(BEFORE WE GET STARTED, THANKS COREY!)
Hey kids,
Man, I wish I had a dict-a-phone so I could just spew forth all that has happened in the past 2 days but because I can't, you only get the abbreviated version which is not as much fun, but here goes...
Yes, today there was a typhoon and today was ALSO my first day of orientation. Fortunately I was HALF prepared because I purchased an umbrella yesterday (no, I have not thrown away my sunglasses, it actually rained yesterday.) Anyway, I woke up at 5:00 am and could not go back to sleep so I got up and made a REAL breakfast (I found eggs, bread, butter, juice, and honey at 7-Eleven yesterday.) Anyway, so I was feeling like a real American this morning for a brief moment. Then I climbed into the frigid shower and was quickly reminded that I am a foreigner...I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HOT WATER!!!!! I have been talking cold showers since the day I got here and I don't know what I am doing wrong. So after a Wynns-quickie (wink,wink) I jumped out and got ready and looked at the torrential down-pour outside wondering if I should wait it out or get a head start on my day. I decided to head to Family Mart and purchase minutes on my calling card to make a call to the good old U.S. of A. before heading off to my new job. When I got to the Family Mart, I went through the same rigmarole as I did last time but finally was able to put minutes on my card. The real problem came when I realized I needed the actual card to make the call and somehow the card walked out of my wallet between the time I got up this morning and the time I actually got to the store. So at this point, I was so determined to make this damn call that I trudged BACK through the pouring rain to track down this elusive calling card. Of course I found it hiding in my drawer back at my apartment. But before I made this discovery, I emptied out my purse on the kitchen table to dig through all my crap, just to make sure that it did not get caught in one of my MANY maps of Shinjuku. Now this tid-bit of info is crucial because it haunts me later in the day...
So I find the card, throw it in my purse and set out in the typhoon back to Family Mart to make my very important phone call. From Family Mart, I leave to the train station and have no problem getting to Shinjuku where my orientation is. Let me just tell you that the train ride was TORTURE, but that is a whole other story, I'll just say that there was NOTHIN RAPID about the RAPID COMMUTER TRAIN. It was more like driving Miss Daisy on top of being sardined in with a bunch of stinky breathed gunky toothed people.
OK, so I get to Shinjuku and proceed to open my purse to find my directions to headquarters...remember that crucial part I mentioned earlier??? Yes, my directions were sitting on my kitchen table along with my passport and all that other NECESSARY stuff. I figure I've got an hour so how bad can it be...I'll walk up and down a few streets and run into it, after all it's a really big building. Well, after wandering around in the rain for 20 minutes, I decide to go into the post office and ask someone if they know where Nova Headquarters is. Of course the two old Japanese men had no clue but were very helpful with getting a phone number for me. So I called a branch of Nova thinking they could tell me how to get there. Well, apparently 9:00am isn't an operational hour for them so there was no answer. I still have about 40 minutes to find the place, so I continued to wander the streets in the torrential down-pour hoping that any minute I would look up and see his big sign in neon lights saying "Welcome, Rachel!" OK, 25 more minutes pass and I am getting desperate. I finally stop and ask two young guys who are out sweeping water off the sidewalks if they know where Nova Headquarters is. After 5 minutes of trying to communicate, one guy asks for a phone number, I showed him the one the post office man gave me and he pulled out his cell phone and called it. Someone actually answered at the other end THANK GOD!!! So he talks with them for a few minutes and hangs up...WHAT???? I thought he would hand the phone to me and let me get instructions because there is NO WAY I can communicate with him and have HIM give me directions. This SWEET SWEET guy tells me that it is about a 25 minute walk to the other side of Shinjuku and after trying to give me directions, he WALKS ME THERE!!!!! And I don't mean that he dropped me off at the door step, he trudged through the typhoon with me all the way to the building and up to the 23rd floor and to the actual room where they were holding the orientation!!!! Then he turned around and left!!!! I could not stop thanking him, I would have NEVER found that place on my own. I would have had to go all the way back to my apartment, grab the directions, taken the "RAPID" commuter back, then made my way to the place. By then, half the day would have been over. So I just want to say, I LOVE JAPANESE FOLKS!!!! Keep in mind that this boy had to go all the way back to where we came from so for him it was about an hour walk total in this rain storm. Talk about feeling indebted! So I was only about 5 minutes late and they had not even started yet. But of course they ask for my passport and THAT is on the kitchen table, as well. WHO CARES, I MADE IT!!!!!!! I need to go find that guy and pay him or something or get him a gift or SOMETHING!
OK, so that WASN'T the abbreviated version. So I guess I just won't write about the orientation although some funny stuff happened there. But I will tell you that I made a new little friend and she is from Detroit and I am with her now at the Virgin Records Cafe so that is nice. I still don't have a roommate, I think they lied to me. Oh well. MAN people smoke a lot here! They are allowed to smoke almost everywhere. I'm trying to hold my breath as I write this because it is all around me here. OK< I think I am going to make my way home so I can eat and prepare for my first day of training tomorrow. Maybe do a dry run so that today does not happen again!
Thanks for all your e-mails. I was so excited to open my e-mail and see that I had 13 messages waiting for me :) I love you guys!
Hope all is well and write again soon, love me
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