Catching up

basically I didn’t do much past days except working. Even though I only work 5,5 hours and about 4 days a week, it's still pretty much occupying me. I guess it is because the work schedule itself sucks. Working from 5pm to 22.30 or almost 23.00 makes me going to bed laaaate. When I come home, I cannot sleep immediately and usually stay up some hours. The next day I wake up early because my boyfriend makes noises at 5:30am or the sun is shining too brightly. I don’t get up and try to sleep in again, but usually I end up being quite tired during day time.

Before I started working at the Hotel-restaurant, I said I wanted to work 2 or 3 days a week. First they scheduled my shifts that way, but then I was asked to come in for additional shifts... It's not like I don’t wanna work and be lazy. I just don’t want to work THERE so much. I rather want more free days in order to find another part time job.

I am supposed to work one week for IKEA Kobe during Golden Week. I have no clue how many days and hours Ikea wants me to work. Most likely I will receive this information tomorrow! However my regular part-time job wants to know TODAY when I can work and when not. I have no clue what to answer them today. I guess I have to beg, to get one more day to think about my schedule... or say I cannot work at all during Golden Week. Either way sucks.

[Whats Golden Week? : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Week_%28Japan%29 ]

Except working; I met another woman called Yukiko-san, who once spend a year doing Working Holiday in Canada, where she met german people. So she was interested to meet me for language/cultural exchange. She is really nice and showed me a lovely Cafe in Kobe (Sannomiya) and we talked about general stuff and girly things. We already figured out some stuff we would like to do together like shopping and going to a spa or onsen. 

I choose a classic ice coffee, but the way it was arranged and served was very nice!! The syrup was really nice, maybe it was honey...not sure Oo; 

 

At my workplace we chat quite casually during work and it's funny, but unfortunately everyone is always tired and worn out after work. Therefore I only once went out for drinking so far. With the manager of the second restaurant and my boss. My „boss“ is a 22years old girl, one of the rare shain (regular employee, most staff are part-timers like me) and entered directly after graduation last year into the company. Typical for the japanese hiring system she has to work unhuman hours. I seriously admire her for keeping this up. (She spends 10-12 hours a day in the hotel, 6 days a week).

So we went to some izakaya at Motomachi train station, that was supposed to resemble a german bar or something. They offered dishes like „Eisbein“ and german beer. But in the end nothing was really very german... I accidentally deleted the photo of their „Eisbein“, that’s all I can share of the outing:

After my bosses left, I walked to my station...a little bit TOO SLOWLY and missed the last train. Of course I could have taken a taxi, but I was being stingy me and decided to go for a looong walk.

Well it took about 45 minutes to walk home and I arrived a bit past 1 am at my place. Luckily the way back home is routed on big main streets, so it is quite safe. Every 50 meters or so there’s a shop like a conbini with lights on and normal people in there. The only downside of this were muscle pains the next day :D

Yesterday was one of the rare days where neither me nor my bf had to work in the late afternoon/ evening. After my bf came back from school, we rode by bike to the DOCOMO Shop. I had to cancel some options of my cell phone plan. In order to get my phone for „free“, I had to sign up for a package of random options services I never use or need and could cancel them after one month. So we went there in order to do so. Then we were told, I had to sign up for some insurance if I cancel these options... what? You always end up paying more than you expect I suppose. It's not much though. It's ok, but yeah... japanese cell phone plans in general suck big ass IMO.

My cell phone plan is paying 1200yen (about 10 euro) monthly for the contract, phone and sending emails (to japanese cellphones and to normal e-mail addresses). Everything else costs fees, therefore I try not to call anyone and only use my phone for mails. I also locked options on my phone that connect to the internet, so that I don’t accidentally connect.

I was looking forward to spend some free time with my boyfriend, but while we were waiting at docomo he got a call from the conbini he works for. He was asked to help out immediately.. So after finishing business at docomo he left for work again. :/

Today a package by my lovely grandparents arrived ! Awww Im a happy girl now.(DANKE OMA UND OPA :*) It's not like japanese products are bad, but I'd say that japanese and german drugstore products have about the same quality. However german products are about HALF THE PRICE. And there is some stuff you don’t find in japan, and of course the other way around things you wont find in Germany.

Japanese do not use as much day-creams/facial creams as Europeans. Asian woman stick to lotions and toners that are liquid/watery. I just don’t know how to use them or which would be fitting to my skin...so I rather stick to mattifying day creams etc.

Also there are hardly any affordable body lotions. The type of body lotions that I want cost at least 900yen or more, while I get the equivalent in bigger size in Germany for 250 yen. I could imagine it's because japanese woman may invest more money into bathing products and face care, so there is no big demand for body lotions/milks etc.

There are also products in Japan that are „better“, for example I find make up remove sheets and washing foams/gels to be better. Probably mascara is better too. I cant really tell, since my lashes are naturally long and I have no need for super high-quality mascara.

So far I haven’t had many opportunities to wear much make up, my work requires me to look „natural“ (so I only use make up/foundation, blush and mascara) and can't wear any accessories.

So I have to get ready for work....