May 9, 2008

Hey, so I'm writing this from my new place here in Kurashiki. I actually have the nicest and biggest place out of the three of us. Our helpers said it's usually used for a family of 4 or 5. Lol. I don't even know what I'm going to do with 2 of the rooms. I have 3 rooms and a kitchen/eating area. :)
Well, today I got up and got all ready to go at about 7:30ish. I had been chattin with Mary til about 8:30 when I had to go meet the others at breakfast. The hotel provided a free breakfast and we had agreed last night to meet at 8:30 to eat together. Well, I was a bit late but I still beat both of them, again, lol. I didn't even eat. It was just rice balls and mizo soup. Yuck. Lol. So I got some orange juice from a vending machine. :)
Our new helper showed up at about 9 and took us to meet the board of education. That was interesting. One of them is from Canada, and I totally knew the moment he talked. He kept throwing in "eh" lol. He was nice, but they kept having convos in Japanese. I made Jon interpret for me a bit so I knew a little of what was being discussed. Seems it's the first time Kurashiki has worked with Interac and basically the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The board has some rules that interact didn't know, so we have to change schools. They said we might even change where we live. (we now know we don't but still, that was super annoying) Well, we left them after we had solved nothing, but we got more info on the area from the Canadian. :)
Next on the list was checking in at Reina's apartment. So we get there and there's no gas or lights or anything, so our helper got on the phone and told us to go explore a bit. So, we went and found circle K. Lol, I guess the Japanese call those stores "conviny"? I don't quite hear all of what Jon and Reina say so that's what it sounds like. Anyway, so we walk around the area. It sucks to be her, there's no shops or anything near her. And we started talking about Provo, so I was talking about how I liked Salt Lake but I wasn't a fan of the attitude the people have. Which Jon deiced to take offence to. (He's from Salt Lake, born and raised) Eh, his retort was saying "It's like me saying people in Seattle are all coffee addicts and are generally depressed." And I was like "well, the coffee part is true. Most Seattle people are addicted to coffee. That's why it's everywhere." That kinda ticked him off that I agreed with him, so he kinda ignored us the rest of the way back to Reina's place. Eh, he'd been mad anyway cuz we had been witness to Japanese male domination a lot today and were joking around with him about it.
Anyway, so we got back and found out that we needed to go shopping after a quick lunch. (Just fyi, I did tell Jon that I didn't mean to offend him with my talk about Salt lake. I said I thought he was a nice guy, I just had issues with some of the people I encountered both times I've lived there. He just said he was ignoring us, so he didn't care. Whatever, I tried.) So, we go shopping for a futon, curtains, toilet paper, and a little bit of food. Oh, and Jon and I didn't have lights so we needed those too. That was quite the trip we filled those poor Japanese people's cars. Lol. (Oh, we met up with our helper from yesterday so she could help us today too, lol) I kinda had a break down in the grocery store though. It hit me big time... what on Earth am I doing here? All of our apartments are about 40 minutes away from each other, (walking) and I can't even read enough Japanese to know if the milk I got is really milk or something flavored like milk. I don't cook, let alone cook Japanese food. When I lived on my own I had easy to make stuff that I could just pop in the microwave and go. They don't have stuff like that here. So, I bought myself some bread (that oddly comes thickly sliced and in a pack of 5), some weird peanut butter, some jam (I know I'll like that), some spaghetti noodles and some canned meat sauce. Oh, and some apple juice and bananas (I'm totally going to up my fruit intake in these three months, lol). I sat down in the store and almost started crying. Imagine going to Safeway and not being able to read or write. Plus, you can't understand what people are saying either. And that's just when it comes to food. What if I get lost?!? I can't read the signs, and I definitely don't know the area. I can't ask for help, because I don't know how. At least at home if/when I got lost I could either call dad or just ask someone. I can't do that here. I mean, the flippin Bishop from our ward is supposed to call me to check in with me before church. Yeah, nice idea, but I don't know Japanese so I can't really talk to him. Great convo. Add that to the fact that I'm alone. I couldn't find the other's apartments if I tried. So, there I sat contemplating what I had done when Jon comes up and asks if I'm ok. But as I'm talking to him this store worker comes and talks to him and tells him I have to not sit on the floor. Whatever, so I talk to Jon and tell him kinda how I feel. He's like "I could maybe write down some phrases for you for if you get lost? I don't know how'd you understand their responses though." See, he's nice, but this time he can't really help me. I told him thanks, but I just hope he'll help me pray I don't get lost.
So, after we buy our food we go to Jon's apartment. It's brand new. We help him get his few things in then head for my place. We get me settled then we say "see you Sunday." I guess Jon and I switched schools we're working with and Reina got a new school altogether. She wants to come live with me. She loves my place and its flippin huge. I told her she's more than welcome, and that I'd actually like to have a roomie. She really wants to, but depends on where her school is. I guess we're meeting with someone from Hiroshima on Monday then going to our schools for a visit. We actually start on Tuesday but not teaching yet. Blah, I dunno. I'm just feeling so lost and alone. I get so frustrated when I hear them speak Japanese. My brain is trying very hard to pick out the words I know, and I'm concentrating on taking in all of them when they talk.
Well, after they all left me alone here I decided I was going to get some food at the 7-11 that's close. So, I took a stroll and got some things. I bought me a kitkat and some melon soda by Fanta. Oh, and I found those candies we love so much from when we were here before. The ones from Harley Davidson. Yay! So, I got my comfort food and I'm typing this all out. At least I have one room with ac. I decided it's my bedroom. I don't think it's supposed to be, as the other room has tatami as well and it's got a lot more closet to it, but I like AC, lol. But, I get the noise of the tiny little fridge now too. Eh, I hope it will just get better...
I should go, it's been a long day and I'm super tired.