Monday I took a three hour nap. Sounds rather uneventful, but it was about 2 hours after I woke up so I'm wondering if it's some sort of retro jet lag. I probably would have slept all day if I didn't force myself to wake-up and do something with myself.
What I did mostly consisted of looking up directions to Nisshin Shiyakusho (city office) where I need to get a Gaikokujin Toroku Shoumeisho card so that I can open a bank account, get a cell phone, rent an aparto...etc.etc.etc. After drawing detailed directions from Google Maps, I notice the address shows the state as Aichi. Hmm, odd, Nisshin's in Saitama. Zooming out, I realize that I have just drawn a map of Nissin city hall in Nagoya (about 3 hours away). Well, damn that sucks. Searching around I find that Nisshin isn't large enough to be considered a city, much less anything and is actually part of Kita Ward which is a part of Saitama City, Saitama (kind of a new york new york thing). Finding directions to Kita Ward, I draw myself a new map. Thoroughly exhausted, I prepare for my second nap of the day. Until suddenly I hear shrill, rapid incomprehensible Japanese (like any of it's comprehensible at this point).
Realizing the voice is drawing nearer...and...oh it's coming in the house. What the heck? Peeking out of my little "office" I see 2 teenage girls with my housemate. Apparently she ran into former students who then followed her home. Gah, I can only imagine the legal ramifications for that back home. She, being the ever gracious hostess, had purchased enough candy to feed an entire classroom of rabid teenagers. She asked me to join them....damn she knows my weakness, I don't know how to politely decline requests...what do I do, what do I do....Gah, no choice. Joining the girls at the table, the first thing I hear is OOOOKKKIIIIIIIII DESU NE. Hey, I know Okii, it means big. Hmmm, I'm leaving. Getting up to leave, the girls run up to me to measure themselves next to me. Way to make me feel welcome! For the next 20 minutes we talk about my height, my age, and my weight. It was awesome!! My housemate then asks if I would like to go with her to get her snow tires changed. Thinking this would be a good excuse to get out of the house (and away from the prepubescent girls), I agree. This really couldn't take that much time.
An hour later, I had been introduced to her mechanic's entire family (including grandchildren). First it was just the mechanic and his wife, TAKAI DESU YO (you're tall!). Staring, smiling foolishly and jabbing each other as they comment on my amazing height. As we were going to leave, I tried to hide in the passanger seat as the kids and grandchildren came home. But NOPE, no escape. My housemate says that I should meet the rest of the family. At which point everyone gets out of the car, stands in a line and takes turns saying, "TAKAI, TAKAI." The dad had this really silly grin on his face as he made a crack at comparing my height to...well I have no idea I didn't understand all of it. Yup, welcome to Japan. Seriously, I can't possibly be the tallest female they've ever seen. I'm going to start charging to comment on my height!
What I did mostly consisted of looking up directions to Nisshin Shiyakusho (city office) where I need to get a Gaikokujin Toroku Shoumeisho card so that I can open a bank account, get a cell phone, rent an aparto...etc.etc.etc. After drawing detailed directions from Google Maps, I notice the address shows the state as Aichi. Hmm, odd, Nisshin's in Saitama. Zooming out, I realize that I have just drawn a map of Nissin city hall in Nagoya (about 3 hours away). Well, damn that sucks. Searching around I find that Nisshin isn't large enough to be considered a city, much less anything and is actually part of Kita Ward which is a part of Saitama City, Saitama (kind of a new york new york thing). Finding directions to Kita Ward, I draw myself a new map. Thoroughly exhausted, I prepare for my second nap of the day. Until suddenly I hear shrill, rapid incomprehensible Japanese (like any of it's comprehensible at this point).
Realizing the voice is drawing nearer...and...oh it's coming in the house. What the heck? Peeking out of my little "office" I see 2 teenage girls with my housemate. Apparently she ran into former students who then followed her home. Gah, I can only imagine the legal ramifications for that back home. She, being the ever gracious hostess, had purchased enough candy to feed an entire classroom of rabid teenagers. She asked me to join them....damn she knows my weakness, I don't know how to politely decline requests...what do I do, what do I do....Gah, no choice. Joining the girls at the table, the first thing I hear is OOOOKKKIIIIIIIII DESU NE. Hey, I know Okii, it means big. Hmmm, I'm leaving. Getting up to leave, the girls run up to me to measure themselves next to me. Way to make me feel welcome! For the next 20 minutes we talk about my height, my age, and my weight. It was awesome!! My housemate then asks if I would like to go with her to get her snow tires changed. Thinking this would be a good excuse to get out of the house (and away from the prepubescent girls), I agree. This really couldn't take that much time.
An hour later, I had been introduced to her mechanic's entire family (including grandchildren). First it was just the mechanic and his wife, TAKAI DESU YO (you're tall!). Staring, smiling foolishly and jabbing each other as they comment on my amazing height. As we were going to leave, I tried to hide in the passanger seat as the kids and grandchildren came home. But NOPE, no escape. My housemate says that I should meet the rest of the family. At which point everyone gets out of the car, stands in a line and takes turns saying, "TAKAI, TAKAI." The dad had this really silly grin on his face as he made a crack at comparing my height to...well I have no idea I didn't understand all of it. Yup, welcome to Japan. Seriously, I can't possibly be the tallest female they've ever seen. I'm going to start charging to comment on my height!
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