Well, I guess the biggest thing to mention is that after my last entry... I got paid! And I should probably mention right now that my pay is pretty shit. Hourly wage here is 664yen/hr which is about $6.50 CAD - BUT then because I'm on a working holiday visa I get taxed 20.4%. Yep, you saw that correctly, 20.4%. On top of paying for rent and food - which is a lot less than it could be but still.
Talking about my shitty pay makes me a bit depressed though so let's talk about other things that happened this week (and boy did a lot of things happen).
I guess I'll just talk about August 19th first since I actually did something that day with two other people. We were supposed to go to a cafe called the British Tea and Wine Shop which I was pretty excited for because.. afternoon tea!! but once we got there the place was closed. This is the shitty thing about the lackadaisical nature of island dwellers. Their day off wasn't supposed to be a Tuesday, but when we asked a guy nearby he was like "well... sometimes they just do that" which was just so stressful. Partly because we had driven a long way and part of it was I was freakin starving, and also... I WANTED AFTERNOON TEA. Also our GPS sucked so it was hard to find the place.
We ended up going to another cafe though, called the T&C Touroku Cafe, which was a cute little place on an island I forgot the name of but I can point it out to you on a map. It was close to another outdoor cafe that was in the shape of a boat and seemed to specialize in black sugar flavored things. Also near the cafe were these pens with goats (baby, mom and dad) and a horse you could feed. I didn't feed them but my friends did. The daddy goat kept trying to steal food from the baby, it was kind of hilarious.
I should probably mention that by the time we reached this second cafe it was around 3:00/3:30 and they had closed of their lunch menu so all we were able to eat was dessert--which was great--but I hadn't exactly had any decent meals that day on account of expecting some tasty "rock scones" at the closed British cafe. I'm still disappointed by that honestly. But this other cafe did have an amazing view of the ocean and sold a lot of cute knick-knacks to admire and oggle.
After this we headed to the aquarium, which was all good and fun. We got to see the HUGE WHALE SHARKS!! And turtles! And fat manatee lumps! And honestly quite a few other cool things that don't seem to be in the Vancouver Aquarium so I was pretty satisfied. Also since we went after 4PM the tickets were quite a bit cheaper - don't remember how much but I think less than or around 1500yen.
We also wanted to hit a Blue Seal and try all 24 flavours (it's a special set deal) but we never made it. My roomie had to go home early to charge her phone and so I just ate at a nearby restaurant at the beach with my other friend. Let's just say... the food looked a lot better than it tasted (and it didn't taste like much). Also by this time I was absolutely starving since the entire day all I'd had was a bit of cereal and a puny, puny ice-cream crepe. And it was 9PM. So despite feeling ridiculously hungry, once I started eating I pretty much lost my appetite instantly... not that the food was great to begin with as I was saying. Which was a bit of a let down. Also my roomie ended up going to a Blue Seal with my other roomies later that night anyway.... (it was someone's going away party and I didn't want to go cause I don't even know the guy but after they went to ice cream). I was pretty bumbed out by that because I love ice cream, but oh well.
To be honest, and I know I shouldn't feel to down about it, but my roomies often go out and do things, or plan things, without really telling me. Usually it's in our room so I don't mind, but sometimes they just randomly go out and I don't realize and makes me feel a bit left out--usually since I'm the only one who doesn't get to go. But eh.
AND the next topic I want to mention is I think one of my roomies - like actual share a room with them roomies - is pissed at me. So, the hotel provides a shuttle bus to take us to work and we have to mark a sign-in sheet every day for what time we're taking the bus to work and back. Most of the bus drivers don't usually give a damn whether we've checked in or not, except one. And he happens to be the one that drives the bus in the morning.
Now the thing is, lately we've gotten a lot of new workers in the restaurants and we all start at the same time, 3PM, which means we also all take the same bus. It's gotten to the point where there are too many people to legally fit in to the shuttle bus (it's a van that seats 10 including the driver and there are normally at least 15 people who need a ride). Now as I said, this bus driver has a stick up his ass. He always rails on us if we don't have the time checked properly (even though sometimes we make mistakes because that sign up sheet is REALLY hard to check because there's so many names and times) and will spend at least 5min telling you off. But he would always drive us regardless of the number of people.
Then this week, he decided that he would start following the law and drive MAXIMUM 11 people - which meant he started kicking people off the bus because there are just too many of us. My roomies got really pissed, especially one of them. Now - personally - as much as I think this driver is a pain I also understand that he's just doing his job. The hotel clearly states that you HAVE to check your time on the timetable to ride the bus so he is allowed to kick us off if we don't, it's actually fair. A bit asshole-ish considering none of the other drivers give a damn and really, what's the harm in letting us ride it? But it is written down in the rules. Fine. Refusing to drive 15 people in a van that only fits 10, also kind of shitty since he used to do it before, but also ... nothing you can really argue against. "BREAK THE LAW FOR US". That's what you're demanding him to do. Just because he was willing before, doesn't mean he is willing now.
But... my roomies decided to complain. I don't really mind, I mean if the complaint worked, great. If not, whatever. So then I just casually ask my roomie how it went - and I will say this now, the way I handled the situation probably wasn't very tactful, but I honestly didn't realize she was that angry.
So my wording was "So, what did you tell the office, or I guess... what did the office tell you?" and I stressed the "YOU" at the end a bit and she really seemed to take that emphasis to heart because she suddenly replies "Why are you acting like this is none of your business?!" and I grinned a bit as she walked away because part of me was like "what the fuck?" and another part of me was honestly just... amused that she was so SO PISSED OFF. Because like I said, the driver has a stick up his ass, but he's doing his job. It's an inconvenience to me, sure, but... it's his job. You can't be mad at him for that. His job is, yes, to drive us to work - but he has rules and obligations to follow and just because the other drivers don't care, doesn't mean he shouldn't either.
So I kind of back off from her after that, give her some space... and I come home and she pretty much seems to ignore everything I say. I left my laundry hanging and she says, in a very short and unfriendly way "are you not taking these down yet?" which I hurriedly do after, because honestly I don't want to upset her more than she already is.
It's honestly an awkward situation because.. I'm not mad at her, and I'm not the type of person to get mad at others unless they actually do something to warrant it. So, I'm perfectly fine acting friendly and happy with her, but I know she holds grudges. The other thing though, is I find her anger a bit ridiculous. So, although I want to confront her and just kind of ask if she's mad (cause I'm not sure, it's just a feeling i get) - I don't want to because if she says yes, or starts flipping out at me again, I will probably start grinning and that will probably offend her. Part of the grinning comes as a defense mechanism, part of it comes from.. I am legit amused because it's just weird having someone act so hostile to me when I never did anything. Like, I don't even feel defensive because I have nothing to feel defensive about.
But anyway - hopefully this whole thing resolves itself because it's a bit of a pain. I might not be mad at her but it's a bit exhausting tiptoeing around her.
Until next week!
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