First week in Japan

Hello everyone, Sorry for the late post, I have written a post last Friday but by mistake I lost everything (one hour writing) so now I am trying it again.

on Thursday the 15th of June, I needed to say goodbye to my family, which was of course really difficult, and sad. But not as sad as I thought it would be, maybe because the evening before I realized that life is fantastic, and I didn`t needed to care to much about my family, known they would be alright.

The flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki was alright, and nothing special happened in there, besides me smiling in my seat.

The flight from Helsinki to Osaka was different, first of all because it was much longer 10 hours, and I had a nice older Japanese couple sitting next to me, whom I talked to for hours. Arigato ne Eiko san and Enzo san, for being so kind to me. The airplane was of course full with Japanese people, and from around 200 people I maybe could only see 10-15 non Japanese. I tried to get some sleep in the airplane but remembering my previous experience with flying for this many hours, I knew I wouldn`t be able to sleep, and I didn`t.

Arriving in Japan was a bit weird I must say, because I was really tired, and suddenly I was unable to use my English, my Japanese level isn`t that high, and also the way to Kobe was weird, seeing building everywhere. Mayuko her mom picked me up from Sannomiya (center of Kobe), and we drove together to our new house in Rokko ( see pictures in the previous post. It was great to see her mom again, and we talked a lot.

In the afternoon I finally saw Mayuko again, and that felt so great! hold my wife in my arms again, after 6months and knowing we don`t have to separate anymore. Together we walked to our house ( from Rokko station, to our house is about 15minutes up hill walk) and she showed me our house.

I think the house where we are living in is great, it`s heaps larger than I had expected, and also the area where we are living in is great. Mountains on the right, ocean view on the left.

On Sunday we went to her parents house, and met the whole family again. We had a lunch together, toasted with beer (Kanpai) and had some nice talks. Later that afternoon we were shopping with her brother and his wife (we got a sofa from him).

On Monday we went to the City hall to take care of my Gaijin card ( this is a card that I should always have with me, because I am a foreigner in Japan ( Gaijin- outside person, foreigner. this word can be a bit rude, the same we have alochtoon in the Netherlands). When we wanted to fill in the papers, we found out that this fucker ( sorry but he is a fucker) on the airport made a mistake, by not checking my visa , and not reading my intent of stay in Japan. Because of this, he gave me a 3 month stamp, with the meaning that I needed to go out of Japan with in 3months, and that I could only get a 1 year Gaijin Card instead of a 5 year gaijin card. So yeah after we filled in some papers, we also needed to mail my passport to the Immigration.

A lot of work needed to be done, and probably still needs to be done. Paperwork, paperwork, and even more paperwork. Arigato Mayuko for taking care of this!!!

The days after that, we bought some stuff for the house, relaxed in Kobe`s herb park, and just enjoyed being together again.



On Thursday Mayuko needed to work again, so I started searching for a job as an English teacher. I had send out a lot of emails to companies in here, and even got a short interview on Friday, the interview wasn`t really an interview, because I just got the job, only problem was I didn`t knew for how many hours etc.

On Saturday we went to her Grandmothers house in Ako, she is around 84, we had a lunch. We had this real big EBI ( ebi is a Prawn), and after that we went to her grandmothers house. She showed me pictures of herself when she was young, and from Mayuko her mother ( funny to see that they really look like each other sometimes).

On Sunday we went to Sannomiya to buy a mobile phone for me, and a suit ( yes me in a suit, for job interviews, and for weddings etc). Well I got a real nice Mobile phone, the Vodafone 804ss please click here for some information. And also the suit I bought was pretty nice.



yesterday I started my Job as an Enlgish teacher here in Japan, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it, even tough the first boy was a pain in the ass, because he just couldn`t concentrate, and I needed to take care of him by myself ( the teacher just run off, and said please take care of him). Later that afternoon I needed to teach some little girl from 6, which was just perfect, she was really sweet, and it was really easy to work with her. We practiced Pre-positions, and time.

The only bad thing about this work is that I can only work 2 times a week, and summer school which is starting from the 24th of June. So I don`t think I will stay here for a long time. Actually I am already looking for another job.

So this is a bit what had happened the last week. It`s busy, and I must say that so now and then I have my bad moments. For example, I like to be in charge, to do things myself, but now I am totally dependent from Mayuko, and that makes me insecure sometimes. But on the other hand, I am proud of myself on what I am doing, and proud of Mayuko on what she is doing for us.

We still got a long way to go, but we believe in the future, and up to now, our plans came out well...

Thanks everybody, and don`t forget to post a comment!!!