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froggy

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Every since taking Japanese 1, I've pestered my sensei about taking the class to Japan, and this year he finally relented! After 2 years of scheming, I'm super excited to hang out with my friends there! The itinerary is going to take me all over Japan, though I won't say where for obvious reasons, so I get to go outside of Tokyo this time around. Sadly, we won't be going anywhere near Nagoya, so I asked my sensei if I could stay in Japan longer that way I can travel there to see my crush again! I'm kinda nervous about taking the densha and flying home by myself, but I'm sure I can figure it out. Last summer, I took the Densha everyday to my manga school with my mom, and it wasn't too bad. Although, if I have to go anywhere near Shinjuku station by myself around 8:00am in the morning, I would just give up because that station is ginormous and has so many floors, escalators, and platforms. Also, at 8am is the rush hour for work, and is filled to the brim with white collars. That's when  you see the station workers take huge plastic panels to push the people in the train doors so they can close. My mom actually saw that happen once, it was crazy. My mom actually saw some crazy things. One time she was eating at a small Indian restaurant in Nakano, Tokyo and two men covered to head to toe in tattoos and piercings came in and ate at the table next to her. I wasn't there to see it, but my mom said they were very intimidating. She thought they were Yakuza but I have no idea. I mean it would've been normal to see people like that in Harajuku which is full of fashionistas, but this was a hole-in-the-wall in Nakano. My mom explored a lot more of Tokyo since I was in my classes for most of the day, so I'm looking forward to see more this time around. Anyways, I'm super grateful for my part-time job that way I can pay for all of this, although my dad is going to help pay for extra expenses I'm covering most of the cost. That's all really. 

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First off YAY! that is so cool, I hope that you post updates on how your trip goes, I would look forward to hearing more about your experiences in Japan.
I have an aunty who lived and taught English there for 10 years and she loved it.
I often fantasize about what it would be like to live another life as a white collar in the city, going about day-to-day life in the Hussle and Bussle of city life.

I am sure I am just romanticizing a warm nostalgic feeling associated to the image I hold in my head and that reality is much different but I kind of find a comfort in it all the same. 
  
 

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I certainly plan on updating it! 

About your fantasy, I've heard a little from my Japanese friend who's studying to get into a good company, and she said that working in Japanese workplace can be very rewarding because of how great some can be at teamwork! Although there is black companies and also karoshi (death from overwork) problems in Japan. There are also many companies that are great to work in as well! Other than that, my least faborite part of working would be the commute... most communters are packed into the densha (trains) like sardines, plus the perverts who take pictures. But they usually target high school girls. So it might not be all warm and fuzzy, but there are also many ways it can be fulfilling as well!

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ah yes, the great commute, a reason I think why it will always remain just a fantasy. 
maybe in another life social interactions and crowds will be something I need not worry about anymore :) 
 

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7 hours ago, FaintStain said:

ah yes, the great commute, a reason I think why it will always remain just a fantasy. 
maybe in another life social interactions and crowds will be something I need not worry about anymore :) 
 

Being a White Collar isn't all it's cracked up to be.  I wanted to be one, but maths and me are not good friends, so I ended up as a Blue Collar and over the course of my career I met lots of White Collars and most were stressed over deadlines and high workloads. One Senior White Collar even told me he envied my job because I had all the fun. He wasn't entirely right, work in an on-site repro unit could be hard but I enjoyed my job and yes, I had a lot of fun doing it.

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Just now, Animedragon said:

Being a White Collar isn't all it's cracked up to be.  I wanted to be one, but maths and me are not good friends, so I ended up as a Blue Collar and over the course of my career I met lots of White Collars and most were stressed over deadlines and high workloads. 

I've never even considered being a white collar because of my painful relationship with math too.

And being a blue collar kind of feels off the table as well because of my weak constitution. But even if I had a stronger body, I don't think I would enjoy working as a blue collar because of it being male dominated field. My appearance makes me seem very demure, so I really hate it when people, not just men, overlook my abilities because of it. So I have to ask, is the typical blue collar workplace really that sexist?

As of right now I work in childcare, which is fun because of the kids, but my coworkers are absolutely unbearable at times. Its my first job and I'm learning a lot of new skills though, and I may be blaming the uncomfortably of those frustrations on my coworkers. But still, even the men/boys who take care of children stare at my butt, belittle me, and leave me to do the menial tasks of cleaning. Even the girls my age who work there ignore me and make fun of me for my countenance. Sometimes I think about quitting, but then I remember that its probably worse at other places. 

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5 hours ago, froggy said:

As of right now I work in childcare, which is fun because of the kids, but my coworkers are absolutely unbearable at times. Its my first job and I'm learning a lot of new skills though, and I may be blaming the uncomfortably of those frustrations on my coworkers.

It's always hard being the new person at a workplace, you get given all the grotty jobs that no one else wants to do, and because you're new you don't have the skills your coworkers have. The trick is to treat everyday as a learning day and also look beyond your workplace, use the Internet to find information about your job read up about products and procedures that way you'll build up a solid base of knowledge that over time your managers and coworkers will come to recognise and appreciate. But do not flaunt your knowledge, that's the best way to annoy people! Just get on with things and apply your skills quietly.

Final tip: If you're offered any training courses, grab them with both hands especially if the company is offering them for free.

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Just now, Animedragon said:

It's always hard being the new person at a workplace, you get given all the grotty jobs that no one else wants to do, and because you're new you don't have the skills your coworkers have. The trick is to treat everyday as a learning day and also look beyond your workplace, use the Internet to find information about your job read up about products and procedures that way you'll build up a solid base of knowledge that over time your managers and coworkers will come to recognise and appreciate. But do not flaunt your knowledge, that's the best way to annoy people! Just get on with things and apply your skills quietly.

Final tip: If you're offered any training courses, grab them with both hands especially if the company is offering them for free.

That's really helpful! Working has been a challenge and I'm glad to learn more skills from it like this. I'm taking a child development course at school right now, so hopefully that will improve my skills. And even more so, trying my best to communicate with my coworkers. I tend to ignore and avoid people I don't like, so I could defintely work on pretending that I like them since working with kids requires a coordinated team. Maybe then I wouldn't be left out as much and feel more comfortable talking to them about work related things. 

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