May 5, 2008

So, we started training today. We met in the lobby at 9am to be escorted to the training place. The dude who met us was named Brian. He seems nice, but a little...lol, I'm not sure how to describe it. You'll see... maybe. Anyway, so he was supposed to show us how to get there so we could do it on our own the next few days. Well, he got lost. Yeah, real nice guide, lol. We had to ask a police man where to go, lol. Well, we found it eventually and after 1 transfer we got to our destination. He was odd because he kept making random comments that really wouldn't help us at all. Things that would confuse me if it were just me. Mostly, I didn't pay much attention. I have 3 people with me who speak and read the language just fine. I'll be good, lol. Oh, before we got there he showed us this stand that sells bento boxes for 250 yen. So like 2 and a half dollars. I got some yakisoba for 150 yen. Yay lunch. It has all sorts of gross stuff on it, but I can deal, lol. And Brian took us to an AMPM so I got some Pringles to help. :P So, class was super boring. He gave us this blue folder full of all sorts of information. Like, we can't wear perfume and guys can't wear cologne in the classroom, and no touching the kids at all. Crazy info that is like need to know, but it really should have only taken like maybe an hour or two to go over...but he made it take from 10 am to about 3:30. Yeah boring. And turns out our British dude misinformed us about the business casual dress. Yeah, Brandon showed up in kaki shorts and a t-shirt and that was fine. Blah. After class we all decided we needed to go out because it was Jon's birthday. But first we wanted to hit up something camera in Akihabara. (that's a store name) It's this huge new building that has every possible electronic item you can think of. We all needed converters for our 3 pronged electronics to 2 pronged ones. We found it there, and Jon decided he wanted a 'cool¨ lan cable like mine that retracts so he got it there as well, lol. After we got our electronics we headed back to the hotel to change our clothes. We wanted to go eat then do some karaoke for Jon's birthday. While we were back I actually caught both Mary and Jina on-line at the same time. It was cool to say hi to both of them real fast. So, after changing we met back up and headed to this big city area..that I have no idea what it's called but it's part of Tokyo, lol. Anyway, Reina called her cousin to come hang out with us, so we met up with her as well. It's crazy cuz Brandon has super blond hair so he's our great landmark, lol. Anyway, we met up with her and went to eat. This place was crazy cuz you buy your food outside and push a button next to what you want. It prints a ticket and you take it inside and they fix it for you. Yeah, absolutely nothing sounded or looked good..so I went with a bowl of rice. Adding soy made it not so bad. Lol. But, it made me have a convo with Brandon and Jon about my issues with Japanese food. They both think they can find some things that I'll like. We'll see, lol. Jon actually had me try some of his ¡pot stickers and they weren't too bad. Reminded me of those things we get free from the place at home. They're eatable. Not my fav, but it works. After dinner we headed to the karaoke. Now, the way this works is you buy a certain amount of time in a room. The room has lights, a karaoke machine, and nice electronic equipment to help you pick your songs. I totally thought of Rachel. She would have loved it. You get 2 mics and you just sing along with your friends in a room. No one but you and them can hear you. You can order drinks and food or whatever while you're in the room. But, it's fun! They had several English songs, but the backgrounds for them sucked, lol. The Japanese songs had the real music videos going in the background. Most of them knew Japanese songs so we sang them too. Reina's cousin doesn't speak English so that's all she sung. Later her friend, who called himself Jack, showed up. He loved singing English songs, lol. My only complaint was that both the cousin and Jack smoked, in that small room that got rather hot and had no vents. Not my fav idea. But, you have to deal sometimes. After we sang (we ended up staying for 2.5 hours) we went to this place to get some pics taken. It is huge in Japan I guess. It's like a photo booth only you get to like edit it and stuff. I dunno, everyone made it sound so much cooler than it ended up being. It was kinda awkward being the only non-Japanese speaking person as well. I would just follow them around and not have a clue what was going on because they'd all be talking in Japanese. Sometimes I'd ask someone so I'd kinda know, but it kinda wasn't fun for me in that way. I didn't let it ruin my time, it just didn't really make me want to hang out like that again. Imagine being like a major 6th wheel. Lol, and having to have them explain things to me. Anyway, so we started back to the hotel at like 11:30. Brandon and I were like super tired. And..the trains stop..so we were kinda freaking out that we might not get back to the hotel. But we made it on the very last train. We got back to the hotel at about 12, so it wasn't bad. We're meeting 2 more interns tomorrow though, so we'll see how that goes...