Getting into my 5-9 Schedule

It's Thursday night and it's getting towards the end of my first real work week. Seriously.

I'm already into a basic routine. I wake up in the morning and toss about. I now sleep in a lot later than I used to nowadays - maybe it's the loss of jetlag, maybe it's all that beer I drank the night before, I don't know. Next I have some orange juice and a slice of bread with peanut butter on it. I'm not sure if it's due to the fact that the bread is ridiculously thick here, but it takes me a good half hour to get through that piece of bread.

Next I shower, shave, and get into my business attire. I put my suit on a good six hours before my shift actually starts since I don't want to have to come back home to do so. I also enjoy walking around in a suit all day, for the time being. It makes me feel a lot older and lets the Japanese people know not to mess with me since I'm an important businessman. Actually, whenever I pass by a mirror, I'm always so shocked to see how young I am. I keep forgetting for some reason - probably the fact that I'm probably among the youngest white people in Osaka.

Every day in the morning or early-afternoon, I go down to Umeda (business-ish district, northern downtown - I'm going to stop explaining this, so take note this time). I try to complete at least one activity from my long list of things to do, as well as use the internet and find something to eat. I catch the train to Ibaraki-Shi (where I work) around 3:40pm for my 5pm shift, giving me plenty of time to eat again once I arrive and try to prepare a little for my lessons.

The lessons sometimes just fly by. I'm still a little awkward sometimes, but the students like when I tell them that I find teaching and Japan very scary and it seems to put everyone at ease. I'm starting to get a lot of repeat students and I sometimes remember them. They definitely remember me, which has made me realize how well the students and teachers get to know each other. I kind of assumed that it was a pretty formal relationship, in the sense that they forgot each other after the lesson was over, but no. They know all the other teachers by name and description and they know that I'm the "new guy".

OK, I'm going to backtrack to my daytimes. Monday I went to the Osaka Foreigners' Employement Office (called Hello Work). I wasn't quite sure what to expect since no one I'd talked to had ever heard of it. I showed up in my suit and they seemed surprised to see me. It was full of Japanese-looking people talking to other Japanese-looking people. Someone who could speak English sat down with me and explained that since I don't speak Japanese I have no business being there and gave me a map to the Working Holiday Visa office.

Tuesday I went to the Working Holiday office. I don't like how the Japanese deal with the Working Holiday program. They seem to view it as a big money-making tourism situation. On one hand, they don't want foreigners working here, but on the other hand, they want their money. So the deal is, to get the visa you have to pretend that you're going to Japan to travel and spend money and the whole working part of it is just to sponsor your travels. They actually had me make up an itinerary of where I was going to visit.
Anyway, I got to the small WHP office, (which was fairly far away). They told me that I could have a look around but if I wanted to do anything with them I would have to pay a registration fee of 1050 yen. I said I'd think about it and took a look at their job listings for foreigners. There were a number of listings of schools looking for full time English teachers, a couple of "caring for the elderly"-style positions that are usually taken by underpriveleged foreigners, and the information to be an extra in that German movie that I was asked to be in (if I haven't talked about it already - I can't remember - I'll get to it later). There was another WH visa-holder there, a dorky guy from Prince Edward Island, who, upon finding out that I was from Nova Scotia, indicated that we were "neighbours". Apparently, he'd been in there trying to find work for three weeks and still hadn't found anything. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the Working Holiday office and left without paying the registration fee.

So, back to work, I'd been having mixed feeling about my co-workers. On Friday I had somehow been led to believe that I had met them all and was satisfied, though I met a swarm of others this week (at least seven more) and don't like most of the new additions so much. There is Dani, a large and imposing Australian woman who I had overheard mumblings about, she's a block trainer, which is a position that, I'm told, can only be acquired by having a really horrible personality and ratting out your co-workers whenever you find them doing something outside of Nova's strict guidelines. She's probably about 38 and seems to enjoy getting into other people's business. There's Adrian, an Australian smart-ass. Lee is a black guy from Chicago and I haven't seen enough of to form a full opinion. Adrian seems to really look up to Lee. Rebecca is from Virginia, has dark-rimmed glasses and seems nice enough. I just met Haydn today, a 30s-something Australian guy who seems like a good guy. Who else... I met a Scottish guy, a guy named Hsiang (pronounced Shawn) and a girl named Sue, though they're all gone now. Actually, a lot of them are gone now. For some reason, the majority of the teachers at my school left this week, I think some were transfered to other schools and some went home. Tim, the area manager, had his last day yesterday.

And then there's the staff. As far as I can tell there are four female fulltime Japanese staff members. I don't know if they're speaking English when they talk to us, I really can't tell. I definitely hear Japanese words and can't make out what they're trying to say. Other teachers need to translate for me, I guess they're used to both the accents and the Japanese words. Whenever English conversations are going one while they're in the room they keep saying "Nani?" (meaning "what?") in an attempt to join in. There is Erina, Mio, one whose name I can't remember, and the manager, Tomi. Tomi is about my age and I'm afraid of her. Some of the teachers have taught her some vulgar English language and she uses it constantly, to the effect of "Ryan, do you like S&M?" And this is our manager. Surprisingly, though, the staff seem to be running things efficiently and effectively.

Our school is pretty nice. It's on the second floor of an open building with an escalator which also hosts a bank. Inside Nova, it's bright and clean. There's a reception area, little booths where placement tests can be taken, a little sales area with books and stuffed Nova Usagis (Nova's mascot - the pink rabbit). Further down the hall, there's a multimedia section where students can take live lessons from the multimedia centre, the voice room and the Nova Kids room (kids come for 40-minute sessions similar to an English daycare, parents often watch, laughing, from the window). Further back there are the ten or so tiny glass classrooms.

Wednesday after work (which ends at 9pm), Franky (from Pittsburgh) asked if I wanted to come out with them drinking. It was me, Franky, Rebecca and Tim (it was his last day), and the Japanese staff was going to meet us there once they finished up for the day. We went to an izakaya (Japanese-style bar) near our school and I was really impressed.

It was called something like Wahati and was on the 4th or so floor of a building. When the elevator door opened, you stepped in and took off your shoes. The place looked kind of like dark wooden caverns where dwarves might live. There were little wooden lockers for our shoes, and they locked by removing a wooden disk with holes carved into it (don't ask me how it worked). Each table is in its own room and there are cushions on the floor, and beneath the table the floor drops, so there's a place to put your legs.

We sat down, ordered some beers and some food items. I ordered the teriyaki chicken naan. I also tried some little dried fish (given at the beginning like peanuts) that were possibly ancoves (though I don't really know what anchoves are). It was really good to drink and talk with them. They told me a lot about the way things are here and so on. The Japanese staff arrived one-by-one as they finished their workload and we all drank and conversed until we had to leave for the last train. There were other big groups of Japanese people there and they were really loud, it was really funny to hear. The staff talked to us in mostly Japanese and there are some things I've been able to piece together, and others that I just ask them about. Their English is really quite bad. There was also a Japanese guy there who I'd never seen before. He had decent English (he went to university in California) and I was told he used to work as Nova staff but quit a while ago. Then he was in there working again today, so I don't know what's going on. Anyway, I think that Wednesday evening was the most Japanese experience I've had yet.

After the bar, I got on the last train back to Osaka with Franky, Erina and the Japanese guy. Franky has been here for four months and has picked up a number of Japanese phrases. He was pretty intoxicated and invited me to continue drinking with him in Umeda, but I had to go home to bed. Franky started saying a few improper things in Japanese and made Erina and the other guy laugh. While still on the train, Franky yelled something out at the top of his lungs in Japanese. "ShhhhhhH!!!!!!!!!" the guy who had studied in L.A. said, looking worried. Apparently Franky had yelled out a really vulgar expression for saying "I'm pissed off!". The train was full of people and everything went silent (not that there was much commotion going on otherwise). Some of the passengers looked over with concerned or disapproving expressions, though many just sat, staring ahead. One rebellious teenager struggled to maintain his composure, but burst out laughing. This reminds me of a story my roommate Will had told me about rapping on the subway and how the other passengers just completely pretend it's not happening and stare straight ahead. It seems like the longer Nova teachers are here, the more liberal they are in making a fools of their selves in public. I can feel it in me already, it's strange. I think it's because you know you're an outsider and you will never be one of them. In most circumstances, no one will react to whatever you do, so it kind of makes you feel like no one can see you and you can act however you want. I know it sounds stupid but you'd understand if you lived here for a while.

So, today I went to Umeda as usual. Today's tasks were to find out where to buy contacts and to get my memory stick burned so that I can start taking pictures again. I still haven't used my camera since I've arrived, though I've taken some with my phone, but have had trouble posting them.

Next I went for lunch at a restaurant called "Vie de France". French food? you ask. Well not really. It seems that the Japanese often group all foreign food together, so menu items often cross borders. For example, my sandwich today at the French place was "spicy taco meat on naan". It was delicous.

Yesterday I got a phone call from an American who had studied with me in Hong Kong, so we figured out the whole phoning system. If you want my number, let me know. While I was on the phone with him, I went outside of YahooBB and was leaning up against a wall. A Japanese couple came up to me, laughing. "Kawaii," the man said and pointed at me. He was possibly drunk, though it was hard to tell, "kawaii", the woman agreed. I had no idea what they were talking about. "Wakalimasen," I replied, indicating I didn't understand. Then the man pieced together some broekn English, pointed at me and said "Pretty eyes". I later asked the other Nova teachers what kowaii means. They told me it means "strange". Then I told them the story and they said, oh, "KAwaii", and apparently it means "cute". Hmm, Japanese people can be so kowaii.

Anyway, I have to get home to bed, I wasted too long on the internet here again. Saturday morning I have to get up bright and early to be an extra in a German movie. A guy approached me in the subway about it last weekend and said they're looking for 200 Caucasians aged 20-50 and will pay 9000 yen for a day of shooting on Shikoku Island (2 and a half hours away). We have to meet at 6:40am and although it sounds too early and long, it might be a good experience so I'm going to try to do it. Australian Mark from orientation also said that he may go, but I'm really wondering how they're going to scrape together 200 Caucasian men in Osaka.

Today after work I had a beer with Haydn at the train station before catching the train. He had just been on three weeks' vacation since his parents came to visit and he had taken them all over the place apparently. He's in his 30s and said that he quit his engineering job to move here a few years ago and likes it and will be here for another couple of years, he thinks.

Oh, and it's December. I love December.

Ryan