How we met Vol.3

It is unexpeted that this story has become so long.......

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We had spent time together here in Japan for about 2 months. I finished my job-hunting in early June and got a part-time job at an Italian restaurant. He lived in a dormitory near uni, so I visited him after work and took the last train to go back home.

He once came over my home and met my family. My family is really open-minded, so they warmly welcomed him. I was so happy that they got along so well.

Everything went well between me and him, but we knew our time together was limited.

******

I didnt cry till very last minute, neither did he.

It was at the beginning of August, really hot day. It was time for him to leave Japan.

I went to the airport with him even though I knew it would be so heart-breaking moment for both of us.

He kissed and held me tightly at the gate and promised to see me soon. I failed to put a smile on and couldnt hold tears. His eyes were red, too.

After he went inside and through a security check, he walked toward me and put his hand on a glass separating us. I put my hand on his.

The glass felt so cold.......

Then, he left........

***********************

I was talking to him on the internet. Ah, advanced technologies make our life so convenient.

It was November. I visited him in the middle of Sep. and met his family. They welcomed me as warmly as my family.

Anyway, when I was talking with him,

he said " my friends asked me how we met! "

" what did you say?"

" I told them you asked me you wanna be my girlfried! "

"・・・・・・・・・・・・"

" right? "

" because you said you liked me, so I thought I had to say something about it. "

" ・・・・・・what? "

" you said you liked me."

" yeah, as a friend."

"・・・・・・・（°°；））。。オロオロッ。。・・（（； °°）"

" But you said it in Japanese. It sounded like you liked me as a girlfriend!!! "

" Oh, really? I just translated English ( I like you) to Japanese(私はあなたが好きです)."

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

o(>ロ<o) (o>ロ<)oバタバタo(>ロ<o) (o>ロ<)o

IS THAT WHAT YOU MEANT??????????

Here's the difference between American and Japanese.

Here in Japan, if A says to B that A likes B, it means A is asking to be B's lover.

Then, B has 3 choices.

1. " I like you, too" ⇒A and B become a couple.

2. " I like you but as a friend" ⇒A and B remain as friends.

3. " I'm afraid but..... ⇒the end of their relationship.

I chose No.1....

But in the States, it's different. They dont become a couple like this.

If A likes B, A tries to attract B and asks B out. If B likes A, too or at least doesnt hate A, B goes out with A and think about it. Then they date together often. When they become inseparable, they realize they are a couple. So the process is really slow and gradual. They even have sex before they become a couple.

So that is why he was so surprised when I asked him I wanna be his girlfriend. For me, it was just an answer to what he said to me, but for him, it was a real surprise because I skipped all procedures.

But if I had known what he meant and hadnt nominated myself for his girlfriend position, I would have missed the oppotunity.

It was a very lucky misunderstanding.

How we met Vol.2

After my friend's birthday party, we exchanged emails sometimes and saw each other at a campus, but I didnt go to a campus often because I was busy with my job-hunting.

One day, I got an email from him. It said he wanna go to Yokohama, just to look around. I said I would meet him at the front of LUMINE, where is a really common meeting place, but he said he didnt know there. I asked where in Yokohama he could go. We agreed to meet in front of a police station at JOINUS.

I cant remember what I wore that day. We went to play pool, but that place was really crowded, so we played darts instead. After that, we walked to the other side of Yokohama station to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

On the way to the restaurant, two foreign guys ( I suppose they were American) were heading toward us. As they passed us, they whispered something to his ear.

It made him spin around.

He was very angry at what they said.怒怒怒 （｀´）怒怒怒

I asked him what they said, but he didnt tell me. He said it's better for me not to know it.

Probably they said something about me, or about him being with me. I never know.

Dinner was good. I cant remember what we talked at dinner, though..... because what happened after dinner has stronger impact.

We went for walk. I took him to a riverside park where you can see very beautiful night view of Minatomirai. We sat on a bench and talked a lot. It was at the end of May, nice to sit outside to see the night view. He talked about his part-time job in the States and his future dream. I cant remember what I talked... ( poor memory... orz)

I felt bit nervous because the situation was too good. I dont know how long we had talked there.

Suddenly silence fell between us. We didnt say anything for a moment.

Then he suddenly said, in Japanese, he likes me ( 私はあなたが好きです)

I froze....

"く(""0"")>なんてこった！！"

I didnt expect to hear that. We didnt know each other well yet. I was kind of in panic for a moment, but he seemed like nothing happened.

On the way to the station, I was thinking and thinking what I should say. He said he likes me. How do I think about him? Do I like him?

My answer was yes. (*/∇＼*) キャ

We would take different trains to go home, so at the station, I told him what line he should take.

About time to say bye, I gathered all my courage and asked him,

" Can I be your girlfriend?" (//∇//)

This time, he froze.....

( 【・_・?】ナンデ)

He looked very surprised, but I didnt get his reaction. He said he likes me. Didnt he expect to get any answer from me?

Several seconds later, his smile softened and he said, " yes you can." (*/∇＼*) キャ

We became a boyfriend and a girlfriend officially(?!)

But this is not the end of the story.... 6 months later, we will find out our relationship was built by very big misunderstanding by language and culture difference......

To be continued.....

A New Theme

A new theme has been added to this blog. The theme is " Honey." I often talk about my honey, so I added this theme especially to talk about him.

The first topic is how we met.(〃ー〃)

My friends know how, but those whom I know only through this blog dont know it. so here's the story.

I came back from Canada in Feb. 2003 and started job-hunting. I really wanted to keep my English level but didnt have much time to use English. Then, in April, my friend who came back from Australia invited me to her birthday party. She said a lot of exchange students from US would come to the party, so it would be a good chance for me to speak English with them.

To be honest, I was hesitant to join the party because it was held after a job-interview,

which means.....

I had to go to the party in a black suit＼（－"－）／.

I said no at first, but she pushed a bit. Then I decided to go.

There were about 20 people at the party. I didnt know most of them. I took a seat between an American guy(right side) and a Japanese girl(left side). Well, as you see, it was him.

My first impression on him was good, actually. Usually exchange students from US arent eager to learn Japanese and Japanese culture because Japanese people(especially women) want to learn English from them, so it is not neccessary for them to learn Japanese. But he seemed so eager to learn Japanese and not afraid to try new things in a different culture.

After the party, my friend said they were going to a club.

No way.....

How dare could I go to a club in a suit?!ヽ(　￣д￣;)ノ

I said I wasnt going, then a Japanese girl(another my friend who was invited to the party) said neither she was.

Then,

he said he wasnt going either!

( He just doesnt like that kind of noisy place......orz.)

So we went to MOS BURGER nearby to have some coffee.

The conversation was just ordinary, nothing special. But I remember offering him some help.

According to my experiences in Canada, I thought it would make a lot of difference if you have friends who live in that country when you study abroad because you can experience a real life there with those friends. So I thought I could help him if he wanted me to. So we exchanged our phone numbers.

To be continued・・・・

I'm in the red...

Really.... （；´д｀ ）

I would be in the black if I hadnt paid for the job-placement (150000yen) and the flight (78000yen) this month. These costs are within my budget, but just seeing the balance of my bank account makes me feel sick. I cant wait for a bonus in Dec. （〃∀〃；）

Do your job!!

It's been about 4 weeks since I finished an interview with a counselor of my agency, but I hadnt got any notices from them. I wondered how my job-placement had been going, so emailed them.

I got a reply from my career counselor and it said " I was thinking about that, too, so sent a fax and got a reply from LA office. I paste it on this email. " It says..." I'm sorry it took so long. I went to Japan and China on business and after I returned, it was Thanksgiving Holidays, so we couldnt get personnels of companies we are trying to contact to. We will get it started after the holiday."

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・(-"- )

Isnt it just an excuse?! （￣△￣#）

I dont care you were in Japan and China, I mean wherever! Do your job! I paid for it!!

(Well, the career counselor's response was quite quick, so I'm not so mad at them for the time being...)

Long time no see, guys!!

A couple of weeks ago, my phone rang and the display showed an unknown number. I usually dont answer it, but this time, for some reason, I did. It was from one of my friends from junior high. He also is a frined of my brother, so he got my number from my brother.

He invited me to an alumni meeting of junior high. It had been really really long time since the last time I saw them.

It was held on Saturday in my hometown, Kanagawa. There were about 15 people. I hadnt seen most of them since our graduation.... Wow... It's long time, almost 10 years!!!!! I could recognize most of them at the first sight because they didnt change much. But some peoole thought I have already moved to the States because my brother told them I was moving to the States in the future. The story had been twisted a bit.

Well, the party went on till 2 in the morning. I came back to my parents' house and stayed over there. It was fun to listen to and talk about how they had been and what they do now, but there was one thing I didnt like, which was MOST OF THEM ARE HEAVY SMOKER!!

°°°-y(^。^)。o0○ プハー .。o○(>o<"")　ゲホッ　ケムイ

When we were at Karaoke( kinda an air tight room, right?), God.... the air in the room was so thick with tobacco fumes... My clothes were so stinky...I asked my brother for ファブリーズ next morning as soon as I saw him.

**********************************************************************************************************

By the way, I got a new passport today!!

Good for 10 years and my picture is a lot better than the formar one!! HAHAHA-. I wont be told by the imigration staff that I look like a different person on this picture anymore!! ( I have to admit my formar picture was that bad....)

Oh, also I bought Star Wars DVD for my mom.

The Revenge of Sith. I watched this with mom. We really liked it. My BF resembles Hayden Christensen a bit.

His hair is much shorter, though. Now it's easy to describe my BF's looks. I can just say " well, he looks like Hayden Christensen." Yeah, it's easy. Thanks Hayden!

Telepathy?!

I felt really down yesterday. Just cried and cried for no reason. I was desperate to see my honey. This feeling comes and goes constantly, like waves.

This morning, he emailed me and said "Happy Thanksgiving, love! "

It surprised me because he usually doesnt care about National holidays and celebrations. I emailed him back but it was sent back to me. The email function of his phone company doesnt work well recently.....

Then, my phone rang when I was really busy with getting ready for work. The number was his. I picked it up and said, " I'm busy, honey!!" Well, I really was. I promised him to call at lunch.

It was unusual that he called me in the morning. I usually call him at lunch time here, which is about dinner time over there. I thought he read my mind from 5000 miles away and noticed my feeling. Probably this is just a coincidence, but it made me feel better. Timing is really important for long distance relationship! Of course I called him at lunch.

*****************************************************************************************************

Today, at work, I noticed one of my co-workers was behaving so weirdly. He is so incompetent and useless, to be honest.

I used to work with him as a team, but I told my boss that I cant work with him any longer because working with him put A LOT of stress on me. I had to keep eyes on him to prevent him from doing something wrong. He is 27 years old, older than me by 3 years but I was his senior worker. I actually ran out on him. Then, all people in my section tried to work with him, but all of them gave up.... There is now nothing for him to do at work. He just answers phones but he cant do that properly either.....

Anyway, so now his job is to answer phone calls, but after 16:30, he suddenly stopped doing it. I noticed it first and glanced at him.

Oh my god....

I thought he went crazy!

He was moving his body from side to side with eyes closed, looked like he was about to fall off from his chair. In addition to it, he was mumbling something to .... to..... to .... the air?! I dont know!! to nothing, maybe. He was mumbling to himself??! That was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo weird!!

I told my boss that something was wrong with him. She glanced at him too and was very surprised by what she saw. She said to him that he can go home early if he doesnt feel good, but he said " I'm fine." He always says that. Even when a question is something else, what he can say is only " I'm fine. " Well, you are definitely NOT FINE!!!!

We actually tried to make him go to the hospital because his behavior was strange. He took a day off, but next day, when my co-worker asked him whether he had gone to the hospital or not, he said, " I'm fine." That's not the question!!!!!

We wanna fire him, of course, but his contract with the company is good for a year. We CANT fire him unless he makes a really really significant mistake. He cant make any significant mistakes now because what he does is only to answer phone calls!! But today, he was sooooo weird. When my senior worker called his name to talk to him, he didnt notice that. She called his name out probably more than 3 times!! God.....Was he unconscious??!!

Now we are really thinking to call his parents. He lives alone but the company knows his parents' contact number just in case of emergency. I dont know what will happen next. We'll see.....

今、泣いてます・・・

時々あるんだけど、理由もないのに彼に会いたくて会いたくて、ぼろぼろと泣き崩れるときがあります。

今まさにそういう状態で、パソコンに向かいながら泣いてます。

すごく会いたい。抱きしめてもらいたい。ぬくもりを感じたい。

ただそれだけなのに、どうしてそれがこんなに難しいことなんだろう…。

遠距離という選択を後悔してはいないけれど、精神のバランスをとれなくなるときがある。

祖母との出来事でも感じたけれど、人を愛することはとてもすばらしく、とても悲しいことでもあると思います。人を愛するからこそ感じる痛みがある。昔は知らなかったその痛みに、時々のみこまれそうになる。

でもその痛みから私を救ってくれるのは、愛されていることを知るときなんだと思う。

泣きたいときは泣いてもいいんだよね・・・

My grandfather's death

Hi, there. Sorry that I havent updated this blog for long time. As you see the title, my grandfather died last Sunday and I went to Iwate to attend his funeral.

I was working when my mom emailed me last Sunday morning. She said " I know you are working now, but please give me a call. "

I called her and she said my grandpa died in the morning. He is my dad's dad. I was working last Saturday and Sunday at an event site with my boss and senior worker, so I told them about it and took a couple of days off from Monday.

All relatives got together on Monday for his funeral. We were sad but also happy because he died a peaceful death at 91 years old. My uncle told us he didnt suffer from any significant pain.

My grandma(85 years old) has senile dementia little bit, so we worried that she didnt understand his death, so we made her attend his funeral to make her understand he is gone now even though she is little bit disabled from brain stroke she had before.

I had an unforgetable moment with my grandma....

She didnt cry much during whole ceremony.When my grandpa's casket was closed and nailed up, we put his picture on it.

There were some people in the room and I was sitting beside her. She was sitting in a chair, but she was trying to reach something. I asked her what she wanted and how I could help her. She said " Let me see his picture once again. " I handed it to her. She paused for a moment.... then said

" Good-Bye, my dear..."

Her voice was trembling with tears.... I couldnt hold my tears any longer.....I stroked her back up and down, again and again, to comfort her even though I knew it didnt help much.

Can you imagine how hard his loss is on her?

She lost her husband whom she has loved more than 60 years.

60 years....

They used to own their own store, so worked together all day, never be away from each other for more than 60 years. Now she has become alone suddenly. She is not alone actually. My uncle and aunt live with her, but, you know, it's different.

His death and this incident with my grandma made my feeling stronger, which is that I wanna be with my BF. I wanna spend time together with him as much as possible because human being dies someday, sooner or later.

Our time is limited.

Chili con carne

Today's my dinner. The reason why I suddenly said this is because the Japanese pronunciation of this dish on my receipe was funny. It says " チリ・コン・カーン” (カーン？？カルネじゃないの？）

・・・・・well, I couldnt figure out what this was at first. Then I read the receipe and noticed it was "Chili con carne."

That's it. Nothing special today.....