-There are no paper towels in the bathrooms. If you want dry hands you have to carry your own personal hand towel.
-It's perfectly acceptable to bike to work wearing your suit. It's also perfectly acceptable to bowl wearing your suit. In fact, I'm quite sure it's perfectly acceptable to do anything in a suit here.
-The police always drive around with their lights flashing. When they want to pull someone over, they talk to them over the loudspeaker.
-They don't use the AC/heater at school. Well they do, but only after the official day they are allowed to, no matter how hot or cold it gets before the official day comes. And even then they use it sparingly. My toes have gone numb from the cold only about 5 times so far though.
-People in my city aren't used to seeing foreigners too often. I'm used to being stared at, so that was nothing new coming here; the older people though can be quite funny. My favorite reaction so far was at a public bathroom. There was a line, and I was coming out of the bathroom stall to wash my hands. The next person in line was an old lady; she hurried to the stall when she saw the door opening but as soon as she saw me she stopped in her tracks and just stared. It was like she wasn't sure what to do; apparently she didn't have to go too bad because she stared until I finished washing my hands.
I've noticed that my trend as of late is to write only about the more negative aspects about my life here. I think it's time to write again on a few more reasons why I like it here.
-I love my apartment. It's small but just perfect for one person, and I'm in love with my bathtub.
-People think I'm weird, but I really love walking. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday I walk half an hour one-way to work, and on Wednesdays I walk 45 minutes one-way to work. I love having to rely on my own power to get me where I need to go, and I love that I'm forced to excersize every day. I love having that time between waking up and actually getting to work; it's a good time to re-focus on what's important and soak up Japan. If I drove there's no way I would know that most of the fish in the streams like to swim against the current or have time to appreciate the architecture of the different buildings.
-I love how easy it is to pay my bills--I just bring them to the closest convinience store and pay there.
-I love the kids. There are some really annoying ones but they're all a lot of fun, and even on the crappiest day they make me smile. Pictures!! Are you ready? They're so cute!
4 comments:
those are the cutest things i have ever seen. i was hoping you'd put some kid pictures on here. also, i wanted to let you know that your gift of marshmallows has given me the ability to make christmas fudge, and to you i am forever indebted.
Kristin!!
I'm so glad you wrote the things you did because that will help Allen and I pack for Japan! We're so excited to come be with you there and to see those cute kids!
We love you!
~Laura and Allen
omae no kozu wa honto kawaii!!!
[to translate bad Japanese to good English (in case I said it wrong): "Your kids really ARE cute!"]
I don't understand those air hand-dryers. How are you supposed to blow your nose on THAT?
In my Alaskan experience, salmon do tend to swim against the current and even up (10' or smaller) waterfalls.
I found out that I could pay my bills at the grocery store next to the Papa John's I work at, too.
I got to play with some kids at VBS on Christmas Eve and the day before. Playing horsey is hard. Kids do not water their horses or treat them nice.
missed a few months of xanga and related blogging; sounds like you're making a courageous decision to stay another year. my wife majored in japanese and thinks there are a lot of similarities between the japanese and thai cultures.
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