No, Really, I Am an American

I just got back from orientation and I gotta say: Accents are sexy, sexy things. So far, I’ve heard mostly Aussie ones, but the chap who gave us the presentation was Irish and seriously, I could just sit there and listen to him speak all day.

Backing up a bit…

The orientation was scheduled for 1:00PM. I was certainly starting to feel anxious about the whole affair. I left my apartment at 11:30, figuring that it would be enough time to eat an Yoshinoya and catch the train by noon. I really didn’t want to repeat getting lost on Namba Walk again, so I made doubly sure that I had plenty of time and I knew where I was going.

My precaution took an interesting twist in that I got to Nova building ridiculously early, thus, I decided to take that time to buy peanut butter from the import store. After doing the conversion, I paid about $3 for a tiny jar of Planter’s Peanut Butter. This is what I get for wanting smooth peanut butter. (That reminds me…I need bread…)

Even with the detour I was almost thirty minutes early, so I went back to the walkway where they display glass art. For all intents and purposes, I looked to be admiring the strange configurations, but in reality, my head was a-tizzy with anxiety. I reverted back to my introverted self and wanted for nothing more than to go to the orientation with someone I knew.

I got antsy and bored pretending to look at the glass, so I decided twenty minutes early was a good a time as any to go up to the 19th Floor…

And apparently, even that was too early. The elevator doors opened to about five Westerners. I diverted my gaze and started to walk past them when I heard my name. I was relieved to see Terry.

“We’re too early,” she explained. She gestured to get back on the elevator, “They told us to come back in twenty minutes.”

I squeezed into the lift with the others. On the ride back down to the main area, Terry made a few inquiries about how I was finding things, etc. She explained that she met the others at the rendezvous Saturday. We didn’t really do many introductions — with the exception of Neal, who proffered his hand with a cheery introduction — and I wasn’t bold enough to do so myself, so I didn’t say too much.

We walked down the way a bit, not all the way back to Namba Walk, just lingered around the OCAT walkway. The conversation revolved mostly around the fact that we have all survived our first few days and about our flatmates.

When it was deemed a good enough time to go back up, we managed to collect a few more Nova rookies.

Susanah was there to greet us when we were finally allowed into the orientation room. She requested that we all get a few documents in order before entering and it was at about this time that I realized I didn’t have my passport with me. Not even the first real day of work and I already blew it.

Lucky for me, I also guessed that they wouldn’t throw up too much of a fuss about it…but you can never be too sure. The Irish chap, whose name I believe is David, told me to just bring it with me tomorrow before OJT, that’s “on the job training” for those of you who don’t speak Nova yet.

There was some thrilling paperwork involved as well as a pretty presentation, which was when I decided that all the people around me who were speaking with accents were damn sexy, and an opportunity to purchase a mobile phone. I missed out, but I should be acquiring a Vodafone soon. I can do videoconferencing AND watch TV on mine if I choose to do so. Swank.

During the breaks, I met a few more people. The lady on my right, Dell, hails from New Zealand and has taught English in a few different countries. She’s with me at the MM Center (MultiMedia), too. Helen, who is also from Australia with a residence in Great Britain now, and I declared that we want to go to the dome thing. We don’t know what’s in it, but we think whatever it is shoudl prove to be most interesting (we later learned that it was just a baseball dome, thus taking away the mystery and the appeal). She’s also at the MM with me. Both seemed pretty nice, so far.

The MM staff got separated from the rest of the orientation group after the second break. We get the snazzy key cards and laynards cuz the MM is in the OCAT and it a “secure” building, whatever that means. The chap who took us to the 17th Floor had us fill out more exciting paper work and answered general questions. He also took us to the 15th Floor, which is the personnel/administration floor, and walked us about one of the actual language floors so we could see what the booths and screens look like. He said there’d be more stuff for us to go through tomorrow during OJT.

‘Twasn’t a bad orientation.

Thereafter, I went with Tiara (one of the “cool kids”) and her “husband” Braden (they live in the same building and have already established one of those friendships where they tease and fight like an old married couple) down to the cafe right by the lifts to the Nova Center.

I think I may have found “friends” in these two in that they are Joss Whedon fans. Braden said he likes Firefly, but I have yet to ascertain if he is a Browncoat, and Tiara is a Buffy fan. We made plans to watch some on Thursday since we all have Friday off.

They invited me out tonight, but I declined. I will go out sometime, but I have a pretty early start tomorrow and if getting drunk is as easy as these two claim, I don’t want to show up hung over to my very first day of OJT.

Basically, today I determined that accents are sexy and I’m starting to adopt a more British English. Everything is “straight away” (”Let’s get started straight away…They’ll send you your card straight away…”, etc.) and some of the stories we’ve heard are just “rubbish”.

Oh. And they don’t have Western toilets in the public restrooms. You literally have to squat. I wasn’t that desperate and decided I would experiment with that when I’m either closer to my flat or at least not dressed in my work clothes.

I also forgot to mention that they have crepes here. I’ll definitely have to sample those soon! Maybe Thursday…