thanks for the ride

Dragging my feet to my office from the Community Center where I gave my morning lesson, I thought that if I toppled over and fainted in this freakish heat, it wouldn't be any surprise. For one, I've been short on sleep these past few days for a million reasons, and it was taking it's toll on my body. Then of course, the summer heat hasn't been easing up at all, and since it was noon with the sun high in the sky, I felt like someone was trying to cook me for lunch! I had forgotten my sunglasses, so I was squinting like an idiot and I had also forgotten to put on sunscreen so my poor skin was taking a direct hit! Every step I took seemed like a miracle. I had this expression on that could kill ants. And right when I just about had enough of the torture, I heard 2 loud honks directly behind me!

I jumped and spun around, finding myself face-to-face with one of my students from the Community Center on his motorcycle. 
"Wanna ride?" He asked, and I swear he was glowing! Was that a halo over his head? Ah, ... shiny white helmet reflecting the sunlight. Whatever! Who cares?! I was sick of walking and complaining!
"Absolutely! Thanks!" I said, as  I let him take my bags and balance them in the front. (still not sure how he did it. )  He then got off his bike, and pulled out a shiny red helmet from the seat which swung open, and plopped it on my head. It was a beautiful helmet. I felt butterflies in my stomach. The color red does that to me. I was so excited!

He got back on his bike and told me to hop on to which I 'ooohed' and 'aheed' and clapped my hands over, but it all of a sudden hit me: Get on that.... thing? How on earth am I suppose to get on and stay on unless I hold on to my student for dear life? And holding onto my student for dear life was not an option! He's my good-looking, married, 50-some year old student who announced to the whole class when I first started teaching them that he would quit if I was ever to be replaced by another teacher, that I was the only teacher he wanted. Also, he took a picture of me on his cell-phone, saying he wanted to show his family and friends his new English teacher. He also came up to me at the end of one of the classes to show off his new jeans he just bought, explaining how well they fit him, etc. I hesitated as these thoughts rushed through my tired mind. 

For a few seconds.

Ah, fuck it!  I clumsily got on the back, doing an excellent job not to use him to stable my balance, and off we went! I was freaked out of my mind! Well, c'mon! It was my first time EVER on a motorcycle, and we were zooming between cars and trucks, and so on and so forth! AND I wasn't holding on to anything! My hands were balled up into fists, and I think I might have ground my teeth once or twice. But I must say, it was exhilarating! The wind against my skin, and the speed, and the possibility of being tossed off and losing a limb or two gave me this unfamiliar adrenaline that got me beaming from ear to ear like a freak. This dude, my student, just made my day! 

He got me to the station in record time, and with a 'If you ever need a ride again, hope I can lend you a hand', he was off. Totally, totally cool!

Anyway, check out my Zara jacket! Words fail me,... it's just adorable!

students... ugh

Every Friday from 6:00 to 7:00, I teach two junior high school students English conversation and a bit of grammar on the side, and damn, do they have a way of getting to me! One is a girl, an awkwardly lanky girl with a face you can't put a finger on with beady eyes, hair always pulled into two tight piggie-tails, and her shoulders are always slouched forward. The other is a boy, equally lanky but in a sporty way, tanned skin, a quiet face and hair that falls into his eyes. Sometimes I wonder if these two were sent from some strange planet to torture my mind!

During our lesson, I give them a question starter that we all use to create our own question to ask the class. After any given instruction on question, I ask if I was understood and the usual reply I get is a stony blank stare from the both of them. 

"Well, did you or didn't you understand?" I press, a smile plastered on my face.
"........."
I turn to the girl. "Shall I repeat the question? Did you understand?" At this point, I'm already tapping imginary fingers on the table in an impatient way, but I know that only 10 minutes have passed, and that I'd have to hang on quite a bit longer. 
"arghhacoeuihaoiu#$%&%!" is her usual reply. And so it begins.
"Okay, I need that in English. It's an English lesson, remember? English!" I press, still smiling, but I can just only imagine how fake it must look. 
"raahraahraaaahhhgh!" This time, it's her special grunt. I have taken this to mean that regardless of whether she understands or not she refuses to speak in English. I sigh heavily, and turn to the boy, who is blank in his expression and has his eyes fixed on some tiny object on the table, only visible to him. 
"And you? Did you understand?" I ask, and to which he nods. 
"Well then! Let's hear the answer!" He rolls his eyes twice, and mutters the answer snail-pace under his breath, putting on a very strong Japanese accent on purpose, eyes still fixed on the unseen. 
"Fantastic answer! Well done. Did you hear that?" I keep things upbeat the best I can, and turn to the girl who is now pulling on her remarkably stretchy cheeks, and rolling her eyes back, making her face look like... I don't know, a modern artist's piece gone wrong?
"No, no, no, no, noooooooo!" At lest this time, her answer I could understand! 

This goes on for about 20 minutes. The girl is playing with her face, skin, and hair, and everything else on the table while grunting and making sassy quick comments in Japanese, while the boy continues to stare and stare... and stare. Occasionally, he peeks up and smirks and giggles at the faces she's pulling, which really eggs her on. And I.... well, try my best not to do something I'll regret later.

The most annoying thing of all is that I know for a fact that both students are quite intelligent. Their homework is usually 85% correct, they've got good spelling and grammar, and sometimes they correctly answer my questions in Japanese, indicating that they understand completely. I guess they're just trying to make this hour the most tortuous they can. They do an excellent job.

When I first realized that I was to teach these two, I remember my mind freezing up. I've heard other teachers try teaching them and 'disastrous' would be an understatement to describe those lessons. And as I started teaching them myself, I quickly caught on that in cases like this, being more strict and angry didn't help anything. Teenagers are a brand of there own and each must be handled with great care and concern. I made it a point to laugh at the girl's strange faces, and sometimes ask the boy what he was so intent on looking at. Was it a ghost, a pea, some species that can be invisible? This did help things a little, but when I say 'a little', I mean, less then 5%.

Until the last second, they keep this up: face pulling, grunting, staring, laughing, giggling, talking in Japanese..almost everything besides English! It's a real pain. I'm not trying to ask for special advice, sympathy, or anything in particular. We all had our special ways of expressing ourselves when we were in our teens, and I understand that it's a phase. But I do need to vent somewhere, and vent I shall!

And the surprising thing is that the girl told her mom that she particularly enjoyed my lessons. Well, girl, thanks for not showing it during class! I need a beer! Argh! 

feel gross

Whew!. My diet, which has been laden with alcohol, oily izakaya food, and junk from Lawson, is taking it's toll on me and I feel sluggish and contaminated! There have been 8 drinking events since entering December, and I'm glad to finally be able to say that there are only 2 more to go before I leave for fresh and crisp Nasu to celebrate Christmas with my family.

It's definitely a festive time, and I sincerely enjoy drinking and talking with my students, but it's far from relaxing! Having to always watch what you say, making sure that you're not offending anyone, smiling, being generally happy, and listening and acting like you understand can become quite exhausting, even if all of this is done sitting down with a drink in hand. I, for one, desperately need a break! Thankfully, I've only got 4 more working days before my first day of a long vacation! Yeeessss!

It's been a good year of experiencing and learning for me, and I feel like I've made a lot of progress in so many areas of my life. Although it wasn't always easy, I can honestly say that it has been a great year. I can't wait to celebrate how great 2011 has been for me with best friend Boris! Let's rock it, hun!

Below is a picture of me and my 'crazy women' student group! 

some crazy women

Every Wednesday, from 10:15 to 12:00, I teach a lovely group of 8 ladies in their 40-60's. Each one of them is unique in their own special way, and although their personalities are so different from each other, they are all very close as if they were friends for years! 

Initially, I was quite intimidated by this group as I had no idea how to interact, much less teach older ladies. But after getting to know them through the many lessons and discussions we've had over the past few months, there's so much that I absolutely LOVE about them! i HAVE to share this with you all...

Yu:

....is your typical polite, nice 50-some year old Japanese lady.  She's got puppy-dog-eyes that have a twinkle of youth, and a very cute face with short hair that frames it perfectly. She's petite but healthy looking, and if I had to choose a word to describe her it would be 'adorable'!


 What is special about Yu is that she has a thing for hot guys with muscles. And when I say 'muscles', I'm not talking about your everyday toned, well-built-Joe! I'm talking about no-neck, larger-than-life, bulging, Vin-Diesel-muscles!! In fact, she's in love with the dude! She's already met him twice during his premiers to Japan, and she said she almost fainted with pure, undiluted delight! 

Her hobbies: watching movies, obsessing and fantasizing about the hot men and their muscular bodies, and chasing celebrities down when they visit Japan (well, only if they're hot actors, anyway...) Just this Wednesday, she excitedly announced that she went to see Tom Cruise on her day off at his premier! She really glows when she talks about movies and celebrities! 
Not only does she know the actors' names, but she's quite versed in their general background, filmography, and the other basics like age, who they're married to, children, so on and so forth. Coming from a typical, Japanese, 50-some housewife, it's quite... well... different! And I love it!

Me: What would you say if you had 5 minutes with Vin Diesel?
Yu: O.M.G!! My heart would beat out of my chest!! I would tell him 'I love you!'
Me: Yeah, but you have 5 minutes. I love you would only take up 3 seconds to say. 
Yu: I'll say it over and over again! 
Me: Is your husband OK with your ... um (cough)... hobbies??

K.K

This is a beginner's class, but K.K is quite fluent in her English. More than anything, her pronunciation surprises me! She doesn't seem to struggle with her 'R' and 'L' sounds, and apparently, she was quite the hottie when she was younger. Even now in her late 50's or 60's, you can tell that she must have  been a real knock-out back in the day. She takes good care of herself, is not stuck up, very friendly, talkative, and outgoing. She can even be quite girlie at times, commenting on the other ladies' romantic life and husbands in a good-natured way, and is inclusive in her actions and speech. Love her.


What is special about K.K. is definitely the amount of alcohol she can chug down!  We had all gone to an izakaya once during the summer, and I do believe she drank at least 10 drinks, and seemed to be doing just fine! We go for lunch every now and then and always has either wine or beer with her food. She's also a smoker, and when asked by one of the other students during a lesson centered around health if she thought of changing her diet and unhealthy habits, she shrugged her shoulders and frowned, 'I don't have to because I really don't care! At this age it's not worth fussing about.'

Haru

...is very pretty, has what anybody would call doe-eyes, takes good care of herself, has nice hair, perfect nails, very fashion conscious, and oh-so-young, despite really being in her mid-50's.

What is special about Haru is that she's just absolutely wild!! Really, really wild! I'm talking about partying till 4:00 am, drinking with friends, singing in Karaoke, dancing, going to Ginza for a night out with girl-friends, late nights over wine and singing along with YouTube, going to the cinema with her 26 year old son (who I also happen to teach as well), flying around the world, playing tennis, sporting bikinis in the summer, attending three English lessons and two yoga lessons a week, wears high-heels, comments on how men look, takes purikuras, goes bowling, and is queen of organizing anything to do with fun and partying! 

One time, we were at a student's English speaking/drinking event, and everyone was handed a small piece of paper to write a short question, which would then be tossed in a bucket, and from where people will randomly draw from to get conversations going. Her question? 'What was your first kiss like?'

Koko

...is very short and small. She has pitch black, emo-style hair that shags into her face. (You know, where the hair is shading one eye and all?) She's always wearing black and grayish tones. Her shirts often have writings on it--definitely punk. She wears leather and hoodies. She has a pretty face. I'm guessing she's in her early 50'sor late 40's. She's a smoker.


What's special about Koko is her insane schedule and hobbies. Let's start with hobbies. She LOVES dancing hip-hop and attends a hip-hop dance class 5 times a week. She also LOVES Korean drama! I think she spends at least 3 hours a day watching 'em! Her love for Korean dramas has lead her to study Korean, which means she is presently studying two languages at the same time. She also works 5 times a week in the kitchen of some restaurant! How she manages to follow such a crazy schedule every effing day baffles me! How on earth can one tiny person fit all of the above, not to mention the housework in a week? I couldn't do it.


The others are funny too!!
One other lady shared the story of how she had stripped down to her bra and panties and dived into a pool (with her entire family as the onlookers) after realizing that the resort they were all staying at had an amazing indoor pool and that she hadn't packed a bathing suit! You would never guess that she were the type to do such a thing if you just saw her!
Another lady had the time of her life attending a SMAP concert. Another shared us her concerns about her hair... it's just never glossy enough!!! 




My bounenkai with this happy group is coming up soon! It's going to be exciting!

tabetai

Eiko says...

Thanks to the weather dropping a few degrees these past few days, my appetite has decided to grace me with its presence again. I'm swinging towards sandwiches and mushroom soup these days. I don't think I have to mention beer. Beer is always welcome, rain or shine, summer, autumn, winter and spring!

Speaking of which, I just had one on my way back from work on the train. You do get the stares from all around, especially from the businessmen who ought to be drinking their stress away, but who don't have any beers in their hands. I guess when they see a young girl in front of them chugging down a can of beer with relish makes them feel a bit ... strange.

Food talk aside, work has been good for me these days. I'm learning a lot about what it means to be an English teacher. It's definitely not just about knowing your grammar and being able to spout off all you know about the topic of discussion, although very important. It's being able to know when to stay on one lesson and repeat it several times instead of just moving on to the next lesson. It's being able to detect when the student needs extra practice and drill work, or when the lesson is too easy and it's time to move on. It's being able to manage group lessons from 10 to 20 with a variety of levels mixed in there in a calm, patient way. Speaking clearly. Listening. Asking questions. Talking less. Using body language. Being intuitive. Being considerate. Being polite. And so much more!

Anybody with suggestions and pointers for English teaching? Share!

working again

Eiko says...

There's nothing like your first day at work after summer holiday. The transition from play mode to work mode isn't always the easiest thing, especially if you're a bit of an idiot like me, and drank the night before. I think I had one drink too many of whiskey, ensuring that my first day of work would be accompanied by an annoying hang over.

Finding myself at work feeling quite gross and tired, I made an impromptu decision to help myself through the rest of the week with a shopping spree. I just got paid, and Zara had their latest assortment on display. I'm thinking wicked pumps and black, classy pants to match. Also, a new bag.

cute student/earthquake

Eiko says...

Was it this morning? It doesn't matter. I was woken up, AGAIN, by one of those big earthquakes. The creaking walls, the windows shaking, falling books thudding, and picture frames banging against the walls of my rooms is enough noise to wake anybody out of deep slumber, and I am no exception! No worries. It was time to roll out of bed anyway, so I didn't mind being woken up so much. Never mind the fact that the time I actually got out of bed was 2 hours after that.
This one was a real biggie. A level 4 in Tokyo. Man, do they keep coming or what?

Just the day before at work, an earthquake hit, and despite the fact that it was only a level 3 in Tokyo, train lines were suspended, and two of my colleagues had to do a bit of walking to get back home. Unfortunately for them, it was pouring rain and there was a cold wing blowing--not the weather of choice to make a long night walk in, if you'd ask me. But at least they made it home, right? There's really no complaining when you think about all the people who are still stuck up North in bad-living conditions at the Evacuation centers, separated from loved-ones, homes, and stability.

Now, continuing on the subject of train lines, if there's an earthquake, and there are train line issues, there is no question at all that the Nippori-Toneri Line is out. I really wouldn't care less about this crappy, far-too-expensive-train-line if it wasn't the key to my getting home without having to walk for hours, or wait for an unreliable bus ride. Luckily, this time around, the line was only suspended for a few hours, and I was able to make it back home before midnight.

Why am I blogging about Earthquakes again?

I've got a crazy English student I wanna tell you about!

So, I have this English student that comes for classes every Monday. She's a cute 9 year old that has the memory of a senile grandma!! A.K.A, she doesn't have much for a memory! I'm not just talking about her not remembering what we learned in our previous week's English lesson. I'm talking about...

Me: Okay, sweetie. What did you have for lunch today?
Student:　アレ、何食べたんだっけ。ご飯と納豆だったと思う。
Me: Cool. So, you had rice and natto for lunch.
Student: うん。ライス・アンド・ナットウ
Me: Great. In English, we say, "I had rice and natto for lunch." Can you repeat that?
Student: アイ・ハッド...あれ？何食べたんだっけ？忘れた。
Me: Huh? You forgot what you ate for lunch? You just told me what you had for lunch 30 seconds ago!!
Student: ハッ？先生が言っていること全然わからない。
Me: Sorry. さっきお昼何食べたか先生に言わなかった？
Student:　うん。思い出せない。
Me: Natto and rice by any chance?
Student:　ソーダッタ！
Me: Yeah. Okay. Breakfast. What did you eat for breakfast?
Student: ”Breakfast"　何だったっけ？
Me:　朝ご飯何食べた？
Student:　何だったっけー。何食べたか思い出せない！お姉さんに電話しようかな。
Me： Are you serious? (I raise both eyebrows.)
Student：ハッ？
Me: Never mind. Okay, so...remember I taught you how to say 地震 in English? We just did that a minute ago. 覚えてる？
Student：　ノー。
Me: Why am I not surprised by that answer?
Student: ハッ？

*I hear a chuckle coming from the other side of the partition. A colleague finds my frustration highly amusing.*

Me: Yeah, shut up. You wanna teach her?
Colleague: Aren't you happy she doesn't know what you just said? Heh, heh.
Me: Yes! No! ARGggghhh!

And this is about EVERYTHING! I tell her how to say a phrase, and she forgets after she repeats it to you fine once. She tells me about something that she learned at school and she forgets what that was when you ask her about a minute later. She is seriously a big question mark to me. She also doesn't care for the word 'punctuality'. We're making progress on that one though. One day, she accidentally showed up 10 minutes early. She showed up at 5:20. Apparently, she thought that class was suppose to start from 5:00 instead of 5:30 which means, if class really was from 5:00, she would have been 20min late. It didn't matter! I was so shocked and pleased at her being early for class that we celebrated this with a few rounds of card games. She liked that. She's always been on the dot since! Unfortunately, her memory is hopeless. I gave up many classes ago when she had difficulty remember what her sister looked like. No joke.

The thing that I love about her though, is that she has the most disarming, guilty face! Each time she forgets something--a frequent occurrence--she has this 'guilty' look face that I simply can't hate! I still have disbelief and annoyance written all over my face when this happens but it's just SO DAMN CUTE! Annoying though. I teach her something which she forgets moments after, and she makes me smile with that 'look' of hers. It's a mixture of disbelief and adoration. I'm left with sheer frustration. Her smile wins out each time. I'll make a horrible mother!!

follow up interview

Eiko says...

It's a freezing cold, rainy December day, and it's just my luck that I had to go for a follow up interview at Shinjuku with Minerva English. I really shouldn't be complaining though, especially since this interview could very likely mean the end of my worries for finding a job. But I complain regardless because me and cold weather have an ugly relationship. When I say 'ugly', I mean really ugly. For example, my hands turn a grayish purple and its' soft look is replaced by a dry wrinkly one. My lips crack and consequently flake and bleed. My shoulders begin to ache, and they start hunching up. Oh, and did I mention my frost-bitten toes? Like I said, me and cold weather have an ugly relationship.

So, as I hurried in my heels through wind and rain, (I had stupidly left my umbrella at home), I felt totally under attack from all sides, not to mention nervous for the interview. To top it off, the company had also just recently moved to a new location which was an additional 15 minute walk away, and as you all know how women (me, in particular) are with directions, you could imagine how many times I walked around in circles ( in the rain, feeling ugly AND lost, hoping to get there on time) trying and somewhat failing to make sense of the map before finding the building.

Once at the Minerva office, warmer and relieved that I was 5 minuets early, I felt much better. I was interviewed after a short wait by two people. I remembered one of the interviewers from my last visit with them, and the lady that was sitting next to him was a new face. Rather than an interview though, it was more of an explanation of what position they were hoping me to fill, and what would be required of me should I accept the job offer. I really had no reason to be nervous as I had been...or so I thought.

Right around the end when it's usually the time to get up and say good bye etc, they handed me some flash cards and asked me to come up with a simple game while they got some manuals to show me. Memories from the demo lesson I gave came tumbling back and I went blank for a short moment. They had asked me to be creative and fun in front of all those 40+ year olds acting like bratty kids, checking to see how I would control a completely out of control classroom, and how I would respond to every teacher's worst nightmare! That was really horrid of them! But I quickly got a hold of my self, and started planning something simple, and kept reminding myself that this isn't a demo lesson, and they just want to see creativity. I did my best, and the man told me he was impressed. I heaved a sigh of relief, and headed out. Now waiting for to give an afternoon English class at Kinshicho, I'm expecting the call of confirmation. I can't help but hope that all the others they will be interviewing before they're final decision have something along the lines of a heart attack or a panic attack.

I'm getting this job!!

Oh, and BTW, Merry Christmas!! Forgot to say that in my last post.

P.S.

I like 'em Mc Cafes. I'm at one now, actually, as I type this post over my third cup of hot coffee.

Engllish teacher?

Eiko says...

In the previous post, I mentioned how I quit my job at Gusto. It's definitely for the better that I did, since they were very uncooperative, but now I have found myself job-less and in danger of not being able to pay the very low rent that my place requires! It was time for job-hunting all over again! This time around I wanted a job other than your average part-time that pays shit money for shitty shifts that consist of shitty work. This left me with fewer options to chose from, and naturally, one of the options that stood out to me was English teaching. This was something that I really wanted to steer away from doing, but when you're out of a job, and you're desperate enough, everything and anything is a possibility! I found my self working hard on a resume and a general cover letter for English teaching and started applying on various sites that were looking for employees. I applied for at least 10 jobs, mainly revolving around English teaching, but I also threw out a few applications for other jobs that required a bilingual speaker. I realized that finding a good job is really a full-time job in itself! You need your resume looking good. You need a good cover letter, and you need to do a bunch of research. After people contact you and are interested in what you have to offer, you need to continually sell yourself, not to mention the interviews, mails and phone calls to attend to! And this is exactly what I have been up to these past 2 weeks.

Out of all the applications that I sent out, so far, 2 companies responded and contacted me. One was a position for a customer service in a real estate company. The other was a English Teacher position with Minerva. Both companies replied the next day I applied for the job, asking me to send my resume and to fill out a simple form for more details. The position for customer service is presently on hold as they reevaluate my resume, but Minerva called me for an interview as soon as I sent my resume, and so I went. After the interview, I was contacted for a demo lesson. Once again, I went. And man, I wasn't expecting what I experienced today, during the demo lesson!

Upon arrival, I am given, (along with the 4 others who were applying for the same position) a general class plan, and I am suppose to give it my own twist, and give this class to all the others in the room, including the interviewer and his assistant. Now, all of them are acting like 6 graders, with no clue whatsoever about English and who have short concentration spams. It was quite frustrating to deal with these 12-13 year olds who really are 40+ years old who are on their worst behavior. ( and who are also evaluating my teaching skills and my classroom control skills, etc. ) It was tough, and quite long, as I had to sit through the others who had role play the 'teacher', while the rest of the room were stupid, difficult 'students'. I left home at 11:30 and got home at 5:00. It was a full day, and I'm ready to treat myself now that the worst of it is over. I'm expecting them to contact me within the week. I'm up for some wine and chocolate! Now!!

gusto kitchen crazies

Eiko says...

I am now at Lodge Home, sitting at Sam's super awesome computer, trying to catch up on some blogging, but coming up completely blank.

For one, I'm too busy admiring Sam's computer, and secondly, there's so much that happened since my last post that I'm confused as to where to pick up from.

In a crisis like this, I junk all the rules and start from what first comes to mind.

Work Life

I'm working in the kitchen at Gusto, and words fail to describe the amount of insanity that's going on behind the scenes. There is of course, my crazy boss. I do recall saying something like how she seemed perpetually constipated and such, but if anybody had to be in charge of anything as hectic and crazy as Gusto, I'd say there's a legitimate reason to appearing perpetually constipated. It's that insane.

Starting with the food which is also a bunch of insanity. I'm sure it's common knowledge, but everything, and I mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, (save the fresh salads, the negi, the white rice, the tofu, the decorative mint leaves that you see adorning your sundays and deserts, and the occasional slice of banana you get in the chocolate sunday) on the menu is frozen/packaged food. The pasta is boiled and frozen pasta, the ketchup rice for your omelet is packaged and frozen, and even the omelet itself is made out of what you call 'eguron'--whole, mixed eggs, packaged and frozen! All the sauces, including the pasta meat sauce and tomato sauce are packaged, and so are most of the meat. The maze-gohan is packaged, the udon noodles are frozen, the soups are packaged, the cakes and deserts are all frozen and packaged, the vegie dishes are also composed of frozen vegies and what not! Everything is heated with either the microwave, or the oven, or the electric stove. And get this...we use our hands, and directly touch your food...all the time. Don't worry! It's not that we do dirty things with our hands!! Every last one of us, (myself included) are clean freaks and are absolutely paranoid about keeping our hands germ-free! We even wear plastic gloves to the toilet so we won't have to expose our hands to anything that will give you a stomach ache. Totally.

Now you might think that working with all this frozen/packaged food would be easy and sweat free. Well, it's definitely not sweat free, and it's most definitely not easy. Mainly because having to make the vast variety of dishes that 5-7 groups of people randomly order at the same time with just 4 people during lunch or dinner time, is never a piece of cake. Orders are streaming in and special requests are always thrown in at the most inconvenient time. If you can't make 3 dishes at the same time while working the washer, you won't ever catch up with the orders. The insanity never stops.

My boss expects me to remember every dish I make the first time I make it, and also where all the ingredients/sauces/frozen foods are, and since that is very difficult to do when you're amongst so much confusion, I am often yelled at. I have considered yelling back, but that would most definitely make me lose my train of thought so I refrain from such action. I also kind of think my boss has a legitimate reason to be as constipated looking and cranky as she is. I mean, if I had to be in charge of all that... stuff...I would have already gone bonkers. The day I am able to move like a food producing machine like she can, and she stops yelling at me, I think we could even have a very decent conversation, and we'd probably get along just fine.

My co-workers seem to be very decent individuals, though I have yet to actually have a conversation with any of them. There's no way you can actually have time to talk amongst all the confusion during work time, so it will be awhile before I get to know them at all, much less remember their names. The only conversations that stands out to me that I had with my co-workers is when it was pouring rain outside, and one of the waitresses announced that a half naked foreigner had brought me an umbrella and was wondering when I'd get off. 'Half-naked-foreigner' could no one else but my BF. He'd be shirt-less come hell or high waters! Anyhow, later on while I was getting out of my food-smelling work clothes, another waitress, after lingering on the fact that the foreigner that brought me an umbrella wasn't wearing a shirt, asked what kind of acquaintance he was. I was like, 'oh, he's my BF.' They were like 'ahhh, naruhodo.' And I was like, 'yup'. The next day, one of my dude co-workers brought up the subject. "I heard that you had a half-naked friend come over to bring you an umbrella..." Apparently, being half naked in Japan is a biggie. They can't seem to leave the topic alone. *shrugs*

Anyhow, not much more is coming to mind. I would post a picture of me in my work clothes...but on second thought, nah. It's really nothing special. I'm wearing the dorky hair net, and on top of that the chef hat, black pants, a collar T-shirt and a green apron. Very standard, nothing special or attractive. Yup. No pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I was suppose to post pictures of our new house. But since this is Sam's computer, I don't have any of those with me. That will just have to wait for next time. I'm calling it a night.

got a job

Eiko says...

On our way out from having some quality girl time together at a nearby Gusto, Aich and I noticed a billboard in the entrance way announcing the need for more workers. I thought of writing the shops number on my hand so that I could give them a ring later on in the evening, ( because believe it or not, I still was job-less) Aich reminded me of the modern convenience in my back pocket--the keitai! I hit my forehead with my palm in a 'Duh! stupid me' kinda way, and proceeded to take a picture of the whole billboard, with all the bits of information on it, and made a mental note to call them up as soon as I finished my night shift in Cafe Marche.

That evening, I called the shop, and had a civil conversation with the Tenchou. I was expecting a man to be on the other side of the line, mainly because I distinctly remember the Tenchou being male last time Boris and I applied for Gusto. Complications were in our way at the time so we ended up not working there, but I remember clearly how nice the man was, and how cool it must be working for him. I guess he quit or was moved elsewhere. Whatever the case, the new Tenchou was definitely not a man,...or a woman for that matter. I would say something in the middle of a monster and a monkey.

Anyhow, I got a interview scheduled for 9 AM the next day. This was the first indication that the Tenchou was not mentally healthy. I'm not in the best of moods in the morning, and in order to be there at 9 AM, I had to get up at 7 AM to get ready and looking presentable. That's a rather early start, and the sizzling hot, sweaty walk to Gusto didn't help my moods to lighten up very much. I got there and was told to fill out a resume at one of the tables, which I did, and after filling it out in the most attractive way I thought my resume could possibly appear, I rung the bell and waited...

Moments later, in the seat directly in front of me sits this woman, with no shape to her body whatsoever. Her face was gaunt, black, and wire rimmed glasses balanced on her nose in a peculiar way. A sharp bob that didn't compliment her face shape made her look stupid, and her not wearing make up made her look like a man. She had bony fingers that reminded me of an anorexic patient, and her mouth appeared to have 2 ton weights attached to either side. People like this woman and George W. B. keep the theory of Evolution alive! You see them and it's understandable as to why some believe that we have monkeys for ancestors! She also looked and acted perpetually constipated, which worried me since we all know how awful that can be. She also sat as if she had a stick up her ass, and so I thought I'd do her a favor and politely asked if I could lend her a hand in pulling it out. This kind offer on my part was not received so kindly. I just got the blank, no-emotions, constipated stare, and I gave up on helping her... until I realized that the woman sitting in front of me was the Tenchou of Gusto,the lady I talked to on the phone...who could very possibly end up being my future boss, if all went well with the interview. I was like, 'Damn it! Not cool!'

She quickly took a glance at my resume, lingered a bit on my TOEIC score, asked a few questions as to why I wasn't getting an English related job if my English was as good as it seemed, asked me a few questions about my past job experiences, and then pushed my resume aside and just stared at me. I was like....woah. Then she started threatening.

"Little girl, you may think you know what the word, 'strict' means, but you will never know the true meaning of that word until you've worked here, under me. Boys cry, and most of the girls quit within the first few months. You may think that work here is easy, but you're wrong. You may think that it could possibly be fun, but you're wrong. You may think that it's a glorious job that you'll enjoy doing, but you're wrong. The work here is not easy, it's not fun, it's not glorious, and it's likely that you won't enjoy it. We are quite hard on people, and proud of it. So if you do get the phone call of acceptance here, I want you to come to work knowing what you're getting yourself into."

I was like..."Uh, dudess, if you made me cry, that would make me a mega loser. I have better things and people to cry over, and you are the last person on the face of the earth that I feel like wasting tears on. Go figure! But know that I've worked in hard situations. I've got experience in cooking and waitressing, and I've been given the responsibility of taking full charge over one of my old work places,--cooking, working the register, serving the customer and the cleaning--all by myself! I'm good with customers, I'm a fast learner, and I don't whine. And although totally irrelevant, I'm fluent in English and have my TOEIC score to prove it. So, yeah, go figure again!"

I didn't care if I was bluffing 80% of everything I said! She annoyed me! Who on earth talks like that to a perfect stranger? Making boys cry isn't something to boast about! I wouldn't have any of it. I was determined to prove to this lady that I would not be one of her victims.

The interview was short and went smoothly. I was still sickened by everything about her. I even found a part of me hoping that I wouldn't get the job! She was a 100%, no non-sense phyco.

Yesterday, while recovering from a fever and a migraine, I get a call. I got the effing job! That phyco lady hired me. I have nothing more to say. My search for employment is over and I'm happy about that. Then a mental picture of her pops in my mind, and I feel like puking.

God, spare me from hell!!

2:40am...

Eiko says...
I glance up at the clock that hangs on our wall over the comp and it tells me that it's already 2:40 am. But all I can do is shrug my shoulders and continue to browse the countless blogs that seem to be all the fuss and the rage these days among most young people in the Family. It's called insomnia, everybody--not the blog thingie, but the 2:40 AM thingie.
The sad truth is that my night shifts at Kappa have been having it's way with my body and has completely screwed up my body clock. I've been scrapping by with 1 to 3 hours of sleep for almost 3 weeks now and I'm not so happy about it. Sleep happens to be quite important to me, and not being able to sleep at night has added a few more wrinkles to my face that I have to fuss over now, and a few more grey hairs that I'll have to re-dye soon. But I realized that trying to get comfortable and sleep when your body isn't ready for it just adds to the stress of it all, and so I've decided to get smart and give up on sleep all together.
Some of you may argue that insomnia is all in the mind. Well quit arguing, 'cuz you would be arguing in vain! Because for the most part I agree with you. I think insomnia has a lot to do with your mental state. If you've got something that's worrying you, or you're just the worry wort type, or you simple enjoy thinking and pondering your sleep away, than that's probably your problem right there. In my case though, I think there's that and also my night shifts. My body just isn't up to sleep after coming back from work and taking a nice refreshing shower.
It's not a good thing though. Like I mentioned above, I've only been able to have 1 to 3 hours of sleep for the past few weeks, and on rare, happy occasions, I've been able to sleep 5, long, beautiful hours. But it's just not enough, and as insane as it may sound, taking naps is also quite difficult. I've tried taking naps, but the more I try, the harder it seems for me to sleep. I can doze for maybe 30 min. but not much longer. This has not been without consequences. I've experienced what I call, "sleepy high" where I become insanely happy to the point of being cheesy. I find myself laughing over stupid and serious things alike. I find myself making pathetic jokes. I find myself doing silly things in a very silly manner, and strangely, I find myself quite energetic. Of course, if there's a "sleepy high", than that means there's also a "sleepy low", and occasionally I collapse on the nearest chair, table, sofa, bed, door mat, whatever, and look like a zombie.
So, I've determined to change. How? By getting to the root of the problem, which I believe is my night shifts. Yup. I'm quitting. Of course, this is not the only reason why I'm quitting. There's a variety of reasons and excuses, but most of all, Jesus seems to be leading me to say good bye to my lazy boss and my co-workers and all the raw fish for something even better! Whoopee! I love the change journey!
I also love back massages, kaki pees, Boris, air conditioned rooms, and all the handymen that came and helped us out with our 4th floor renovation. You guys are THE guys! You saved T.O.M Home in a way that only you could, and my hat goes off to each of you. Thank you so much. God's got mighty awesome blessings up His sleeves that will rock your world to Heaven! I'm sure you're already seeing these blessings popping up in your life and home. If you're up for more blessings of this kind, there's always the 1st and 2nd floor renovation that you're welcome to help us with in the near future! Nyahahahaha!
Okay, although I'm only half way through catching up with the blogs in Mana's blog list, and although it is only 3:15 AM, I think it's about time I wrap things up here. I like you all and I love most of you. Have a good day.

this 'n that

Eiko says...

Hiki is coming to Japan!! I am SO happy! I've been missing Hiki since last year's summer! We all have. You happen to be THE talk at most of the meal times. "When is he coming?" "How long will he stay?" "Can't he stay any longer?" "Is he gunna run off with Sean at UNO?" "Will he still be just as perverted?" "Has he changed any since last year?" "Does he have more chest hair?" etc.
Hurry up and get your hiny over here, Hicks! And next time, bring your gorgeous wife and adorable child over. They need to meet the family, and we need to meet them too.

Work is extremely tiring. I only work 3 times a week now, but that's pretty much all I can take if I'm trying to survive on 5 hours and less of sleep. But recently Stephan's been a real sweeto and has been driving me to my work place which saves me the 30 min. walk there. I honestly enjoy the walk back though. I probably wouldn't mind someone picking me up, but walking is just as good. The 30min walk back is just enough time to listen to some of my favorite songs on my MP3 player, and gives me time to clear my head of work and my hair of the sushi smell, and gets me ready for some good sleep time. And yes. I still use an MP3 player. I need an IPod, but I think I'll give it a wait till IPods are out of style, and buy the latest "hot item". I'm sure there are plenty of those out already, but I'll wait a little longer till they are withing my pocket book's reach. Ima wa nanto ittemo muri.

My boss looks lazy. He looks lazy ALL the time. His eyes look like they're only half open, and it's not because he's Japanese or anything. I've seen guys with smaller eyes that were much more open and 'awake' than my boss' eyes. And I think he not only looks lazy, but he IS indeed lazy, and I can prove this point too! While I was scrubbing the tables clean of soy sauce, and making sure there were no rice bits on the couches and floor, my boss comes in with a bowl of miso soup that looked awful good, sat down 2 tables away from where I was scrubbing my heart away, and starting drinking it--slowly, blowing occasionally to keep his tongue safe, and casting lazy glances my way. I was only slightly annoyed though. Mainly because I wasn't that tired then. I rarely am during work hours. Tiredness hits the next morning when it's time to drag my feet up the stairs to 6th floor lounge for devotions. Also, I like my lazy looking boss. I'd rather have a lazy looking boss that doesn't speak too proper around us workers than a boss that won't ever sit down, is always running around and barking at us to do better and do faster and clean this and don't touch that. I'm sure there's a balance between the two, and I have yet to see that 'sharp' side of my boss. But I'm not eager to. He's just fine the way he is.
He asked me about my home schooling the other day, and proudly told all the workers that were working till last about my English speaking abilities. I got a few oooohs and ahhhs from them after saying something super cool like, "Yeah, I speak English fine. It is after all, my first language." He didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that my Japanese is flawed and my pronunciation needs improvement. He's too lazy to mind that kind of stuff. I was happy to find out that he isn't too lazy for laughing and a sence of humor.
I am learning more and more about exactly how much I can speak and understand Japanese and how far I need to go in order to be up to par. I've got quite a ways to go actually. But just the fact that I'm forced to talk and answer and ask questions in Japanese there at my work place is helping me to use the knowledge I do have, and is giving me opportunities to expand that knowledge. I asked one of our sheep about my Japanese, and he said my Japanese was very clean and that I could speak fine. But the problem was that I pause at the wrong times. Huh?! Well, there isn't much wrong with my pronunciation and my speaking abilities. It's when and where I put the "ettos" and the "anos" and the "nandattakes" that make me sound like I'm stupid. I was only slightly disturbed when our sheep said, "But that's something that probably won't change, so don't mind that. Really. You're Japanese is fine!" What does he mean by "probably won't change"? I am so gunna prove him wrong. Believe it or not, I happen to only be 18 years old. My brain ought not to be that stiff for change and improvement. I'm gunna make it happen. I'm gunna sound 100% Japanese. Hell! I AM 100% Japanese! Yipes!

And I need to go for another hair cut. I'm having great difficulty fitting all of my big hair into the kappa zushi hat! This is another factor that made me doubt my boss' mental state. During our first interview, I had my hair down, and since I was late I had ran the last 15 min stretch, so my hair was everywhere. He noticed that it was long, so he gave me the biggest kappa zushi hat and told me to stuff all my hair into it. The thing is, he gives the biggest kappa zushi hat to all girls that have hair that go past their shoulders. But it's more than obvious that my hair is not normal hair. My hair is special. I've got an unnatural amount of it, and it's also way longer than just past my shoulders. It's a miracle that I manage to shove all my hair into my work hat and that it actually stays there. Whatever. My boss is weird. So is my hair. I need to cut it. Not short, but I need to decrease it's volume somehow. Soon.

And FDTP is rolling around!! Or should I say boot camp? *shudder* I still don't know what to make of it and the fact that I'm going. When I think about FDTP, I go, "FDTP...right. Right. Riiiight. Okay. Right. Um. I hope I have enough money by then. Of course I will. Okay. Um. Right. " I know it's going to be fun, and difficult, and strange, and a good change and a lot of other things. I know I'm suppose to go too because Jesus made it clear to me that I ought to. And that's what I suppose I'll do.

And I'm so cutting off here. This post is getting long and tedious. I doubt any of you actually read through all of the above. I betcha you skipped till the last paragraph,...the one you're reading now. Well, I don't blame you cause I do that all the time, and by me, you can do that whenever you feel a blog post is boring you. Anyhow, I'm getting sleepy and my fingers are getting stressed from all the fast typing I've been doing. I'll write more later. I'll try to add more pictures to this blog. Pictures bring life to a blog!

Night.

Working at Kappa-Zushi!!

Eiko says...

I don't know what I was expecting when I agreed to the night shift, (which is from 9-12pm), but it wasn't this....that's for sure. Not that I don't like it or anything. I like it fine! I've got a friendly boss who has a sence of humor, my co-workers are polite and good teachers, my costume is by far, an improvement from Omuraisutei, and the work is easy to remember. But I guess the whole, walking-30min-to-work, working there from 9-12 (which is a time I usually unwind and do stuff that's more of a relaxing nature), than walking back and getting home way past the princess hour, is definitely more tiring than I expected it to be. But the plan is to get used to the schedule, and than eventually, be tired less.

It was interesting though...
My boss called me over for an hour of "practice" and getting to know my job, and we quickly ran through what I'll be doing. I will be the person who will count the plates and bowls and give ppl their checks, and also the person who will be cleaning up after everyone's messy meals, and closing shop, etc. It was a good hour of crammed information, and I was doing my best to absorb every bit. You see, my boss has a bad habbit of slurring the end of his sentences, especially if he assumes that you get what he's trying to say. Very annoying though, because I'm the kind of person that you have to go over the same point several times in order to feel confident to do the given task. Anyway, I did my best to keep up with his poor explanations and half-sentences, and I think I did a relatively decent job with what was given. But I seriously doubted my boss' sanity when he asked me to fill in the 9-12 slot the very next day!! I even told him so. Not that I thought he was crazy, but that I didn't think I was capable just yet. I mean, although he did go over the stuff that I was suppose to do with me, there was no real "practice". It was mainly manuals and word instructions. Well, his reply to my saying I wasn't so sure of filling in a full slot without more practice was, "No worries. You'll get used to it."
Right. Okay. Sure.

So the next day, I did my best from 9-12, and it wasn't as difficult as I was anticipating it to be. I also realized that I absorbed around 70% of what my boss was waying, which really isn't so bad considering all the sluring. My fellow 9-12 co-workers also helped me with the 30% that I missed, and all that put together I got the hang of it, and it was a good evening. Mom and Dad saved me the walk back home. What sweetos! Got home, took a shower, read Word, and slept somewhere past 2:00am. I gotta get used to this.


It's definitely a learning experience though. Working there has forced me to be on time, is training me to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time, is teaching me respect for my other co-workers, and is good practice for staying cheerful and happy regardless of my situation, how I feel etc. (which is usually tired and wanting to bonk every customer after 10:00). It also keeps me desperate with the Lord and the New Weapons.

It's mecha-kucha good!