Sometimes you need to replant your feet. To find your space and place. I’ve been a month in Japan already. It’s flown by; only 54 days left! I’ve done loads, seen temples and streets and views and parks, i’ve eaten ramen, gyoza, tongue, sushi, ramen, gyoza, grilled meat myself, shabu shabu-ed and had ramen and gyoza. Plus, I’ve had quite a few things where I wasn’t quite sure what they were. I’ve walked about 12000 steps a day, watched 4 rugby matches, one baseball game, and been in one typhoon. Whisper it quietly but I need a new notch for my belt, cos I’ve lost weight. On top of that, my teaching has gone pretty well. You could say it’s been successful so far.
But, oh there’s always a but, and people who know me well are probably wondering what I’ve done with the real Gareth. Don’t worry, the Grumpy one is still here and there have been grumpy days. But not today, today was a good day, today I did a different kind of sightseeing.
Apart from teaching, (just in case someone from my company is reading this,) one of the main reasons I came to Japan was food. There’s so much to try, so many delicacies, it’s bewildering. But food can be intimidating as well as delicious. Well, restaurants can be; especially when menus are in a language not even google translate can master and where there are different rules and regulation and customs with each different restaurant and dish. For example, in the sushi conveyor belt place I went to yesterday, you had to sign in on an iPad when you entered the restaurant, then wait for the digital display to tell you what seat to go to, then, although it was a conveyor belt place, you had to order the fish you wanted on an iPad and then wait for the iPad to sing. Yes, it sang; the song was the well- known classic wake up your sushi is on the way, it’s funny to hear such a famous song in Japanese. Once you’ve finished eating, you had to press another button on the iPad, then a real human came over and gave you the bill which you then took to the cash desk. I am so glad I was with someone because I’d never have worked it out on my own. And that’s what I mean by intimidating. For one reason or another, I am on my own quite often, and despite my best intentions to be brave and give things a go, sometimes it all gets a bit much and that’s when grumpy Gareth rears his ugly head.
So that brings me back to today’s sightseeing. Today I went restaurant hunting. I looked around stations on my commute home and explored other areas of Yokohama that I haven’t poked my nose into yet. I just looking, window-eating if you like. Looking for places that I want to try and that looked like they wanted me to try them; Gareth-friendly places. I found about 10 that look good, ranging from cheap and cheerful to cheap and grumpy. So now I am armed and ready, knowledge is power. To celebrate, I headed back to my local and ordered Shabu Shabu, another meal that has rules and regulations. I don’t know if I obeyed all the rules, but I feasted like a king. Today, was a good day.
But, oh there’s always a but, and people who know me well are probably wondering what I’ve done with the real Gareth. Don’t worry, the Grumpy one is still here and there have been grumpy days. But not today, today was a good day, today I did a different kind of sightseeing.
Apart from teaching, (just in case someone from my company is reading this,) one of the main reasons I came to Japan was food. There’s so much to try, so many delicacies, it’s bewildering. But food can be intimidating as well as delicious. Well, restaurants can be; especially when menus are in a language not even google translate can master and where there are different rules and regulation and customs with each different restaurant and dish. For example, in the sushi conveyor belt place I went to yesterday, you had to sign in on an iPad when you entered the restaurant, then wait for the digital display to tell you what seat to go to, then, although it was a conveyor belt place, you had to order the fish you wanted on an iPad and then wait for the iPad to sing. Yes, it sang; the song was the well- known classic wake up your sushi is on the way, it’s funny to hear such a famous song in Japanese. Once you’ve finished eating, you had to press another button on the iPad, then a real human came over and gave you the bill which you then took to the cash desk. I am so glad I was with someone because I’d never have worked it out on my own. And that’s what I mean by intimidating. For one reason or another, I am on my own quite often, and despite my best intentions to be brave and give things a go, sometimes it all gets a bit much and that’s when grumpy Gareth rears his ugly head.
So that brings me back to today’s sightseeing. Today I went restaurant hunting. I looked around stations on my commute home and explored other areas of Yokohama that I haven’t poked my nose into yet. I just looking, window-eating if you like. Looking for places that I want to try and that looked like they wanted me to try them; Gareth-friendly places. I found about 10 that look good, ranging from cheap and cheerful to cheap and grumpy. So now I am armed and ready, knowledge is power. To celebrate, I headed back to my local and ordered Shabu Shabu, another meal that has rules and regulations. I don’t know if I obeyed all the rules, but I feasted like a king. Today, was a good day.
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