7am wake up
8am breakfast on 10th floor. I’m the only foreigner. Saw
afro dude again, but he had towel wrapped around his head. F-sensei calls.
9am I’m packing and F-sensei calls again, asks me where I am. When I
tell him I’m still in the hotel, he is shocked and tells me to hurry up and go
to campus, since he’s not taking me and I have to walk. I realize I had
misunderstood him on the phone earlier: we were not going together to campus to
greet K-san and M-sensei; I was supposed to go by myself. So I immediately
started packing. I checked out of my room by giving my card key to an employee
at the front desk (although there was a card drop box right in front of her).
Then I also had her keep my bag (she gave me a numbered tag and tied the
matching piece to my suitcase), and I asked her for directions to Tohoku
University campus. She gave me a map (made of crappy paper so it was torn at
the creases by the end of the day). Then I left and started walking quickly,
pausing at a Family Mart to buy a bottle of water.
I made it to the International Center, feeling a wave of success. But
standing in front of it, I suddenly realized that this building seemed not to
be connected with the university. Time suddenly seemed much shorter as I
wondered where the university
International Center was. My map (and the other ones I had gotten at various
places) were lacking in marking on the campus area. But I wasn’t on campus yet,
so I kept walking.
I made it to where I had met F-san in front of the Tohoku University
Botanical Garden entrance. The old man manning the guard booth was being asked
directions by another old man. I stood in line behind him until they finished.
Then I asked him for directions to the International Center. He pulled out a
book and showed me a map, then suddenly remembered there were two of them and
turned to me to confirm that I wanted the university one and not the other one.
After he gave me the directions, repeating many times to make sure I knew it,
we chatted a little and he asked if I could explain something to him. He asked
me what the phrase “you know” means when baseball players use it at the
beginning of sentences. (American, not just Japanese, baseball is also popular
in Japan.) I thought about it, and replies that it’s used when a player is describing
what he feels he was supposed to do during the scenario he is talking about.
During my explanation, however, an old couple came and asked for directions,
followed by a middle-aged man, so I took the extra time to think, but couldn’t
come up with a better answer. I tried to explain a bit more, but it wasn’t
until I was walking away that I realized a broader, more accurate explanation
would probably be that players use it when they’re describing what they were
thinking at a particular moment. I have minimal interest in sports, but the
example I imagine goes something like this: “And you know there’s a man on
third and a man on second, and if you don’t catch this next ball, the game’s
over.” Or something like that. But I guess I’ll tell him my revised explanation
next time I see him.
Walking to the International Center, I passed several people (mostly
male) including two separate guys wearing the same white shirt with thinnish
red stripes that they probably bought from H&M or somewhere. I saw that
shirt design a lot in Kobe too; it stands out but is too common. I also passed
a lot of huge spiders with huge webs, making me very skittish by the time I
found the International Center. The building was hard to spot, since it had a
small label plaque next to the door, which isn’t visible from a distance. I
followed another confused person to this building who seemed to have
instructions on his phone. Once inside however, there was a lot of flyers and
posters but no directions as to what was in the building. I walked a bit into
the dark first floor hallway, but I saw through a couple open doors students
working hard on what appeared to be tests, so I quickly backtracked back to the
stairs by the entrance.
2nd floor, ask for K-san, doesn’t work there. Realize I should
go to econ dept.
Near econ dept, get lost. Turns out to be the next building. Enter and
go upstairs. Ask someone for K-san. Finally meet and is given paperwork, but
paperwork gets taken away and given back in process of ironing out details.
Have me wait in nearby office (for international exchange) and meet the
people there. The Japanese guy I’m sitting next to ends up my tutor. He gets
teased as being too “dangerous” for a “nice girl like me”. One of the people
was the one who sent me the housing information. Chinese person who works there
(fluent Japanese) asks me to volunteer to teach English at coffee hour since my
Japanese is good. Meet Bulgarian student in charge of said coffee hour. Meet
Chinese Malaysian student, who may also end up as a tutee of my tutor.
Speedwalk back to hotel and pick up suitcase to meet F-sensei. Go to Victoria’s
ex-apartment building to look at all the available rooms. Choose her ex-room.
Prep paperwork. Have some complications because I don’t have a current address
in japan. F-sensei puts his address down.
Note: phone calling much more common and accepted in Japan. No fear of
hesitation about making a phone call. Seen as a way to resolve problems.
Then go to new hotel, check in, and then go to used bike shop nearby
and look. See a bike I want to buy, but wait because F-sensei advises it.
Then F-sensei leaves, and I go back to hotel. After getting oriented, I
went out to buy a bottle of water and withdraw money, since I was down to my
last $30 (3000yen). When I came back, I requested a massage at the hotel’s
front desk. The employee called to find out at my request if they had female
staff and when was the earliest they could come. It ended up being men only,
but I decided to try it anyway. I went back to my room to wait for half an
hour.
During that time, F-sensei called again, this time to the hotel phone.
It turned out that I was able to get the apartment and even move in on
Wednesday. So he had come back to cancel my room for Wednesday night.
At 5:10pm, the front desk called and told me the masseuse was here. It
turned out to be a young man in his late twenties. He had been a masseuse for 3
years, which he said was a long time, since a lot of people quit after 1 or 2
years. He came in quickly and immediately put his bag down and moved my pillow
to the base of my bed. He didn’t seem surprised that I was a foreigner, so I
guess the employee at the front desk must have warned him. His speed didn’t
give me any time to worry. He asked where I hurt (my lower back and my shoulders
from lugging my luggage around). Then he had me lay facedown on the bed with my
chest resting on the pillow. He laid a towel over me and massaged me, going
down the right side of my spine, then the left, then focusing on the shoulders,
the legs, the outside of my hips, and my neck. Afterwards I was very sleepy and
my eyes didn’t want to stay open. The price was about 4000yen for 45 minutes.
As he was leaving I noticed he had a pair of pants slung over his arm. I
realized he must have changed into his white uniform after he arrived at the
hotel.
Then I ate my sandwich and idled my time until I skyped my conversation
partner. She says that afro perms were popular at one time. She also said that
my Japanese, especially my reading, has improved noticeably since I came back
to Japan.
Then I wrote this.
No comments:
Post a Comment