The wheels beginning to turn...

Monday March 11th: First day at the Iizuka Hospital :)

My first day at the Aso Iizuka Hospital was mostly business oriented. I introduced myself to the staff again, this time in English and translated by Yano-san. We then went through some paperwork and got our locker keys. We then went to register at the local government for our stay here. Because I'm over 20, I had to register for the Japanese pension plan, which was interesting. Because I won't be using it, I also had to cancel it at the same time. Time consuming and redundant? It okay, we snacked on sour jube jubes (which Yano san loved! haha). For lunch, Yano san treated us to a meal at Yoshimora, a very popular restaurant nearby to the hospital. It was great! We also met the Vice president of the hospital there, with our mouths full of fried chicken. Back at the hospital, we met the nursing staff and the English teachers! They are planning the first ever St. Patrick's Day party at the hospital this year - I promised to be intense about it. :) At 5pm Sam and I treated ourselves to a coffee (Ko-hi) in the hospital lobby and cinnamon twists and donuts from the nearby bakery (p.s I gotta slow down with the treats). Unfortunately, when we made it home, the internet was giving us trouble and decided it didn't want to cooperate anymore. Hence, no blogging for Olivia until today. Sorry to keep you waiting. So I went to bed early and a little disgruntled. Although, I have settled in quite well - making my own misoshiru, edamame and single serving coffees with built in filters.

Tuesday March 12th:

Day 2 means more orientation stuff and more introductions, including the Director of the Fureai Center Hanaoka-san. We also had a short interview for the in-hospital magazine, picture included! #famous. I used this opportunity to tell everyone at the hospital to be patient with me and use hand signals if necessary to get a point across :). We also had our uniforms and shoes fitted! For lunch we dined next door to Yoshimora and met Yano-san there by accident, haha! We had omuraisu, omelette and rice, and it was sooooo tasty! I also met a woman who works at the hospital who is a huge Hawks fan (the Fukuoka baseball team!) and I was eager to catch a game with her, we're planning a trip :). We then had time to go to TRIAL supercenter - legitimately the GREATEST store that ever was - it trumps 100 yen store [hyaku ki] ANY day! Trial is like a Walmart, but trying to sell things as cheap as possible (it also has an arcade!). We bought Samantha a bike.


Wanting to go on a bike ride, we spent over 30 minutes trying to add air to the tires. Major fail. By the time we figured it out it was dark outside and we didn't want to venture back to trial at night (plus we got lost crossing the Onga river too many times). So we saved it for another day. Instead, we went to Aso Mart to pick up a few groceries. And again (by accident, I swear!) we saw Yano san! He bought us banana pudding as a surprise. He's so thoughtful!


Wednesday March 13th:

Today started our first day of Japanese lessons. We received a notebook of units to complete over the next two weeks. We completed the first section of introductions and possessions...to put it simply, it was not easy. It's going to take some practice. After, we spent some time making origami cranes. :)

After our lesson, we have 1/2 day trips planned to get us involved in the city/community. Today our teachers took us out for a teppanyaki style dish called okonomi, an omelette-like meal that you grill yourself. It was SO great! Everything here is served with some kind of sauce, and it is to die for!

Japanese words of the day:
1) Tsuru, つる = crane
2) Jagaimo, じゃがいも = potato (along with the wonderful "watashi no jagaimo desu". It is my potato.)
3) Suteki, 素敵 = lovely/amazing
4) Yata, やった = yay!

p.s I'm having a hard time organizing these pictures. 30 minutes later...I'm just going to leave it like this.