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.