Saturday June 14,1997: 11:30pm
Well just before I went into work (no, I wasn't working on a Saturday - I was updating my web page) I stopped off at the 7-Eleven to buy myself a phone card for long-distance calls. Yeah well tomorrow is Father's Day, and since I haven't talked to or even heard from my parents in 2 weeks, I thought I'd give them a call later on, maybe.
Anyways, my web page took longer than expected (of course), so I tried at abouut 9:30 to call. But I realized that I didn't know the country code for Canada. So I was going to leave for home to find the number there (I was using the payphone at work), but I realized that I didn't have the number there anyways. So I thought I would just ask the guard guy if he had a phone book. He did, so I went into the office and he helped me look for it. But he didn't speak English, and I don't know how to say "country code", which causes a problem. It's not easy to explain the concept! I could only say that I wanted to phone Canada, but I didn't know the number, would he have it in his book? Of course, this is a silly question, because of course they don't have the WHOLE phone number that I'm looking for in there, but I just couldn't say "area code"!! Anyways, we got a 3rd guy out helping us. Finally I just said "I want to phone Sapporo" (Sapporo's a city up in the north of Japan) so but I didn't really, I just wanted them to go get the area code for the place. So they went and got the book with Japan's area codes. "Ah ha!" I say - "I don't _really_ want to phone Sapporo! (which confuses them a bit) but I want the same number for Canada". And one of the guys suddenly realizes what I want, and finds it. It's just the number 1. Of course, the easiest thing. Anyways, this whole thing took about 20 minutes!!
And then came making the phone call - I had to figure out this phone card. I bought one with 5,000 yen ($60) on it, so it had better last awhile! So it took me about 5 minutes to get it right, but, I got the ring, and Grandma picked up. Cool. Well, my dad was out golfing, so the Father's Day idea was shot. But I got to talk to my mom for a long time which was nice. I had so much to say because I hadn't talked to her since I got here, except sending about 2 short emails. We talked for a long time, but my card didn't run out, so that's good! I wouldn't want to spend that much on one phone call!
On my bike ride home the frogs in the ricepaddies were SO LOUD. I mean, I could hear them from blocks away. It was incredible. Oh, my bike! I must describe it. It's blue, and of course, looks like other Japanese bikes, with the girly handle bars and the basket in the front! But it's got a light that's powered by pedalling - awesome! And it's got a really cool lock that's actually attached to the bar inbetween the front wheel. You insert the key, and a bar pops out through the spokes of the wheel. Small, but it's perfect! Anyways, this bike is cool. Oh, there's only one gear. But for a year, that's fine. I guess I broke in the bike on Monday with my 3 hours of getting lost, but I'm not bitter about that in the least ;-)
Sunday June 15, 1997: 9:45pm
Well today I actually had to set my alarm! Yeah, I know it's against the "Sunday Rules", but I had a good reason. At 10am I was at the Nakano station waiting for Simon, his sister, and his friends to show up. They were a bit late, but so was I, so I didn't care. I was figuring out the kanjis on the map. That's fun. So there was Simon, his sister Anna , and his two friends whose names I managed to forget within 5 minutes of the introduction. (Just been informed, one of them was Utsugi) Well, that's my memory for you.
Ana and the friends speak some English, but Japanese is their first language. Of course, my speaking just sucks, but I can understand fine. This isn't the greatest combo, let me tell you. So we headed towards Kichioji by train. I was talking with Anna, but it was a pretty quiet conversation... fun though!
When we got to Kichioji we headed towards Inokashirakoen (Inokashira Park), which is a great park! It's pretty big. There's lots of trees, a large pond (where you can rent row boats and stuff) and a temple. Many paths and bridges... and people. It's a nice place to just go and walk. We went to the zoo there, which isn't huge, but it was big enough to have an elephant. But a cool place to go, with a cheap price tag (400 yen, $5)
After the zoo we went out of the park and went to the shopping streets. Hey, we found a great candy store where we spent a good chunk of time. Hey, the stuff was pretty cheap - and there was lots of it! Cool. Of course, I don't know what any of it was, but that just adds some excitement to candy shopping (I know, how can it get MORE exciting?!?) They have lots of fish-flavoured candy, or seaweed stuff, which is a bit odd, I guess.
We had lunch at a really good Italian restaurant (I swear, these places are everywhere!) and it ended up being so cheap! (650 yen, $8). Wow, we had salad and sphaggets, and pizza, and drinks. That's a lot for my money! Plus, it was good.
Anna collects "print club" pictures, which are stickers with pictures on them that you get taken at a booth. You know, just like the pics you take at passport booths, except these are put onto stickers. So I'd already been told at work how high school students here collect these print club stickers, but I never realized quite how many! Anna had pages and pages of them! So we went to go get our picture done. We got 16 pictures for only 300 yen ($3.75). That's good!
We went to a CD store, which was awesome! It had a huge selection, but was really small. That's cuz it didn't stock tons of each CD... just 2 or 3. They even had BOTH Hayden CDs. Woah. Oh yeah, and that group that Simon had me listen to on Friday is "Square Pushers". Neat-o. So I found a "F--- Hell - This Is a Tribute to Bad Religion" CD, I'll have to tell Dave! I bought it because where else would I possibly find this CD?
After the CD store Anna left to go to a rehearsal, so the rest of us went back to the Inokashirakoen to find a place to sit to eat our candy. Once again let me say how cool this park is. First of all, there were just loads of busquers out playing instruments. Just everywhere! And not your regular run-of-the-mill instruments either - there was a hand-made cross between a violin and harp being played by a hippie-looking gaijin. And the actual instrument was made to look like a puppet. Strange. Not too far away from this guy was someone playing a saw! (Kids, don't try this at home...) I've never seen this before, but it's awesome. He was playing it on the non-cutting side (a duh) with a violin bow. And it sounded neat!
There were so many people out walking that we were having trouble finding a place to sit. Soon we found a bench looking over the pond, and not too far off from a Latino band playing. So we started eating our candy. Now this is an experience in itself... oh, there's thhis gum that comes in packs of 3 gumballs. All three gumballs look the same, but ONE of them tastes *super* souur. So the fun is in the surprise of finding the sour one. So we open the first pack - Simon, his friend and I each take one, not knowing who has the sour one. So we chew, and his friend starts making faces and gagging, so we know he's got it. OK, he's out, now it's Round 2. We open another pack - Simon, his other friend and I each take one. Ack! Mine's sour - very sour! Wow. So I'm out - and they continue on.
It's funny what you think up when you're a kid.
We hung out at the park for quite awhile - it's just such a neat place! Next, at about 4 we went looking for a karaoke place. We ound one nearby and took it for 2 hours. Wow, it was fun. We got a room just for the 4 of us, and sang away. It's taking me awhile to get used to it, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now. It's funny how the same corny videos come up again, and again, and again!
So what *really* surprised me was that it ended up only costing 2,000 yen ($25) for the 2 hours, so only 500 yen ($6) each. Wow! That's great. Of course, it gets more expensive later on in the day.
OK, after karaoke we went to a department store for a short time but then we headed on home. A great day!
Monday June 16, 1997: 10pm
Hmm... not much happened today. I biked to my Japanese lesson and didn't get lost. I think that's worth mentioning.
Oh, I saw a lady playing croquet by the Asakawa this morning. All by herself - kinda strange. Oh, there's a guy I see every morning doing Tai Chi by the river which is neat. Then there's the golfer guy who I always see - he uses two consecutive baseball fields as his driving range. The 2nd field is always dotted with tons of golf balls. Must be a pain to pick up. And then there's the walking lady who, without fail, always gives such a cheerful "Ohaiyogozaimasu" (Good morning!). Which is out of the ordinary because most people just stare!!
Tuesday June 17, 1997: 10pm
Well today I made a real schedule for my work in the next few months, so I know what I'm up to. Tomorrow I'm actually going to figure out the ways in which to mangle Ambles' code - oh oh, trouble!!
Tonight's Japanese lesson was good. I stopped off at a park beforehand to eat dinner and study my kanjis, and some German guy tried to pick me up. Uh huh buddy. He was telling me how there was this great restaurant he had to take me to - was I free on Friday? "Umm... no." How about Sunday? "Well, no." Well, if you're ever going to be in Amsterdam, I have a house there where you can stay. So when are you going? I explained that I wasn't planning on going to Amsterdam anytime soon, and that no, I didn't want to go to Tokyo Disneyland on Saturday, and that, oh, I had to go because my lesson starts soon. Hmph. Ya wonder what he expected.
On my way home I biked into a group of kids setting off fireworks in a back alley. They were just screaming and yelling (at the fireworks, not at me).. all in all having tons of fun. It made me wish I could be free as a kid again. Oh well, not in this Co-op program I can't.
And later on I biked by some kids who had a bonfire going by the river. There are no lights along the path there, or along the river, so it was as though they were in a pitch black forest. And that made me wish I could be 13, at the cottage, sitting around the bonfire with Alex & Andrew at 2am - plotting out our next trailer park ambush. Ah, those were the days! Anyways, enough reminiscing here, if that's how you spell it.
When I woke up this morning I was POSITIVE it was the weekend. It's a horrible feeling when the realization hits that it's only Tuesday...
Since this week finishes off my month of "work time", I have to even off my hours. That means that by the end of this week I have to use up the overtime hours I've accumulated. Noooo problem! Leave the office at 3 on Friday or something...
Everyday I get pizza coupons in the mail. Makes me feel right at home! Oh yeah, today my boss asked me to teach him the way to bike to his house. Yes, that's right, it's half-way in between Toyodo and... HACHIOJI! Anyways, now that I've got it straight, I could tell him. He asked me because I know a route through the back streets which avoid the big *hills* in between here and there. Ha ha!
Wednesday June 18, 1997: 1pm
At lunch today I witnessed a guy eat a plateful of SAUCE with his chopsticks. Wow, now *that* is talent!!
Hey, my boss got lost biking home from work last night! So it's not only me... Anyways, he said that he ended up on the wrong side of the river and found some temple that he never knew existed. Neat-o.
10:40pm
After lunch my boss and I went to the conference room to fill out his health questionnaire that I have to complete before my EXTENSIVE check-up on Friday. Now this wasn't any old ordinary questionnaire here - it was a damn marathon. OK - there were 3 booklets. All in Japanese - mostly complicated kanji, that's why Hirabayashi-san had to help me fill them out. Now picture this for a moment... my boss and I talking about my health - this could maybe get a bit awkward... damn right it could. OK, it started out fine, ya know, the usual "Do you have cancer?",TB, arthritis, etc etc etc. Nothing too bad. But, I'm starting to find this odd. We get to the 2nd set of questions in the first booklet (the first set had 30 diseases to translate) which is about my general health. As is, "do you get colds often?". Ummm... then "do you get a lot of phlegm?" Oh - that one was fun translating. Hmmm.. "diarrhea?". But even better was "discomfort urinating?"!?!? At this point I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or to turn beet red... and then came the "women's section"... now *that* was fun.
So you'd think that it couldn't really get much worse than that (well, other than asking about my sexual habits or something)... but wrong! It's already been 45 mins, and we got through the first two booklets. We both thought we were done, but oh, were we EVER mistaken. We'd forgotten about the third booklet which is *12* pages long. Hello, 12 PAGES.
So the bottom line is, now they know everything about me - down to:
• I brush my teeth BOTH side-to-side and up-down.
• how much I chew my food (seriously, I am not joking)
• how many servings of carrots and potatoes I eat per day (note: carrots and potatoes - not vegetables in total. They sub-divided.)
• that I have someone I can talk to if I have problems
• I have good communication with my family, although I have left home and live in a different city (this was actually an OPTION in the question)
• how much I like my own personality
• how many cups of coffee I drink a day, and *whether or not I take cream and sugar*
And then, to top it all off, there were questions about work. Specifically, my boss. Now how do I handle this situation? It's my boss who's translating the questions... and I have to assess his effectiveness. Ha ha. Just perfect. There were questions about whether or not I thought he had high expectations of me, about the challenge-level, about my coworkers, about my ability to handle the job, etc etc etc. This made for quite the uncomfortable conversation here. Luckily, I decided to look on the humourous side of things, so I was mostly laughing.
This whole ordeal took a whopping 2 1/2 HOURS. Yes, 2 1/2 hours. That is a long, long, long time. And I'm still not too sure what to think of it. All's I know is that it was probably the stranges experience I've had so far...
Oh, today I fixed that damn bug that's been hounding me for almost a week. Yes! Tomorrow I can finally finish the web page I'm working on. Good, because it only should've taken me about a day in the first place.
Tonight's calligraphy lesson was good. I learnt tsuki (month/moon), hi (day/sun), ka (fire) and sui (water). Oh, and the hiragana for neko (cat). It was fun. Yuka-san was also there (another student) and we took a chat break for about 40 mins sometime in the middle. That was fun. It's good because we alwasy speak in Japanese, and I just love it when I actually understand something.
Later on Go-san (yet another student) also came by for a lesson. He left at the same time as me so we walked to the station together. He had his bike with him and it was raining, so I naturally tried to explain to him that in Canada, we just don't bike holding umbrellas. I said it was strange. I guess Go's about 24 or something. Out of school.
Oh, Sensei gave me some sushi tonight in a bento (Japanese lunch box)!! So I'm going to have it for lunch tomorrow. I'm just anticipating the fuss it's gonna cause around the lunch table when I pull it out - heeheh !
Thursday June 19, 1997: 4:35pm
Out of work early. Yahoo! I might try to really catch up on sleep tonight. That'll be nice. I'm basically finished the homepage now. It looks good. I've taken the initiative to change the colour scheme and general look. I didn't really like the one he gave me. So I'll find out tomorrow whether or not I can do that!
Friday June 20, 1997: 5:30am
I set my alarm early today so I could get some work done before my health checkup, but it's pouuuring (not the Canadian pouring - more like the Indonesian kind) and I have to keep my shoes dry for the checkup today. So, no run. Unfortunately, I can't get back to sleep again, so I think I"ll go into work. But the real question is - how do I get there without getting absolutely SOAKED?? I definitely should've brought my big yellow suspenders with me to Japan. Little did I know they'd come in handy... I wonder if they sell them around here. Ha ha!!
7am
I am at work. This is insane. Well, my strategy for the rain was to put everything into plastic bags, including work clothes, put on short, rainjacket, hat, and flip flops, and bike into work holding the infamous umbrella with too short a handle. I figured, no matter what, I'm gonna get soaked. And well, I was right. Here I am... wet to the bone.
midnight
This morning was possibly my worst one so far... the health checkup. Is should've known that if the health QUESTIONAIRE was so bad, that the check-up would be worse. I guess I was just hoping for the best.
So it all starts at 8:30 when Nakamura-san (our department secretary, who's in charge of me for the checkup) and I go up to the 6th floor to joing the tons of other Epson employees also getting checkups. First station is the blood-taking one... the worst one! OK, if there's one thing that I hate, it's giving blood. And I am not afraid to admit this fact. It makes me nervous. I get all shaky and I start to feel weak and woozy. I don't know what to do but laugh. My heart starts beating like crazy. Argh!! Today was no exception. I am truly a wimp. I just kept on making faces at Nakamura-san. I guess she doesn't mind it... she seemed more concerned with the balance test - but I'll get to THAT later. Anyways, it took them forever! 3 viles of MY BLOOD. Oh, I was shaking for at *least* an hour afterwards.
Next was the x-ray station. Now here I did something really stupid (just the first of many stupid things to come). Now since I don't think I've had an x-ray anytime lately, I have no clue what the procedure is. OK, now I _really_ don't want to write this in my journal, but I've decided that I should definitely laugh at this in later years. But it's pretty embarassing now. Anyways, I guess that since Nakamura-san and all the other employees have to go through this whole check-up ordeal every year, they know what to do. So Nakamura-san had come prepared with no bra on, because that screws up the x-ray, I guess. I didn't know this of course. I'm not in the habit of going around bra-less, so when I get ot the x-ray place, they look at my thick t-shirt and start to discuss if it's OK or not. So the doctor asks if I've got a bra on (so I start to think that my shirt's too think for the x-ray). I say yeah, so he says "OK, then take off your shirt" - at least, that's waht I *thought* he said - but he was speaking very broken English. So I checked with him , "My shirt?" and kind of pull at my shirt... He nods, but kind of ignores me as he's getting the x-ray thing ready. Now at this point I start to feel a bit uncomfortable. I'm incredibly nervous from the blood thing ya know. And I'm just not used to stripping down to my bra in front of a stranger - doctor or no doctor. OK, so he's ready for the x-ray, and his back is turned when I take off my shirt. When he turns around he kinda starts and says "Oh no - I say shirt OK?" And I'm going "huh?". Sheesh! Now I feel real dumb, and even worse, more embarrased than I already was. Not to mention nervous. AS it turns out he wanted the shirt ON, the bra OFF. Aaaaahhh... soo desu ne! Well, now I'm just kicking myself here.
OK, well that was my experience for the first round - but then came the second round which started at 10:40. Of course, Nakamura-san just came to get me without warning so I didn't get a chance to change out of my jeans into my shorts, which would've been a good idea. But I'll get to that later.
First was the eye test, which I got to do in Japanese. Cool. Oh yeah, there was weight and height measurement too. Then there was the ear test where you have to press a button if you can hear different pitches. After that there were countless stations filled with numerous body-prodding tests, and measurement thingees. Noteable was the fat percentage measurer (they must've attached me to 8 different machines for that one), the personal consultant, and the reflex test. Oh, there was this balance test (the one Nakamura-san was worried about) that was pretty funny. [Those on the homepage should try this out]. You have to stand with your hands on your waist. When the guy calls "time" you lift one foot off the floor and close your eyes. You're supposed to keep your balance for 3 minutes and you get 2 tries. Now this is my first time doing this, so I didn't really know what to expect. I thought that I couldn't possibly be THAT bad, but I lasted 5 seconds, and then 6 seconds. HA ha!!
There was a cardio test (they stuck pulse monitors all over me and put me on a stationary bike with a mega computer attached) and strength test. And an ab test (ie. how many situps can you do in 30 seconds?) and last, but not least, the flexibility test. Now anyone who knows me usually knows about this particular characteristic I possess - my incredible INflexibility. It is very hard to explain - no one really believes me until they see it. But I get ahead of myself. When I got to the flexibility station I told the guy that I was REALLY bad. But, like everyone else, he didn't believe me. So I sit down on the floor and stretch my legs out in front of me. There's a ruler-type thing that starts 20 cms before my toes, and continues on for about 20 cms after my toes. The idea is to reach your hands along this ruler so they can see how flexible you are in relation to your toes. Ya know, +5 cms if you're just past your toesies, and -5 if you're just before. So the guy says "OK - stretch". Little did he know that I was already stretching. But, he still doesn't beleive me. Why? Because I can't even TOUCH the RULER. Not even -20 cms. I'm actually *leaning backwards*. So he proceeds to coach me through some stretching, but I'm still around 5 cms away from the ruler. So he says "Well, I guess it's -20 then." Ha ha. Oh yeah, the great part is that he tells me I should make a point to stretch once a day. So I tell him, "I already do. Actually, I stretch TWICE a day". Needless to say, I left this guy baffled.
So the final assessment was: avg height, avg weight, good eyes & ears, excellent endurance (yay!) and extremely poor flexibility. OK. This whole thing was horrible because I did all the excercise stuff in my jeanse, whihc is really uncomfortable. Not to mention the body-prodding.
As for the rest of my day... not much. Oh yeah - it was just pouring all day. I went out at lunch time and the rain was coming down *sideways*. I was holding an umbrella, but if there's one thing I've learnt in Japan so far, it's that having an umbrella does NOT mean you'll stay remotely dry (Oh, the other thing I've learnt is that having a good sense of direction does NOT mean you won't get lost). I don't think I have to comment on my wetness-status at lunchtime...
Actually, on my way home tonight there was debris everywhere. It was quite the storm. But it had stopped by 5, and there was a beautiful sunset. I went out for a walk and finally got _really_ oriented. I found a place that would be perfect to watch the sunrise from. Yeah, the next time I'm up at 4 to catch it...
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