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iwastoldthisisgoodforme · 5 years

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9.1.19

Today was quite a day at Lentils. It was Mio’s last shift and last day in Australia before heading to Japan tomorrow. I was hoping to run into Valerie today since I hadn’t gotten her contact info. Hilke was floor manager and gave the briefing. She asked if there was anything she forgot and I mentioned to her the cutlery and one drink per person.

The kitchen started late so we had to give out some drinks while waiting. People definitely seem to light up when you offer them the chai/juice. Saki came in and that made me even more excited since I wanted to tell her I wouldn’t be coming here as often. When Saki sat down, Mio and I both greeted her and her friend with some water. I said “hisashi buri” to her and she introduced me to her friend Rei. I also spoke with Shunta a little bit before we started taking orders. Shunta saw me eating some of the dessert early on so I told him I’m hungry and he laughed.

Because the kitchen was late, it caused everything else to be backed up and the restaurant got quite busy since there were so many people outside. Valerie came in during the rush as I had hoped and helped out. She asked if Hilke was the floor manager so she introduced herself to her and Hilke asked if she had volunteered before and let her do her thing.

Once things had calmed down, I decided to take lunch since it was a good opportunity. Before eating, Saki was paying and leaving so I told her that I will start my job tomorrow and wouldn’t be here as often. She showed me some event that she was doing on the 11th and 12th for her art showcase and I told her I would go. She thanked me and I went to go eat lunch.

I told Valerie to take lunch too since it was settling down so she ordered the same thing as me (pasta and sloppy joe) and we had lunch together. I asked if she did anything for New Years and if she was still working at the cafe but that was just on weekends. I told her that I was starting work tomorrow and that I wouldn’t be here as often so I added her on Facebook. I told her about the trial work and how it was different from working at Lentils. She said she interviewed for a Malaysian shop/food stall but the pay was too low so she didn’t go for it. We had a fairly long lunch but afterwards resumed our shift.

Valerie and I talked more while we dried/prepared cutlery and I noticed Shunta took a late lunch and Mio later joined him. Hilke asked if I wanted coffee and I asked if I could make my own. It was definitely harder than it looks and although Hilke hasn’t had much experience, she is much better at making it than I am. Later Valerie asked how do we get coffee and I told her usually the floor manager will asks if anyone wants coffee. Unfortunately, Hilke was too busy and wanted to clean up so Valerie said it was okay.

There was a point where Chloe trapped me in one of her long talks even though I wanted to wash my hands. I eventually said fuck it and went and brought her over to Valerie where she started rambling on to her. Poor Valerie looked so confused.

There was another time where Mio and I were drying cutlery and I was asking her about the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical she saw. She said she didn’t like the old one because it was a bit scary, especially the tunnel part, and I told her how most people in the US like the old one better. I also told her how I used to be scared of the Lion King when Scar sings but I realized later it’s a good song. Valerie and Shunta had joined partway through our conversation so I felt a bit awkward since I didn’t know how to include them in the convo but Valerie did ask Mio if she was leaving tomorrow.

After we counted the money, Hilke wished Mio a safe flight home and me good luck on starting my job tomorrow. Valerie asked if we were going home but Mio told her we were planning to get ice cream. I asked Valerie if she was going home and Mio and her got into a conversation since Mio was leaving. Shunta also caught up with us and I asked him what he will do but he said nothing just chill. Valerie left to go to the train station while Shunta walked a bit with Mio and I. At first I thought he was trying to tag along with us but he left when he got to his bus stop so we said goodbye.

There were many different flavors to choose from and Mio said she was willing to share. We picked turkish delight, baklava, and banana/cinnamon. She ended up paying for it although I would’ve preferred she didn’t. We sat down and talked for quite a while about lots of things such as:

- working at Lentils and all the different people there. We talked about how customers light up when you remember their name like “You’re Mio right?”

- I said how I want to learn languages because I volunteered at my mom's work and saw people lose their minds and how learning a language or instrument keeps your brain young. Mio laughed and said I was far too young to be worrying about that

- Learning languages: “kiten ga kiku” meaning something along the lines of quick-witted, considerate. Mio said this is something all employers explain to students when job searching that they are looking for, someone with initiative. Also “tsubo ni hamaru”, which literally means fitting into the pot. Basically means you find something really hilarious. Mio experienced tsubo ni hamaru when I told her how this Chinese comedian who spoke at a White House dinner (Joe Wong) said he was driving around a car with a bumper sticker that said, “If you don’t speak English, go home!” and he didn’t realize it for two years. She also said how working at a restaurant is good because for the most part it’s pretty structure for practicing English although you’ll occasionally have someone try to customize the order so it’s good for mixing it up. Also at Lentils, a lot of the customers already know what they want so it’s quite easy. I told her that’s why I would struggle trying to do it in Japanese though because I couldn’t do the keigo. Although I can certainly ask people what they would like, it would probably come off as rude and Mio agreed and said keigo should just be abolished and that she already forgot how to use a lot of keigo for her internship.

- cultural differences in Japan/Australia/US. We talked about honne and tatemae and I told her how as an American who’s more straightforward, I would prefer people are also honest with me and they don’t need to compliment me if they don’t believe so. I also said how Australians are more willing to make fun of themselves compared to Americans and showed her that picture that Yingying took of that Facebook review from that hotel. Mio found it pretty funny.

- Mio was saying how she was glad nobody pronounced her name like my-oh and I told her how people would always mess up my name like “Andrew” and “Andres”. Mio said she overheard when Hilke thought I wasn’t coming in since someone said Andrew wasn’t coming so she automatically thought it was me and thought I was seriously sick.

- We talked about how I did 10 shifts at Lentils in a row and she mentioned how she saw my name just constantly on the roster and I told her it was because I was trying to get into the cafe program. Mio said she used to feel so tired after the shift and just wanted to relax when she’s home.

- Talking about tensions between Asian countries and how Mio had many Korean friends and also how a lot of South East Asian workers in Japan are taken advantage of and Japanese tend to turn a blind eye.

After a while, Mio said her friend was originally supposed to meet her at Central but instead was coming to the Turkish ice cream place to get ice cream also. She said she didn’t think she would mind and if I didn’t mind, I could stay. I told her it was okay with me but I didn’t want to intrude and she said it was okay since this is her last night anyway. I needed to use the toilet though so I went to Lentils since the ice cream shop didn’t have any. When I got back, Mio’s friend Saori was there eating ice cream. She didn’t really look Japanese nor did she have a Japanese accent and if she hadn’t told me her name was Saori then I wouldn’t even think she is Japanese even though I had seen Mio texting her through LINE. Even then, despite her accent she was very fluent in English and if she hadn’t started speaking to Mio in Japanese I still found it a little hard to believe. We stayed and chatted for several more hours talking about their internship and some weird boy there (Yamada-kun) and people at Lentils such as the guy who ordered a sliced banana and about Chloe and how she would corner people at the cup washing corner. I also told them about my first experience with Chloe and how she told me to apply for the cafe program but somehow the convo steered towards DNA. Saori had studied in Vancouver and said she liked Canada more because they were more polite and she preferred cold weather. I told her we were “onaji” and I said that I was “atsugari” which seemed to impress Mio and Saori since not a lot of learners know that word. Saori even said that a lot of Korean learners, who are the people most likely to learn Japanese, don’t know that word they only know atsui. We also talked about sweets and I told them how Mai and them had many nicknames for me, one of them being JK since I like chocolate and dogs like a Japanese schoolgirl. We got on to the topic of selfie sticks after Mio mentioned she didn’t like areas with too many tourists like the Eiffel tower in Paris (I mentioned the street hawkers trying to sell selfie sticks and how Keegan ended up picking one off the street) Mio said she would never buy a selfie stick. I told her I found it funny how some selfie sticks were made to look like an arm so it looks like you are not alone when taking a selfie and she mentioned to me the daito now hash tag that became popular in Japan. Apparently people liked to show off that they were on a date right at that moment on social media. Mio mentioned that she wouldn’t be getting home until early morning and she hoped her parents would come pick her up. I asked if it took a while to get through security but Saori said she is a Japanese citizen but I pointed out that even in the US, it takes a long time for even citizens to get thru. We also talked about how intimidating US security is and Saori mentioned how the first time she went to the US and didn’t know any English, she was really scared talking to security. Mio and I also talked about how we both thought we would need to show more documentation when going thru Australian security but just showed our passport. Apparently Japanese domestic flight security is stricter than Australia’s but not as strict as the US. We also talked about how I learned Japanese from Terrace House since the way they speak is different from the dramas and they mentioned how a lot of Japanese would watch American dramas like Gossip Girl to learn but Saori loved watching Suits.

Mio had mentioned this to me earlier when it was just the two of us but she told Saori that after having the ice cream she was so satisfied that she could die tomorrow. I laughed when Mio said it but Saori just looked a little confused. I suggested to them they also watch Aggretsuko since u thought they would find it funny but they hadn't heard of it. I said it was from the Hello Kitty makers and they said they didn't get the obsession with Hello Kitty. I showed them the Hello Kitty plane I took with EVA.

Later on, we were feeling hungry and Mio wanted some Lebanese/Middle Eastern food. She invited me along for dinner but I said I didn’t want to intrude but she said it was okay and she was just concerned I was too tired. I had told her since I had done the 10 shifts I no longer felt so tired after the shift. We first checked out an Afghan restaurant nearby that had some croquettes or something but it was a long wait so we headed towards the CBD. As we were walking, Saori commented on the size of my shoes and Mio said she had noticed also. Mio apologized for not being more prepared but I told her it was fine. On the train, Mio asked where I got my tan and I said it was from waiting all day for the fireworks on NYE and also from Watson’s Bay. We talked about Pancakes on the Rocks and she said there is a place in Japan called Bill’s Pancakes where it is a long wait for these small pancakes. I said I probably saw it on Terrace House but she confessed she’s never actually seen it. I said I know but I think it was on there from what she described, it sounded like the kind of place two of the people went. We ended up going to Pancakes on the Rocks and had sharing a bunch of dishes. As we approached the restaurant, Mio and Saori mentioned how Japanese love to use guidebooks when traveling and I said I noticed that whenever Japanese friends visited. We got the smoked ham pizza, chicken and mushroom crepes, chicken caesar salad, and apple crumble pancakes. I actually enjoyed these dishes the most out of all the times I’ve eaten there since the other pancakes were too sweet and the ribs were okay. Saori said Mio should try the pancakes but I asked if they would be too much since Mio doesn’t really fancy sweets but she said since they’re really famous pancakes she didn’t want to miss out on trying them. I suggested that we try the apple crumble pancake since that was probably the least sweet (she later said she liked it and that was the right amount of sweetness) and I also told her she could order the banana pancakes and ask them to slice the bananas but leave out the pancakes which made go into a laughing fit since she totally forgot about the incident.

While we were eating Saori asked me if Mio had an Australian accent and I said yeah she did. Saori said she didn’t realize Mio is so good at English since this is the first time she actually heard her speak it a lot. Saori told me a lot of people didn’t think she is Japanese, even other Japanese back in Japan and they think she’s Filipino because she’s a bit tan. I told her that her accent is unique but she didn’t have a Filipino accent. She also mentioned that back at home, she would go to Shibuya just to talk to the foreigners that would stand in front of Family Mart drinking just to practice her English. There were many other things we talked about at dinner:

- We were talking about currency in the US and we agreed how annoying it was that US shops didn’t put the after tax amount and also how annoying it was to deal with pennies. I mentioned to them how I have many 2000 Yen bills and it wasn’t til later that I realized they were actually quite rare and that I should keep them. Mio suggested the Japanese government tries to give them away to other countries but Saori didn’t think the government is not that smart and would be impressed if they actually did.

- Saori and Mio added each other on Instragram and Saori asked if I have it too. After adding her, I asked if she has LINE and Saori was quite surprised I have LINE. Saori asked about my Baymax icon and I told her that was another one of my nicknames my friends gave me so they asked why. I told them it’s because they said Baymax is a mass of kindness and they said I am also a mass of kindness. They then both agreed it is fitting.

- Saori complaining about her sales job. She only gets $20/day if that and she has to pay for her own meals and transportation around. She wants to quit but she doesn’t know if she should stay until she find another job.

- We talked about NY and how people there were kinda rude except for new immigrants. Saori preferred Canada over Australia cause she thought people were nicer.

- Talking about how many Japanese backpackers working on farms get taken advantage of since we mentioned how Shunta is currently living in a hostel but he paid for some program to put him in an internship through Lentils. Mio said the agency should be taking care of him and gave him proper housing the whole time. Saori also said how Japanese backpackers are a bit strange since normal Japanese wouldn’t do that type of thing

- Saori trying to find a new place and possibly moving into Mio’s spot and asking how much it was. She was comparing the prices but I was actually able to follow the conversation a bit.

- We talked about our favorite Japanese dishes. Saori basically hates healthy foods. She hates nuts, tofu, and beans but she likes natto. Doesn’t like multigrain rice. Mio loves tofu.

- Saori and I both said caffeine didn't wake us up and we needed energy drinks like Monster or Red Bull to wake us up. Mio said she used to have a coffee addiction in Melbourne. She regretted not taking up Jason's coffee offer cause it would be her last coffee at Lentils that she never got

- Mio told us how she was telling her mom about working at Lentils but she realized that she had been a bad daughter while in Melbourne because she never talked to her parents except when she needed money. She started texting her mom more when she moved to Sydney because she started feeling lonelier. Saori asked if I texted my parents often and I said no because I don’t want them to know what I’m doing. Mio had mentioned that she went to New Zealand by herself but she had told her mom that she went with friends but her grandma mentioned something about travelling.

- Saori commented on how Mio had so many notifications especially on LINE and how that would drive her nuts. Saori was the kind of person who had to clear it, even on email. I told them how my aunt had to read through every email

It was getting quite late and Mio mentioned she still needed to pack. She only had one suitcase and I asked if that was all she brought to Australia but she said she had already sent a lot of stuff back home like the winter clothes.

When it came time for us to go, we left for Circular Quay station. Mio and Saori both had to take the train but I had to take the bus that was close by so I said goodbye to them there. I told Saori it was nice to meet her and had a pretty emotional goodbye with Mio. Her eyes were a bit teary and she moved in closer as she was saying goodbye to me. She said she was really grateful for me and that if I hadn’t been around, Sydney would not be so enjoyable for her. When I told her “ki o tsukete”, Saori said my Japanese is good. Mio wished me luck in my future and told me to do my best at my job tomorrow. Since she kept moving closer to me I gave her a hug and she gave one enthusiastically back. If she had stayed, I think I would have really fallen for her. When I told her goodbye I also told her not to die tomorrow since I still wanted to see her and she laughed and said she wouldn’t. As I left, I kept turning around to wave back and she and Saori kept looking at me as I left and waved back when I did. I made my first real friend in Sydney but just as always, it was time to let go. I listened to “Kataomoi” on the way home.

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