people

How many people can I meet in one day?

Luke had the morning off of work so that we could relax together before we had to do anything on my first full day in Japan. Both of us thought that we would be sleeping in, especially me because I had been awake the day before for 27 hours straight. 27 hours and no caffeine! That shows you what adventure can do! But my body didn't want sleep. It wanted to get up and see Japan at 4:00 AM! I woke Luke up, made myself some rice with seaweed bits for breakfast (pretty traditional by the way!) and sat around the apartment. Little did my body know that there isn't anything to do at 4:00 AM!

By 8:00 AM I was tired again and we took a nap and woke up refreshed two hours later.

For our first meal alone together we had to go out. There was not much in the apartment in the way of food because so many people wanted to take Luke out he really hadn't bought groceries yet. We took a quick walk up the hill to the 7-11. For those of you who haven't been to this side of the world, 7-11's have some pretty great food. Renee you might remember what it was like in Taiwan. It's very similar here. We both got sandwiches. Mine was a chicken patty sandwich that I warmed up in the microwave when we got home. It was a great chicken patty. REAL chicken, not ground up and made into a patty but just a breaded piece of chicken breast with some kind of sauce (not quite sure but probably mayonnaise with something else). I also found some chips, pizza flavored, to try. When in another country you should always try new things. Turns out those chips are amazing. They have actual cheese bits on them. A favorite on the first try!

At 1:00 we had to be ready to go in suits to go to the village office to fill out all matter of paperwork for me to be in Japan. Mainly, I had to sign up for my alien registration card and meet everyone that Luke works with. Let me tell you there are a lot of people in that building and I met them all... don't ask me what their names are.

I was introduced to the Mayor and the head of the village office, who is in charge of all the schools, at the same time. Neither of the gentlemen speak English so they brought in two other men who spoke a little English. Together with Luke's supervisor and the principal of the Elementary School (both who don't speak English) we tried to have a conversation. If you are ever in a situation like that, it takes a very long time to say anything and make sure all parties understand what is being said. Sometimes you go round and round saying the same thing. Still it was so much fun. Everyone laughing at each other and looking confused. It was a great start to the day! By the end of the conversation the Mayor had offered me a job, given me a track suit to wear to work and given me a box with three bottles of sake (made in Ohira). Score!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey, so what kind of job were you offered? do tell... Renee/Mom

Lindsey said...

I will be working at the afterschool program for the Elementary school three days a week! Very exciting.

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