Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Nature Strikes Back

Yesterday was the hottest day I can ever remember in my life. You see, a typhoon went through on Monday night, and apparently after a typhoon it gets really hot. I woke up burning up at 7:30am, that's how hot it was. Not fun. Since it was pretty much too hot to move, I just laid in bed most of the morning drifting between asleep and awake, then finally got up to take a cold shower and go back to my office. I left an hour early so I would be sure not to get lost, and lo and behold, I didn't get lost! I took the extra time I had to walk around a department store that is next door to the office. It was a good experience. I felt quasi-independent, almost. :) Ms. Ishi and I went back to city hall and I got my bank account squared away. Well, she got my bank account squared away. Then my employers wanted me to come back to the office for a while, so I did. I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do while I'm up there, but if they want me there then I'm going to go. I came home and sat on the balcony of my apartment, which was mucho cooler than my apartment itself, and then Tomoko called me! She wanted to know if she and her mom could come take me to dinner and grocery shopping tonight. I can't turn down offers these days, so I said sure! And we went to Denny's. Yep-- Japanese Denny's. Not like American Denny's. But I had a nice sandwich and Tomoko and her mom helped me shop for groceries, so now I have food. Then when I got back to my apartment they surprised me with donuts!!!!! Yay for donuts and the Kikuchis! That provided a good end to the day, which I was ready for. I am always so exhausted at night.
Today they wanted me in the office at 9:30, so I was. Thankfully today wasn't as hot as yesterday. I pretty much spent the day doing absolutely nothing but sitting at my little table and trying to look busy while a bunch of hurried Japanese people scurried about me. I almost felt guilty that they were so busy and I was so bored. I'm never sure what to wear to the office. Today I went with a white button down shirt and a black knee length skirt, which I think was okay. I just don't know how dressy to go. I'll have to ask Alina.
Oh yes, today I experienced my first earthquake. It was weird... I was reading and suddenly I felt like I was shaking. I looked up to see if anything else was shaking and it was! It lasted maybe a minute, and the majority of the Japanese didn't even look up from what they were doing, but a few looked around and laughed when they saw my "what on earth!?" face. :)

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