A Bag of Apples

So this a seriously belated post. About 4 months late actually.

I never knew that a hand drawn picture and a bag of apples could make me feel so welcome.

I was sitting in the exchange office with Aimi and Ayumi, waiting for Nakamura-san. As we were talking, an old man walks in and says “You must be Sharon.”

He sat down and asked how I liked Japan, and if I’d been anywhere else yet, just the usual conversation. I had no idea who he was. Anyway, after a bit of chatting he asked me if I had any fruit. I’d been to the supermarket the day before and bought some oranges, but that was all, and I said as much. At that he opened his bag, and pulled out a dozen apples, and handed them to me.

Yeah, you read that right, he pulled  a dozen apples out of his bag, just like that.

He is a lecturer at Meijo, and one of his old students works for an apple company. (The ex-student is a delivery driver and would drop off a crate of apples any time he was in the area.)He had received a crate of apples two days ago, and thought of someone who might need fruit. Having been an exchange student himself when he was in university, he thought of me. 

 He was once a student at QUT Gardens Point Campus, and wanted to know how the campus had fared in the recent floods. And he desperately wanted to know how the Gardens Café was doing. When he was in Brisbane his absolute favourite thing to do was to have a Devonshire Tea at that café.  Upon hearing that it wasn’t destroyed by the floods he was so relieved. He would’ve been devastated if it had been destroyed, as he had so many fond memories of the place.

After he left, I found out that he is the head of the Economics faculty, and I will probably take his class, later in the semester. Such a generous act from a complete stranger made me feel so lucky to be here. Everyone had been so nice to me already, and then on top of it all another welcoming gesture, and from a complete stranger, it just blew my mind.

 Turns out he is quite possibly the coolest old man I've ever met, and I wish all my lecturers were like him. And he takes his classes VERY seriously, he completely lost it at some guy who fell asleep in his class. Kicked the guy out of the class and told him to never come back. Poor guy probably would've failed anyway.

A Hand Drawn Welcome Sign

Belated, my bad.

I spent my last night at Hotel Marutani packing all my things up, and trying to fit it all into as little space as possible.  I ended up buying another small suitcase to fit everything.  My train to Nagoya left at 9am from Tokyo Station. My hotel was in Ueno, and I had to get from there to Tokyo during peak hour with four bags and a large stuffed toy.  I managed to get there without losing anything, but it was an effort.

The shinkansen ride was amazing. The seats are comfortable, and there is so much leg room. I had a window seat, and caught a glimpse of Mt Fuji on the way. It was so clear and seemed so close, that it took me by surprise. 

When I got to Nagoya station, I was met by one of the student assistants, Aimi. She was holding a hand drawn welcome sign, and was so happy to see me. Her friend Natsumi, showed up about five minutes later, and off we went. Aimi and Natsumi made me feel welcome from the start, asking me about Australia and what I like to do. As it turns out we both love karaoke and drinking.

When we arrived at the apartment building we met Nakamura-san, a teacher, and one of the Student Exchange Centre staff. He is a very nice, but is always in a hurry, and everything is so urgent. It makes you feel flustered and unorganized to be around him. After a brief tour of the apartment building we went to the exchange office, where I met the rest of the staff. 

After a few introductions and some paper work, Aimi and Natsumi took me to have lunch at a small okonomiyaki restaurant on the corner of the main entrance to the university. Later, we borrowed some bicycles from the apartment building’s receptionist Miss Niitani, and went to shopping, to set me up with some worldly possessions. We started at the Lawson’s 100 at the end of the street; it’s like a convenience store where almost everything is 100円.  After looking at what they had we decided that a different shop would probably have more of what I needed, so off we went. The girls decided to take me to the Jusco, which was about a 10-15 minute ride away, which wasn’t so bad, only it was uphill all the way. I was struggling a bit, it was embarrassing. Any way we eventually got there, and I was amazed. You can buy almost anything at a Jusco.

We went to the 100円 section, to buy things for my apartment. The first thing we looked at was bowls, and they had a beautiful selection. Some were pale pink with a lace print around the edge, some were green with white spots, and some were shaped like strawberries, complete with leaves. Of course they had traditional Japanese styles as well, but I ended up settling for two of the strawberry ones, with matching plates and mugs.

After we finished there, we went to Aoki Super for the groceries. The ride from Jusco to Aoki was easy, as it was all downhill; however I had a full basket, with china in it too! It was a bit nerve racking, hearing crashing sounds at every bump and jolt on the path. We made it without anything breaking, much to my relief.  It was lucky that Aimi and Natsumi were with me as there was so much shopping that all three of our baskets were overflowing.  

After Natsumi and Aimi went home, I started unpacking. It took me about 3 hours, but I finally had everything where I wanted it, and my bags stacked neatly inside each other on the top of my cupboard.  For dinner I had instant ramen, it beats the hell out of two minute noodles that’s for sure.  I spent some time in the lobby using the wireless connection, and when I tested how far the range is, I discovered that it cuts out around two metres from my door. I guess I’ll be one of the cool kids who hang out in the lobby then.