I'm back!

After three months of silence, I am back to the net. I moved from Yamagata Prefecture to Mie Prefecture last April and started my first official work in Japan. I am a company employee in a car wiring manufacturing firm. Working in Japan gives me both the challenges of fitting in with the Japanese workplace and at the same time the excitement of working abroad.

In the company, we are not allowed to use the internet for personal perposes. So I waited until I got internet connection in my new place. I am now living in a company dormitory. Actually, it looks so similar to my old apartment in Yamagata except that it is bigger and the toilet is now separated from the bathroom. I am thinking of touring you around in my later posts.

Working for three months made me think of a couple of things. Working in Japan turned my former student life upside down. What I mean is that before, I used to have lots of time lazying around but have little to no money at all. Now, it is the opposite. I have some money but I have no time to travel or have fun somewhere. Good thing that I have internet now so I can simply sit down and relax at home while watching local (Filipino) TV programs through streaming video.

Another thing in my mind is that I work double everyday. I need to accomplish all my daily tasks and at the same time, I need to cope up with the language. I've been in Japan for three years already but I still find Japanese difficult for me to understand. I can speak, read and write in Japanese for a certain degree but I am frustrated that my Japanese skills are not yet enough.

Living and working in Japan is so comfortable. Commuting is simple as the railway system is quite efficient and always on time. The company provides almost everything that I need-a place to stay, utility fees, transportation expenses, food and family allowances that not even the "prestigeous" companies in Manila is willing to provide.

Living in country like Japan makes you adjust not only to the locals but to the other foreigners as well. In my three-month stay in Mie Prefecture, I felt that some people from C are quite not pleasant. I know a batchmate who always pester me for favors to the point that he's now annoying me every time he rings my phone. In times that I can't comply to his [obviously selfish and "magulang na"] requests, he makes some "parinig" and petty threats. Oh, what a bum!

Anyway, I'll just continue filling my list on my next post. I am now a bit sleepy and I need to go to bed soon. Japan is a place where tardiness is being frowned upon so a bit of advice to my fellow "kababayans" out there who are aspiring to work and live in Japan, get rid of the so-called "Filipino time". Till then!