Hello! I've been in Okinawa for... a bit over a week now actually,
but it's been a week since I started working and that's the day I'm
counting by.
So,
first I guess I should start by explaining what I'm doing in Okinawa in
the first place, and the answer is work! I'll be in Okinawa until Sep 10
working as a part-timer in a restaurant at the Rizzan Sea Park
Hotel/Resort. I'll be honest, it hasn't been the most fun job in the
world, but already within a week I've head a handful of awesome times
and have met some amazing people. I'll be updating about my time in
Okinawa every week on Wednesday from now, detailing my super amazing job
(not) and whatever I did on my days off/when I'm not working. Because
this is the first post, it will be kind of long because I have a lot of
things to talk about - but I'm pretty sure the next posts I make won't
be nearly as long, but I'll try to put in as much as I can remember!
So
to start with, I'll talk about where I'm actually living. I'm staying
at an apartment provided by my hotel... with 4 other roomies! It was
actually 5 (so 6 in total) to begin with but one of them just left. If
anyone reading this knows anything about Japan - space isn't very big in
this country and our place was definitely not made for 6 girls, but
we've managed. Three of my roomies are from Australia (One is
Vietnamese, one was born in Mainland China and one is from Hong Kong),
one is from Hong Kong, and the last one who just left was from Denmark.
I'm living in a pretty rural area as well, so my apartment really isn't
close to anything at all - not even a Lawson's or a Family Mart. It's
actually kind of shitty, and because this is Okinawa the bus system
isn't very reliable either. So... it kind of sucks, but thankfully there
are people around us who have cars to drive me places - which I'll talk
more about later!
So a quick run down of
my job - I work in a restaurant and so far it's been freakishly busy
almost every day. I pretty much can't walk once I'm done. I work 8
hours, with a one hour break (so from 3PM - 11PM). My break is stupidly
at 4PM so my eating schedule is pretty fucked up. I wake up at 11, have
breakfast... and then head to work at 2:20 on a bus provided by the
hotel and arrive at 2:30. I nibble on something at the cafeteria, head
to work for an hour and usually nibble on leftovers from lunch time, and
then at 4 I try and have... lunch/dinner/something to eat because I
don't get off until 11PM!! It's really dumb. I'm always starving after
work, my feet are killing me, and I can't go home until 11:45 because
that's when the bus comes. The good thing though is that gives me time
to run/limp to the nearby convenience store and buy food for when I get
back to my place ... usually at midnight. And then I don't sleep until
1AM/2AM. So that is my day on a work day. As for what I do between the
time I wake up and the time I head to work? Go on the internet - there
really is nothing close by for me to do within those three hours.
With
that being said - I have had three days off so far and they have been
very fun-filled and packed days. So.. let's get to the day-by-day run
down of what I've been up to since I left Montreal and actually arrived
in this tropical paradise known as Okinawa.
June 21 - 23:
I had a 20hr travel time straight to Okinawa with two connection
flights in Toronto and Tokyo. It was a bit hellish, I was severely
underfed and my low blood sugar was making me very shaky and sick. But I
arrived alright and in once piece. Stayed at a hotel for a night before
making my way to the resort (alone - i was supposed to be accompanied
but I was glad I wasn't because I saved 8500yen). Met my roomies, found
my place, and then pretty much passed out. Honestly I didn't have a very
good sleep due to the low blood sugar thing and jet lag, but I managed
fine. I had to sleep in the kitchen the first night because no one was
really prepared for me to arrive (they had... not even a days notice)
but I honestly couldn't have cared at that point lacking in so much
sleep and food.
June 24: I
had to go to the hotel for a very quick 'meet my boss and find out
where the fuck I'm actually working' and then I pretty much had the day
to myself after that. I don't recall doing anything remotely
interesting. I still didn't have much of an appetite at this point I
don't think.
June 25-27: My
first couple of days of work! I didn't have my proper uniform yet
because they didn't have one ready for me so I had to wear a substitute
which required wearing black shoes and all I had were heels. Long story
short - I ended up spending my entire time working in the back drying
cutlery in a pair of slippers because it became so obvious that I
couldn't walk properly and my boss took pity on me. It was embarrassing,
I felt bad because it was my first day - I was later told that with the
proper uniform I'm allowed to wear sandals. I get a discount at all
shops in the hotel and because it's one of those all-inclusive resorts
it did have a store which sold sandals and I bought some before my next
work shift. They make my life so much easier - I still have issues
walking at the end of my shift, but it's more just because I've been
standing and running around for so long and less because my toes are
being crushed. Overall? Work isn't very eventful. I feel very slow and
awkward and as if I can't do anything but I guess I'm managing alright? I
spend a lot of time drying cutlery and cleaning tables and that's about
it. Mopping the floor... I can't really take orders. I learned how to
take drinks but so far have yet to actually get an order for drinks.
June 28:
My first day off! Three of my roomies also had the day off and we went
sightseeing with a big group of people, 4 Japanese and one other foreign
staff. We went to Shuri Castle, had lunch (ramen), and then to Chinen
Misaki(?) Park, and then finally karaoke. It was super freakin hot but
it was still fun and to be honest I wouldn't be able to do any of this
stuff if I didn't go in a group. Shuri Castle was very nice and
interesting, it had lots of history about the Ryukyu's and their
differences with both Japan and China. You can even go inside the castle
(800yen). The ramen we had was delicious and the place even had free
shaved ice which you could make yourself, which was awesome because cold
foods is honestly super necessary here in Okinawa. If you're planning
to spend a day outside, you'd better be swimming or eating something
cold or you're going to die from heat. Or maybe it's just me. Karaoke
was... well it's karaoke. Haha. I kind of joined in on the songs I knew,
but didn't pick anything myself. It was mostly english songs being
sang, and because everyone is a couple years older than me there is a
weird generation gap. It's like that transition age where I'm just out
of the generation that everyone else is in. It was still fun though -
didn't go to sleep until 3AM. Thank god my work shift starts at 3PM the
next day or I would have died. Haha.
June 30: The
next day off! Today was the last day for one of m roomies so we started
the day off by going to a pancake place right now door and having some
amazing pancakes. The place also has two dogs that just run around and
you can play with them and they were super cute!! Then we went to Nabee
beach and had a BBQ/went swimming and then lit some fireworks later in
the night by the ocean outside our apartment. I have no swimming suit at
the moment so I just ran into the ocean and went swimming with my
clothes but it's so hot here I really didn't care. If anything it was
better because my wet clothes kept me surprisingly cool. Actually to
begin with we sneaked into the pool at a nearby resort and swam there
first because let's be honest - the pool was so much more comfortable
and relaxing than the ocean. The ocean water in Okinawa really isn't
that cool so a pool, and outdoor one at least, is much more refreshing
to swim in.The BBQ was delicious and totally awesome as well. I ate so
much meat, haha. Met a couple more of the foreign staff and a few of my
roomies Japanese friends. The fireworks were awesome too. We had bought a
huge pack with a ton of fireworks, sparklers, and rockets so we spent a
good hour and a half lighting things up. Because Okinawa is such a
rural place there's not a lot of light so it's actually really hard to
see anything outside at night - but the bonus is that the stars are
really clear and easy to see!
July 2:
and my next day off which was today! I wasn't planning to do much today
aside from head to city hall and register my address (which would've
take me so long if I had gone myself because the bus, ugh) but
apparently our Japanese neighbours who also work at the hotel also had
the day off and they were going out to do stuff, so I tagged along with
one of my roomies who also had the day off. He was super nice an drove
me to city hall and helped me sort out registering my address as well.
He's really just an awesome guy overall. So, again as a group, we went
to another beach in Nago - close to the Okinawa Museum (not super close
but in that general area) - don't know what the beach was called but it
looked pretty. The ocean itself was super painful though, there are a
lot of rocks in the ocean in Okinawa. It was also ridiculously hot today
as well (and will continue being super hot I guess... >.<) so on
the way home we got some ice cream and drinks and what-not to cool down.
So my first week has been eventful - I'm
sorry I can't be more detailed with what I've been up to because some
things I honestly don't remember and I haven't been writing anything
down. Hopefully my reports for the upcoming weeks will be more detailed
and awesome. I'll add in interesting work anecdotes and possibly some
tips for foreigners living in Okinawa/Japan and anything knew I learned
as well whenever possible to make my posts more interesting but for now I
just want to get out what I did in the first week so I will remember in
the future.
See you next week!
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