Day7- Monday Evening July 30th

 Resuming Monday Evening . . .
I ended up hand-washing some things too, since the tub is so huge. I didn't have anywhere to hang them all, so they are currently decorating my bathroom. After I finished the wash, I studied more Japanese and took a shower. While I was in the shower, I thought I heard someone knocking, but it was 9:30 so I thought it was just my imagination. Then, I heard the phone ring. When I got out of the shower, I looked outside my door and found a paper saying that there was a message from my boss :(  I immediately got dressed and went down. Apparently she'd stopped by and I felt so bad that I missed her. I think she came to pay for the rest of the nights that I would be staying at the hotel, because the note read that I CAN MOVE INTO MY APARTMENT BY THURSDAY! I think that this is a fairly clear indication that I officially have the job, since I don't think that they'd move me into the apartment only to move me back out again, but you never know. My contract does say that they reserve the right to dismiss the contract if by Aug. 7th they decide for some reason they don't want me. I think this is more of a safety precaution though in case I am a really bad employee, so I think I'm safe. I still worry though, especially since I didn't go down to meet her, but I hope that it'll be ok. I'm so happy to hear that I can stop living out of my suitcases! I get tired of dragging them out of the closet just to get clothes for the day. This place is so small that I have to drag it in front of the door in order to even open my suitcase! They are very kind though, and I'm thinking of giving some of the gifts that I brought to the hotel staff, but I'll see when I start work tomorrow if I'll need them for my co-workers instead.

Day 7 - Monday July 30th

Countdown: 2 days until I start work . . . I'm nervous. Maybe that's why I only slept 4 hours last night . . . I was starving again this morning so I went down to the cafe and got  . . . French Toast with red beans! The red beans sound gross but they are sweet and they are sooo good! I was really full after this. I went to the Family Mart next door to kill some time while the people cleaned my room, and got something that my mom will kill me for . . . it has marshmallows, little brownie bites, mouse, and at the bottom was a coffee jell-o. Unfortunately, I hate jell-o so I just didn't eat that part, but the rest was amazing! I'm definitely still full, so I think it was worth it ^.-

This apple juice tasted just like apples!

After I stuffed myself with junk food, I went to sleep for a couple of hours, then studied more Japanese. I was planning on going to the beach today, but it's all rainy outside so I figured this probably wouldn't be the best day to go to the beach. I just chilled inside and I'm doing wash now.

Day 6 - Sunday July 29th

I decided to check out McDonald's this time, and found that they have breakfast! I ordered something but apparently they never come with drinks, so I ordered the drink separately. I went to find my work place since I knew that it would be closed and I wouldn't have to embarrass myself by meeting my coworkers by surprise. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out which building it was since I didn't see any building numbers anywhere. I saw a cool statue though:

After this, I went to the grocery store to get some food for later, then when I came back to the hotel, the lady asked if I was going out again. Apparently they had to clean my room? I told her I would go out again before 3pm and so I did a little research on where my workplace was as well as things I could do while I'm out. I found a place that had bowls since the cleaning lady threw out the ramen bowl I had saved earlier, so I planned on going there.  I also wanted to get a parasol since that's what every woman has if they don't wear sunblock. I figured it'd be cheaper than to keep buying sunblock, and it's embarrassing because I'm so tan and stand out a lot!
Here's what it looks like on a lazy Sunday, the streets were pretty empty:

 

 

I went out to this place called the Loft where there's another McDonald's as its landmark. I got a huge blister from the crappy cheap shoes I stupidly bought online, so when I got to the Loft (which apparently carries everything on its 8+ floors), I was able to get a bandaid made especially for blisters. I found a bathroom and once I put it on, I didn't feel it at all! My feet didn't hurt the rest of the time, which was nice. I went to the third floor and found myself a cute bowl. It was the cheapest one that wasn't just plain white and that was big enough to fit my udon noodles I had bought. The other bowls were really cute and cheap, but would only fit half of the noodles so I will probably go back and get some later. Here's the bowl:
  After this, I went downstairs and found a place that sold cute parasols! I picked one that was an off-white so that I could wear it with black, brown, blue etc. I'll take a pic of it when I wear it out. I didn't use it because it was about to rain and it's not technically used for rain . . .

I was able to find my way to my workplace finally, and I was so glad that it wasn't as hard as I thought! It is extremely tiny and I'm  kind of worried that we do a lot of outside teaching where I'm going to have to travel to different places, because I'm obviously not so good at finding my way around the city. . .  but at least I found my workplace!    I wish I took a picture of it, it just felt weird that the whole floor was empty and I didn't want to get in trouble if I was caught there. I just took a quick peek and saw about 8 cubicles and a main desk which is probably where the principal will sit, as well as a table in an open area with two chairs which is probably for group lessons.

My room still wasn't ready, so I went to the cafe next door and got an iced tea which is nothing like the tea back home, it has such a good flavor! Here's a picture of the gum syrup I was talking about earlier:

When they finished cleaning my room, I went up and ate my "Doritos" which they call "Dontacos." They pretty much taste like tacos, not like Doritos:

I also ate some noodles that I'd bought and fell asleep from around 7-9, then couldn't go back to sleep until 1, then woke up again at 3, then finally decided to get up at around 6am and take a shower, and now I'm here . . . I think I got a total of 4 hours of sleep?! I hope this doesn't happen come Wednesday when I have to work . ..

Day 5 - Saturday July 28th

I went downstairs to the cafe and got some iced tea. They gave me this liquid sugar called "gum syrup" that was really sweet! It was really tasty. After this, I went hunting for the KFC and gift wrapping paper.
When I went to the KFC, no surprise, none of the workers spoke English. I thought it was strange that people working in food services didn't know English but those working retail did. Maybe it's because retail jobs require more education? Anyway, she didn't give me a drink which I thought came with the meal, so after eating some very healthy fried food, I went to McDonald's next door and got myself a small coke. I walked around a bit and found a cool stationary store. Upstairs they had authentic washi, or Japanese wrapping paper! They were so pretty it was hard for me to pick one out! I'll get pictures of them once I start wrapping my presents, but the lady at the front wrapped them up so nicely I don't want to pull them out just yet. I went to the convenience store and got some food for lunch and dinner, but couldn't get back into my room because they were still cleaning it. After waiting for a short while, the lady at the front desk greatly apologized for the wait and even held the elevator for me, bowing deeply! I told her it wasn't a problem at all, I felt really bad.
I got some pictures on my phone of the asian Col. Sanders, but it's going to be a pain for me to pull out all of the gadgets I need to get the pics off of my phone, so I'll post those later. Meanwhile, here are the little tissues that they hand out on the streets:

 As well as the millions of other things I collected just from walking around:

 It was crowded since it was Saturday, and they were out in full force handing things out. I even collected some fans which was nice since I was literally dripping sweat:

I got a picture on my phone of this adorable flower caricature, it was fuzzy and I wanted to hug it but refrained. I will put the pic up later, probably once I move into my apartment and find everything.
Once I got in my room, I enjoyed what I got from the convenience store:

 For anyone who's seen Lost in Translation - "for good times, make it suntory time."

 This is a salad!

This I will put in my Udon, I think it's fried tofu. I feel asleep before I could eat it. .  .

4th Day in Japan July 27th- Part 2: Evening

I watched some T.V. and studied some Japanese for most of the afternoon, then ventured out again in search of some wrapping paper. I'd looked up a place that's actually British since I had such a hard time finding wrapping paper (which is a little ironic since the Japanese are known for their wrapping paper called "washi"). Unfortunately, I brought 2000 yen with me thinking it'd be enough since that's about $20, but I was short 100 yen or so, so I embarrassingly explained that I would come back later. I wandered around this "mall" which was very open, much like walking into Macy's with the make-up booths out in the open, but instead they were shops. I went up several floors just looking at everything. They have such high-end fashion, it was hard for me to not stare at everything! I was in search of a scarf or handkerchief so that I could wrap my gifts before I gave them to my boss and co-workers. I couldn't find anything under $20 per scarf or handkerchief, so I went to the very bottom floor which was actually underneath the building. I found a huge area full of food vendors, restaurants, and grocery stores. It smelled amazing but was too crowded for my taste, so I plan to come back another day. It was really beautiful and each restaurant reminded me of the booths in Spirited Away. When I went back outside to go back to my hotel, I found the KFC and another McDonald's. I plan to try those out eventually, too :D
It was very hot on my way back, and I was glad to get into my room and take a shower again! I hope that when I start working, I'll be able to make it through the heat. Thankfully, I won't be living far from work.
For dinner, I ate the rest of my egg and teriyaki chicken sandwich:

Later on I ate this potato soup thing that I bought on the first day. The potatoes tasted like french fries!

I stayed up the whole day! I watched kid shows to help me learn some Japanese. They are quite odd and hilarious, but that's all of the Japanese shows I've watched including the ones for adults. I'm not sure what's with the dunce-caps but I've seen that a lot in the kid's shows, maybe someone knows:

I did fall asleep at 9pm though, and woke up at 1am . . . and woke up at 3am . ..  and I'm still awake at 5am . . . let's hope this ends soon.

4th Day in Japan- Friday July 27th Part 1: Morning

This morning, I awakened at 3am, then forced myself to go back to sleep. I woke again at 5:40! I don't know why I keep waking up at this time, it's strange . . . it's about 3:40 pm Memphis time so I don't know why I would keep waking up at this time. Anyway, since I couldn't go back to sleep, I took a cold shower, then changed into something cooler. I still had to wear my black tights to hide the huge bruises from moving. I hope they go away soon since I have to wear clear tights to work . . .
I went downstairs to the Travel Cafe and sat inside again. I got an iced coffee which was very good. They gave me something that said "gum syrup" on it which turned out to be a liquid sugar! It was extremely sweet. They also gave me a creamer which was so good in the iced coffee. The coffee was very strong and cold, it was so tasty. It was kind of crowded for 8am, it took me about an hour to get dressed to go out so it was later by the time I actually got out of the door.
I went next door to the Family Mart, which I discovered the other day after walking all the way to the drug store! There were triangles of rice with a filling inside of it. I had one the other day but forgot to take a picture of it. They are very tasty, so I tried different flavors this time. One looks like it has some sort of fish filling. The one I had the other day had a seaweed filling. Here's what I bought today and will try later:

I also bought a sandwich with egg and teriyaki chicken in it, so basically an egg sandwich with teriyaki chicken. It was so good! I didn't take a picture of it since it looks pretty much like an egg sandwich with teriyaki chicken in it, but if I get it again, I will take a picture.
Oh, and here is my bathroom, I thought it was kind of cool. The bathtub is so deep, even though it's not very long. It comes to the top of my head! The toilet has a bidet and "shower" which I'm not sure what the difference is but haven't really wanted to find out . . . every time they clean my room, they replace the toothbrush, this robe thing which I am supposed to wear to sleep or in the bathroom? Not sure yet. And they replace my bathroom slippers which apparently I'm allowed to take with me when I leave :D I don't know why I always find foreign bathrooms so interesting, I guess that's not a normal thing but I don't care, they fascinate me!
Here's the bathroom:

I went back inside and started this blog! More to come . . .

3rd Day in Japan - Thursday July 25th

I woke again very early and this is what I saw outside of my window, which explains why this city is so clean!

I dressed up again to go out, but forgot to take a picture. Wasn't anything great, just an off-white frilly dress that was sleeveless. I saw other girls wearing sleeveless tops so I guess that was just a weird myth or something old-school that I read about. I had bruises on my legs from moving things, so I had to wear black tights that were very hot. It was an especially hot day, so that didn't help. At the Travel Cafe, I ate inside and got  . . . a giant piece of French Toast! It had peaches on it and was very sweet! I was so glad because by this day, I was starving! I was definitely full after that and didn't feel hungry until the next morning! I did eat other things that day though, but at least I didn't feel like I was starving like on the other days. After my meal, I went to find the Rainbow Plaza, which is where foreigners go to get info about the city. My boss had circled in on the map, but my map was entirely in Japanese so it was impossible to figure out where I was! I kind of figured out which street to go down, but from there I was lost. I was hoping that the building would say "Rainbow Plaza" on it, but no . . . I went past a McDonald's and many other shops. It was so hot and I forgot to bring my umbrella again (all of the women use umbrellas to keep their skin white, and also I can see how it keeps them out of the heat!). Finally, I pulled out my map and started walking back to where I came from. I was waiting at a crosswalk when an older man came up on a bike and started speaking to me in Japanese. I kind of looked confused then just said that I don't speak Japanese. He then spoke to me in some English and asked me where I was trying to go. I told him where, and he told me to go to a building which he spelled out "IMISU" so I looked for this. He spoke well enough for me to understand him, but he said some things that I didn't understand. I just told him thank you and went off to find it. I found a building called "IMS" and went in. The building had a sign for what was on each of the 8 floors, but I couldn't figure out what it said since it was all in Japanese! I couldn't figure out where the front of the building was either, so I went in the side apparently. I went up to the second floor and found that the building was basically a shopping mall. I looked around and found a cute animal shop! I wasn't sure if I was allowed to film, but there was an adorable grey and white fuzzy guinea pig, a grey fluffy bunny, and this cute brown, fat, fluffy thing that looked like a groundhog. When I went up to it, I guess I scared it because it rolled up into a tight, round, brown ball, rolling its head into its stomach! It was too cute, but I was sorry I scared it so I backed away. I saw bird cages but no birds. There were a lot of fish. I saw another strange animal that looked like a giant brown gerbil. It had the tail of a gerbil but was the size of a small rat. It was very cute and ran around a wheel like a hamster. I then heard a beautiful sound of singing, and saw these:

After I left the building, I went around the corner to walk towards my hotel and found some large glass doors. I went through and found a huge sign in both Japanese and English. Lo and behold, there was Rainbow Plaza on the sign! It was on the 8th floor, so I reentered the mall and went to the 8th floor. I found Rainbow Plaza as well as a map of Fukuoka in English and some other brochures that were in English. The people at the counter spoke English very well so I was embarrassed after I spoke very minimal English to them because I thought they wouldn't understand. The lady looked kind of irritated and responded in perfect English . . . at least I know that now in case I ever need to go back again!
I stopped by a good-sized drug store on the way back to my hotel. It was about the size of a Walgreens but had a large make-up section with many check-out counters in the make-up area, but only one check-out area for the rest of the store. I found lots of cheap goodies there and only spent a little over $6 there! The lady was very nice and gave me some much-needed chopsticks. I had brought a pair from home, but it was nice to have another when the other pair needed washing.
Here's what I got:

 Koala bear chocolates! Tim and Mum will remember these. These tasted just like ice cream, it was a new flavor! Oh, the grapefruit juice was actually from the vending machine. Very good, the same as back home :P

 The panda bear candy was a little sour and very tasty. The Cheetos were surprisingly sweet! They weren't cheesy but were very sweet. The potato chips were like vinegar chips even though they were supposed to be regular flavor.

 The ramen was so good! As you can see from the pic below, it had something inside that was tempura with peas and other vegetables. It was so tasty! I was very full this day! I was so happy to have good, filling food and not go to bed hungry!

As soon as I came home, I took a very nice, cold shower. I was sweating so badly after walking so far in the heat! Mcdonald's had a nice mister outside, which was a slight relief from the heat, but I was embarrassingly sweaty unless the Japanese who must've been used to it and weren't wearing thick, black tights!
I took an hour and a half nap, then decided to eat to keep me awake. After all of this food, I took another nap. The day before I had slept for a total of 5 or 6 hours! This day, I only slept for about 2 and a half. I'm trying to work up to not taking any naps despite it being 3am Memphis time when it's only 5pm here! I'm trying to stop waking up at 5:40 every morning, too, but that's been impossible to break. I'll usually study Japanese until about 8am then sleep for another hour.
I watched anime this afternoon, all in Japanese of course, but it was still cool even thought I couldn't understand it. I kind of guessed what was going on. Apparently, they are still making new Pokemon episodes, and Naruto is the most popular anime out here. It was a good day getting out, but I was so exhausted after coming home from sweating so much!
I feel asleep on and off until about midnight, which was good, except I still got up early the next morning. . .

2nd Day in Japan -Wednesday July 25th

The next morning I woke up at about 5:40, which would end up being my norm for the rest of the week ... I did go to sleep at around 9 so I guess that was plenty of sleep. No one was out that early, the streets were empty! Too bad I couldn't fit my running shoes in my luggage, it would've been perfect to run through an empty city at that time . . .
The city began to awaken around 7am. Here's what I saw outside of my window.

As you can see at the bottom of the picture, right below me is the Travel Cafe where the workers speak minimal English, which was very helpful for me. One of the hotel staff members spoke English very well, but I only saw him on my first day there.
That morning, I got something that was very much like a cinnamon roll with a few nuts of some sort. It was very good. I sat outside and the waiter came out and brought me some water! I told them it was To-Go so I was surprised, but it was nice. I just brought the water cup  back in when I finished. I walked around for a bit, just down the street because I was nervous. I was looking to see what food places were around but still wasn't brave enough to really go exploring.
My first day dressing up to go outside! It was interesting having to dress up just to go to the store ...

Later on, I went out again. It wasn't so hot that day, and I turned a corner and found a drug store. It was kind of expensive, but I was hungry and bought some tasty things:

This was some type of fish that spelled like the eel sushi. I think it has the same kind of sauce in it. It actually still had the bone in it, but it was softened, so even though I ate some of the bone accidentally, I didn't really notice.

 

Udon! And another fishy thing that was good. The bone was harder than the first one, but it was still good. It didn't taste good in the udon, though, but the udon was good by itself. This was lunch and dinner! 

I also got this potato soup thing, but haven't eaten it yet. I will save it for when I get hungry but don't feel like grocery shopping. Maybe once I start working and don't have time to go out to get groceries.

1st day in Japan - Tuesday July 24th

It was beautiful seeing Fukuoka from the sky, unfortunately I wasn't allowed to film or take pictures while we were touching down. Here's the in-flight video:

It felt like home, I don't know if it was a memory from childhood when we flew into Japan. The little buildings all tightly built around each other seemed so peaceful.
At the hotel, I decided to just get something from the vending machine. I thought these were nuts, but it was something sweet. Not my favorite thing, but it was still interesting. Maybe someone can tell me what it is?

Journey to Japan - flight from the Narita Airport to Fukuoka

Just like in Europe, my dad and I saw this "running man" as we called him. He was the symbol for the exit signs but we thought it was funny that he was always running. Apparently, he's also the symbol for people in general.

 

The running man . . . getting squooshed by the bus doors . . . This was the bus that took us directly to the runway where the plane was waiting. I didn't get my camera out fast enough, but as the plane was leaving, the workers on the runway lined up and waved at us all. I waved back of course :P