*obtained new cell phone (yaaaay!!)
*applied for alien registration card
*opened a bank account
*got a subway commuter pass
*various odds and ends at work, including changing my address in my work profile to the Tokyo bureau, getting my phone changed to my name, getting onto the Tokyo server etc.
*got approval for more Japanese classes
Yesterday was my first day at work. As soon as I sat down at my desk, a feeling of complete disorientation and aloneness overcame me. I had expected work to be an anchor, the only thing that was consistent with my past life. But perhaps this expectation was too much and as soon as I realized the tiny differences in the way things are done here and in New York, I realized how different things really were,and how far I am from anything familiar. (And when the acting team leader here, who is going back to New York in two weeks informed me of that fact excitedly, I even had to swallow a lump in my throat. . . I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be longing for New York!)
The differences were tiny -- not having headphones, a much smaller and older TV (and no CNN International :() and a desk with no drawers -- and I feel silly now that such minor changes provoked the panicky, anxious feeling that welled up inside me. Now that I'm in a better mood, I'm even laughing at myself. But I have no doubt that throughout the coming days, it will be the small things that will provoke the greatest reactions. Because ultimately, we do sweat the small stuff.
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6 comments:
Looks like you took care of some pretty big things today. Once you have your bank, phone blah blah set up, life can begin. Next steps: join a book library and find a DVD rental store.
So after you did all that what did you do after breakfast?
You little busy bee!
I laid on a limo and a suite at the Hilton for you when you stayed in london but you must have missed my message ... oh well!
Send us some noddles!
Absolutely. It's always amazing to me how the smallest things can tip us into dread and anxiety when our basic sense of stability has changed.
I hope, on the other hand, that you begin to find small things that comfort, little things that remind you God is still here and life is still good.
You've been tagged!
Can you imagine how long it would take to do all of that here in the New York? Just opening a bank account would take the better part of the morning.
Keep your cool. It's a new situation. gotta give yourself time for the repetition to set in. Then you'll be back on familiar ground.
Don't worry, the first steps are always the hardest. I can sympathise as I've just arrived in Greece with no information, can't speak the language and am completely disorientated. But it'll pass and soon it'll just be exhilirating.
As for what you said about politics and people it's so true. Especially for people who have no contact with foreigners their only information of other countries and peoples comes via the news and that's usually just politics. That's why I think travelling is so vitally important in our ever-shrinking world.
And as for the Baha'is, I think you'd really like them. They're very chilled people. They believe in the unity of religions and so accept all prophets (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and the rest) as being right for their time and place and equally worthy.
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