I`m now sitting at my own official desk at the Bushu Gas Company. Did not know I was going to end up here today, much less at my own desk, with my own computer, welcome sign, 3 newspapers (all Yomiuri Shinbun), with my own business cards (which is probably the biggest deal of them all... I remember learning that students such as myself really shouldn`t have their own meishi/business cards). It`s difficult typing on this Japanese keyboard.
OH, and I might be leaving soon with the person from my first homestay family by bike soon. Good thing I decided not to wear a skirt after all.
The weirdest thing is probably watching everybody work and sitting here and passing time by reading the paper, checking my mail and writing this. Everyone is genuinely busy and works at a very fast pace. From what I`ve learned today, I`m in the HR group right now. I`ll eventually study with all of the major groups in the company while I`m here. I keep feeling like I should ask for help, but I honestly know I would slow these fast-paced people down.
So, the person from my first homestay family, who is the boss of the group I`m currently with、just came over and gave me some really interesting news. "You`re a journalism major, right?" he asked. He explained Bushu Gas has no relation to journalism, but that he can try to introduce me to a newspaper, online radio and TV company in Saitama. I think he`s on the phone with them right now because he`s definitely talking about me. I keep hearing a lot of dates, days and "Sou desu ka?"s so we`ll see how it goes...
So today the internship finally started (obviously). I was told I`d be going to my homestay family`s house first, but didn`t know I`d be going to my company today. I found that out on the car ride there. Just like I didn`t find out my homestay family wasn`t at the welcome party until halfway through the party. I can definitely see what Mike, another intern, joked about with "gaijin telepathy," one of the few Gaijin Smash powers that the Japanese people think foreigners have, but don`t. Gaijin telepathy is where they assume we know some important details (like whether you`re going to the company today instead of tomorrow), so they don`t actually tell you, leaving you in a perpetual state of ignorance. Another good example for just this trip was that the program directors assumed we knew what days to where nice clothes or casual clothes and the required degree for dressing up. You learn to think of and ask about these details ahead of time, but it`s just another disconnect to watch out for in my still-awkward Japanese communication abilities. (By the way, if you have time, check out the above link for more of the gaijin powers... they`re pretty funny, and very true).
I got a pretty cool welcome from the company though. I pulled up in the car with two people from the HR division who I met at the welcome party (I have to remember to write about that, too), and was met with a small group of people in the Bushu Gas uniform. They were clapping enthusiastically and made me feel welcomed and embarassed. I was ushered to a small room upstairs to wait for further directions, which was a really silent, polar opposite to the welcoming chaos downstairs. While I was waiting this older man in a suit and a man in a Bushu uniform came to the doorway. I stood up thinking this was the company president and starting the usual greetings, but noticed his business card was not at all from Bushu Gas. As they were departing, the Bushu Gas worker mentioned he was from the "lower house," and I realized I met someone from the Japanese House of Representatives. Yikes. This Representative was the reason that everyone in Bushu Gas was so busy today.
I really need to start writing down some of the minor details from conversations I have throughout the day because by the time I get to a computer, I never remember them.
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