After work

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After work, we walked up the street from the office to a computer store. Paola insisted that we get an internet connection at our home. We asked the guy all about it, and he said that it would take a month for us to get the internet. This did not sit well with Paola, but the sales man assured us that this was the time frame for things like this in Japan. Indeed, on our first day of work, I remember one of the guys remarking, when we complained about the price of phone cards and phone calls, that America is by far the cheapest in the world, and lots of things don’t work at the same price or the same speed as in America. Paola was not convinced, so we did not purchase the internet service (it did not help that the internet provider was one that was not listed in our welcome packet by our company (as if they would list every internet service provider in Japan, but that is how Paola works)).

So we went back to our office to ask the guys there what they thought about taking a month to bring internet to our home. They basically said that it didn’t surprise them. As to Paola’s worry about the quality of the provider which she had never heard of, one of the guys simply suggested his own provider. He wrote down the phone number and gave it to us. Since it was late, the supervisors (whom we were speaking with) were getting ready to leave, and asked if we wanted to join them for a drink.

This drink consisted of going to the Seven-Eleven down the street and buying a can of beer. We went to a little park (a wide sidewalk with bushes) across the street from the office and enjoyed our beer together. We talked about the company, and how good we felt after this last day. Brian, the supervisor who just came today, even remarked that he could recognize that I had teaching experience, and that he felt I might be up for a promotion in six months. That certainly boosted my confidence.

It so happened that Paola and I lived off of the same train stop as Brian and Tony (the other supervisor who was with us over the last three days). When we got off of the train, we all walked into the market in the train station together, ready to get something to eat for dinner. Brian asked us what we were doing for the evening, and when we replied that we had nothing planned, he invited us to dinner (Tony had something planned, so couldn’t come).

Brian lived on the other side of the train station from us, in an apartment with his wife, Yoshiko, and their seven month old baby, Maya. Paola couldn’t stop saying how cute the baby was (I had to make sure she didn’t think the baby was so cute that…..). To be clear, Brian is an American from Providence, Rhode Island, and Yoshiko is Japanese, from Saitama (where we live). We talked about the job, and life in Japan. It was a pleasant evening, and Paola and I were both glad we went.

Tomorrow is our day off, and we hope to get phones, and order internet access. Perhaps we will do some sight seeing as well.