Four days' paid holiday

Last week, I took a paid holiday for four days from 15th to 18th because of going back to my hometown and taking a trip to Kyoto with my friends.

First of all, last month, one of my friends asked me to join her plan to travel down to Kyoto with her and her friend coming to Japan from Canada. Luckily, as I was going to get 10days' paid holidays this month, I answered her “Yes, I will.” To tell the truth, I was a little bit worried whether I could get it because four days in a row are a little long in Japan. Nowadays it isn’t rare and it is our right, though we need some courage when we take it. Before taking the holiday, we have to take care of not only our jobs but also people who work with us in our workplaces. For me, it makes me nervous. However my boss gave me permission to take it willingly. It was accepted by people and I didn’t have any problems until it started. I really appreciate it.

On my holidays, the first two days I stayed at my parent’s house in Hyogo-prefecture to see my family, followed by three days with my friends and I stayed at a hotel and a temple in Kyoto City. It was my first time away from Tokyo in almost a year since I came back to Japan from Canada. That’s why I was really excited.

MY JOB

Today, I’m going to talk about my job. Now, I’m working at a certain Japanese food foundation, which is connected to the government, as a translater. I started working there in the beginning of last April.

After only three and a half months though I had already got used to my work and the people there, because my job is very simple; translating for and assisting my boss.

Mainly I translate business documents from English into Japanese, such as guidelines for food safety, criteria for inspecting food and e-mails, instead of my boss. On the other hand, translating Japanese into English is mostly only e-mails. To tell the truth, it is my problem that I’m not much into writing English, so that’s why I started “OTONA NO EIGO”. It is very good for me to practice writing.

Why did I become a translator?

In fact I never thought about that kind of job before my agent introduced my current job to me. First of all, I hesitated because I didn’t think that I could translate as a professional.

Eventually I decided to do it to improve my English ability. Moreover, in Japan so many people would kill to be a translator, especially women. Actually it is so hard for people in Japan to be a translator. Even though I fortunately got my job, I’d like to enjoy it and brush up on my English .

CHOCOLATE

Cadbury ALMOND

These days, I would say I am addicted to chocolate because I eat a bar of chocolate every couple of days. I often want to eat a peace of chocolate. So, I get it at news stands on the platform or convenience stores on the way to the office and home. Mostly, it's when I feel hungry in the morning, instead of having breakfast or in the light evening instead of having a snack and when I am feeling tired after I have concentrated on my job in the office.

Speaking of chocolate, when I was younger, I used to eat chocolate for a certain time. Those days, I would eat it on the train on the way back home after I got off my job. I picked up a piece of chocolate from a box and put it into my mouth. Even though I didn’t care about other people who were looking at me, some people are hesitant to do that in Japan. For me, it was a piece of cake and I really wanted to have it.

Eventually, I had to stop eating it though I really love it, because I gained a couple of kilograms in weight after I had been doing it for a while. Probably, I gained too many calories.

Now, I have been having a similar habit, though I try to handle how many calories I get per day. That’s why I want to enjoy the taste and get the benefit and furthermore I learned something from my previous experience.

* Above picture is ALMOND CHOCOLATE by Cadbury that I loved in Vancouver, it is originally from the U.K. Actually, my favorite kind is "Hazelnut" to me. Mostlly, I used to buy it at LONDON GRUGS in Van.