Ok, so after another half hour of trying to sleep, I eventually gave up and got out of bed. I was just too wide awake. I did change my bed around. I much prefer it this way... My room seems far bigger and I've got a massive space at the end of my bed in which to put... Something? Maybe a statue... Or one of those large, old fashioned chests to put stuff in.
...Or not
I left my desk where it was though because I realised that the phone wire is there and there's nowhere else I can put it except the floor if I move it... Besides, I found a plug socket under the desk.

Anyway, at 11am I needed to go to the office to meet someone for my induction... Now, I knew exactly where the office is... In fact, I can see it the moment I step out of the staff housing door... Getting there was another matter... I wondered around for AGES, walking in and out of buildings, wondering if I was allowed to go in particular area's... Until eventually a Japanese guy went walking past and said "hello, are you Faye?"... He was the first person I'd met this morning who spoke English confidently, so I asked him how to get into the office. There was a door, right underneath the window I saw the office through... Stupid Faye! Anyway, his name was Yuichi and apparently he works at the pub... I kept bumping into him after that (Not literally).

So anyway, induction start!
This has got to be one of the most surreal things I've done in a long time... He took me around the WHOLE site and introduced me to EVERYONE we came across... o,0 Seriously, I've met so many people today. With the Western people I met (most of whom are English, despite what I was expecting), we would just shake hands and give eachother our names... Now, meeting the Japanese people was more interesting as we both tried to work around eachothers culture and language.
It usually ended up in them saying Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (nice to meet you) and I would say the same. Then, I would bow as they extended a hand for a handshake... Then I'd shake their hand as they bowed... Then we would both laugh a bit before saying "nice to meet you" in English a couple of times... It was quite bizarre.
It's really weird, I feel like a celebrity here. Everyone already knows who I am. Everyone knows that I missed the plane. Everyone knows that I was having problems with the train yesterday. Some of them even know that I'm suffering with jet-lag! Yes, suffering was an appropriate word to use there! Not melodramatic at all!!
Everyone is so lovely though... Really welcoming and polite.
Oh yeah, on my tour, I was taken to the pub (where I'm going in about quarter of an hour) and the guy who was showing me around explained to me that when people drink they change... And it's important not to get drunk in front of guests... I just loved that he explained to me that people change when they're drunk!
Oh! And there are bears nearby! They have a machine that makes gun sounds to scare them away and if anyone goes hiking they're given a bell... I assume they are supposed to attack the bears with the bell... Or use it as a shield...

So yeah, I then went back to my room and realised I had very little to do once I'd eaten food, so I had a shower, then did all my ironing... I considered cleaning the staff kitchen... Because it's horrifically dirty and messy! But I was exhausted so sat back in my room for a bit... It was about 3 by then... Which was about 6am in the UK... And I felt like it was 6am and that I'd stayed up all night... You know that really sick feeling? Yeah... I'm finding it hard to cope with this! >< About an hour later I fell asleep, when I was supposed to meeting Helen (the really nice girl I met last night) at 4... So when I woke up at 4:20, I got really freaked out thinking she'd be annoyed for some reason... She wasn't... And she took me to "view point"... It's so pretty! It's wooden decking at the side of the mountain overlooking a load of other mountains, a river, trees and, in the distance, Shin-Shirikawa. It was too dark to get the full appreciation out of it though... If I wake up at stupid o'clock again tomorrow morning, I think I'll go there and watch the sun rise... (It's faces East). We then had dinner and went to the swimming pool. That was way fun... There's a decent sized swimming pool, a jaccuzi and a sauna! I jumped straight into the jaccuzi, desperate to warm up (it's darned cold... And the heater in my room doesn't work!) Oh god, that was so nice! I then went to the sauna... Sauna is good... I felt like I was being cleaned inside my skin or something. Soooo hot! I then did a few laps in the pool before I was so exausted that I HAD to get back into the jaccuzi. I blame jet-lag... I'll do some proper exercise when I'm feeling better... I don't want to drown or something!

Oh yeah, I also found out today that some of the scenes from popular Japanese drama, "Hana Yori Dango" were shot here, at the Manor House. This pleased me a lot... I hope they shoot a third series while I'm here! Ha ha ha... I think I'd just fangirl all over the place though...











I'm working in refectory and my first shift is tomorrow at 12:30. Helen is so sweet, she checked when my shift was and asked if she could change hers so she could work with me. She's been so helpful to me.

On Monday I'm going down to Shin-Shirakawa to spend the last of the £50 (10,000yen) grandma sent me... So far, most of it has been spent on train tickets. Apparently the 100 (50p) yen shop is the biggest in the world... (I was going to say country, but I doubt there are many anything yen shops outside of Japan) Which is awesome! Discount shopping with lots of money to spend! Yay!

Oh, I've got a basic Japanese phrasebook to fill in any gaps in my knowledge... I was flicking through it earlier when I came across the following translations... In this exact, hilarious order!
Thank you, but I'm busy - Moshiwaki arimasen ga yakusoku ga arimasu
I'm not interested - Kyuomi ga arimasen
Leave me alone - kawamanaide kudasai
Stop bothering me! - Jama suru nowa yamete kudasai
At least... I found it hilarious.


Anyway, I'm off to the pub to mingle.

Just come back from the pub... It was way fun! I had a Baileys coffee (yay, they sell Baileys!) and played darts... And generally had silly fun. Everyone has been saying I settled in too quickly and I spent most of the night being threatened with death by one guy... In a good way!

So yeah... I've FINALLY worked out how to get my heater working... I spent last night and pretty much all day pressing random buttons (it's in Japanese) and had Helen have a go at smashing at the buttons... And just now, one of the English teachers at the pub told me that I might not have turned the gas on... And I hadn't and now I have heating! Yaaay! Warmth!

So, off to bed for me. I have work in the... Afternoon. Yeah... Hopefully I won't wake up at a stupid time tomorrow... If I do, I may just clean the kitchen... It pains me to see it so dirty.

Oyasumi nasai x