(no subject)
Hello everyone. Unlike yesterday, where I had 4 days worth of e-mails to sort through and attempt to respond to in a timely fashion (some of the responses were more timely than others), today I had very little to do. So little to do, in fact, that I spent a good hour or so purchasing furniture online for my new apartment. I now have chairs and desks and bookshelves and all manner of other exciting things on the way. I'm a bit scared about the items that say "Some Assembly Required" though ><.
On Monday, which was a national holiday, I met up with Wato-san in Shimbashi to have yakiniku at Carne Station and then do a couple hours of karaoke. Wato-san, incidentally, is an old friend of Taka's whom Taka introduced me to last time we hung out. He's a very nice guy who for whatever reason has taken a really huge interest in me. He texts me on my cell phone *constantly*. This is as opposed to Taka, who has seriously reduced his contact with me. I'm worried he might still be angry with me, but Wato-san assures me that Taka's just busy, so I'm going to try to just not think about it. Incidentally, Wato of course is his online handle, maintaining the universal tradition of Japanese people never revealing their real names to online friends under any circumstances, with Taka and Yoshio being notable exceptions. I caught a glimpse of his last name when we made a reservation for our karaoke box though ~_^
One thing that actually made me feel really good occurred after we had finished karaoke and were wandering around Shimbashi. A foreign tourist came up to the two of us to ask me if I spoke English. He was searching for a particular building and had the address, but the Japanese address system is extremely complicated and even Japanese people have trouble finding their way around on occasion. So I went into full-on interpreter mode for the tourist as Wato-san tried to find his way around the area. Of course we ended up getting hopelessly lost in the process (Wato-san is, after all, a country bumpkin originally from Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku), but after 30 minutes or so we finally found our way to the building we were looking for. However, the whole time we were walking around, Wato-san kept repeating over and over "That's so cool you can do that! So so cool! Do you realize how cool that is? Do you? You don't have any idea how awesome it is you can do that!" as I switched back and forth between Japanese and English. Now considering I have been studying this language for 6 and a half years now and still am not very good at interpreting, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Wato-san, for his part, is a brilliant artist who makes me want to repeat the word "cool" nonsensically as well. Still, it wasn't a bad feeling to be told how cool I am by someone XD.
And then I took the day off on Tuesday to finish up a bunch of administrative things I had to do with regard to the move. First I had to go to the Isogo Ward Office to report my move to Isogo Ward. That took maybe 10 minutes and was easy enough. Then I headed to the Tokyo Immigration Office Yokohama Branch to finally pick up my certificate indicating I am confirmed to work at my new company. Fortunately it's not all that far from my new apartment, so I just brought a load of stuff along with me to drop off while I was in the area. Finally, after wandering around aimlessly that day, I returned to my new apartment (still empty of furniture), to await the arrival of my giant TV, my refrigerator, the representative from the gas company, and my futon. They were all scheduled to arrive during the same period, but fortunately they arrived one by one so there wasn't really any chaos. My TV is, as expected, huge, but fortunately it's one of those hyper-thin models so it takes up almost no space. The refrigerator is a small but functional one which I got for free (because the TV was so expensive!). My gas works, and my futon arrived though I didn't bother opening it. Let's hope it's comfortable because I don't think there's going to be room for a bed! XD I do have a couch coming though so if all else fails I could just sleep on that.
However, the hilarious part about waiting in my apartment for my appliances was the fact that I don't have light bulbs installed yet! When I arrived in the apartment I saw these strange plugs on the ceiling that were clearly intended for lighting, but you certainly couldn't use a normal screw light bulb. After much confusion at the electronics store, I ended up giving up and going back to the apartment. What does that mean? I was sitting in an almost completely dark apartment for about 2 and a half hours waiting for people to arrive. It was both boring and embarrassing, but looking back on it I have to laugh about it now. Incidentally, Wato-san has since told me that those are just the normal plugs for fluorescent lamps here in Japan, so hopefully tonight I'll have time to pick up two so that my apartment will not be in complete darkness by the time I move in permanently this weekend.
Oh yeah, and I need to buy presents for my new neighbors when I make my rounds to introduce myself to them. *That* will be awkward. I hope they aren't too scared by a foreigner living near them...
Anyway, I think that's it for now. See you later!
On Monday, which was a national holiday, I met up with Wato-san in Shimbashi to have yakiniku at Carne Station and then do a couple hours of karaoke. Wato-san, incidentally, is an old friend of Taka's whom Taka introduced me to last time we hung out. He's a very nice guy who for whatever reason has taken a really huge interest in me. He texts me on my cell phone *constantly*. This is as opposed to Taka, who has seriously reduced his contact with me. I'm worried he might still be angry with me, but Wato-san assures me that Taka's just busy, so I'm going to try to just not think about it. Incidentally, Wato of course is his online handle, maintaining the universal tradition of Japanese people never revealing their real names to online friends under any circumstances, with Taka and Yoshio being notable exceptions. I caught a glimpse of his last name when we made a reservation for our karaoke box though ~_^
One thing that actually made me feel really good occurred after we had finished karaoke and were wandering around Shimbashi. A foreign tourist came up to the two of us to ask me if I spoke English. He was searching for a particular building and had the address, but the Japanese address system is extremely complicated and even Japanese people have trouble finding their way around on occasion. So I went into full-on interpreter mode for the tourist as Wato-san tried to find his way around the area. Of course we ended up getting hopelessly lost in the process (Wato-san is, after all, a country bumpkin originally from Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku), but after 30 minutes or so we finally found our way to the building we were looking for. However, the whole time we were walking around, Wato-san kept repeating over and over "That's so cool you can do that! So so cool! Do you realize how cool that is? Do you? You don't have any idea how awesome it is you can do that!" as I switched back and forth between Japanese and English. Now considering I have been studying this language for 6 and a half years now and still am not very good at interpreting, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Wato-san, for his part, is a brilliant artist who makes me want to repeat the word "cool" nonsensically as well. Still, it wasn't a bad feeling to be told how cool I am by someone XD.
And then I took the day off on Tuesday to finish up a bunch of administrative things I had to do with regard to the move. First I had to go to the Isogo Ward Office to report my move to Isogo Ward. That took maybe 10 minutes and was easy enough. Then I headed to the Tokyo Immigration Office Yokohama Branch to finally pick up my certificate indicating I am confirmed to work at my new company. Fortunately it's not all that far from my new apartment, so I just brought a load of stuff along with me to drop off while I was in the area. Finally, after wandering around aimlessly that day, I returned to my new apartment (still empty of furniture), to await the arrival of my giant TV, my refrigerator, the representative from the gas company, and my futon. They were all scheduled to arrive during the same period, but fortunately they arrived one by one so there wasn't really any chaos. My TV is, as expected, huge, but fortunately it's one of those hyper-thin models so it takes up almost no space. The refrigerator is a small but functional one which I got for free (because the TV was so expensive!). My gas works, and my futon arrived though I didn't bother opening it. Let's hope it's comfortable because I don't think there's going to be room for a bed! XD I do have a couch coming though so if all else fails I could just sleep on that.
However, the hilarious part about waiting in my apartment for my appliances was the fact that I don't have light bulbs installed yet! When I arrived in the apartment I saw these strange plugs on the ceiling that were clearly intended for lighting, but you certainly couldn't use a normal screw light bulb. After much confusion at the electronics store, I ended up giving up and going back to the apartment. What does that mean? I was sitting in an almost completely dark apartment for about 2 and a half hours waiting for people to arrive. It was both boring and embarrassing, but looking back on it I have to laugh about it now. Incidentally, Wato-san has since told me that those are just the normal plugs for fluorescent lamps here in Japan, so hopefully tonight I'll have time to pick up two so that my apartment will not be in complete darkness by the time I move in permanently this weekend.
Oh yeah, and I need to buy presents for my new neighbors when I make my rounds to introduce myself to them. *That* will be awkward. I hope they aren't too scared by a foreigner living near them...
Anyway, I think that's it for now. See you later!