Force of habit

It’s been 5 month since I arrived here. I’d already been asked for directions more than seven times by passersby. It’s obvious that I’m not a local person. I don’t know why people ask me for the directions. Although I’m bad at directions, I do my best.

One day, a man asked me the direction to Piccadilly station. I pointed in the direction. It was obvious to me however he told me that I was wrong. He said, “No”.

WHAT??

He asked me the direction and I answered him. Why did he tell me NO? If he knew the direction already, he didn’t need to ask me, right?

He said it should be close to the City tower. “Oh I see,” I said. He wanted Piccadilly garden where there is a big bus terminal.

Yesterday, on my way home from my work, I was asked for directions by two women. After showing them the directions, they said “Thank you” to me. I automatically said “See you”.

Oops!

Poppy

Since last week, I’ve noticed many people have been wearing a “poppy” on their chest. It reminds me of the “Red feather charity”. In Japan during charity campaigns, politicians and newscasters wear them on TV, but I don’t see them on everyday people. On the other hand, I see some people wearing poppies here every day. It must be a donation for something important. I asked a news paper man about this. He hands out free news papers every weekday at the station. I get the free paper from him quite often and now he recognizes me. He explained that a poppy is the flower of Remembrance Day. “On the 11th of November the last shot of the First World War was fired, now it is known as Remembrance Sunday, and is held always on the second Sunday in November. These poppies are manufactured by disabled ex-servicemen.” Now I understand why many people wear the poppy.

Halloween

Once I was in New York on Halloween day. It was really exciting. Many people wore strange costumes. Even business men wore devil costumes and went to work as usual. Some dogs also wore wings or extra tails. It’s an event for kids and also adults.

My image of Halloween in England is just like my American one. However, it’s just an event for kids. I had English class on that day. My teacher taught us the history of Halloween and how to react if kids visit our places. This is educational rather than fun. On my way back home, I went to a big supermarket (TESCO). Some sales assistants wore Halloween costumes, but they were wearing it as their duty and it wasn’t exciting.

Hair cut

I’ve never had a hair cut in a foreign country. I heard that Asian hair is more difficult to cut than other people’s hair. I tried to find a fair price and average quality. It’s more difficult than I thought. I checked web sites. Some people recommend the hair salon, but some other said “you shouldn’t go there.” I couldn’t find a good one. One of my Japanese friends got her hair cut in London by a Japanese hair stylist. Yes, I thought it was nice, but pricy. My other Japanese friend got her hair cut in Manchester China town. But she doesn’t recommend it. I’ve searched for four months. Finally I got information that there is a Japanese woman who is studying to become a hairdresser. I sent an email to her and she arranged to cut my hair. It’s wonderful.

Summer time is just finished

On Sunday, I usually wake up at 9am and go to Tai-chi（太極拳） class. I woke up this morning as usual, had breakfast and checked email on my PC. Then I noticed the clock on my PC was an hour early. I completely forgot that it was the day when the summer time is finished. I used this extra hour to read “Harry Potter and the deathly hallows”. Every time Harry potter is published, I tried to finish reading it in English before the Japanese edition is published. I’ve never succeeded. This is the last chance. I would like to make it this time.

These days

I was not coming Manchester for part-time job. So, I take a day off on every Wednesday and go to an English class. There are 20 students and I am the only Japanese in the class. I look forward to improving my English and having international friends there. My classmates are from China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Spain, Chile, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

I also started going to fitness club. I join Tai-chi, Yoga and Pilates classes. One instructor teaches these three classes. She isn’t a European or Asian. She is a Brazilian. When I waited for Tai-chi class, some people asked me “are you Tai-chi teacher?” It’s interesting that an Asian learns Tai-chi from a Brazilian in UK.

My boss at work went to business trip to USA last week. So I could enjoy conversation with customers without a sales talk. They are interested in Japan. Some of them are looking for Japanese language exchange mates. Why not me? I will start language exchange with two people. One is from America. She had three years experience in Japan. The other is originally from Iran. He has a plan to work in Japan next year. I look forward to sharing learning languages and cultures with them.

Now I start enjoying my life as an international person in Manchester.

Good things and bad things

Since I started my part time job, I go to work almost every weekday. Do I enjoy working? Well, there are many good things and also bad things.

I describe good things first. My working shift is from noon to 6pm. This is nice because I have free time in the morning. I can go shopping, bank, post office or dentist before work. I usually don’t have time to have lunch before work, but I have lunch break at 3pm. The supermarket where I work is located at the basement and there is a restaurant at the ground level. People working at the restaurant prepare lunch for me. Sometimes I can eat the same menu served at the restaurant and sometimes they prepare special meal for workers. I like eating meal with people. After coming to Manchester, I was so lonely when I have lunch at home alone. I missed my lunch time with friends in Japan. Now I feel better to have lunch time with my colleagues. I have no complaint about the taste because it’s free!

My work is not difficult. I usually start my work with cleaning the shop and check items. I prepare some translation tag in English for Japanese items. If a customer needs some translation or explanation of items, I would tell it to the customer in English. Sometimes I can enjoy talking with customers. No customers complain about any unsatisfactory situation. Sometimes I keep customer to wait because the machine for cash card or debit card doesn’t work well. Sometimes we don’t have the product customers wish to buy. In any cases, they are not complaint. I saw a guy who was interested in “language exchange”, teaching mother tongues to each other. So we met at a coffee shop at a weekend and had nice talk about England and Japan.

Some Japanese customers were also glad to know that I was Japanese. There aren’t many Japanese here, so some Japanese students enjoy talking at shop.

You would think I really enjoy working here. However, there are bad things as many as good things. It’s my boss. If I asked something, he said “think by yourself.” If I did something without asking him, he said “ask me anything when you are not sure”. WELL what should I do? No one working at the shop can communicate with him. He also loves to say “your responsibility”. Anyway he is a British and understands neither Japanese nor Chinese. My Chinese colleague told me how to say a curse word in Chinese. We sometimes say the word together....