Saturday, December 1, 2007

Day 1, Take 2

So, I had my second first day of work on Thursday. It's gone okay so far. There's a lot to learn and it's hard to keep it all straight, lots of details, but I will get it. They also have a happy hour on Fridays, like the law firm, so I stopped by for a little while. It was nice to chat with and meet some of the other people there, plus I was killing some time before heading into the city for the tree lighting. It was pretty nice, they had some different performers singing Christmas carols and Santa came onstage for a little bit and then they lit the tree. I took some photos of it and of the ride into the city on the ferry, so those will be up asap.

This morning my housemate Dan the Hungarian and I went to the farmer's market, which was a lot of fun. There was a lot of food: fruits and veggies, honey, jams; plants; clothes; random guy cutting people's hair; massage table; musicians; etc. I got two enormous mangos the size of your head; Dan got a bunch of vegetables and swears we're going to make a vegetarian feast tonight. I said, "with meat on the side, right?" because every meal he makes has meat; he just laughed. He made kangaroo the other night and I tried some - he cooked it rare, which is not how I prefer meat anyway, but that aside it wasn't bad. It tasted a lot like beef, actually. I'm sure I'll have it again, so stay tuned!

Some notes:
  • Australian women wear a lot of sundresses - or just dresses in general, like to work. It makes them look really dressed up, at least from an American perspective.
  • Tobacco products have enormous warning labels that say things like "Smoking causes cancer" and "Smoking while pregnant harms your baby."
  • Light switches are on the outside of bathroom doors.
  • The drugstore is called the "chemist" (or pharmacy). They sell nothing but drugs - none of this random stuff like notebooks and Hallmark cards and food, like CVS.
More soon!

3 comments:

eriko said...

Light switches are on the outside of bathrooms in the Netherlands, too! Or, at least at my parents' place. I think my parents' place in Japan is like that, too. (You'd think I remember, considering I did some growing up there...)

It's asking for trouble if you're growing up with trouble-making siblings though, don't you think?

Amy said...

Well you did leave Japan at such an early age, you're not really thinking about practical things like that, or remembering when they're different in the new place. Plus, your trouble-making sibling was only a year old when you left ;) But absolutely - that's what I think of any time I take a shower, even though I'd like to think my housemates are above that (and so far they have been) :) (PS - Switches are outside in Israel too.)

eriko said...

I left Japan the first time at that early age, but we went back for a couple of years, remember? The growing up I was referring to was when I was 12-14 years old. Plus, I've been back at my parents' place to visit--that's where Becca and I were in 2004. That wasn't too long ago... But I guess the bathroom light switch is not what I was paying attention to. I just feel like I commented on it to Becca then... maybe?