Japanese kindness
Door: Felissa
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Felissa
07 September 2013 | Japan, Tokio
Japan is one of those countries that's so different from others. Having been here for over a week I can assure you that people who said that know what they were talking about! When I arrived at the I-house I didn't know a single person except for Yunina who had to go to the hospital soon after she was so very kind to help me out with my luggage again even though she had a strong headache because of her tooth >< I felt so bad for her, but she didn't want to break her promise. We ate donuts at Mr. Donuts.
I was pretty sad that she left and now I was here all by myself in the Ihouse which contained lots of dirty stuff the previous students left for us to use. With us I mean me and the roommate who I'll meet later on. Everything was sticky, greasy and had food stuck on it. I decided to just throw it all out and did lots of shopping after unpacking one of my bags. When I came back I started to redecorate the place and unpacked my last suitcase.
The manager, who speaks English, was really nice and showed me lots of things, such as how to recycle and how to use the washing machine etc. This was necessary, because everything is in Japanese and I can't read a thing anywhere... When I handed in a form I had to fill in I met another girl that was going to stay in the Ihouse. I introduced myself to her, so for that day that was pretty much all that happened.
The day after I had an appointment with one of the teachers who wanted to show me around the campus. I was afraid I was going to get horribly lost and unfortunately the manager and co-manager were having lunch already, so there was no one to as the way to. I decided to try and read the map and started walking. Of course I had chosen the wrong road and actually walked all the way around the campus. On the way I asked so many people where I had to go. I already counted on something like this so fortunately I left home early. What should've been a 15-minute walk became a 45-minute walk, which according to me isn't too bad. Let's face it, it could've been way worse like arriving way too late or not ever arriving at all! And I think I got there at about 3 minutes after the planned time. We had dinner together with a Japanese student and I had so much fun. When the teacher was taking me around the campus I ran in to the girl I met the day before and we walked back to the office where Olga arranged some of her paperwork and Nishimura sensei helped me to join a karate circle. Olga and I walked back to the campus and visited a small temple on the way where we played with the swings :P
When we got back I had some questions for the manager again, but it was the co-manager (they are husband(manager) and wife(co-Manager) She only speaks Japanese, but with sign language we were able to communicate ^^ I felt really happy to be able to speak to Japanese person in Japanese even though I'm not good at it at all. I'm trying my best though!
In the evening I went to a Taco shop, which isn't a Mexican restaurant, but an Octopus one! It reminded me of the animecon I went to in the Netherlands :P People who've been there will probably know what I'm talking about. I decided to order chicken, because I wasn't sure whether I was going to like Octupus. I really do want to try everything in Japan, but that day I wasn't really up to it just yet. I wasn't able to read the menu so with the help of the waiter I just ordered a chicken dish as quickly as I could, because I felt bad for making him wait and help me out with the menu. I felt so alone, because I was by myself and even though the place was nicely decorated I felt quite uncomfortable. The people were so nice and after a while the cook started talking to me. I was really happy and tried my best to explain what I was doing there in Japanese. The dish I received was SOOOO extremely delicious! If you're going to Japan you should definitely try it out (It's near the Sendagi station and I-house Across Mr. Donuts.)
The day after I felt like vacuum cleaning my room and the co-manager told me the word in Japanese (shojiki). When I brought it back whe told me I was so quick and we started talking a lot. We talked about cooking as well and I told her I really wanted to learn how to make Japanese dishes now that I'm here. She told me she would help me and taught me how to make Onigiri later that evening. I was so happy that she was willing to teach me, so I bought the thing she told me to buy and she borrowed me the salt and sesame. I made a picture so I could show it to her the day after, because she explained it to me and showed me how to use the rice cooker before they were going home. She was a little bit surprised I actually understood all of it and was able to make the onigiri.
During the day I had another appointment with a teacher that was called Nakabachi. We talked about my internship at a Japanese school and that I was going to be an assistent there. I'm looking forward to it ^^
The day after I was talking to Olga and Alan near the gate and when I went back in I saw a girl going out. I asked her if she was going to study at Toyo as well and introduced myself. She told me she was going to the hundred yen store but didn't know where it was. Since she didn't have an umbrella I offered here one, because there were two in my room and my roommate's not here yet. The co-manager told me it was going to rain all day long and we actually already needed it on the way there, so it was good that we ran into each other. We went to the store together and when we got back the co-manager asked me if I wanted to get the dirty stuff out of my room.
Of course I was really happy, because I wanted to get rid of it, so the co-manager along with my soon to be new friend Gia helped me to get the stuff to the other room.
Later on she taught us a recipe on how to make potatoe bread and gave us supplies to do so. When we were finished Gia asked me wether I had tasted the dough and I asked her "no why?" So she told me to try it. I did so and it was horribly salty!! Then it struck me.. We thought we added 80 grams of sugar(which also should've been about 1 spoon), but I accidentally bought salt at the store instead of sugar >< I felt so stupid and sad, because we had to throw everything away and we got so much from the co-manager. We decided to go and tell her and she had to laugh of course.
We received another potatoe and sugar and gave it another try. We were so happy when it was done and it tasted soooo good :D We were really happy with the result and brought a piece to the co-manager and she said it was even better than the recipe! We ate the bread and made an appointment to meet each other again the other day.
Since Gia hadn't seen anything yet I asked her if she'd like to go to Asakusa, because I already knew the place and there's lots of good food and nice stores there. We bought some gifts and ate lots of food. We had dango as well and I was so happy to eat it again, because I loved it so much when I went there with Yunina. I was glad that Gia really liked the dango as well and I chose the right ones for her, because she loved the ones I recommended the most. On the way to Asakusa we didn't have anyone to guide us the way so we had to try the train system ourselves. I thought we had found the correct train, but it turned out to be heading to Akasaka.. >< Gosh now that would've been stupid right.. At first we didn't even see, but when we asked to be sure whether we were heading the right direction the kind man pointed it out. He told us to transfer at Yushima and drew a map on how to get to the Ueno line. We didn't really understand the map, but we were heading to the right direction of the station at least. Because we felt unsure I decided to ask someone where the line was and the person who helped us out actually walked us all the way there!!! Gia was a little bit confused and thought he was retarded and didn't now where he was going, but he took us to the station and I knew we were at the right place then. I was really happy and though it was so kind that he walked us all the way out there!!!
We arrived in Asakusa, but because we got off at a different station from the one I knew, I didn't really know the direction to the temple, but after asking again we were able to walk there. I felt foolish when I looked at the side and actually saw a man with an empty Riksha, because I knew that we could've just waited to see where he was going, because they are all near the temple. After the fun day at the temple I talked about earlier on we went home and it was getting dark. It was easy to go back to Suehirocho and we wanted to try and walk to the I-house. We looked at the map and decided where to go. Because we didn't feel confident about our map-reading skills we decided to ask whether we were heading the right direction. Surprisingly enough we were actually on the right track! We felt confident now, but when we were at Bunkyo-ku we couldn't find Sendagi station on the map and decided to (yes I know) ask AGAIN.
The man told us that it was about a 30 minute walk and that it was best to go to the subway station which turned out to be Yushima again. We arrived home safely and met up again today.
So on this day we decided to go to the 100 yen store, but we were talking so much that we actually walked too far and arrived at the Lawson supermarket, which we actually wanted to go after going to the 100 yen store. When we were trying to walk to the 100 yen store from that direction we somehow couldn't find it and ended up walking all the way to the other side.
Because I did this before when carrying lots of heavy bags on the first day here I recognized the pancake store and knew we were even past the Ihouse street. Our little adventure was good enough, because we were able to find a good sushi place, which looked pretty cheap to us and when we looked at the street sign it was too funny, because it was called Dangosakashita and we were actually looking for a Dango shop, because we loved it so much the other day. Dangosakashita sounded like Dangosagashita to me, which sounds like we searched for Dango. So I'm never forgetting that streetname again!!
We went back and finally we were able to recognize the way again. We tried a new snack, but I don't know what it was called. It actually looked a little bit like a dutch 'frikandel', but it had cute little figures on it and I tried the Hakou (I think it was something like that) flavour, but I don't know what it is just yet. It tasted so good though! Next time I'll take a picture for sure. When we finished shopping there we went to the Lawson store again and bought some snacks and a new bottle of iced tea. This one even though it didn't have that much taste was pretty good :) I'm getting used to the sugarless Iced tea I guess.
After we arived at the appartment we decided to watch anime and we watched 1 episode of an anime Gia liked. After that she was curious about the one I told her about and we ended up watching 12 episodes 0_o It was nice for me to see it again as well, because I forgot a lot even though I've seen it like 4 times back when I was around 15. I still like it just as much now actually ^^ In between the episodes we made onigiri and bread again, but this time we added banana to the bread and it actually tasted really good as well! The co-manager stopped by as well just when it was finished so we gave her a piece to and she thought it was oishi, so I told her we added banana and she complimented us for it. After a while someone knocked on the door again. Olga wanted to ask me along for dinner, but we had just eaten and were sooo stuffed. But we made an appointment for tomorrow, then we'll eat out with the 3 of us! I just can't help but love Japan! The earthquake I experienced on the 4th of september was extremely scary and I wanted to scream and hide somewhere if I hadn't been so scared to get out of the bed. But even though that happened and I'll probably experience it more often I still love this place oh so much!!
I was pretty sad that she left and now I was here all by myself in the Ihouse which contained lots of dirty stuff the previous students left for us to use. With us I mean me and the roommate who I'll meet later on. Everything was sticky, greasy and had food stuck on it. I decided to just throw it all out and did lots of shopping after unpacking one of my bags. When I came back I started to redecorate the place and unpacked my last suitcase.
The manager, who speaks English, was really nice and showed me lots of things, such as how to recycle and how to use the washing machine etc. This was necessary, because everything is in Japanese and I can't read a thing anywhere... When I handed in a form I had to fill in I met another girl that was going to stay in the Ihouse. I introduced myself to her, so for that day that was pretty much all that happened.
The day after I had an appointment with one of the teachers who wanted to show me around the campus. I was afraid I was going to get horribly lost and unfortunately the manager and co-manager were having lunch already, so there was no one to as the way to. I decided to try and read the map and started walking. Of course I had chosen the wrong road and actually walked all the way around the campus. On the way I asked so many people where I had to go. I already counted on something like this so fortunately I left home early. What should've been a 15-minute walk became a 45-minute walk, which according to me isn't too bad. Let's face it, it could've been way worse like arriving way too late or not ever arriving at all! And I think I got there at about 3 minutes after the planned time. We had dinner together with a Japanese student and I had so much fun. When the teacher was taking me around the campus I ran in to the girl I met the day before and we walked back to the office where Olga arranged some of her paperwork and Nishimura sensei helped me to join a karate circle. Olga and I walked back to the campus and visited a small temple on the way where we played with the swings :P
When we got back I had some questions for the manager again, but it was the co-manager (they are husband(manager) and wife(co-Manager) She only speaks Japanese, but with sign language we were able to communicate ^^ I felt really happy to be able to speak to Japanese person in Japanese even though I'm not good at it at all. I'm trying my best though!
In the evening I went to a Taco shop, which isn't a Mexican restaurant, but an Octopus one! It reminded me of the animecon I went to in the Netherlands :P People who've been there will probably know what I'm talking about. I decided to order chicken, because I wasn't sure whether I was going to like Octupus. I really do want to try everything in Japan, but that day I wasn't really up to it just yet. I wasn't able to read the menu so with the help of the waiter I just ordered a chicken dish as quickly as I could, because I felt bad for making him wait and help me out with the menu. I felt so alone, because I was by myself and even though the place was nicely decorated I felt quite uncomfortable. The people were so nice and after a while the cook started talking to me. I was really happy and tried my best to explain what I was doing there in Japanese. The dish I received was SOOOO extremely delicious! If you're going to Japan you should definitely try it out (It's near the Sendagi station and I-house Across Mr. Donuts.)
The day after I felt like vacuum cleaning my room and the co-manager told me the word in Japanese (shojiki). When I brought it back whe told me I was so quick and we started talking a lot. We talked about cooking as well and I told her I really wanted to learn how to make Japanese dishes now that I'm here. She told me she would help me and taught me how to make Onigiri later that evening. I was so happy that she was willing to teach me, so I bought the thing she told me to buy and she borrowed me the salt and sesame. I made a picture so I could show it to her the day after, because she explained it to me and showed me how to use the rice cooker before they were going home. She was a little bit surprised I actually understood all of it and was able to make the onigiri.
During the day I had another appointment with a teacher that was called Nakabachi. We talked about my internship at a Japanese school and that I was going to be an assistent there. I'm looking forward to it ^^
The day after I was talking to Olga and Alan near the gate and when I went back in I saw a girl going out. I asked her if she was going to study at Toyo as well and introduced myself. She told me she was going to the hundred yen store but didn't know where it was. Since she didn't have an umbrella I offered here one, because there were two in my room and my roommate's not here yet. The co-manager told me it was going to rain all day long and we actually already needed it on the way there, so it was good that we ran into each other. We went to the store together and when we got back the co-manager asked me if I wanted to get the dirty stuff out of my room.
Of course I was really happy, because I wanted to get rid of it, so the co-manager along with my soon to be new friend Gia helped me to get the stuff to the other room.
Later on she taught us a recipe on how to make potatoe bread and gave us supplies to do so. When we were finished Gia asked me wether I had tasted the dough and I asked her "no why?" So she told me to try it. I did so and it was horribly salty!! Then it struck me.. We thought we added 80 grams of sugar(which also should've been about 1 spoon), but I accidentally bought salt at the store instead of sugar >< I felt so stupid and sad, because we had to throw everything away and we got so much from the co-manager. We decided to go and tell her and she had to laugh of course.
We received another potatoe and sugar and gave it another try. We were so happy when it was done and it tasted soooo good :D We were really happy with the result and brought a piece to the co-manager and she said it was even better than the recipe! We ate the bread and made an appointment to meet each other again the other day.
Since Gia hadn't seen anything yet I asked her if she'd like to go to Asakusa, because I already knew the place and there's lots of good food and nice stores there. We bought some gifts and ate lots of food. We had dango as well and I was so happy to eat it again, because I loved it so much when I went there with Yunina. I was glad that Gia really liked the dango as well and I chose the right ones for her, because she loved the ones I recommended the most. On the way to Asakusa we didn't have anyone to guide us the way so we had to try the train system ourselves. I thought we had found the correct train, but it turned out to be heading to Akasaka.. >< Gosh now that would've been stupid right.. At first we didn't even see, but when we asked to be sure whether we were heading the right direction the kind man pointed it out. He told us to transfer at Yushima and drew a map on how to get to the Ueno line. We didn't really understand the map, but we were heading to the right direction of the station at least. Because we felt unsure I decided to ask someone where the line was and the person who helped us out actually walked us all the way there!!! Gia was a little bit confused and thought he was retarded and didn't now where he was going, but he took us to the station and I knew we were at the right place then. I was really happy and though it was so kind that he walked us all the way out there!!!
We arrived in Asakusa, but because we got off at a different station from the one I knew, I didn't really know the direction to the temple, but after asking again we were able to walk there. I felt foolish when I looked at the side and actually saw a man with an empty Riksha, because I knew that we could've just waited to see where he was going, because they are all near the temple. After the fun day at the temple I talked about earlier on we went home and it was getting dark. It was easy to go back to Suehirocho and we wanted to try and walk to the I-house. We looked at the map and decided where to go. Because we didn't feel confident about our map-reading skills we decided to ask whether we were heading the right direction. Surprisingly enough we were actually on the right track! We felt confident now, but when we were at Bunkyo-ku we couldn't find Sendagi station on the map and decided to (yes I know) ask AGAIN.
The man told us that it was about a 30 minute walk and that it was best to go to the subway station which turned out to be Yushima again. We arrived home safely and met up again today.
So on this day we decided to go to the 100 yen store, but we were talking so much that we actually walked too far and arrived at the Lawson supermarket, which we actually wanted to go after going to the 100 yen store. When we were trying to walk to the 100 yen store from that direction we somehow couldn't find it and ended up walking all the way to the other side.
Because I did this before when carrying lots of heavy bags on the first day here I recognized the pancake store and knew we were even past the Ihouse street. Our little adventure was good enough, because we were able to find a good sushi place, which looked pretty cheap to us and when we looked at the street sign it was too funny, because it was called Dangosakashita and we were actually looking for a Dango shop, because we loved it so much the other day. Dangosakashita sounded like Dangosagashita to me, which sounds like we searched for Dango. So I'm never forgetting that streetname again!!
We went back and finally we were able to recognize the way again. We tried a new snack, but I don't know what it was called. It actually looked a little bit like a dutch 'frikandel', but it had cute little figures on it and I tried the Hakou (I think it was something like that) flavour, but I don't know what it is just yet. It tasted so good though! Next time I'll take a picture for sure. When we finished shopping there we went to the Lawson store again and bought some snacks and a new bottle of iced tea. This one even though it didn't have that much taste was pretty good :) I'm getting used to the sugarless Iced tea I guess.
After we arived at the appartment we decided to watch anime and we watched 1 episode of an anime Gia liked. After that she was curious about the one I told her about and we ended up watching 12 episodes 0_o It was nice for me to see it again as well, because I forgot a lot even though I've seen it like 4 times back when I was around 15. I still like it just as much now actually ^^ In between the episodes we made onigiri and bread again, but this time we added banana to the bread and it actually tasted really good as well! The co-manager stopped by as well just when it was finished so we gave her a piece to and she thought it was oishi, so I told her we added banana and she complimented us for it. After a while someone knocked on the door again. Olga wanted to ask me along for dinner, but we had just eaten and were sooo stuffed. But we made an appointment for tomorrow, then we'll eat out with the 3 of us! I just can't help but love Japan! The earthquake I experienced on the 4th of september was extremely scary and I wanted to scream and hide somewhere if I hadn't been so scared to get out of the bed. But even though that happened and I'll probably experience it more often I still love this place oh so much!!
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