24. another birthday has passed

Hey ho

a week has passed since my birthday (turned 24), but didn’t find any time to update... I had off on my birthday, but all in all I will work 28 days out of June’s 30 days. You can guess how much I am looking forward to the end of this month ! I have no idea what July will be like... The hotel restaurant I work for is short on staff. Yesterday I was basically doing everything ALONE. Luckily, it was pretty empty and most of the time no customers at all. Of course I know most things by now, it's not like I can't be alone... but if a customer has a special request or a difficult question, I usually don't know how to answer. Also, I don't know how to handle the cashier and honestly speaking, I don’t want to know! I really don’t want to take any responsibility about money/financial matters. At least not how things are at the moment, considering I do not have any sort of employment contract with them and my salary is paid cash. In case anything goes wrong, I am probably fucked.

So on my birthday, I got up late and then went to Osaka in order to meet Lisa. It was a rainy day, so we decided to stay in some large underground mall in Honmachi and also went for coffee in Doutor. We had some confusion about where to meet up and ended up meeting quite late. Lisa, sorry! Time passed by quickly and soon it was time to rush to Nippombashi, where we would meet up with my boyfriend.

We went to an Izakaya. But not quite an ordinary one... 

http://www.zauo.com/

At Zauo you can rent a fishing rod, bait and then start fishing. Right away from your seat (at least in our case). It's not really a big deal to catch a fish, since there are plenty of fish in a small pool, but it's still fun. Once you caught one, you have to decide how the fish will be prepared and then it will be served to you. Of course you have to pay for the fish (price varies from the kind of fish you catch). I caught a Tai (sea bream) and of course requested it as sashimi (raw)! BTW whenever a customer catches a fish, the staff will ask for your name and start shouting your name, some paroles and beat the drums. Basically „celebrate“ that you got a fish.

We also ordered some other food. I ate an mentaiko dish... I think it was my first time eating mentaiko and also my first time to have Ochazuke (you have to pour lots of dashi broth over your rice).

click to enlarge

After that we walked around in Nippombashi and took purikura at round 1... and headed home at a very reasonable time.

Except for going out on Sunday with my co-workers from IKEA I haven't done anything special. I am busy enough with my working schedules....

So on Sunday we went to an Yakitoriya, an Izakaya specialized in serving chicken dishes. Naturally we had mostly chicken dishes, including chicken hearts (I love chicken hearts). The most special dish was probably the raw horse meat (it was at least the most expensive one).  At such outings it is common to split the bill even. Everyone ended up paying 3500 Yen (35euro), which was considered "cheap" by the others. I thought it was a lot and basically my limit. But yeah it is cheap by japanese standards and Izakaya nights usually end up with  huge bills. Unfortunately I didn’t take many photos that evening :(

I end my entry with a sighting of bad german at DAISO. In the stationery section I saw this  notebook:

too lazy to blog..

Hi there.. probably no one missed me on here, but I still feel i have some sort of obligation to post sth?! I am not really motivated to write a lot though... this post will feature random photos and recent stories but not necessarily in an chronological order.

I've worked a lot, but I also found time to meet friends and do some shopping.

For example my good friend Sara stopped by in Kansai for a quick visit. She came from Tokyo to Osaka by bus because she had some meetings related to her internship in the area. I invited her to stay over at my place. Unfortunately, I had to work that day and we couldn’t meet until 11pm ! We walked through the night, bought random stuff (food/drinks) at several conbinis and just talked, talked, talked... in the morning we had some Vollkornbrot and cheese and it almost tasted/felt german ^^

She had to leave around noon. It was way too short, but really great to see her.

Some days ago I also finally met up with Lisa. Actually Lisa, Sara and me studied together in Düsseldorf and hang out a lot/became really good friends. It's refreshing to meet them here and be able to talk about my feelings, opinions, experiences in a very honest way and to be understood. I mean to be understood the way only another European or German person will understand.

Lisa and me decided to meet up in Nishinomiya because it's more or less in the middle between Osaka and Kobe. It was a rainy day so we skipped on the idea of walking to some park or beach area and paid a visit to Nishinomiya Gardens, which is nicely designed mall and quite big, considering Nishinomiya is not such a big city. 

http://nishinomiya-gardens.com/  

I finally received my first money from my jobs. One of my chefs (buchou) told me, it wasn’t possible to hand over my salary in cash. (That’s why I had to go to Umeda in order to open another bank account...see former blog entry). However on pay-day I checked my bank account 3 times ! Nothing... I started to worry. I also asked my co-workers, if they received their salaries that day. They did. I was almost about to go to someone from the HR department, when I got called and was handed over a brown envelop. It was my salary in cash. I was really happy but then again..why was I told I couldn’t get it in cash? Let's see how it will go this month.

At the end of May I had the chance to take part in a survey job in Osaka. It only took about one and an half hour and they pay was very well. This little job was a great excuse for me to do some shopping in Osaka. I really recommend Honmachi and Semba. Bought 3 new summer shirts/blouses, each for about 1000 Yen. I also got new platform sandals in Kobe for 1500Yen.

some days ago at work a guest in the restaurant got extremely mad at me. He took some tray he found and wanted to use it for taking food from the buffet. However we do not offer trays at out buffet. Guests are expected to use dishes and take only one or two plates at a time. If you want to eat more, then you can take a new plate and go as often to the buffet as you want ! There's no restriction/limitation of how much you can eat/take.. but we don’t offer trays.

Anyway this guest took some tray (which is originally used to transport glasses, coffee, cups, etc and part of the equipment, not for the guests). I told him something like „ I am sorry, but you cannot use this, please use the plates only“ and he EXPLODED. He got mad and requested that people in charge come there etc. Well other Hotel/restaurant staff came and tried to calm him down. He shouted for about half an hour..... Apparently he was drunk.

I don’t think I am at fault for what happened.. but I was still pretty nervous to go to work after the incident... :/ (in the end everything turned out ok though)

raaandom:

http://zoe-zoe.jp/

 25th may i met up with Yukiko-san for chatting/coffee... this time it was my turn to look for some place to go and again I researched some nice spot on tabelog.. I had a tasty strawberry iced milk drink at Zoe.

Yukiko did what many japanese people do and used her days off during golden week for a short trip ! She went to korea and didn't fail to bring me some omiyage (souvenirs/ obligation gifts):

face sheet masks, lip balm and some korean candy

I also got a bit into using face sheet masks lately and was really grateful to receive these. I also sometimes buy them myself:

orange blush from Daiso

I badly wanted to try out orange colored blush! But before spending too much on something that doesn't match me, I've choosen the 105yen version.. I think it does match me, but at work I rather stick to my usual blush color. I use the highlighter a lot though and think about buying some better-quality highlighter. Any recommendations?

matcha (?) flavored pastry filled with anko/mochi cream, was sooo yummy!!

Been to this cafe/restaurant, which is located on/in the kokusai hall in sannomiya... pretty awesome to enjoy ur time on the roof of a big building surrounded by an artificial garden ^^:

http://www.toothtooth.com/dining.html

 Few days ago I met up with Naoko-san and had the urge to talk with her over some drinks after work... nothing's better than an izakaya for such an occasion.! And it wouldn't be me, if I wasnt thinking of a low-budget option:  http://www.torikizoku.co.jp/

i really recommend Torikizoku, if you want to keep ur expenses to a minimum.. Everything is priced at 280 yen (294 with taxes), which makes it easy to calculate... especially if you split the bill etc.

chinese chicken noodle soup I had there

irregular update

I've worked a lot and also met friends for chatting /coffee, went drinking with co-workers again and finally set up an bank account at sumitomo. The hotel restaurant company requires all employees to set up an account at sumitomo. But not just ANY sumitomo store would do, no.. It had to be the main branch store in Umeda. It is very common to get a specific bank account for companies in japan, but usually any store of a certain bank will do. I never heard it had to be a very specific city store before.

I can go to Umeda straight from my train station. You can probably do some good shopping in Umeda too, but I rather wanted to go to Namba or Shinsaibashi instead. I walked and walked and walked... luckily I crossed some shopping streets in Senba (?), where lots of cheap/non-brand stuff was being sold. I got two new tops (one for 500 and one for 1000 Yen) and they don't look cheap at all. Actually all the things had original price tags with really high prices ! Obviously someone got his /her hands on things from a chinese factory before they'd go to normal brandstores, where the same stuff would be displayed with ridiculous prices.

I eventually arrived somewhere in Namba but I realized I had to walk all the way back again and therefore decided against walking any further. Got another Ice cream (frozen yoghurt) and headed back to Umeda. I also checked out H&M but couldn't find any underwear. Does H&M Japan not carry underwear??? Damn. I was so looking forward to buy one of their comfy T-shirt bras :(

grapefruit/raspberry flavored frozen yoghurt base and toppings: azukibeans and aloe vera jelly

Things at work are getting a bit rough lately. I am not on good terms with one guy and I start to worry about how things will develop from now on. It is pretty stressful to work with him.

Monday I didnt do anything at all except washing (3 machines!), lazing around and eating (mostly dais food, sorry babe). Tuesday I went to Akashi to meet Naoko-san. She took a day off at work today because she felt like (?) and also because I am hardly free on weekends. We walked around in Akashi koen (park) http://www.hyogo-tourism.jp/english/spot/68_akashicastle.html  and a bit within the city. Then we bought random pastries from dans marché http://www.dansmarche.co.jp/ , sat down next to a river and ate. Bought some more sweets and rode the bus to 伊川谷 Ikawadani, where she lives. At her place we chatted over coffee and played with her two dogs and cat. 

me in one of my new bargain shirts, akashi castle and park, naoko and her pets

 

Oh and I got a new hobby (not that I really asked for it): killing cockroaches. I killed two and Dai told me he also killed some.. I am not super scared about insects or something but this isn’t really funny either :( I am pretty sure though, that they get in from the outside and aren’t living/breeding in our flat! We always leave the bathroom window open and I daily air my room, too.

Today, Thursday i am off again. I prefer to stay home today again, because the upcoming five days will be packed with work and meeting friends.

Almost two weeks ago I went to some lovely cafe with Naoko-san. It was my turn to pick some place to go to, so I spend hours and hours on tabelog and eventually decided on this one:

kissaten kissako

http://r.tabelog.com/hyogo/A2801/A280102/28026617/dtlrvwlst/

You can have tea and coffee and sweets. The tea is surely of great quality but the main point of this cafe is the interior and the exquisite selection of sweets. You are seated on sofas. Ok I know this isn’t something too special in Europe.. but in Japan it is fairly rare to have sofas or I am just going to the wrong places. After you sit down, you will be brought over all sweets that are available and get time to think about your choice:

I had houjicha and a matcha flavored dorayaki (tea set on the left)

It's not the cheapest place to go to but it wasn’t expensive either and once you ordered something, you can sit for hours and wont be bothered to order more. My choice of tea was 400 Yen and my picked candy was 300 Yen. I picked the cheapest stuff that was available. So one visit will result in something between 700 – 1100 Yen. 

And one last random photo I took at work. Suddenly I was asked to leave my usual work place and go to the restaurant on the highest floor. I was left there alone and instructed to do nothing and in case a customer comes to call my chef. So I had some time to enjoy the breath-taking scenery:

Kobe at night

 

finally some time off

Wow, golden week was hell and I am glad I am through this. I enjoyed yesterday and today without any work. I used my time to do groceries by bike and go on a short date with my boyfriend. I forced him to go with me to harborland again. We did a bit of window shopping and then sat down at nana's green tea. It's a bit pricey, but worth it. they have such great matcha and azuki beverages to choose from *heaven*

I had an azuki float with shirotama (dango) and it was delicious:

the shop had a great interior concept

got free postcards

Check their menu out :
http://www.nanaha.com/

view from the outside...

 u can sit next to the artificial canal of the canal garden shopping complex

On our way back we also stopped by a kohnan store コーナン. Another „home center“ store. Actually we live next to one, but different chain. Kohnan is really big and quite cheap and is worth to check out for their sales and special bargains. They also had pets&animals and made me fell in love with super purrty american short hair cat. Forgot to take its photo though. They also had really cute rabbits, huuuuge cockroaches/insects and snakes. The thing that most surprised me was, that they offered owls. In Germany it's forbidden to keep them as pets:

By the way, my boyfriend has/had fishies :D He started with two and then bought another one, but the biggest, the red one died quite quickly. And last time I checked the mini aquarium, I could only spot one fish. Another one had died. My bf never says anything to me about them :D What is he doing with them or better asked what is he not doing? Omg, I keep thinking about the cute cat from the home-center store :/ But I strongly believe it is no good to keep cats in home all day and night. I feel it is a much more natural way to keep cats, when you have the option to leave them out. With our apartment that’s downright impossible, we live at a huge, busy main road and there's no green spot around. I checked out the snakes too, but they are damn expensive and I don't feel like keeping cockroaches... so no pet for me.

Today (Friday), I met up with Laura-san. Laura-san is an Italian woman (or Japanese /Italien mixed), has a six month old babyboy and is married to a Japanese. She lives a bit more on the country side of Kobe I think, but still very close by. We met at Minatogawakoen Station. I actually mixed sth up and first waited for her at the Minatogawa-Shrine, until I realized that it was NOT the right station :D So I walked and walked..and eventually found her. Through my mistake I was able to see my first traditional Japanese wedding ceremony though:

I felt creepy taking pics, so I couldn’t take any closer shots.

Tomorrow I meet up with Naoko for coffee and then head to work. Sunday & Monday will be filled up by working at IKEA and Tuesday another shift at the Hotel Restaurant.

At the Hotel-restaurant started another chinese guy and new Nepali. The crew gets more and more international. At IKEA is also a nepali woman. I didn’t know before, that there were so many people from Nepal in Japan.. or is it only Kobe?

And I officially signed some six months contract with IKEA as a part-timer. First official contract for me (apart from the mobile phone one :D). The hotel-restaurant did not provide me with any papers so far. I actually asked them for something that proves/confirms my employment with them, but haven't received anything so far.

golden week (not mine though)

It's golden week in japan, but not for me! I work/ed on all days of Golden Week except today (30^th April).

I started working part-time at IKEA Kobe. It's interesting to have an insight in their work culture etc. After my group interview for IKEA some weeks ago, I received an offer to work only during Golden Week. However, on the training day, I received a six month part-time contract. What a change of events!

The next surprise, unfortunately a bad one, came a few hours later at work (hotel). The girl in charge of the shift-scheduling and my direct boss quits after golden week. Actually she quits by today, but they have no one to replace her yet and Golden Week will be quite busy. I almost cried. I admire her because she treats me and everyone else with the right mix of respect and authority. Even though she is very young, she's able and doing a great job.

Yesterday I worked at IKEA only for a few hours, but it was so exhausting I was wet of sweat :D. I showered and changed clothes etc. within 10 minutes and rushed to my next work.... There was a flea market at IKEA but I couldn’t even spare 5 minutes for it :( What a pity..from passing by, I could spot some cute looking things.

Today Dai and me went to Kobe Harborland, where the OKTOBERFEST takes place. Yes right, you can enjoy the custom of a Oktoberfest in April / May. Everything’s possible in Japan ;)

It was super tiny and everything was expensive. I bought a Bretzel for 200 Yen (about 2 Euro) which was micro-sized and did not have salt and tasted kinda bland. 2 minutes later I found out, there also was a normal sized, salted Bretzel available... However double the price.

Dai had no school, but work and therefore he did not drink beer. He wanted to, but stayed strong. My poor boy :/

Me being pissed off about the size of my "bretzel", Dai longing for good german beer and the Oktoberfest in April. The ferris wheel in the background is not part of the event, it's always there.

We took purikura at Mosaic (shopping mall)...

... and shopped a bit at Seria (another 100Yen chain store).

I got a hairband for showering/bathing :D

and those pretty chopsticks:

 You always end up buying random unnecessary things at 100yen shops....argh ^^.

I also browsed a few shops at Kosokukobe Station and bought this on sale for 1095 Yen:

We went home, did some shopping, ate seven eleven o-bentos and watched GANTZ – Perfect Answer (Part 2).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX1SpcpqprA&feature=related

Gosh, I love GANTZ movies. The fighting scenes are extremely well coordinated and the whole atmosphere is so exciting. I love those bodycon suits too :P

Oh and I want to share this cake with you :D

Went to Doutor with Sunao-chan on Thursday (got to know her through ikea) and had a azuki-matcha cake. I love anko/azuki beans and I love matcha flavored stuff. This was the perfect mix for me and I wasn't disappointed:

Doutor starts to grow on me. I think they are reasonable priced/sized (cheaper than starbucks) and have tasty stuff! http://www.doutor.co.jp

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....

Mentally arrived in japan

Tomorrow will be my fourth shift at the dinner buffet within this week. The original work schedule said only three shifts, but the girl supervising the restaurant asked me to come in for another shift. Happily I agreed! I constantly worry, that I don't do things well or quick enough. I am really slow with most of the tasks... I hope I become better at everything soon. The job starts to grow on me. Everyone (waiters, cooks, kitchen staff, etc) is friendly. The atmosphere among the staff is very casual and co-operative. However everyone is very professional/reliable in his/her designated work.

So yesterday (Friday) I was asked to come in spontaneously because a group of 60 chinese hotel guests reserved Hall B of the restaurant. I was totally scared of the number of people... in the end in turned out alright, it was just a lot of cleaning left to do afterwards ^^''

The chinese group stormed in MASSES the tiny buffet and were rude to each other and did some stuff with the food/buffet, that I regard as disgusting.

But I have to say SOMETIMES this also applies to some japanese guests as well. It is indeed quite interesting to see how people behave with food. Or what their manners are like and how they react to us, the service staff.

Most customers are very forgiving to me. Ignoring my bad japanese or me being slow with picking up their used dishes. At least one time per evening I am asked where I am from and what I am doing in Japan. Usually this is followed by an encouraging „Ganbattekudasai!“ (means something between „hang in there“ and „Do your best!“)

A downside of my work is that, when I come home from work at around 11pm my boyfriend is already asleep! Our schedules are totally different now and we hardly have time to do something nice together. He works from 6am to 9am and then goes to school til afternoon. However things will settle soon and I will probably usually only get two or three shifts a week anyway.

Today (Saturday) I met up with Naoko-san again. I also met one of her „students“ she teaches japanese to as a volunteer. She introduced an indonesian girl to me (muslim), while talking I realized, she was a „woman“. Married and already has a two years old kid. She wasn’t the age she looked liked. Unfortunately she had to leave very soon again.

Naoko-san and me stuck to our original plan and went for a walk to the Ikutagawa (生田川). We walked a while along the river until we found a really nice spot to sit down. We talked and talked and watched the sakura trees. When some wind came up, the petals were beautifully blowing in the wind. It was my first official hanami in Japan. I enjoyed a can of CALPIS SOUR I had picked up at Lawson before. Calpis with a little shot of vodka.

http://www.calpis-sour.jp/sour/lineup.html

OMG calpis sour is so TASTY. This might turn into my favorite alcoholic beverage in Japan :D

(calpis is some milky/yoghurtsy kind of soft drink/ beverage)

After a while we headed back to sannomiya and paid a short visit to Ikutajinja:

At the same time there was some traditional procession going on. Apparently celebrating „spring“.

http://www.ikutajinja.or.jp/

Oh btw if you're a poor bimbo like me but don’t want to feel like this, go to Daimaru's food floor (basement). Naoko-san and me went only for a few minutes but were able to try out various things. You can have a taste of great food for free that way ;)

http://www.daimaru.co.jp/kobe/

I finally bought make up. I ended up with KATE'S Mineral Cover BB Gel Cream in the lightest shade:

http://nomorerules.net/all_products/face.html

It feels good on the skin and it is mattifying. The coverage is very little though. For me that’s no matter of concern. If I want to cover up spots, I use an additional concealer. Highly covering products are usually heavy and greasy, so I rather use a light make up. So far it seems like  a good match for my combination skin.