Takoyaki, Asahi, and New Friends!
Wednesday of training was a bit different from the other days of training. Today was had a small lecture on the policies of drinking and illicit drugs. So in Japan, the laws on drinking and operating a vehicle (or anything on wheels) is extremely strict! For those of you who ever plan to visit Japan, know this, you CANNOT even have one drink and operate any type of vehicle. Let it be a car, bike, skateboard or scooter...if the cops pull you over and test you for alcohol and you test anything above sober, you're probably going to jail. Luckily, there is the subway and even people you can hire to drive your car for you. As for drugs, they don't see any one drug "softer" than the other. EVERY drug has a high consequence of jail time, no joke. So that lecture was rather interesting to learn the complete facts. Along with that, we had to all take a saliva drug test. Of course it was nothing to worry just the way things go.
After the lecture and drug test, we were all told to get our apartment information. I will be staying in a LeoPalace that was found through the company. Yes, it may cost a bit more but the convenience of it all was worth the extra bucks. I told myself if I stay longer than a year, then sure I will look for my own place that would be cheaper and more spacious but as for now it just seems easier not to deal with the hassle.
Then, after dishing out nearly half of my money I brought here, we all went to a clinic to get chest x-rays for TB. We thought that the whole process would be really long but Japanese people, at this clinic anyways, were really quick and efficient with the whole process. The only trouble I had there was spelling my name in katakana on the application and listening for my name to be called. Luckily I have friends who are a little more advance than I am in Japanese (thanks Becka!).
This evening, we had plans to meet out a friend of Jacob's for dinner. Having to take the subway there, I got to become more familiar with how things work. In Osaka, they make it rather easy for foreigners being that they have the stops named also in English.
When meeting up with Jacob's friend, we went into Hep Five Shopping center where they had this large 20 meter red sperm whale. The thing was massive!!
After meeting up with Jacob's friend's boyfriend, we all went to this Takoyaki place where you get to make them right in front of you! We were all really excited about that. We got to sit in a booth where we had our own personal space. I didn't know this but for this particular restaurant, we only got to reserve a time slot. Weird being that you end up eating and drinking and staying longer than you expected. The food was amazing though! We ordered all different types from some with octopus, corn, cheese and even pineapple!! Along with food, of course, you had to have drinks! One new thing I learned about drinking etiquette is that you can't pour your own drink! Or you seem like an alcoholic!!! So Becka was my beer buddy and we would just take turns (or pour at the same time) drinks for each other.
With super full bellies of beer and octopus, we decided to go to a place to take photobooth pictures. PURIKURA!!!! (JULIE you would of gone nuts over this!!!) They are SUPER popular here, giving you options to make your eyes bigger and skin softer. The outcome was rather comical and making us all feel super kawaii and Japanese. I could totally see how people would just come on a regular to do this. The whole pictures set was about 400 yen, not to bad split among six people :)
Still deciding the night was young, we all went to another spot to share more conversation over drinks. Jacob's friend is Japanese, but she also knows some English. It was a good experience to be able to talk to her and really watch the words I used and the speed I talked. Also her boyfriend was there who didn't know much English at all. Fortunately, the conversations were mostly understood and it was easy for the whole group to vibe together. There, we had some sort of plum drink that tasted like Koolaid! Even though the taste was sweet, those drinks totally snuck up on me!!! We even got goodie bags! Seems like its Japanese custom to bring gifts to new friends or guests? Pretty awesome if you ask me! By the end of the night I was exhausted and ready for sleep.
Needless to say, this night was another fantastic night with amazing friends! Can't wait for the weekend!!
xxx
After the lecture and drug test, we were all told to get our apartment information. I will be staying in a LeoPalace that was found through the company. Yes, it may cost a bit more but the convenience of it all was worth the extra bucks. I told myself if I stay longer than a year, then sure I will look for my own place that would be cheaper and more spacious but as for now it just seems easier not to deal with the hassle.
Then, after dishing out nearly half of my money I brought here, we all went to a clinic to get chest x-rays for TB. We thought that the whole process would be really long but Japanese people, at this clinic anyways, were really quick and efficient with the whole process. The only trouble I had there was spelling my name in katakana on the application and listening for my name to be called. Luckily I have friends who are a little more advance than I am in Japanese (thanks Becka!).
This evening, we had plans to meet out a friend of Jacob's for dinner. Having to take the subway there, I got to become more familiar with how things work. In Osaka, they make it rather easy for foreigners being that they have the stops named also in English.
When meeting up with Jacob's friend, we went into Hep Five Shopping center where they had this large 20 meter red sperm whale. The thing was massive!!
After meeting up with Jacob's friend's boyfriend, we all went to this Takoyaki place where you get to make them right in front of you! We were all really excited about that. We got to sit in a booth where we had our own personal space. I didn't know this but for this particular restaurant, we only got to reserve a time slot. Weird being that you end up eating and drinking and staying longer than you expected. The food was amazing though! We ordered all different types from some with octopus, corn, cheese and even pineapple!! Along with food, of course, you had to have drinks! One new thing I learned about drinking etiquette is that you can't pour your own drink! Or you seem like an alcoholic!!! So Becka was my beer buddy and we would just take turns (or pour at the same time) drinks for each other.
With super full bellies of beer and octopus, we decided to go to a place to take photobooth pictures. PURIKURA!!!! (JULIE you would of gone nuts over this!!!) They are SUPER popular here, giving you options to make your eyes bigger and skin softer. The outcome was rather comical and making us all feel super kawaii and Japanese. I could totally see how people would just come on a regular to do this. The whole pictures set was about 400 yen, not to bad split among six people :)
Still deciding the night was young, we all went to another spot to share more conversation over drinks. Jacob's friend is Japanese, but she also knows some English. It was a good experience to be able to talk to her and really watch the words I used and the speed I talked. Also her boyfriend was there who didn't know much English at all. Fortunately, the conversations were mostly understood and it was easy for the whole group to vibe together. There, we had some sort of plum drink that tasted like Koolaid! Even though the taste was sweet, those drinks totally snuck up on me!!! We even got goodie bags! Seems like its Japanese custom to bring gifts to new friends or guests? Pretty awesome if you ask me! By the end of the night I was exhausted and ready for sleep.
Needless to say, this night was another fantastic night with amazing friends! Can't wait for the weekend!!
xxx
Comments
Post a Comment