past days

On Friday I didn't do much. Around 15.30 I decided to withdraw money from my JP Bank account. The thing is, I did not apply for a cash card yet. I was told to wait until I move to Hyogo-ku, since the address changing would be additional paperwork or something alike. So last time I wanted to withdraw money, I learned that I am only able to get money until 4p.m. (service time) and that I need my gaikokujin card and also my hanko (name stamp). It was 3:50 p.m. And of course I did not bring my hanko with me.

This time well prepared with my stamp, I approached the counter at 3:45p.m. and asked to withdraw money (of course in bad Japanese). Got the paper handed, I had to fill in. It wasn’t much, but since I am very slow and bad in writing kanji, it took me a while and I got nervous. That moment Dai came in... It was either coincidence or he stalked me. I don’t know :D

Well I got my money.

In the evening I tried to memorize some important sentences for the job interview, looked up the way and train schedule.

I also went to donki and some kusuri store with bf and got some chai-flavored alcohol. It's served best with milk and on ice! 

So on the next Day, I dressed up in a suit for the first time ! It was a weird feeling and I felt uncomfortable for quite a while...  Even though I worked for example in offices before, I never had to dress up in a suit completely. It was usually sufficient to wear neat clothes like a nice blouse and cardigan. Japans interview manner are strict and you have to dress like this even for small part time jobs.

Dai brought me to the station in Takasago and then I left for Kobe on my own, using my train-schedule from http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ (omg. How I love this page!). Got off at Hanakuma Station and immediately spotted images I've seen on Google maps before and found the hotel very quickly. Too quickly... one hour left! I walked back to the Motomachi shopping district and had coffee in a smelly smoker café. For some reason, there was a heater on ! Japanese people seem to have a very different understanding of what is warm and cold... I broke out sweating in there. 

 

I was certainly nervous, too. However, once I arrived at the hotel-restaurant I relaxed. Usually, I am quite fine during job interviews. The man sometimes threw in some english words, but the interview itself was in Japanese. He mainly explained only the points of the job I already knew from the job-description and asked me only a few things. For example, how I will commute from home to work etc. He seemed nice, tried to bring up some german things he knew and was patient with me and my bad Japanese.

Before I came in, some young boy in a black suit left the restaurant. Obviously he had a few other job interviews scheduled for that day. I doubt I'll be offered a job, but that’s totally OK for me. It was already a good lesson learned and therefore worth it !

After the interview I walked around motomachi and sannomiya and bought some random stuff at Daiso and finally a headset for skyping (at Yamadadenki/Seiden). People often complain, they couldn't hear me well over skype. I suppose, the build-in mic on my laptop is at fault. With the headset it works perfectly now.

On Sunday Dai, his parents and me drove to Kobe by car. For that purpose, we lend the six-seater car of Dai's brother because it has GPS. Dai is pretty scared of driving anywhere out of this comfort zone. I am really surprised by this. In Germany he drove anywhere, but in Japan he seems pretty nervous about driving to new places...

The highways were jammed and it took us more than one hour for approximately 38 km. Finally we stood in our new apartment and measured important spots. The apartment itself, was still A MESS. I wonder if they will be finished with renovating until Wednesday. We are supposed to get the keys by then.

About an hour later, we went to a store next to our apartment, that accommodates a supermarket/drugstore, electronics and home equipment. We will probably buy the air conditioner at this store, since it's next door. (If I had to pay for it, I wouldn't buy there. They were terribly overpriced! But Dai's parents do not care about money, they always take the most convenient/ first offer... I got the feeling, this is a very common behavior around here. I am the complete opposite: I check out as many different offers as I can and usually end up buying stuff online or on sale.)

Dai's parents spent the day in Kobe with window shopping and eating out. A date. They rarely have time to spend with each other, since both work full-time and often take care of their grand children and the big babies a.k.a. Dai and me.

Dai and me drove back home and went to Daiso in order to buy curtains and some small stuff for our new home. I ended up paying more than 5000 Yen at a 100 Yen-Shop !!

Went to the supermarket and got something for dinner. Basically, I do not need to cook here, because Dais mother always prepares and buys so much food. Besides that, Japan offers well prepared and cheap food EVERYWHERE. So Dai bought himself o-bento (prepared lunch box). I ended up cooking: boiled pumpkin, sauce and beef liver (salt, pepper, onions and some olive oil) :