1 Week In.
On Friday (March 28), it was our last day of training. The day was exciting because finally the long hard week would be over but also nerve wrecking a bit because we had a big presentation on this day. Everything we had learned through out the week would be put together in a 20 minute presentation to our group. I felt not so bad about doing the presentation until the trainers decided to switch up my set up. It turned out that my group was the only group with a remaining presenter so they had asked me to present to a neighboring group. In the end, I got to present to my original group but with all the confusion, I felt like I was mentally turned around and by the time it was my turn to present, I felt sloppy and unorganized. Luckily, our jobs aren't based on this presentation and I'm still hired! With the work week finally over, there was only one thing to do, celebrate!
After work, I had gone back to the hotel to get my things together for the move into the apartment the next day. Since I had so much luggage with me, I really didn't want to be dragging it around on the subway station or in an unfamiliar town, so I had my two large suitcases delivered. After situating that and getting my things picked up, I got ready to go out with the cool kids for a Friday night out in Osaka.
Before heading out to meet Jacob and other training friends, Becka, Loc and I went to a mall to try to find a hair blow dryer and a router for our apartments. I had yet to go into any shopping mall or area (and actually look) since I had been here. This particular shop was huge! We were only really looking for two things but even with a short list, the choice as to which one wasn't easy. First because everything was in Japanese but also because there were so many choices (for hair dryers anyway). Rows of hair dryers and hair tools I had never even seen before with prices that ranged from 1700 yen to nearly 30,000 yen! Along with female hair products were many male hair products. Seems like women here aren't the only ones that are making sure their hair is perfect!
After the shopping trip, the three of us went into Sankaku Kouen (Triangle Park) to meet up Jacob along with other new friends from training. Sankaku Kouen seemed to be a "cool" place to hang out with the sounds of skate boards wheeling from left to right, brightly dyed hair girls with big fashions, and pierced and tattooed punk children...ah yes everything I wanted to see. About ten of us gathered in conversation over beer purchased at Family Mart. A relaxed way to start the night no doubt.
After hanging out for an hour, we all headed to this bar called Rock Rock. Becka and Jacob had personal ties to the place and were super keen on going there again. The place was small but the music was good. With such a decent size group, we practically filled the place and the lack of many other people didn't seem to be an issue. I met a couple Japanese people there and partook a casual conversation but it's so hard to remember names for me as well as keep a nice, smooth conversation...that is simple enough for no one to get lost. Nonetheless, the bar was still a lot of fun and a nice way to see each other before all splitting up into our different towns.
Leaving the hotel Saturday morning was a bit bittersweet. It was sad that I would be leaving the only place I knew in Osaka the last week as well as being IN the city but sweet because I would be moving into my very first, own apartment and would finally get the chance to see the town I would be living in as well as fully unpack and really get to settling. Luckily for me, my placement is not too far from Osaka. I only had to take two trains with a total trip transportation of only 50 minutes. Getting off the train and getting on the right train was tricky though because my lack of knowing the language but also knowing the train systems. Thankfully, anyone I've ever ask for help here in Japan have been completely helpful. It's sometimes unbelievable! After getting to my stop, I had a little trouble actually finding the apartment after picking up my keys, but again, the kind nature of the Japanese help me get to my place in a form of a man walking along the street. He took a look at my map and was starting to verbally tell me but figured it would be easy if he just walk me there. Sigh! How nice!
The apartment I'm staying in is a typical Leopalace. Its a one bedroom studio apartment that is a little under 200 sq/ft. Yes it is tiny, but it should be enough for me. When getting here, I barely had any of my stuff because I was waiting for it to be delivered so my room was pretty bare. I read over the information packet and waited for the gas man to come turn on the gas. After getting hot water, I wanted to take a walk to the grocery store to grab some food and to see the town a bit. Luckily this time I didn't get lost! The grocery store was nice and seemed to have alot of things. Too bad mostly everything is in Japanese! Ok I REALLY should get better at this Japanese thing ;) But, as usual, the people were super nice and patient...I could really take some note from these people!
I had heard that fruits and vegetables are pretty expensive in Japan and I would have to agree after going to the grocery store today. There isn't a huge range of options and when you get some fruit here or there, its pretty pricey (1 bell pepper is about 2 usd). I'm not sure what my diet will look like this year but I'm hoping I can keep it a little more on the healthier side. At the grocery store when I went to check out, the lady rang up my stuff but then brought me to another machine to pay and then another station to bag up your own stuff. And if you didn't have a bag you could use a card board box or pay 50 yen to get a plastic bag. It's nice to see a town take action in the whole "no plastic bags" thing going on lately. Looks like investing in some good , big grocery shopping bag would be a good idea.
I would show pictures of my apartment but its so empty right now it would be more sad than entertaining. But when everything is up and its presentable, there will definitely be photos.
I feel pretty drained from the day so will probably be sleeping soon. Luckily I bought an extra mattress because sleep is important!! Good night yall!!
xxx
After work, I had gone back to the hotel to get my things together for the move into the apartment the next day. Since I had so much luggage with me, I really didn't want to be dragging it around on the subway station or in an unfamiliar town, so I had my two large suitcases delivered. After situating that and getting my things picked up, I got ready to go out with the cool kids for a Friday night out in Osaka.
Before heading out to meet Jacob and other training friends, Becka, Loc and I went to a mall to try to find a hair blow dryer and a router for our apartments. I had yet to go into any shopping mall or area (and actually look) since I had been here. This particular shop was huge! We were only really looking for two things but even with a short list, the choice as to which one wasn't easy. First because everything was in Japanese but also because there were so many choices (for hair dryers anyway). Rows of hair dryers and hair tools I had never even seen before with prices that ranged from 1700 yen to nearly 30,000 yen! Along with female hair products were many male hair products. Seems like women here aren't the only ones that are making sure their hair is perfect!
After the shopping trip, the three of us went into Sankaku Kouen (Triangle Park) to meet up Jacob along with other new friends from training. Sankaku Kouen seemed to be a "cool" place to hang out with the sounds of skate boards wheeling from left to right, brightly dyed hair girls with big fashions, and pierced and tattooed punk children...ah yes everything I wanted to see. About ten of us gathered in conversation over beer purchased at Family Mart. A relaxed way to start the night no doubt.
After hanging out for an hour, we all headed to this bar called Rock Rock. Becka and Jacob had personal ties to the place and were super keen on going there again. The place was small but the music was good. With such a decent size group, we practically filled the place and the lack of many other people didn't seem to be an issue. I met a couple Japanese people there and partook a casual conversation but it's so hard to remember names for me as well as keep a nice, smooth conversation...that is simple enough for no one to get lost. Nonetheless, the bar was still a lot of fun and a nice way to see each other before all splitting up into our different towns.
Leaving the hotel Saturday morning was a bit bittersweet. It was sad that I would be leaving the only place I knew in Osaka the last week as well as being IN the city but sweet because I would be moving into my very first, own apartment and would finally get the chance to see the town I would be living in as well as fully unpack and really get to settling. Luckily for me, my placement is not too far from Osaka. I only had to take two trains with a total trip transportation of only 50 minutes. Getting off the train and getting on the right train was tricky though because my lack of knowing the language but also knowing the train systems. Thankfully, anyone I've ever ask for help here in Japan have been completely helpful. It's sometimes unbelievable! After getting to my stop, I had a little trouble actually finding the apartment after picking up my keys, but again, the kind nature of the Japanese help me get to my place in a form of a man walking along the street. He took a look at my map and was starting to verbally tell me but figured it would be easy if he just walk me there. Sigh! How nice!
The apartment I'm staying in is a typical Leopalace. Its a one bedroom studio apartment that is a little under 200 sq/ft. Yes it is tiny, but it should be enough for me. When getting here, I barely had any of my stuff because I was waiting for it to be delivered so my room was pretty bare. I read over the information packet and waited for the gas man to come turn on the gas. After getting hot water, I wanted to take a walk to the grocery store to grab some food and to see the town a bit. Luckily this time I didn't get lost! The grocery store was nice and seemed to have alot of things. Too bad mostly everything is in Japanese! Ok I REALLY should get better at this Japanese thing ;) But, as usual, the people were super nice and patient...I could really take some note from these people!
I had heard that fruits and vegetables are pretty expensive in Japan and I would have to agree after going to the grocery store today. There isn't a huge range of options and when you get some fruit here or there, its pretty pricey (1 bell pepper is about 2 usd). I'm not sure what my diet will look like this year but I'm hoping I can keep it a little more on the healthier side. At the grocery store when I went to check out, the lady rang up my stuff but then brought me to another machine to pay and then another station to bag up your own stuff. And if you didn't have a bag you could use a card board box or pay 50 yen to get a plastic bag. It's nice to see a town take action in the whole "no plastic bags" thing going on lately. Looks like investing in some good , big grocery shopping bag would be a good idea.
I would show pictures of my apartment but its so empty right now it would be more sad than entertaining. But when everything is up and its presentable, there will definitely be photos.
I feel pretty drained from the day so will probably be sleeping soon. Luckily I bought an extra mattress because sleep is important!! Good night yall!!
xxx
Comments
Post a Comment