Work stuff

[liresius]

Went to the second of my new university jobs today - not classes, but a briefing for new part-timers. It all seemed to go well and C, my friend who I've known for 17 years here (we homeschooled our kids together), and got me the university job was there. It was great to see him. He was just back from his son's wedding in South Australia.


Had to catch the bus there, so I found the right stop, wrote down the times for the buses etc and hopped on. Then I got off when I saw (what I thought was a sign on top of a building for the university). It turned out I got off 10-15 minutes too early and went to a high school that actually has a preferred entry relationship with the University. I kind of sensed I was getting off too early, but it came up too suddenly for me to think (plus I was listening to my iPod (bad!) when I should have been keeping an ear out for the announcements of the stops (which is another great thing about buses here). Anyway, one of the groundsmen at the high school insisted I go into the office with him, even when he told me I was at the wrong place and when I showed the office people my Briefing Invitation Letter, the boss of the office told one of the office girls to drive me there, even though I showed them I knew the bus times and could go back and catch the next one (which would have made me very late though).

I LOVE Japan at times like these! People are so helpful. Of course, the fact the schools have a relationship (and I think she even grabbed a satchel of mail and documents that she intended to drop there, but I can't be sure ) made it an easy decision for them. In the car, the girl told me she used to work at the university 2 years ago, knew the way well and got me there on time! Then she took me to the right building and pointed me up the stairs! Service aalll the way, Yay!

I had to wait quite a while for the bus because I stayed so late at the meeting, so ended up chatting with a couple of girl students who had planned to go, but decided to cancel, cherry blossom viewing. I remarked that the campus seemed quite big and they laughed at me, telling me it's renowned as the smallest campus in Japan! Hee!

Comments

[smuffster.livejournal.com]

That's so incredibly sweet. Makes you wonder why everyone can't be just as thoughtful.

[liresius.livejournal.com]

It is!! And yes, it does make you wonder why everyone can't be like that. I think it's the group thinking here, partly, but I mean the police here, when you asked regular people to make a word association with "police officer" they always say "kind"! I've had police and complete strangers escort me to bus stops, or walk me places themselves, when I ask directions.

I've hitch-hiked late at night here and had complete strangers who were intending to just go down to their local convenience store, end up driving me 45 km to another (my home) city. Unbelievable, really.

[xanthelj.livejournal.com]

That's so lovely. It really makes your day when something like that happens!

[liresius.livejournal.com]

It is! And it really made my day, for sure!

[tagetes.livejournal.com]

Japanese are cute. My sister works in a hotel and once a Japanese tourist phoned her that he was lost. His group went to Vienna for a trip that day (that´s 300 kilometres from Prague) and he lost them while he was fervently taking pictures. He was terrified, didn´t know where he was, but he saw a Nr. 9 tram stop nearby. So he told my sister: "Nr. 9 also stops at the hotel, right, so I could get in and it will take me back.." Sister says that it took all her will power not to start laughing at him, because he was in Vienna - in another town. In. Another. Country. In the end she told him to stay right where he was and she called their guide. Who was standing round the corner with the rest of the group, waiting for him. :-)

[liresius.livejournal.com]

LOL! That's sooo Japanese ... so hilariously naive *g*. Honestly I love them, but they are hopeless when it comes to real knowledge of the world, geography, navigating and the cultural differences in transport.

The fact that buses don't have announcements for each stop (and the fact that the bus stops don't have names) terrifies my students when they are in Aus. and N.Z for study trips abroad. They are petrified about having to rely on sight recognition of the place of their home stay. I've lost count of their tales of being lost, going beyond the stop to the terminus and getting stuck. Luckily, most of them get helped out by a sympathetic bus driver who's finished their shift and drives them home.