Nothing super exciting yet, but I figure I should take advantage of the free internet from the hotel as much as I can before I have to figure out how to pay for mine at my apartment.
Today was Day 1 of training with Interac, mostly doing contracts and agreements. I officially signed my life away for a year to Interac, with the exception of me doing a terrible job and them firing me, or me deciding that I just want to quit. I doubt that will happen, and for those who were starting a pool on my marriage/pregnancy, maternity leaves are unpaid, so that will DEFINITELY not be happening at all if anything for the money reason alone.
Japan is very expensive. For those who warned me, you didn't warn me enough! I have been pretty good with budgeting myself, but unfortunately the company won't be paying me for my first month of work until the following month, so I'm stuck out here for the next 2 months with no paycheck. Scary! We find out tomorrow where we live, so that will help determine how much deposit/Key money/gift money, etc. I will need.
I miss everyone, and already I miss familiar food! Thankfully most of the menus and restaurants have pictures or plastic models, but ugh, is it always noodles, meat, or curry? Haha... I also feel bad cuz although not many of the teachers speak Japanese, they all love Japan something! Either the technology or the anime or the food or something. What the hell do I love about Japan!?!? I had one girl from Anaheim showing us pictures of her hand-made costume of Sailer something-or-another at the Anime expo last year. Wow... And they all talk about the words they know and characters they love from watching Anime, and me? I just nod and stare blankly.
I was able to walk to the Sensoji Temple today during my break and take pictures of the bustling sidewalks of vendors and the cherry blossoms slowly falling. It's quite chilly out, and then all of our rooms are literally hot to the point that we all sweat from just sitting in there! At the temple I wafted myself of some of the incense, to cleanse myself before going into the temple. I also partook in one of those good fortune things, where you shake a large silver can and pull out a wood stick with some characters on it. You then go to the drawer with the same character and pull out your fortune. Mine was "Best Fortune #89" regarding being a shiny gem for the world and my natural characteristics make me successful and full of fortune, with many strokes of good luck. Then everyone folds up their fortune papers and ties them into little knots on these wires...but I haven't figured out why. But I did as was tradition and took a little picture of my knot. I'll post some of them up soon, but so far most of my pictures are just of how fascinating the city is.
Please feel free to email me, I love reading your comments on my guestbook and I can definitely still check my emails! I will be moving into my new apartment sometime next week (after the 8th) and school starts the 13th so I'll have some time to figure out what's going on and get my address for you all to write and visit, etc.
I miss you all very much. I hope you guys are all keeping LA/OC warm and safe for me when I return. Until then, I really need to learn me some Japanese and some Hiragana/Katagana. No crazy stories yet, but there are a lot of people who do wear those SARS masks (hospital doctor masks) all over the place. Supposedly it's because they ahve a cold and don't want to spread it to others...? There's also McDonald's, KFC, Starbuck's, Denny's, AMPM, and 7-11 here so far. I heard there's a GAP around too, but I haven't been there yet. Tomorrow night we're supposed to go Karaoke, but I don't know if I'm comfortable enough around my fellow teachers to wail my Sheryl Crow and Mariah Carey yet...I dont want to intimidate them!! haha...
99! Sayonara!
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