Alec in Japan

This July, so much as happened with me settling in Japan for my working holiday, starting my first full-time job, and living away from ‘home’ for the first time.

 Here are the events which shaped July 2007:

• Being able to put into practice and use all the phrases for shops and restaurants which I had so dutifully studied.
• Going out to dinner with most of the foreign staff at the hotel. We had Korean BBQ and then went drinking on the beach. I remember the smoke from the BBQ being so strong, and laughing because it was all blowing in Attila’s face … then the wind changed and it wasn’t so funny anymore.
• Watching Okinawa singing and dancing at the hotel. At the end I was called up on stage to dance with them, and then I had my photo taken with one of the performers. The great thing about being alone in a foreign country, is that you can do any silly/stupid/embarrassing things, and no one will really ever know about but you.
• Typhoon Man-Yi. My very first experience of a natural disaster.
• Going to Unna Matsuri with a co-worker and Natalie. We had a fantastic time and I’m sure I sweated out all my natural moisture. They had a massive hot pot which everyone took servings from, and there was also an old man who kept stepping on his poor little chihuahua.
• Celebrating George’s 20th birthday. We had an Italian dinner in Chatan, and then went to Naha to go clubbing. Had an amazing time and we all ended up sharing a cheap hotel room with no air-conditioning. We slept in our jeans and woke up dripping with sweat. We were all too exhausted to care though.
• Watching the YouTube version of my Top 10 Half-Japanese Celebrities article reach more than 8000 views, 70 comments, and 40 favourites.

Here are the funny anecdotes which made me laugh in July:

• Having a dream that I was watching the Japanese version of The View - a show I’ve never actually seen before - and then waking up, turning on the TV, and seeing The View on TV for the very first time.
• Teaching my co-worker English words like “anorexic”, “in the middle of nowhere”, “bless you” and “detective”. Then I made her tell coworkers she was “anorexic but eats eel on rice”.
• This conversation with an obasan (middle-aged female) coworker:
  おばさん： じゃ、いくつ？ (So, how old are you?)僕：１８歳です。(I’m 18.)
  おばさん：あぁ、チェリーボーイだね。(Ah, a cherry boy huh?)
• This conversation with a 30ish deliveryman to the store:
  男：（名札を見ながら）あっ、なんで日本人の名字が書いてあるの？([On seeing my name card] Ah, how come you have a Japanese surname?)
  僕：お母さん日本人のハーフだからよ。(My mum’s half-Japanese.)
  男：えぇっ！何歳？(Eeh, how old?!)
  僕：ハハッ、もう年取ったよ。(Haha, already old.)
  男：それでもね、、、(Even so …)
• Being taught this gyaru-o Japanese, and using it on coworkers non-stop for two days.
  もてたければ、オレについて来い！(If u wanna be kool, follow me!)
• Being at the beach with Tejas, Natalie and Alin at 3 in the morning and hearing the voices of two foreigners in the water, who then started to have sex on the beach. We still don’t know if they’re two of our housemates, or strangers.

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