Not only that, but the GM had really awkward requests. They all ordered different drinks and kept changing their orders. In the end, the pain in my head was so bad I felt as if I was about to cry. Thankfully everyone elses tables had left and nobody was trying to reach the world record for most dragged out dinner. So loads of people started helping me... While I really appreciated this, I couldn't help but feel a bit lame... But whatever, my head hurts! That's a good enough reason.
Anyway, I'm exhausted and my head still hurts... So no more... And no proofreading... So if half of it is in no language that anybody recognises and the other half is just a string of abuse... I don't care! I'm too tired and I need to get up early tomorrow for my 6:30 shift!
Ok, so... When was my last blog? Oh god, I don't know... Tuesday? Ok, wow... Lots of time to make up then.
Oh, right, I remembers (that was a typo I decided to keep in)!
Wednesday was my second day of work! I've got to say, it was quite awesome. So, most people who know me know that I actually perform better when I'm under stress. So, on Wednesday I'm in charge of my own buffet table. And this time I don't have any help, because I'd already had a day of training, so therefore knew exactly what I had to do. So, I notice that I'm running low on Fish as well as several other things. Being in Japan, fish is usually the most popular choice of the discerning Japanese school student, so I decide to get that first. So, I ran into the kithchen and started looking through the heating cupboards (there are 3, and I still can't remember where all the different dishes go). So, the chef looks at me and goes "hai?" Now, the chefs in the kitchen speak very little Japanese, so feeling the pressure, I shout back to him "Sakana? Doko desu ka?!" And it just came so naturally... I was shocked. He then pointed to a cupboard. So I grabbed it and refilled my food.
A few moments later Yuta walked past me and said "Faye? You are good Japanese." Seriously, this made me smile... It was so nice of him. Then Ayano came over and spoke to me really quickly in Japanese, all I picked out was "nihongo" (Japanese), so I was like "eh?" (this is an incredibly Japanese thing to do... And I can't stop doing it recently...) then she just said "sugoi" (good!)... I've got to say, this didn't hurt my confidence.
Ayano spent the rest of the day being really nice to me. She would stop and chat to me for ages about stuff. I found out that she plays the clarinet, and I told her that Katherine plays the clarinet. Then we said we should start up a BH band with me on flute and Helen on violin. We spent the rest of the day talking about music tastes, boyfriends, my Japanese learning, families... Practically everything. I really like Ayano, she's so sweet, and she's not afraid to tell me bluntly if I do something wrong, which I really respect.
Anyway, after the repeated positive response from wearing my mitsuami I decided to wear them again to work. One girl came over to me very nervously and was like "can I have a picture? With you?" Then bowed repeatedly before beconing me in a manic way... Then started throwing random English words at me. I told her to calm down. Oh god, she was getting so worked up, it was adorable.
Then, later on, a load of Japanese school girls came over to me when I was cleaning the table and started talking to me, asking me questions and stuff. When I told them I'm 19 they were shocked... And I'm pretty sure it's because I look older to them (apparently Japanese people seem to think Westerners look older than they are, I suppose it's because they all look so young). I had about 10 pictures taken with various groups of girls... And just as I thought one was over, another group would arrive.
Later on, we were told that we needed to wave goodbye to the school busses as they left. Then, all the girls who had talked to me leaned out of the window and started shouting "kawaii" and waving manically at me. Ayano then asked me if I knew what this meant (of course I do. It's one of the first Japanese words any otaku learns). So then she was like "you are, cute I think."
Later on, when we were struggling to find things to do, Misaki-san (our manager) came in and told us that we were needed in the tea room because it was so busy. Oh, I love the tea room. It's so pretty and cute, it looks like a dolls house. The atmosphere is so nice and the staff there are so sweet... Plus, the whole place smells like cakes and apparently you can eat any left overs. Woo!
Anyway, that night I was so exhausted from the night before that I HAD to go to bed early.
Thursday, I woke up feeling very refreshed and cheerful and found out that the interns were leaving that morning. So James, Nora and I went to say goodbye to them. Oh god, they're all so sweet. I'm really going to miss them. Ayumi's got my e-mail address, although she still has yet to e-mail me, which sucks. We all had pictures taken together on the steps and the girls cooed a bit more over my mitsuami.
Work was cool... Pretty quiet, so we just sort of chilled out, folding stuff and polishing stuff, talking about random things.
Then Mel got a phone call and told us that someone named Anna was planning a night out in Shirakawa and asked who wanted to go. I agreed, always happy to join in social events.
That evening, I had my first ever "service". Instead of just standing at the buffet smiling sweetly, I was actually serving people, carrying plates and taking stuff away. Oh god, it was scary (kowakatta). I burned my fingers at one point because I picked up a plate that had only just come out of the plate heating thing. But yeah, I dropped about 8 pieces of cutlery (in front of the guests. I dropped about 30 behind the scenes). I nearly dropped two plates and I took some poor guys bread away before he'd finished it. But all in all, I think did pretty well... Considering I've never done anything like it before. It was exhausting though.
That night I met Anna and Brian for the first time. They're both teachers and, even though I didn't talk to them for long, they were lovely. So, 9 of us piled into a mini-bus and headed down to Shirakawa. We went to this really lovely resteraunt. Seriously traidional too, which was fantastic. I got some sort of platter of things on skewers because Yuta told me there were nice... Although everyone else was grossed out because apparently it consisted of things like chickens liver and quail eggs and stuff... I didn't care... It all tasted nice (apart from the chicken liver, it's so chewy and quite bland!). I also ended up sharing three bottles of Sake with Mansell, James and Yuta. I had all three of them topping up my cup (as is custom in Japan) constantly. Now, the thing I find with sake is that you drink loads... And you only realise you're drunk when you try standing up. Then you find that you've actually left your brain and motor functions on the floor. It's a real struggle. I did get quite drunk. On the way back I shared a taxi with Mansell, James and Yuta (the taxi company screwed up and we ended up going back in two taxi's). Mansell and James are awesome. They spent the whole journey back being really nice to me and generally making me feel happy. We got back, and, after a big mix up between the taxi's and BH, we finally got back into the house and played a game involving a bottle stopper and a lot of imagination. It was quite fun... Although I was far too full of Sake to think of stuff. We then watched Romeo and Julliet...
Yesterday was pretty dull really... Although, in the evening I had my own table. Instead of just taking plates to them when I was tol to, I had my own two customers to look after. I needed to talk to them, take them food and organise with the kitchen when to serve the next course. Although I had a lot of help from Ayano, as we were on the top floor and she had to message down to the kitchen with walkie talkies to get more stuff. Then she'd tell me what to do every step of the way.
Today was awful. I felt really grumpy this morning because I'd had a rubbish nights sleep. I was then told to do "guest control". Which nobody had told me how to do. I was just told to give them a speech. So I went over and told them where to get buffet stuff and to put their dishes in the wash room. I then walked off again. When I got behind the barrier everyone told me that I was supposed to lead them in. So I had to go back... Getting severely laughed at by a bunch of 15 year olds... Not fun!
Although, Ayano did cheer me up when she told me to buy a flute so that we can make a British Hills band with her, me, Helen and Mel. Ayano is so sweet. I think I will actually. I love playing the flute and I do miss it. Plus, it'd be a nice way of spending time with other people.
After lunch I cheered up a lot, and became happy and bouncy again... Until I felt really sick. As in, I thought I was going to throw up, sick. It was so hot and there were so many people everywhere. Plus, we kept running out of stuff and the chefs were taking ages to get more stuff out... There were pepole even asking for specific things that just weren't there.
I was then lucky enough to do service again. Just me, again, looking after two people. It was going pretty well, up until the main course. I burned my hand on one of the plates, then the women took ages to eat their damn food. So I was just stood there, watching, trying to ignore the pain in my head by focusing on the pain in my feet.
Then, I was told that Helen couldn't make it in to take her table and was asked if I would. I had no problem with it and agreed instantly... Only to find that it was the General manager and his friends... Not only that, but the GM had really awkward requests. They all ordered different drinks and kept changing their orders. In the end, the pain in my head was so bad I felt as if I was about to cry. Thankfully everyone elses tables had left and nobody was trying to reach the world record for most dragged out dinner. So loads of people started helping me... While I really appreciated this, I couldn't help but feel a bit lame... But whatever, my head hurts! That's a good enough reason.
Anyway, I'm exhausted and my head still hurts... So no more... And no proofreading... So if half of it is in no language that anybody recognises and the other half is just a string of abuse... I don't care! I'm too tired and I need to get up early tomorrow for my 6:30 shift!
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Yopparataaaa!!! Durunkuuuu!
Ok, quickly to any BH staff who read my blogs and take offence to them. I'm honestly really sorry to offend you guys. Honestly, I think you're all awesome. You've made me feel so welcome and I've settled in so quickly thanks to all of you (although, Helen, you especially, have no idea what a massive help you've been to me)! Reading my blog back I can actually see how you can take offence to it. You guys have been here longer than me, so you all know eachother better and it's not fair of me to say, as a fact, that you're not close.
It's just, since I've arrived... I've felt very welcome... But quite isolated. I much prefer spending time with large groups of people than by myself, I'm well aware that not everyone likes this all the time, even me. I mean, I've left my door open (when it's tidy), in the hopes that you'll all feel like you can come and talk to me at any time... Meeting new people is very hard... And I figured that if I just threw myself out there and made an effort, it'd be easier.
Please, don't mistake my enthusiasm for some sort of self righteous crusade to make you all better people. It's honestly just a simple matter of wanting to please people, and I feel sad that people have misunderstood my intentions so much, as that's the last thing I wanted.
I'm still going to make an effort with parties and get-togethers and stuff because I really enjoy being around you guys... But please don't feel like I'll judge you if you don't come.
If I ever make any of you feel like this again, please just take me aside and talk to me about it. I write this blog mainly so my family can know what I'm up to and how I feel about things. I didn't think about the effect it might have on you guys if you read it.
Sorry again x
Anyway, yesterday was amazing! I was going to write this blog last night, but my laptop ran out of battery, and then I fell asleep.
So, I missed breakfast AGAIN! But that's fine because I had sushi for breakfast... Again.
James and I went down to Shirakawa. I bought myself some cereal and milk (although it's made out of soy beans... So it's not real) so when I miss breakfast again (meaning tomorrow), I can just have some of my own. I also got some English tea bags (YAAAY), a plant named George, a tea cup in which to put my plant, a box type thing, a washing bag... And some other random stuff I can't remember...
When we got back to BH, James and I spent the rest of the day cleaning the kitchen thouroughly! I've got a picture of me with the cloth I used... I'll upload it later. I felt so very pleased with myself. Loads of people commented that it no longer smelled of mouldy cat food... I'm going to have breakfast there once I've finished this blog, because I can!
I still want to sort the cupboards out so that there is some sort of organisation with the cutlery and crockery... But that'll have to wait until next week... Or whenever I have time off.
So, anyway, once we'd finished tidying up, James and I went for a quick swim (meaning James went for a swim, I did a lap and nearly passed out because I'm so horribly unfit!). Then Mansell came over and brought a load of delicious food! Then, Yasu arrived with a bottle of rose
champagne. So, after a lot of seriously good food and about 3 glasses of wine and champagne, I was quite tipsy to say the least. It was awesome, all of us sat around eating good food and chatting. Also, I had a chance to talk to Kenny properly for the first time... Kenny's cool...
When Helen told us that the interns were down in the pub, we decided to go down to the pub to hang out with the interns. I brought in a bottle of Vodka I bought so that I can get cheaper drinks at the pub (i.e. I only have to pay for the other drink mixed in). James asked me if he could use my vodka, and I didn't see why not... So he said
"Koka-Kora do Voduka o kudasai" - Coca-Cola and vodka please.
And I added
"Watashi no voduka!" - My vodka!
So Noriko (behind the bar) gave him a cola and me a shot of vodka... So after we realised that she'd misheard both of us, I ended up with a vodka and orange as well as the ridiculous amounts of alcohol I'd already consumed.
I was quite drunk. But I've noticed that when I'm drunk I'm far more comfortable with speaking Japanese... I stop worrying about whether I'm wrong and just say what I think is right... And thankfully, most of the time, it is... And when it's not I can blame the alcohol!
So, James and I went to the back of the pub to join Mel, Yuta and Yasu with all the interns. They're all so sweet! They're leaving today and I'm really going to miss them. I kept speaking to them in Japanese and they were really helpful and kept teaching me random words... Most of which I've now forgotten...
They then started asking for "Nora", asking when "Nora" would be down... I was like "who is Nora?!". Then Nolan came down and they all cheered! Apparently they find him cute. They then made a massive fuss of his shoulder length hair so I whispered to Ayumi "mitsuami" (plait), so she and Airi put his hair in pigtails, which looked adorable. I think Dennis joined us at one point... But I can't completely remember the whole night.
So yeah, there was lots of silly fun. Mel and Yasu kept picking the girls up and throwing them around, which was hilarious. I spent most of the night speaking in Japanese... Which made me feel so happy. I took loads of pictures, so they'll be up later... And I gave Ayumi my e-mail address so we can stay in contact, which will be awesome.
Oh, and I taught the girls random words... The best word I taught them was probably "yoink". When Ayumi took James' chair, I told her to shout "yoink" to him. So she did, then asked James what it meant. So we told her it was slang for stealing. She then kept using it. And when someone took her phone of her she shouted "I got yoink!" It was so cute!!
Also, at one point James said "oh, I see" when they explained something to him. Then they all started saying "wo ai ni!" I was like "but that's Chinese for 'I love you'"... then they said it sounded similar... I guess it does... Sort of...
After James, Nolan and I became exhausted with laughter and sillyness we headed back to the house to watch a film together and invited everyone in the pub. So James, Nolan, Dennis, Yasu, Kenny and I all watched Alien 3 together. About 2o minutes into the film I fell asleep, only waking up to see someone in the film, die, another guy curse loudly and everyone in the room laughed. I joined in the laughter and fell back asleep. Then later on I heard someone suggesting drawing a moustache on me... But I was still asleep so I didn't care.
So, I ended up going to bed at 2am last night... So I'm absolutley shocked that I woke up at 7:30, before my alarm... Maybe that's what I should do to become a
morning person. Drink lots and go to bed at stupid o'clock!
I tried uploading pictures, but they're being all weird sizes... So, later!
It's just, since I've arrived... I've felt very welcome... But quite isolated. I much prefer spending time with large groups of people than by myself, I'm well aware that not everyone likes this all the time, even me. I mean, I've left my door open (when it's tidy), in the hopes that you'll all feel like you can come and talk to me at any time... Meeting new people is very hard... And I figured that if I just threw myself out there and made an effort, it'd be easier.
Please, don't mistake my enthusiasm for some sort of self righteous crusade to make you all better people. It's honestly just a simple matter of wanting to please people, and I feel sad that people have misunderstood my intentions so much, as that's the last thing I wanted.
I'm still going to make an effort with parties and get-togethers and stuff because I really enjoy being around you guys... But please don't feel like I'll judge you if you don't come.
If I ever make any of you feel like this again, please just take me aside and talk to me about it. I write this blog mainly so my family can know what I'm up to and how I feel about things. I didn't think about the effect it might have on you guys if you read it.
Sorry again x
Anyway, yesterday was amazing! I was going to write this blog last night, but my laptop ran out of battery, and then I fell asleep.
So, I missed breakfast AGAIN! But that's fine because I had sushi for breakfast... Again.
James and I went down to Shirakawa. I bought myself some cereal and milk (although it's made out of soy beans... So it's not real) so when I miss breakfast again (meaning tomorrow), I can just have some of my own. I also got some English tea bags (YAAAY), a plant named George, a tea cup in which to put my plant, a box type thing, a washing bag... And some other random stuff I can't remember...
When we got back to BH, James and I spent the rest of the day cleaning the kitchen thouroughly! I've got a picture of me with the cloth I used... I'll upload it later. I felt so very pleased with myself. Loads of people commented that it no longer smelled of mouldy cat food... I'm going to have breakfast there once I've finished this blog, because I can!
I still want to sort the cupboards out so that there is some sort of organisation with the cutlery and crockery... But that'll have to wait until next week... Or whenever I have time off.
So, anyway, once we'd finished tidying up, James and I went for a quick swim (meaning James went for a swim, I did a lap and nearly passed out because I'm so horribly unfit!). Then Mansell came over and brought a load of delicious food! Then, Yasu arrived with a bottle of rose
champagne. So, after a lot of seriously good food and about 3 glasses of wine and champagne, I was quite tipsy to say the least. It was awesome, all of us sat around eating good food and chatting. Also, I had a chance to talk to Kenny properly for the first time... Kenny's cool...
When Helen told us that the interns were down in the pub, we decided to go down to the pub to hang out with the interns. I brought in a bottle of Vodka I bought so that I can get cheaper drinks at the pub (i.e. I only have to pay for the other drink mixed in). James asked me if he could use my vodka, and I didn't see why not... So he said
"Koka-Kora do Voduka o kudasai" - Coca-Cola and vodka please.
And I added
"Watashi no voduka!" - My vodka!
So Noriko (behind the bar) gave him a cola and me a shot of vodka... So after we realised that she'd misheard both of us, I ended up with a vodka and orange as well as the ridiculous amounts of alcohol I'd already consumed.
I was quite drunk. But I've noticed that when I'm drunk I'm far more comfortable with speaking Japanese... I stop worrying about whether I'm wrong and just say what I think is right... And thankfully, most of the time, it is... And when it's not I can blame the alcohol!
So, James and I went to the back of the pub to join Mel, Yuta and Yasu with all the interns. They're all so sweet! They're leaving today and I'm really going to miss them. I kept speaking to them in Japanese and they were really helpful and kept teaching me random words... Most of which I've now forgotten...
They then started asking for "Nora", asking when "Nora" would be down... I was like "who is Nora?!". Then Nolan came down and they all cheered! Apparently they find him cute. They then made a massive fuss of his shoulder length hair so I whispered to Ayumi "mitsuami" (plait), so she and Airi put his hair in pigtails, which looked adorable. I think Dennis joined us at one point... But I can't completely remember the whole night.
So yeah, there was lots of silly fun. Mel and Yasu kept picking the girls up and throwing them around, which was hilarious. I spent most of the night speaking in Japanese... Which made me feel so happy. I took loads of pictures, so they'll be up later... And I gave Ayumi my e-mail address so we can stay in contact, which will be awesome.
Oh, and I taught the girls random words... The best word I taught them was probably "yoink". When Ayumi took James' chair, I told her to shout "yoink" to him. So she did, then asked James what it meant. So we told her it was slang for stealing. She then kept using it. And when someone took her phone of her she shouted "I got yoink!" It was so cute!!
Also, at one point James said "oh, I see" when they explained something to him. Then they all started saying "wo ai ni!" I was like "but that's Chinese for 'I love you'"... then they said it sounded similar... I guess it does... Sort of...
After James, Nolan and I became exhausted with laughter and sillyness we headed back to the house to watch a film together and invited everyone in the pub. So James, Nolan, Dennis, Yasu, Kenny and I all watched Alien 3 together. About 2o minutes into the film I fell asleep, only waking up to see someone in the film, die, another guy curse loudly and everyone in the room laughed. I joined in the laughter and fell back asleep. Then later on I heard someone suggesting drawing a moustache on me... But I was still asleep so I didn't care.
So, I ended up going to bed at 2am last night... So I'm absolutley shocked that I woke up at 7:30, before my alarm... Maybe that's what I should do to become a
morning person. Drink lots and go to bed at stupid o'clock!
I tried uploading pictures, but they're being all weird sizes... So, later!
Monday 3 November 2008
Awesome!
Ok, so this morning I woke up when I wanted to! Once I've typed this I'm going to get dressed, then I'll go and have breakfast, then to the office to sort some things. Then I begin my busy, busy day.
Yeah, I spent most of yesterday planning on spending today just relaxing... But that's all changed now!
Ok, so basically, after typing my blog last night, I went into the living room to watch some Japanese TV. I watched some hilariously awful game show in which they had to do various random things... And I could never work out the rules. Then I watched some rubbish drama set in ancient Japan, where this woman was going around just beating up the bad guys and it was all set around that. The fight scenes were so terrible I cried with laughter. The sound effect when she punched someone was ridiculous and the sound was made just after the hit connected and the people she hit WAY overreacted. Yeah... I fell asleep partway through. The sofa's downstairs are so comfortable.
When I woke up, I went to the pub...
When I got there I saw were a load of Japanese interns and Mansell, one of the English teachers. I've talked to Mansell a few times, but not properly, so I went and sat myself next to him, (seeing as I knew nobody else) and we got chatting. Mansell is a very intelligent, interesting person. He's done a LOT with his life and is very well educated. It was great fun talking to him. I haven't had an actual intellectual conversation like that in a good long time, so it was awesome.
At some point we got onto the topic of the gaijin house (working holiday staff house). I've noticed from the moment I arrived that everyone just locks themselves away in their rooms every night and nobody communicates with anyone else.
When I was about to arrive here, I imagined that everyone, living so close together would be really close and do everything together. I was dreading this. Trying to worm my way into their little clique was going to be a nightmare. But there is no clique... There is no closeness. Everyone complains that they're so bored all the time because we're stuck up a mountain. But that's not the problem at all. Everyone's so bored because everyone spends all their free time in solitude and the only reason they enjoy going down to Shirakawa is because they do it with other people!
So! Faye's going to start making some changes around here. At the pub, James came over and joined in our discussion, so I told him what I think of the lack of community here and he agrees... I think. He doesn't have a choice! So, today we're going down to Shirakawa to buy cleaning supplies and some food. Then when we get back we (meaning me) are going to clean the kitchen and living room and make it somewhere really nice to live with eachother. Then Mansell is going to bring over some middle eastern food and scones (he'll make scones with his Japanese classes. He just loves middle eastern food because he's originally from South Africa) then we're going to invite everyone downstairs to the kitchen to try these lovely foods.
And from now on I'm going to try and make events. Not every day... Because apparently they used to do daily parties and everyone got bored of them. But maybe at birthdays and when a new person arrives and Christmas and New Year etc... Maybe one night a week we just watch a film together.
I'm going to go insane if I spend the next 10 months locked away in my room in forced solitude! That's not for me!!!
Seriously... I don't think I've ever felt so outgoing in my life! To actually change the way a whole house lives single handedly... But they need it, they really do!
Yeah, I spent most of yesterday planning on spending today just relaxing... But that's all changed now!
Ok, so basically, after typing my blog last night, I went into the living room to watch some Japanese TV. I watched some hilariously awful game show in which they had to do various random things... And I could never work out the rules. Then I watched some rubbish drama set in ancient Japan, where this woman was going around just beating up the bad guys and it was all set around that. The fight scenes were so terrible I cried with laughter. The sound effect when she punched someone was ridiculous and the sound was made just after the hit connected and the people she hit WAY overreacted. Yeah... I fell asleep partway through. The sofa's downstairs are so comfortable.
When I woke up, I went to the pub...
When I got there I saw were a load of Japanese interns and Mansell, one of the English teachers. I've talked to Mansell a few times, but not properly, so I went and sat myself next to him, (seeing as I knew nobody else) and we got chatting. Mansell is a very intelligent, interesting person. He's done a LOT with his life and is very well educated. It was great fun talking to him. I haven't had an actual intellectual conversation like that in a good long time, so it was awesome.
At some point we got onto the topic of the gaijin house (working holiday staff house). I've noticed from the moment I arrived that everyone just locks themselves away in their rooms every night and nobody communicates with anyone else.
When I was about to arrive here, I imagined that everyone, living so close together would be really close and do everything together. I was dreading this. Trying to worm my way into their little clique was going to be a nightmare. But there is no clique... There is no closeness. Everyone complains that they're so bored all the time because we're stuck up a mountain. But that's not the problem at all. Everyone's so bored because everyone spends all their free time in solitude and the only reason they enjoy going down to Shirakawa is because they do it with other people!
So! Faye's going to start making some changes around here. At the pub, James came over and joined in our discussion, so I told him what I think of the lack of community here and he agrees... I think. He doesn't have a choice! So, today we're going down to Shirakawa to buy cleaning supplies and some food. Then when we get back we (meaning me) are going to clean the kitchen and living room and make it somewhere really nice to live with eachother. Then Mansell is going to bring over some middle eastern food and scones (he'll make scones with his Japanese classes. He just loves middle eastern food because he's originally from South Africa) then we're going to invite everyone downstairs to the kitchen to try these lovely foods.
And from now on I'm going to try and make events. Not every day... Because apparently they used to do daily parties and everyone got bored of them. But maybe at birthdays and when a new person arrives and Christmas and New Year etc... Maybe one night a week we just watch a film together.
I'm going to go insane if I spend the next 10 months locked away in my room in forced solitude! That's not for me!!!
Seriously... I don't think I've ever felt so outgoing in my life! To actually change the way a whole house lives single handedly... But they need it, they really do!
Japan is awesome
I love Japan. I had Sushi for breakfast for only 210 yen (about a pound)... I only had four pieces... But still!
Today we went down to Shirakawa. I love it. The houses look really traditional and old fashioned and it's got some really awesome places. The place we went to for sushi was called "Genki Sushi". It was really fun there. Plus we had endless free green tea... Which I found suprisingly nice... It was powder rather than in a teabag...
We then went to the 100 yen shop (although not everything is 100 yen, as I very quickly discovered, just cheap). Oh god, it was amazing... It's absolutely huge and has got loads of absolutely random stuff. Plus, they were playing a CD of J-Pop music... But this was all played on synthesised saxaphone. It was hilarious... I hadn't even realised until I recognised one of the tunes as being an Arashi song, then started humming along.
After that we quickly stopped by at a convenience store, then we went to a place called Black Shop. I'd heard a lot about it from the gaijin staff as being the place they get their music, posters, instruments, games etc from... But seriously!
I was amazed by Black Shop. It's like someone got every geeky shop I've ever been in, smushed them together, then gave it drugs!!! Downstairs was clothes, games, retro games (Seriously, I saw a SNES), films and sweets. Upstairs was music, fishing stuff, posters, porn and manga. This shop is absolutely HUGE and set out as confusingly as I think humanly possible. I browsed the music for a long time, feeling very confused... They supposedly had some sort of order... But I couldn't work it out, even with my ability to read hiragana (which was used to seperate the different artsist by name)... I couldn't find any posters I wanted either. Most were Jpop bands that Hannah's more into than myself. Although there was a hilarious picture of NEWS dressed in absolutely ridiculous clothes with glitter, sequins and feathers and everything and they all look really unimpressed.
I didn't get a really good look around in the end because we had to leave to catch the bus back up to BH.
So, today I bought:
A plastic cup for toothbrush and things
A glass cup for drinking
A bag to hold plastic bags (I thought it was a washing bag... But it's not... Oh well, at least I've now got something to put plastic bags in)
A really cute writing set
Washing powder
Soap and an adorable flannel that came as a set
A bundle of random CD's for only 105 yen (about 60p)
A News calander from 2005. Oh god, they all look so very young.
Shirakawa is way fun. It's so rural that there are NO other gaijin around, at all. So it was fun, the three of us walking around, getting people looking at us. Some guy drove past in his car and waved at us, so I waved back. I then asked if we knew him or if he was just waving to us because we were gaijin. Helen and Mel explained that he worked at the hotel pool. Later on another guy waved at us from his car, again I waved back... None of us knew who he was...
When we got back, there was some comedian filming some sketches in the main house. We watched for a bit... He was dressed up as a geisha and talking so fast I couldn't even guess what he was saying. None of the Japanese staff knew who he was... So he's either on the brink of fame... Or just not famous...
I just had some really tasty food at the staff resteraunt. They actually make really good food there. I just had some lamb in a spicy sauce of some sort... The chef was a different one from normal. He doesn't usually talk to the staff, so he didn't know any English... So he kept talking to me really quickly in Japanese... I was like "slow down", trying to use my hands to indicate speaking slowly.... According to my dictionary to say "please speak slowly" you say "Moo sukoshi yukuri hanashite kudasai."
Moo - Again (the "oo" in "moo" is said more like an extended "ohh")
Sukoshi - A little
Yukuri - Slowly
Hanashite - Speaking
Kudasai - Please
This is how I'm teaching myself Japanese at the moment. I pick out an example sentence out of the dictionary and then analyse all the components. It's helping me understand the grammar a bit better.
Oh, and while we were eating dinner, there was a kids programme on TV... Where this guy attacked the bad guy using dango (a sort of rice cake). Then, when he hit the bad guy in the mouth everyone suddenly seemed to be really relaxed and this old woman fell in love with him and started chasing him... It was so hilarious! But really weird... I think I will take moms suggestion to learn using kids TV.
I've just realised that my little finger on my right hand is only ever used to do a ' when I'm typing. The rest of the time it sticks way out, away from the rest of my hand. It's really weird... I've only just noticed whilst typing this.
I'm kind of glad I've got nothing to do tomorrow... I'll have a relaxing day in. I'll probably have a good lie in, then tidy up a bit, then maybe have a bath. Then I'll probably teach myself some more Japanese or relax in the living room or something... In fact, I might go to the living room now. It's only 6:30... People won't be going to the pub for a couple of hours... Yeah... I'll see if I work out how to use the DVD player... Plus, it's the only room in the house with tatami mats... And I love the tatami mats... They smell so nice and they feel so nice under my feet, so soft and warm.
I've noticed actually... Japan seems to have a specific smell. I always noticed on my imported Shoxx magazines or Loli bibles, they smelled really nice and unusual... Japan smells kind of like that. It a really strange, sort of sweet smell. It's really hard to explain! Come to Japan, then you'll get what I mean... Or you'll just contine to think I'm weird for smelling Japan...
So yeah, another one tomorrow morning, probably... If anything interesting happens later...
Today we went down to Shirakawa. I love it. The houses look really traditional and old fashioned and it's got some really awesome places. The place we went to for sushi was called "Genki Sushi". It was really fun there. Plus we had endless free green tea... Which I found suprisingly nice... It was powder rather than in a teabag...
We then went to the 100 yen shop (although not everything is 100 yen, as I very quickly discovered, just cheap). Oh god, it was amazing... It's absolutely huge and has got loads of absolutely random stuff. Plus, they were playing a CD of J-Pop music... But this was all played on synthesised saxaphone. It was hilarious... I hadn't even realised until I recognised one of the tunes as being an Arashi song, then started humming along.
After that we quickly stopped by at a convenience store, then we went to a place called Black Shop. I'd heard a lot about it from the gaijin staff as being the place they get their music, posters, instruments, games etc from... But seriously!
I was amazed by Black Shop. It's like someone got every geeky shop I've ever been in, smushed them together, then gave it drugs!!! Downstairs was clothes, games, retro games (Seriously, I saw a SNES), films and sweets. Upstairs was music, fishing stuff, posters, porn and manga. This shop is absolutely HUGE and set out as confusingly as I think humanly possible. I browsed the music for a long time, feeling very confused... They supposedly had some sort of order... But I couldn't work it out, even with my ability to read hiragana (which was used to seperate the different artsist by name)... I couldn't find any posters I wanted either. Most were Jpop bands that Hannah's more into than myself. Although there was a hilarious picture of NEWS dressed in absolutely ridiculous clothes with glitter, sequins and feathers and everything and they all look really unimpressed.
I didn't get a really good look around in the end because we had to leave to catch the bus back up to BH.
So, today I bought:
A plastic cup for toothbrush and things
A glass cup for drinking
A bag to hold plastic bags (I thought it was a washing bag... But it's not... Oh well, at least I've now got something to put plastic bags in)
A really cute writing set
Washing powder
Soap and an adorable flannel that came as a set
A bundle of random CD's for only 105 yen (about 60p)
A News calander from 2005. Oh god, they all look so very young.
Shirakawa is way fun. It's so rural that there are NO other gaijin around, at all. So it was fun, the three of us walking around, getting people looking at us. Some guy drove past in his car and waved at us, so I waved back. I then asked if we knew him or if he was just waving to us because we were gaijin. Helen and Mel explained that he worked at the hotel pool. Later on another guy waved at us from his car, again I waved back... None of us knew who he was...
When we got back, there was some comedian filming some sketches in the main house. We watched for a bit... He was dressed up as a geisha and talking so fast I couldn't even guess what he was saying. None of the Japanese staff knew who he was... So he's either on the brink of fame... Or just not famous...
I just had some really tasty food at the staff resteraunt. They actually make really good food there. I just had some lamb in a spicy sauce of some sort... The chef was a different one from normal. He doesn't usually talk to the staff, so he didn't know any English... So he kept talking to me really quickly in Japanese... I was like "slow down", trying to use my hands to indicate speaking slowly.... According to my dictionary to say "please speak slowly" you say "Moo sukoshi yukuri hanashite kudasai."
Moo - Again (the "oo" in "moo" is said more like an extended "ohh")
Sukoshi - A little
Yukuri - Slowly
Hanashite - Speaking
Kudasai - Please
This is how I'm teaching myself Japanese at the moment. I pick out an example sentence out of the dictionary and then analyse all the components. It's helping me understand the grammar a bit better.
Oh, and while we were eating dinner, there was a kids programme on TV... Where this guy attacked the bad guy using dango (a sort of rice cake). Then, when he hit the bad guy in the mouth everyone suddenly seemed to be really relaxed and this old woman fell in love with him and started chasing him... It was so hilarious! But really weird... I think I will take moms suggestion to learn using kids TV.
I've just realised that my little finger on my right hand is only ever used to do a ' when I'm typing. The rest of the time it sticks way out, away from the rest of my hand. It's really weird... I've only just noticed whilst typing this.
I'm kind of glad I've got nothing to do tomorrow... I'll have a relaxing day in. I'll probably have a good lie in, then tidy up a bit, then maybe have a bath. Then I'll probably teach myself some more Japanese or relax in the living room or something... In fact, I might go to the living room now. It's only 6:30... People won't be going to the pub for a couple of hours... Yeah... I'll see if I work out how to use the DVD player... Plus, it's the only room in the house with tatami mats... And I love the tatami mats... They smell so nice and they feel so nice under my feet, so soft and warm.
I've noticed actually... Japan seems to have a specific smell. I always noticed on my imported Shoxx magazines or Loli bibles, they smelled really nice and unusual... Japan smells kind of like that. It a really strange, sort of sweet smell. It's really hard to explain! Come to Japan, then you'll get what I mean... Or you'll just contine to think I'm weird for smelling Japan...
So yeah, another one tomorrow morning, probably... If anything interesting happens later...
Sunday 2 November 2008
Oh poo...
I missed breakfast again this morning! Except this morning was different. This morning I woke up, lay there for a bit trying to force myself to wake up, then I suddenly thought "I haven't heard my alarm. I must be awake before 8... Cool, I'll get ready for breakfast!" I checked the time to see that it was actually 10:30... Missed breakfast by a good hour and a half... Darn!
But that's fine because I've got far more money than I thought I had, so I'll just buy myself something to eat from Shirakawa... That is, if I don't miss the bus... I think it's leaving soon. I should get ready...
But that's fine because I've got far more money than I thought I had, so I'll just buy myself something to eat from Shirakawa... That is, if I don't miss the bus... I think it's leaving soon. I should get ready...
Eurgh...
Work is hard.... You know I said I'd work so hard that they'd be amazed? Yeah... I kinda forgot about the Japanese work ethic... Working so hard that you might die is normal here. Someone said that they'd been told I was lazy (although I think he was just winding me up...). I spent all day begging people to give me jobs... As I was mostly on buffet duty and that involved making sure the buffet wasn't empty and that it wasn't absolutely disugsting. Once that was sorted there was very little to do except smile sweetly and maybe adjust the food a bit...
We all ended up having to do an hour and a bit overtime as a load of women dragged out their meal for as long as humanly possible... Then one of them decided to faint... When I heard that someone had fainted I got really excited, hoping to use the first aid I'd learned... Only to find that someone was already moving her into the recovery position. I was dissapointed.
This morning, as I was heading to clock in, I bumped into a couple of Japanese girls. I said "sumimasen" and carried on... Then I heard them both squeal "KAWAIIIIIIIII" (cuuuute) as they walked the opposite direction. They reminded me so much of me and Hannah, I giggled. Then, later on, I found out that they were interns and that they'd be working with us in the refectory. Then when they saw me again they were all "kawaii" again... Then they came over and told me in English that I'm very cute.... Then we found out that we're all 19... And celebrated. Yeah, they were fun. Unbeleviably cheeful and energetic!
I wore my hair in two plaits today... Because it needs to be tied back for work and that's the most convenient. One of the guys who also works in the refectory, Yuta stopped me to tell me that my hair looked nice. Asano (I think her name is) told me it was "kawaii" (The Japanese say this a lot). Then Tomo (another guy who works there) came over to me and grabbed one plait and was like "what do you call this?". At first I said pigtail... Then watched him and Yuta struggle to work out how to say the word... So changed to plait... Then they both repeated "prat" repeatedly... I did giggle. Apparently plait in Japanese is Mitsuage! There we go, I learned a completely useless word today! Yay!
So, after work, with all of us so exhausted we hit the pub. Helen and I taught Yuta how to play Black jack. Then we all sat and chatted for a bit. Then I told Yuta that outside of work I want him to talk to me in Japanese (at work I need his help too much). We then spent a good quarter of an hour discussing my Japanese ability... And I found out that he's also a Miyavi and LM.C fan... Woo! He then taught me "kouri" in Japanese means ice... Another useful word!! Then he asked me questions and I answered and stuff... Apparently my Japanese is good! Yay! Then I sat with all the gaijin staff and we discussed alcoholism, religion, Derren Brown, chavs, different classes, gays, Australia, my parents, music and pretty much every other random thing possible.
So yeah, tomorrow I'm going down to Shirakawa. I'm really looking forward to it. Apparently there's a really good shop that sells Jrock and Jpop posters and instruments and stuff. Although I'll probably just look around there, I haven't got enough money and I still need to buy myself a cup and stuff.
Oh, and I'm stupid. I packed my toothbrush charger, all it's accessories and enough replacement heads to last me until I leave... What did I forget? The actual toothbrush is what!!! Stupid Faye!
So, tomorrow and Tuesday I have the days off. I may go swimming tomorrow morning before we leave for Shin-Shirakawa... But probably not... I'm too lazy.
On Tuesday I'm going to apply for my Gaijin card... Woo! I'll probably also snap and end up cleaning the hideous kitchen...
That's the one problem with this place... It's so small and cut off that on my days off, I have very little to do... I was so bored yesterday and it was only my first full day there.
We all ended up having to do an hour and a bit overtime as a load of women dragged out their meal for as long as humanly possible... Then one of them decided to faint... When I heard that someone had fainted I got really excited, hoping to use the first aid I'd learned... Only to find that someone was already moving her into the recovery position. I was dissapointed.
This morning, as I was heading to clock in, I bumped into a couple of Japanese girls. I said "sumimasen" and carried on... Then I heard them both squeal "KAWAIIIIIIIII" (cuuuute) as they walked the opposite direction. They reminded me so much of me and Hannah, I giggled. Then, later on, I found out that they were interns and that they'd be working with us in the refectory. Then when they saw me again they were all "kawaii" again... Then they came over and told me in English that I'm very cute.... Then we found out that we're all 19... And celebrated. Yeah, they were fun. Unbeleviably cheeful and energetic!
I wore my hair in two plaits today... Because it needs to be tied back for work and that's the most convenient. One of the guys who also works in the refectory, Yuta stopped me to tell me that my hair looked nice. Asano (I think her name is) told me it was "kawaii" (The Japanese say this a lot). Then Tomo (another guy who works there) came over to me and grabbed one plait and was like "what do you call this?". At first I said pigtail... Then watched him and Yuta struggle to work out how to say the word... So changed to plait... Then they both repeated "prat" repeatedly... I did giggle. Apparently plait in Japanese is Mitsuage! There we go, I learned a completely useless word today! Yay!
So, after work, with all of us so exhausted we hit the pub. Helen and I taught Yuta how to play Black jack. Then we all sat and chatted for a bit. Then I told Yuta that outside of work I want him to talk to me in Japanese (at work I need his help too much). We then spent a good quarter of an hour discussing my Japanese ability... And I found out that he's also a Miyavi and LM.C fan... Woo! He then taught me "kouri" in Japanese means ice... Another useful word!! Then he asked me questions and I answered and stuff... Apparently my Japanese is good! Yay! Then I sat with all the gaijin staff and we discussed alcoholism, religion, Derren Brown, chavs, different classes, gays, Australia, my parents, music and pretty much every other random thing possible.
So yeah, tomorrow I'm going down to Shirakawa. I'm really looking forward to it. Apparently there's a really good shop that sells Jrock and Jpop posters and instruments and stuff. Although I'll probably just look around there, I haven't got enough money and I still need to buy myself a cup and stuff.
Oh, and I'm stupid. I packed my toothbrush charger, all it's accessories and enough replacement heads to last me until I leave... What did I forget? The actual toothbrush is what!!! Stupid Faye!
So, tomorrow and Tuesday I have the days off. I may go swimming tomorrow morning before we leave for Shin-Shirakawa... But probably not... I'm too lazy.
On Tuesday I'm going to apply for my Gaijin card... Woo! I'll probably also snap and end up cleaning the hideous kitchen...
That's the one problem with this place... It's so small and cut off that on my days off, I have very little to do... I was so bored yesterday and it was only my first full day there.
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