Hey all,
So after finding that I would actually be able to work somewhere, the company turned everyone loose. On this "free day," however, I went to bank and cashed a lot of traveler's checks to pay some fees associated with moving into a guesthouse, learned about what I'd have to do to get an Alien Registration Card, change my visa status, get Health insurance, a cell phone, and a bank account. I also had a hanko made, and received my Certificate of Elligability.
Masashiro and I walked around the nearby lake and went to a really prime tonkatsu (pork cutlet) restaurant.
I still really can't quite believe what is going on. I've been in this country less than a week, and every day is different from the next. Everything seems to be happening so fast. I'm sure once start working, I'll settle into a routine but right now, it is so weird not even being able to read most of the signs, or figure out what exactly I'm buying to eat. Still, the Japanese people seem to love even the smallest attempt to use their language (this also seems to trigger the reaction that if I know ten words and how to put them together, I surely must know 100 words, so they start talking really quickly using vocab that I don't know.), but it is also obvious where ever I go that I'm a foreigner. I can't really blend into the background here the way I did in Europe.
Tomorrow Masashiro and I move into our gueshouses. We're in the same city, Omiya (very near Ageo-shi), but the company put us in different guesthouses. The guesthouse looks nice, but has very small bedrooms. I think I will still be living mostly out of my suitcases, since there doesn't look like there is enough room to unload everything.
