From Noodles to Foolishness...

In the dollar store yesterday I heard a small voice scream "Hen no hito!" (strange person) and as I looked up there was a little girl of about 5 running away screaming/giggling "Hen no hito!!!" to her friend and her father...after they walked around my aisle twice chanting "strange person, strange person" I finally waved...they giggled and ran away and I continued with my shopping.

So I think this post might be the most exciting yet...I'm warning you that the next part is going to start off a little slow but soon things will pick up...Here goes...

Today was the day of our "Bowing Ceremony"...sounds exciting right? Well it wasn't! We went to work at 8:30 like usual...then left at about 10:30 to come into the city for re-entry passes from the airport so that we can leave the country and not have issues when we try to...re-enter! If anyone is ever in Fukuoka Airport and looking for Immigrations well you'll never find it...unless you look in the most obscure corner...next to the bathrooms...at the end of a corridor that you would think leads to nowhere! After doing that we ate some really good SPICY ramen...Japan has a thing for little itty bitty cups so the others got two cups of water...I made it through my ramen on one cup...cuz I'm a BOSS!!! After lunch we headed over to the building where the ceremony took place...it went as follows:
Stand
Bow
Sit
Listen to Introductions
When your name is called stand...bow...sit
Listen to a welcome speech
Stand
Bow
Sit
Wait for the senior folk at the Ministry of Education to leave
Breathe!
Then cuss about how you came all the way there in the blazing heat...wearing a suit...just to Stand...Bow...Sit!!!

And here's where the "fun" begins...

Since the Orientation was cancelled and rescheduled, so were the dinner and the after party...the Orientation (that's odd...I wonder if the word "orient" in this context and the far East have any relation...one more thing to look up on the Internet at "work") is next month...but the dinner and after party were today...Let me tell you a little about how the Japanese get down when it comes to dinner and after parties...then I'll tell you about how English speakers add their own spin on things...Dinner was a Nomihodai/Tabehodai which means All-You-Can-Drink/Eat for a set price and the after party was a Nomihodai...these folks probably drank more than they should have at the dinner b/c by the time the after party started (9:30) eyes were already red...I literally had to pull this American guy off this poor lil super polite Japanese woman, sit him down, then I went to see if she was ok...folks were TO' UP!!! It was disgusting...so you're probably wondering where I fit into all this, eh? Well, Cory and I got the bright idea that we would find someone's place to crash at and spend the night in the city, wake up, eat, [window] shop, and go home for the dinner party in the evening...so we brought overnight stuff with us and put it all in a locker at the after party...Theoretically it was a good idea...Logistically, not so much...the one girl who was like "oh are you new? blah blah blah...I've been here for a year...my name is blah blah blah...I won the lottery when it comes to location b/c I live near here blah blah blah...so if you're ever in town and you need somewhere to stay blah blah...so I said "Is that offer valid today? for me and a friend?" She responded "Yeah totally! Just find me later." So when Cory was ready to go home, I found her to tell her that we would be near the door and don't forget us on your way out she replied "Oh, I party til like 7..." OH UH UH...NOT GONE CUT IT HOMIE!!! So it was time for Plan B...We had heard about cyper cafes where you can stay all night for cheap...so we got directions and went looking...we found it, but we misunderstood the pricing outside and thought it was going to be way too expensive so we went back to the after party with the hopes that we would find someone...NOPE!!! We just found another homeless person so we scooped him up and headed to the Cyber Cafe to ask...sure enough it was cheap...we got memberships...and here I am now telling you this story...LOL...there's food to order (like room service...lol), bathrooms, showers, and private booths for each computer/tv/dvd player...and thank God that the Japanese (in general) are so clean and caring...I'm in the Ladies Only section! We got 7 hours and we're just going to stick it out! Just one more way of "When in Rome..."-ing...Boy will I have tales to tell my grandkids!!! "Grandma was an Internet cafe squatter in her younger days!" Time to say a prayer (or 2) and get some shut eye...

P.S. At the after party, got a little choked up when HEY YA! came on...oh the little things that trigger emotion!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye...Spiderman is dead!

So you remember that human sized spider that was featured in a previous post...he came back last night. The dead spider on the other side of the apartment building must have been Spiderman's little cousin. I came back from my SHOPscapades with Cory and something told me to look in my shower room...Thank God the light switch is outside the room because sure enough Spiderman was right in front of the door...taking a shower! So the common sense that was on vacation the last time I saw him returned and I ran to get the bug spray...IT TOOK 1/2 A CAN JUST TO MAKE HIM STOP RUNNING!!! Mind you I was on the phone with my mother the whole time it was happening. I'm so glad that I'm not the panicky type...I managed to kill and dispose of (in a small plastic bag, double-knotted, then put in the big trash bag) the trash without skipping a beat in the conversation. I've gotta get a screen for the shower room and WC windows ASAP...He's about the size of a silver dollar now that he's dead...still too big if you ask me...but that's better than alive and the size of my palm! I keep the WC window closed since I found evidence (use your imagination) of a lizard (rest his soul) in there last week! Then I did a little victory strut in my new burnt orange/chocolate brown wool houndstoothish grandpa cap (flat cap, newsboy cap, whatever you wanna' call it), matching bag, white oxford, and thin chocolate brown V-neck wool sweater! Can't wait for winter...hahah...I'll probably regret saying that! Perhaps a little winter will help my po' skin...the zit triad is out of control!

On the way back last night, Cory and I stopped at KFC for dinner...I got the Asian Spicy Chicken/Asian Noodle Soup/Naan Combo...you wanna talk about SPICY! PHEW! The bread was my favorite part of the meal...it wasn't real naan (2 pieces) but it was really good anyway. It's so amazing that although the portion sizes are exponentially smaller here than in the US, I manage to be completely satisfied...They've got to be putting some kind of "That's Enough You Gluttonous American" drug in all the food!!! And on the contrary, today I had a yummy Tempura and Udon set...and I had to ride across the street to the convenience store for some Green Tea Haagen-Daz...telling myself that it's good for digestion...lol...so maybe that meal did not have the drug in it but that ice cream sure did! I am amazed everyday at how I manage to do absolutely nothing for 8 hours straight! It's an art...perhaps I'll send an email or two... who am I kidding...maybe tomorrow...


Here's a picture from Saturday...this is inside a store called Baby Shoop...it's out of control....the sales people were falling over themselves to come and talk to me...ask me where I'm from...about my hair..."Doredo, Doredo? (Dreads, Dreads?)..."No, twists!" I replied...they were a bunch of Japanese women who look like they put a lot of care into darker skin, thicker hair, and skanky clothes...I'll be sure to always be well dressed/coiffed when I go in there to let them know that there are Black people in the world who look nothing like the image the store portrays!!! OUT OF CONTROL I SAY! Maybe I'll take a picture of them next time...

A bunch of nothingness...

So since nothing has really happened around these parts since last weekend...and my digital camera is on vacation...Sabbatical...Hiatus...Broken...so I'll just comment on...well...stuff






Here is a sample mugshot...be prepared to see it on the front page of a newspaper near you if a drunk Japanese decides to try to grope me on a train! 'Cuz I'm going to jail...no passing GO...no collecting $200! I'll give you my address so that you can send me bail money!










I'm a little sad that I won't be in Atlanta for the premier of Idlewild...hopefully it shows here sooner or later...






Here's what the office looks like...you can see all up in everybody's business . That's Lindsay at the bottom right...







Here are fireworks on the Chikugo River in Kurume...












Fireworks in Yame...






I keeps it bourgeois in Japanland...a certain special lady may be getting Louis for Christmas...

This little guy is about twice this size now that he's out of his shell. That to the left is just the shell, and yes this is the actual size. That leaf is about the size of my palm (yes, my hand is a standard tool of measurement)!

Here's my hood...yes that's a rice paddy. Everywhere there is not a house or street, there is a rice paddy. It's pretty neat riding my bike...ehem, "driving" through them on my new vehicle that I lovingly nicknamed "The WooWoo2"...lol

Now for random photoless gibberjabber:
- I had some really good curry for lunch today. You order what base you want (beef curry, pork curry, etc) then you add toppings. Only in Japan can you get a barely cooked egg or tuna on your curry and rice...they handed us an English menu...but the server didn't understand English...so we ended up just going back and forth between the English and Japanese menus...making ordering more difficult and time consuming than it should have been. Then I picked up the regular menu after the server took or orders and the whole darn thing was bilingual and had way more options...like stewed chicken or shrimp curry...what a waste of time that I could have been using to eat.

-The thunderstorms here are out of control as I probably mentioned before...sure did miss that insulation and those bricks that as building materials again last night when I thought the booms of thunder would surely knock down my air conditioner!
-MTV.com does not show videos outside the U.S. So now how am I going to prove to the world that Ashanti, Amerie, and Alicia Keys can't sing?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Oh no, it just started thundering and lightning again...and here comes the wind and rain...MY HAIR!!!! hahaha..Just Kidding...I sure hope it's not raining when it's time to go home or someone will be sitting right here on the computer...not trying to drown my laptop...luckily showers here usually come and go...during the day...they're pretty steady through the night though...let's hope that trend is always applicable! I hope the rain doesn't put a damper on our SHOPscapades that Cory and I had planned for the evening!

The calm after the storm...

Although the orientation on Fri. and Isla de Salsa on Sat. were canceled, I still managed to have a great time this weekend! I prefer to call the typhoon a tropical storm because the word "typhoon" just makes it seem so much worse than it actually is! It was just rainy and windy. So, we went to Fukuoka City on Saturday anyway. NOT A DROP OF RAIN! We got paid today, so Saturday was spent window shopping and making a mental wishlist...the list includes things like groceries, home furnishings, and a funky red wool coat with matching fly red patent leather pumps! Oh yeah, then there are those not-so-important things like rent, utilities, and saving...lol

On Sunday morning, I took out my trash for recycling and the old man who helped me last time asked in Japanese, "Do you have any whiskey?" I thought he was commenting on the fact that none of my bottles were alcohol bottles (unlike my colleges who have whole bags of only beer cans on recycling day, lol). So I said no. Then I realized that he was asking if I brought whiskey from the states. Then he said, "Oh, you don't drink?" like he was a little surprised to meet a foreigner in Japan that was not a drinker!

I swear I called the Isla de Salsa people like 20 times to see what the plan was for folks like me who had purchased a ticket and didn't want it to go to waste because of a little rain...they made all the Saturday tickets valid for Sunday! I got a really good deal because the Saturday tickets were less expensive and people who bought tickets for both days did not get refunds! It took forever to get there, the strip of beach on the island was small and packed, there were a total of 5 Black people (yes, I counted), some Hispanic folks sprinkled about, with a dash of non-POCs (yay for BFWords) here and there, there was a not-so-good Japanese band playing a really bad watered down version of Latin music, and I was HUNGRY! So first things first...I looked for something to eat of course! And that's when I met them...1. Jamaican restaurant owner from NY who has a restaurant in Fukuoka, 2. His French employee, 3. Their Kenyan friend at the next stall, and 4. the group of Navy folk stationed in Sasebo on the USS Juneau and the USS Harpers Ferry. I exchanged info with a bunch of folks and everyone has invited me to a number of festivals. Unfortunately, as was stated in a previous post, my camera is out of commission. I did take some photos on my disposable but I'll have to wait to get those developed once the film is all used...perhaps I can get some pictures from the Navy folks. We'll see...after about an hour, the Latino band made their way to the stage and that's where the real fun began and everyone kicked off their shoes and got down with the salsa...So of course I did the same! It was great. I'll definitely be finding all the salsa spots in the city!

So this weekend was not a complete waste and I did manage to have fun. Time to browse the Fukuoka Now (English magazine about Fukuoka City) for places to eat, dance, etc! In an attempt to keep this from being the most boring pictureless post yet, below are some photos from Saturday of foods that I encountered in the daily gastric adventure commonly referred to as mealtime:




Times like this you need bigger chopsticks!






This is the closest to India that I've had Indian Food and yes it does it get better with proximity!!!



Green tea parfait...I had desert first by the way!
From the bottom to the top:Sweet Azuki beans, mochi (glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape), Bananas, Corn Flakish cereal, Soft serve Vanilla Ice cream/Gelatto, 2 more Mochi, a lady finger, Macha (green tea) Ice cream, more Sweet Azuki bean, a Waferish cookie, drizzled in some kind of syrup...SOOOO GOOOD!

Woe was I...

Yesterday was NOT MY DAY!
Things started off well....well normal anyway. I had a really good lunch...Chanko Udon...I got my gaijin card...work was "work"...after work we all headed to a used/new furniture store...as we were about to cross the street in front of the Board of Education I slammed on my front brake and next thing I know my chin was barely touching the concrete...First of all I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHY I HIT THE BRAKES OR HOW IT HAPPENED! Second, my hands (thank God for hands) positioned themselves to brace for impact and my body was parallel to the ground but the bike was perpendicular to the ground....AND I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! So everyone stopped to make sure I was ok...I was...hands a little scraped...throbbing wrists...but I was ok...Third, we crossed the street and all of a sudden my umbrella (my green Benetton umbrella that I brought all the way from Georgia and love sooo much) jumped into the spokes of my front tire and was completely destroyed...mind you it was very cloudy, very windy, and about to rain at any given moment! So we stopped again..."I'm OK!" and we continued to the store...after we left the store I decided to go to Trial to buy a new umbrella and half way there I noticed that my bike was pulling and the ride was a little bumpier than usual...FLAT TIRE! GREAT! So in addition to a new umbrella, I bought a new bike and left the old one at Trial! About an hour after I got home I rode to the cell phone store with the others just to see what kind of phones there are...something funny happened and I went to take a picture and VOILA! MY CAMERA WAS BROKEN! All the photos came out red! So I gave in, texted Justin, and called home...I went to the drug store an picked up a disposable camera for this weekend (Fukuoka Orientation and Isla De Salsa)...And guess what...TYPHOON! Wind and rain like nobody's business all night/morning long...Orientation was cancelled this morning and I'm surely not gonna dance outside in a typhoon on Saturday! So now I'm trying to figure out how to get a refund for my Isla De Salsa ticket...I called and had a conversation with a lady in half Japanese/half English and the plan is to make Saturday's tickets valid on Sunday in the event of inclement weather...but if Sunday's just as bad...well, I'll have to check the website for that info later...but right now they're still deciding...oh yeah, and now I have a zit triad...forehead, left cheek, right cheek (on my face by the way)! And no I will not post a picture of that!

So that was my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 12 hours! But I am alive and well so I suppose this was just a narrative and not just complaining...




This is one of the jolliest Buddhas I've seen (if one can call someone else's religious figure "jolly") ...

Sorry Michelle...but NO RENT...NO STAY!!!

Another one bites the dust...

Looky looky who I found behind the couch! And off the balcony he went!

I got my gaijin (alien registration) card today...so now I can officially do stupid stuff and, when I'm questioned about it, shrug my shoulder and whip out proof of my foreignerness! O Joy!

Tomorrow is Fukuoka Orientation...I'm so excited to meet the rest of the people who are "working" in my prefecture! Saturday (and Sunday but i'm only going on Sat.) is Isla De Salsa...Sponsored by Tiempo Iberoamericano, an organization promoting exchange between Japan and Ibero-America, Isla de Salsa is Japan's largest Latin festival. Now in its seventh year, the festival invites Latin musicians both local and world-famous. There is also a Latin dance show and contest, ethnic food stalls, and art displays. As the event is held by the beach on Nokonoshima, clothing requirements are minimal...I will however be wearing linen pants because I don't care to merengue with mosquitoes!!!

By the way...

-This is "weekend" hair...

-I think this photo makes me an honorary Hawaiian... hmmm?

-That tea cup in front of me (behind the beer bottles) is my drink... Hakuna Matata Mommy!

Another Squatter!!!

Well, I met another potential roommate in my apartment yesterday morning before work. Smaller than a ghost and less menacing than a palm-sized spider...a lizard! I don't know what made me think I could chase it into the itty bitty garbage can in my room...but I tried anyway...to no avail as you can imagine. So what did I do? I did what I should have done to that spider...I sprayed it with bug spray! And what did it do...It froze, then ran somewhere! HAHAHA...now I just hope there is not a dying/dead lizard chillin' somewhere in the house!

Another Favorite Quote ... "Have you lost your way in life?" Yumi (while discussing what made me come to Japan).

Another reason why I like the office.... Well it's the same as the old reason...People give you snacks...Today one of the office ladies gave me a Shiba Mochi (steamed glutinous rice pounded into a sticky paste, filled with azuki beans boiled with sugar to a sweet paste,a wrapped in a preserved Shiba leaf). Traditionally, the eating of mochi on special occasions such as festivals was thought to ingest the spiritual power of the gods into the body and revitalize and reinvigorate the lifeforce. In addition, the custom of eating azuki beans on special occasions was believed to ward off evil spirits. I'm sure she didn't think all that when she gave it to me but I still really appreciated it. The other lady who like my "hair" just called me fashionable and said she likes my hair again today, it's twisted...lol

Wanna' here a funny story? Well, you have no choice! Monday, after someone complained about having little red bite/bumps from bugs that they have yet to see, three of us made a trip to the hardware store for some tatami (woven straw) bug killer...Since we're all essentially illiterate, we split up to find it. I went directly to the garden center b/c I figured that's one of the leading places pesticide would be found...and I hoped it would be near the household pesticides...instead of finding the proper chemical, I found a man who looked at me and kind of stepped back saying "Hwah!"...which is pretty much the Japanese equivalent to "Oh my goodness look at that foxy lady over there with the too-heavy-bookbag-on!"...OK, OK, so that's not really what it means...it's more like "Oh my goodness...I'm so surprised...It's something I've never seen before!" Now I have one question...How is it that creepy old men are easily recognized in any country?!?!?! And the conversation proceeded...mind you he was speaking in Japanese and I was speaking in only English hoping that it would make him lose interest and walk away!...He was like, "I saw you in Mos Burger." In my mind I was like well woooptydoo, b/c I had just left Mos Burger...instead I responded, "Today?" He said, "No like two weeks ago, with your friends. One is a tall guy." So I said, "yes," and continued to look for the bug stuff. In a nutshell he asked me the following questions: -Are you a teacher....Yes -Do you live near here...Yes -Do your friends live near here...Yes -Where do you teach...Far from here and here's where be started to lay it on.... "You're really cute (in Japanese)!" So I pretended that I didn't know what he was saying. So he repeats himself in English...somehow the meaning got a little stronger in English, "Sexy!" I looked at him sideways and said, "Oh no no no...uh uh" with a straight face and a slight neck roll while I tried to think of a way to make him go away...then it came to me! So I asked him in 1/2 English and 1/2 gestures, "Where is the [pointed to the pesticide] for tatami [pointed to the pesticide, then scratched the back of my hand]?" In 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 gestures he said, "Oh, for tatami bugs [scratches his side, and makes the ithchy face]?" I pointed at him and said "YES!" Well all the creepiness went out of his smile and he magically transformed into an-eager-to-help Japanese person. It was hilarious! When we got to the aisle, he picked up two cans and said one was good but the other was better. So I grabbed three of the better ones off the shelf with a grave expression on my face to indicate that the problem was really serious, then thanked him. He said, "No problem," and walked away. I laughed so hard when he turned the corner that I almost dropped all the cans. So I put two of them back on the shelf, waited a few minutes to checkout to make sure he was gone, and headed for the register. It's so funny that even the creepy folk over here are super helpful...unlike creepy folk at home who become way creepier or completely give up when you show some resistence.

Yesterday I went to look for one of my junior high schools. The train ride was about 35 minutes, followed by a 15 minute walk to the school...OMG!!! It was the longest, hottest 15 minutes ever!!! When I got back to the station I was literally drenched!!! You can't bring bikes on buses or trains So, I'm going to try to find a way to leave a bike at the station or find out the bus schedule from the station to the school...which will probably be the best idea for inclimate weather.

Besides the infinte rediculousness that is put on "English" t-shirts, here are some other things I've seen in my day-to-day:

This statue is outside a car dealership...

I'm assuming this is the site for a restaurant that is coming soon...

Yes you are!

I'll try not to!

You don't wanna know what I thought this was...just know that the first thing that came to mind was, "Why is that on his face?!"

Eating Doritos WILL NOT...

Make it okay to hurt your friends!

Make it okay to play dress up!













Make a minor on a bicycle notice you!




















Nor will they make you the best player on your
office's baseball team...especially if you play in a shirt and tie!!!


Advertising here is out of control...everytime I go into a store it's instant sensory overload! There's even a stereo in the meat section of Trial (Super Wal-Mart) that plays "Niku Niku Niku!" (Meat, Meat, Meat) all day long on blast!!!

8/13 1:57am OMG!!!

So…I just saw the biggest spider that I’ve ever seen in person…it’s a little bigger than the palm of my hand…Later, I’m going to get screens for the windows in the shower room and the WC cuz ain’t gone be nobody livin’ here without paying rent!

Now on to Karaoke Race Relations…Maybe it’s just me but…

The first time we went to Karaoke (in Kurume), I sang songs by Norah Jones, KT Tunstall, Roberta Flack, Franz Ferdinand, and John Legend. At the end of the night a colleague asked, “Tiffany, did you see Alicia Keys?” I reply, “No, why would I look for Alicia Keys? I don’t like Alicia Keys.” Then he said, “WHAT, why not?” And I told him what I tell everyone when discussing Alicia Keys, “She can’t sing.” He was so shocked and amazed that I did not like her that he went on for like five minutes about how great he thinks she is. In retrospect, I should have asked, “If you like her so much, why didn’t you sing one of her songs?”

The third and most recent Karaoke scenario (in Chikugo) took place last night. Another colleague kept referring to me as “Hot ‘Lana” (a nickname for Atlanta), which was no big deal. It’s not until he sought my approval of all songs he chose that were performed by Black artists, called me Regina, and when I corrected him about my name he said, “No, no, no you’re Regina,” that I expressly erased him from the “People I Like” list...By the way, my shirt was a hit!!! Moving right along...

I love how:




The pet store and McDonald's are next to each other!











Little kids are soooo fly...yes that's a High Fashion
Hump (hairstyle)!












Plastic food always looks sooooo gooood!









The Colonel manages to be at every KFC in Japan...at the same time!











In Japan, Super Heroes hang out with the common folk!

8/12 2:47pm What does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

Went to the drug store today to find some lotion to prevent and attack of the Ashies when this bottle runs out, and a thought occurred to me for like the 10th time since I’ve been here (less that 2 weeks)…Everything you expect to be expensive is cheap and everything you expect to be cheap is expensive…For Example:

A pack of Nabisco Oreos…about $1.65…I expected it to be more since it’s an import

A meal at any local ramen shop…about $5.50...and you get a whole lot of food

A 30 minute limited express train ride to Fukuoka city…about $22…Now in my mind it would make sense for transportation to be cheaper since so many people…but I guess you’re essentially paying for efficiency, punctuality, and comfort…still expensive to me though

Making the cashier at the drug store so surprised/giddy/nervous that she nearly dropped my lotion and 1 yen of my change after I told her it was ok (in Japanese) the first time…PRICELESS!

8/11 11:45 pm “Business” Trip

Yesterday we went to begin the process of getting internet in our apartments…which we should have by the end of the month??? We also went to Trial to find “Engrish” t-shirts (the phenomenon of badly translated English phrases on t-shirts) for tomorrow’s theme party…which will include (as you can probably guess) KARAOKE! Mine says “Monkey Good Boy” and there’s a picture of four monkeys in a green jeep, one of them is wearing an eye patch…and under the jeep it says, “IT WILL GO LEISURELY. IF THERE IS EVEN A WAVE, IT WILL BE [The Hot Sun And] OUR PARADISE THERE.” No I didn’t accidentally type the wrong thing…that’s what the shirt says…brackets and all!

Today we spent the day in Kurume (neighboring city) with some Kurume University Intercultural Studies students. Their project was to basically give us a guided tour around the city…yes this was a day off to learn about fun stuff to do in the next city over…in the morning we listened to presentations they put together…








then we had lunch and desert (paid for by the university)…






in the afternoon we went to Kora Shrine up on a big hill in Kurume and we learned how Japanese people pray at a shrine…wash hands…throw lucky 5 yen coin (the copper looking one with the hole in the middle) into bin…bow twice…clap twice…ring the big bell…pray…bow…continue with your regularly scheduled programming…











130 Stairs
Later...




Then we went to a few places downtown and got some relatively useful information…and we all had dinner at a really nice restaurant…





appetizer…salad…










bread (pumpkin and green tea breads…both
very good!)…



pumpkin or
squash soup…










a pork dish from the southern part of this prefecture (Kagoshima I think) ...








a plum in some kind of alcohol flavored gelatin…







and I had a green tea cappuccino at the end…ALL YUMMY!!! (and paid for by the university…oh and they reimbursed us for the train ride)…


Today I also:
-Got asked if it was alright to touch my hair
-Got asked if my hair was natural (meaning real) -Bought another phone card
-Played Kokology, Kings, and Never have I ever…no comment

Quotes of the day
"Good 'cuz they free, shoot...Yeah, shoot"...how I felt about the whole day!!!

“My skin is yellow.” ~Kurume University Student

The Real beginning...

(So all outlets look the same everywhere)

Kioko (new friend) took us to Tosu Premium Outlets yesterday for a few minutes before helping her to teach an adult (everyone was around 60 yrs old, give or take) English class in a city near Fukuoka City...It was really fun...so nice to see real grown folks (other than my fam at home) who are eager to learn...who aren't just set in their ways...stopped at a Mr. Donut on the way back

Sooooo....Today were introduced to the rest of the office. At exactly 8:45 we were coralled into a meeting room and given assigned seats. A few words from the Mediator...Stand...Bow...Sit...A few words from the Big Boss...stand individually...approach front table...Bow...accept certificate from the Big Boss...Bow...Sit...Speech by the Big Boss...Stand...Bow...Sit...Leave...Then were the introductions to the rest of the office....roughly 30-45 people...A few words by the Mediator...Individually introduced by the Mediator...followed by us introducing ourselves...A few more words by the Mediator...Bow...Sit...Not so hard...but let me tell you IT WAS HOT AS...FUKUOKA!!! For lunch we went to Kioko's restaurant (for the second time)...I had the Somen Set...sorry the picture would load...but here's a little cake from the other day...hard to tell if it's food or supposed to be a pet!

Things I like about the office:
-Everyone gives us yummy lil goodies to snack on
-We do absolutely nothing all day...well til September...then I'll just be doing nothing on Mondays in the office!
-The Japanese employees laugh when they look at our monitors and realize we're busy doing absolutely nothing