Ohayo!
Takakura-san and Joyce took me out to get my alien registration card, my new cell phone and my internet set up. Of the three, I only physically came home with the cell phone, as the alien registration card will take two weeks, and the internet will take a month at best. I was so tired that I fell asleep face first onto the desk while Joyce and Takakura-san were working out the details of my phone plan with the saleman, which earned me another kawaii comment, errrgh. I also bought a Brita filter, and ended up toting it along to the enkai (after-work party) which was a combination welcome party and goodbye party for Tina and I. I was welcomed, and she was said goodbye to, in case any of you missed that idea. We went to what is the equivelent of a Japanese sports bar and steak house, filled with rowdy half-drunk Japanese businessmen and were given plates of raw vegetables and meat to cook on these wide flat iron woks mounted in the center of the table. I got seated in the middle of my bosses and superior, all gruff-looking middle aged Japanese men, and Tina got seated by the rest of the girls. This worked out well, as I was bombarded by questions in both English and Japanese and continually given more food by by bosses for answering them. I didn't drink because I didn't want to make a bad impression, but my bosses all did, and got rowdy themselves. They even got me to try a little pork, in a dumpling, and found themselves very amusing for it all. Admittedly, I did too.
08/04/06 - It turns out that the reason Joyce and Takakura-san don't mind toting me about to get things set up is that it lets them take a "day outside work", considered a day doing outside errands. So on this day, Joyce and I got permission to take half a day outside of work to buy me a fan. We arrived at Kencho at 1pm, and stayed for the remainder of the day (til 5pm). Until I start going to the schools I will be teaching at, I will spend every day at Kencho, at a desk, with nothing to do. I used my time the first day to study Japanese, which my co-workers thought to be an admirable pursuit, one that I plan on repeating until I can speak/write well. They even printed up a page of all the hiragana characters for me to practice with. I can now write my name and Kevin's name in Hiragana, and will be sending post cards to people with their names written in my terrible script. At almost the end of the day, Joyce and I went downstairs to the snack store for some drink and I made a terrific discovery! The store at Kencho has Maria wafers! Oh glee upon glee, I bought a roll of them for breakfast, and some instant coffee to use with my bizarre water heater at home. On reflection, I should have bought 6 rolls, as they went FAST. My luggage finally arrived at Kencho that day, so I took a taxi home with Joyce and she helped me lug it up the stairs. I unpacked, and passed out for the night. I know, how glamorous, right?
I'm going to stop there, because it's actually Sunday when I'm writing/posting this, and I have a class to get to. Plus Saturday was big and exciting, and will require a lot of work to upload (re: videos!). So stay tuned! Or.. you know.. go about your daily life and check now and then. If you want to snail mail me something (I like presents ^_^), PM me or leave a comment, and I will try to get my address to you ASAP.
TickleTape Community Member 
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