First Day at the BOE

My first full day of work was Thursday, August 10 and no time was wasted in getting me comfortable with the commute to the Board of Education (BOE). Co-worker, Ben, drove me to work showing me a variety of bike routes. My favourite bike route includes a ride across the rice paddies which we attempted successfully in Ben`s K car. Arriving at work, I went around with Emi and met more of the BOE staff members. I also met a number of the town`s high-ranking officials such as: the mayor(choochoo-san), deputy mayor(joyaku-san) and financial chief(Shuunyuuyaku-san) as the BOE is in the town hall. Each of them took a little time out of their day to ask me a little bit about Vancouver and wish me well. The financial chief was especially inquisitive and asked all about Canada, the geography of the country and finally how close is Vancouver to Seattle, the home of Ichiro Suzuki . Everyone is quite impressed when I mention that I have seen Ichiro play in Seattle.

At 11:30 a bell rings for apparently no reason. Although, some say it is so the farmers know to take a break. At 12:00, the lunch bell rings and Emi and I head down to Lawsons for lunch. I pick up one of my favourite convenience store dishes which is the summer noodle dish, hiyashi chuka. Part of the fun in eating it is putting it all together. See below.

Hiyashi chuka lunch from Lawson. A good DIY lunch.
After the 1:00 bell, it is time to go back to work. Since the middle part of August is when the Japanese people celebrate O-Bon, it was time to do some osoji (cleaning). Ben and I had to clean our desks, windows and the air conditioner. O-Bon is the time when the ancestors come back to visit their homes and so the houses and offices should be cleaned at this time.
Ben cleaning (osoji) for the Obon festival preparations; Being interviewed by the local paper
Before the day was out, I had a visit from a local reporter. I was not expecting this at all so it felt like a bit of an ambush but it was a lot of fun. I tried to answer the reporters questions in Japanese and then Emi jumped in if she felt there was need for clarification. Somehow I even started singing in Japanese for him. I think the reporter was quite amused by that. When the article came out on the weekend, it said that my hobby was karaoke and that I can sing a very popular Japanese song called "First Love" by Utada Hikaru . Hopefully, I can practice up before the welcome enkai(party) or office karaoke party.