First day of work & "That's not a bag"

Art in the Lucent Tower

Vanessa and I had our first day of work yesterday. Things went quite well seeing as the company more or less threw us into the wild. I felt the 4-day training wouldn't have been enough but it was. Without observers over your shoulder, lessons feel relaxed and possibly even more productive. Yesterday was a relaxed Saturday, common at our branch near Nagoya station. I worked with a sardonic Australian gentleman who used to own a record store, and had heard of Cheap Thrills back home. So far so good on that front.

I've been getting more comfortable moving around town. Sakae doesn't feel so bewildering once you've got the main streets pinned, and the diagonal sidestreets of Nagoya area, which usually spit me out into the most random places, are making some sense now.

11th Floor at Freebell

Taking the new table for a test drive.
House plants from Daiso.

Last night i went for a quick walk in that area. Saturday night in Nagoya is bubbling with good smells and people racing towards them. Lots of places are open late. Some big, some just small enough for a group of four or five. Most Izakaya have banners covering the window. I assume this is for ambiance's sake once inside, but for passer's-by it makes picking a place to eat or drink a total gamble.

We're settling pretty well so far. I'm hoping work presents an opportunity to meet some people, because Freebell is a seriously quiet place, and I so want to be one of those people chasing down some of that amazing looking food.

My Japanese is terrible, and people don't slow their speech down to accomodate foreigners (or maybe they do...), but I'm trying to pick up a new word or two every day. The trick is to try then fail miserably when talking to people who have to be nice to you (waiters, conbini employees), because they'll often repeat what you've tried to say in the correct way. Last night I took a gamble at the Mini Stop. The cashier was reaching for a bag and I tried out "baggu janai". He got it and I left without a plastic bag like I wanted, but I realized on the way home that I had accidentally said "that's not a bag" instead of "no bag".

Starting to cook at home

It was a bag, though. And I kind of want to go back to make sure he knows that I know.