August 16, 2007

I sometimes wonder where I am now. Of course, it’s obvious that I’m not in Japan, but I still don’t feel the reality of my life in Manchester. Maybe because I don’t belong to any society here.

Today I met my friends from Japan in Manchester. It’s amazing. It’s like my former life in Japan suddenly jumped into my current unreality life. It’s wonderful to have conversation as I was in Japan. On my daily life, I can easily get information from Internet, TV and newspapers. However the reality is added after sharing it with people. I could speak about my life in Manchester with my friends today and now I recognise that I really live in Manchester and I will enjoy staying here.

And of course after I ate this yummy cake, I realise I have gained extra weight. I can’t refuse to face the reality even when I didn’t feel it.

August 15, 2007

It’s been two months since I arrived in Manchester. It was terrible weather in June. I thought it was usual in England. If it is so cool during summer, what will happen in winter? I was sad. However, one day a newspaper said: “Mopping up wettest June for 76 years: It has been the wettest June in Greater Manchester for more than three quarters of a century – and there’s more rain to come.” This is not a usual weather even in England.

In August, the weather is really nice. Many sunny days and never humid. Now I understand why European people in Japan are suffering from Japanese summer.

One of my favourite services here is free newspaper. It’s free every weekday. It’s handed near a station, shopping mall and anywhere people come. Sometimes I can’t say “no thank you” and got two copies of the same paper in a day. However, it costs 38p on Saturday, probably because it carries TV listings for both Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t know about it and I was almost being a robber.

Something is at my window...

Wow, it’s a tough work to wash the window of the second floor from the ground using a brush with a long pole. I’m impressed with their efforts, but I can’t see any difference before and after washing....

August 13, 2007

Finally my goods to be moved have arrived! For your information, I describe how I chose a moving company.

First of all, I asked my friends who have experience of moving out of Japan. Their recommendation was Nittsu. The service and price of Nittsu is nice, however, they said it depends on the destination, so I needed to check whether Nittsu was good for moving to England or not. I compared the price on the web sites. Nittsu and Kuroneko Yamato provide the same kind of service with the same range of price. OK, I will take my friends recommendation and called Nittsu. HOWEVER, my destination is not London but Manchester. If on the web site they say England, it means London. I have to pay extra fee to send goods from London to Manchester. Nittsu requires about additional 70% fee compared with the price for London. It’s almost double. Then, I called Kuroneko for comparison. Kuroneko requires just about 20% extra. The standard cost to London is the same, but to Manchester, Kuroneko is much cheaper. So, I chose Kuroneko.

Their service was very good! At first I planned to send my goods on the day before my departure, but I couldn’t finish packing so I changed the date of their coming. I also asked them to pick up my goods as late as possible. They didn’t complain at all and kindly accepted my order. I could also postpone telling them the address where I would receive my goods until I settle in Manchester. Before delivery they sent me an email and noticed the delivery date and time. On the delivery day, they called me beforehand and arrived on time as arranged.

Of course I need to open the gate for them. Yes, this is very inconvenient.

Three guys came and carried all boxes into my place. The best thing for me, they took off their shoes when they entered my place while I didn’t have to say anything. I like this custom very much! Japanese customer service is wonderful. Now I am surrounded by carton boxes printed with black cats (Kuro-neko).

August 8, 2007

Ring-ring:

Telephone is ringing at 8:00am this morning. Last week, I answered a telephone call at 9:00am and it was wrong number. I sigh, AGAIN?

The call last week was very funny. I picked up the phone and the person said something. I couldn’t catch his word so I just said:

Eriko: “Yes?”

Person: “I’m coming to your place at 8am tomorrow.”

E: “Tomorrow?”

P: “Yes.”

E: “Why are you coming?”

P: “Minor treatment.”

E: “I didn’t ask any repair in my place.”

P: “I need minor surgery.”

E: “Surgery? I think you must have a wrong number. My number is........ ”

P: “Yes, I called the same number. Please pass my message to.....”

E: “I don’t know who I could pass your message to.”

P: “Isn’t it the eye surgery office?”

E: “No.”

He apologised and hung up the phone. Anyway, my number may have been used in an eye surgery.... If so, there’s another problem.

Back to the today’s call:

E: “Hello?”

P: “............coming..........”

I couldn’t catch almost any words. However, from my experience last week, I thought this must be the same kind of the wrong number call.

I said:

E: “I think you must have a wrong number.”

P: “I call .......”

E: “Yes, it’s my telephone number. I don’t know where you got it.”

P: “Your apartment number is 44?”

E: “Yes.”

P: “I deliver your parcel but I can’t get in the gate. Would you come and open the gate?”

I SEE. It’s not the wrong number this time. Why doesn’t the delivery person have a key for the entrance gate? It’s inconvenient to go out just to open the gate for a delivery..... Anyway, there’s no choice.

The parcel is Japanese foods sent from my brother!! This is a surprise present.

August 2, 2007

Knock, knock:

Someone knocked a door. The door to my room and the neighbour’s one are next to each other. Every time someone knocks the next door, I’m surprised at the sound. But today, someone kept knocking the door, not the next door. I went to the door and peeped out through the spyglass. At first I didn’t see anyone, so I left, then someone knocked the door again. I peeped out again and saw someone stood in front of my door. WHO??

I opened the door and the guy said, “I live next to you.” This is the first time to see my neighbour. In Japan, we have a custom to say hello when we move in, but I don’t know if there is a similar custom in England. Anyway, this is not for greeting. He just asked the condition of my TV. He said his TV didn’t work well. He wanted to make sure the problem is either at only his room or the whole apartment. My TV worked without a problem, so I answered to him. He thanked me and went back his room. We didn’t even exchange our names. Anyway, it’s nice to knowｓ who lives next to me.

There is no door knob on the door. It’s closed automatically. I live in the second floor (i.e. the third floor in Japan), but the room number doesn’t refer to the floor number; the tenth digit is 4, not 2. It’s strange to me.

August 1, 2007

My efforts for having friends:

Since I came here, I’ve tried to have friends. It seems easy, but it’s difficult in fact. It’s not only because of the language barrier. Even in Seika-cho, it took time for me to have friends. The main difference from Seika-cho and here, I can’t go to visit my friends easily. Even I didn’t have friends in Seika-cho, I could go to see my old friends. I’m a Kansai-jin, so I have many friends in Kansai area.

I have to do something for finding friends. The easiest way may be to find Japanese friends here. The second one is to utilise my Japanese and join the society here. If I were in London, it would be easier. Here there’re not so many Japanese as in London.

For a starter, I applied for a volunteer Japanese teacher for the International society. I received their reply email and the society asked me to come and arrange the Japanese class. I was half anxious because I had no experience to teach Japanese before, but the other half was very excited. I borrowed Japanese conversation text books at library and went to the society. However, the person in charge was absent because of illness. I know his illness isn’t his fault. What I am disappointed with is that he didn’t tell about the appointment with me to anyone of his colleagues, though I received my appointment email on the day before my coming. His colleague apologised to me for him and told me if I could come again, it’s better to call him before my coming. The next day, I sent an email to him and asked his health condition, and if he could arrange another appointment I would come. However, he didn’t reply. I should have called him, but I held back. Maybe I didn’t have enough confidence as a Japanese teacher.

As my second trial, I found a Japanese supermarket and found a job offer there. I applied it by email. I received their reply email that said:

“We are planning to interview you soon. Now our Internet doesn’t work well. So, we will call you.”

Since then, I’ve not received any call from the store. I may have needed to email or call them again, but I didn’t. I gave up using my Japanese and started to apply a job from newspaper.

I posted three positions. The first one is a receptionist at a hospital. As I described before, the customer service at the surgery was not good. I thought I could do it better than native speakers so I applied it. However, I was not asked to come to interview.

The second one is International Marketing Officer. “International” sounds a good chance for non-native speakers, doesn’t it? The last one is a nursery assistant. My friend told me I am suited to a nursery. The latter two, I posted application forms and am now waiting the replies.

In case I can’t get a job, I have searched something I can do.

There’s a language exchange program. If I can find a partner who is wishing to learn Japanese, I can learn English in exchange. However, I’m not brave enough to post my information to the web site, so I’m waiting someone’s posting for searching a Japanese.

Also I check some courses to learn here. I looked at the course “Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults”. The course from August and September has already been full. If I will take this course, I need to wait till November.

I also check local community information. I’ve got most of information from netsurfing. I will try not to be swallowed in information. I am wishing to have friends soon.