I worked my last day at one of my locations recently and soon I will be starting a new job full time. Recently I have been very tired because I have been working both my current job and training/working for my new job before going to work. No rest for the wicked. Luckily Obon is next week so I will have a few days to relax. My plans aren't ambitious at all. I hope to catch up on sleep, pay some bills, review some notes for work, and maybe visit a few places. The last weekend I had off I got really lazy so I didn't do much. However, this time I hope to at least go to the Sakai City Museum and maybe put stuff "away" since I still haven't really settled in (A tiny "apartment" leaves no room for anything).
As far as working is concerned, I am excited for my new job although I know it comes with a lot of responsibility. On the other hand, my current job has such a nice, relaxing atmosphere that I wont have at my new job (working with more people and having more responsibility). I really think that I will learn a lot in my new job and I think that it will be beneficial to me. It's definitely a good "career" move.
I have noticed some things about Japan so far (and it's not like they are a secret, far from it in fact). There is the stereotype about Asian drivers being bad drivers, but so far the large majority of drivers are seemingly responsible (although I have not drove and don't plan on driving any time soon and I don't pay all that much attention to cars). However, when it comes to walking and bicycling, it's like they are actively trying to get in your way. Since my knowledge of Japan is limited, and limited to Kansai/Osaka I don't know if it is representative of all of Japan or just my area. So, in Japan people supposedly are supposed to walk/bike on the left hand side. But no, it's wherever they feel like being is where they are. I've been in situations where I have been walking on the left hand side of the sidewalk when multiple bikes are coming towards me. The one on the left stays to the left, the on in the middle moves left a bit and the one on the right moves more to the right. This might be okay if I wasn't so far to the left that I couldn't go to the left anymore. I had to scurry to the center to avoid being hit. This scenario happens far too often and it is the bikers fault most of the time. Another example would be people walking. I have been going down the stairs (this happens to the worst degree when a big group of people just got off the train) on the far left when a group of people start walking up covering the whole width of the stairs. People are so oblivious either because they don't take their nose out of their phone or because they just choose not to pay attention and I come so close to getting clobbered because some man doesn't look up while walking in the wrong spot. This sort of thing has to be my biggest pet peeve because it's bothering to wait to get around someone when they are doing something that they shouldn't be. It also slows me down and I usually have a schedule to keep to but there's always the surprise slow person/group that you get stuck behind. Now I have heard that Kansai and Osaka are more Western so one of the things they do is walk on the right hand side, but I don't know how true this is and, if so, how many people actually do so for "Western" reasons and how many do so because of ignorance. This isn't to say that people in Western cities that I have been to don't get in your way, but this seems to be more of a constant.
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