My Daily Schedule

7:30 AM- Wake up

7:45 AM- Have breakfast. Breakfast at the Takahashi house is pretty standard. Definitely more than what I usually eat at home on my own. One of the highlights was pancakes with shredded carrot inside. Sounds really weird, but it was surprisingly good.

8:15 AM- Leave the house and walk to the Numabukero Train Station so that I can take the Seibu Shinjuku Line to Kami Iguza Station. If that sounds confusing, you should see it all written in Japanese. Luckily it’s actually pretty simple.

8:45 AM- Arrive at work. Get changed into my polo and do morning stretches with the co-workers. After this, I leave for my delivery route with one of three people:
Suzuki san- Quite and sweaty. I only do deliveries with him on Fridays for 4 hours, and I’m glad it’s only one day.
Kurata san- Kinda weird sometimes, but he has also taught me how to say hiccup, burp, and fart in Japanese, so I can’t complain.
Arai san (nickname Araiken)- My favorite. He’s actually a year younger than me! Actually, Kurata san and Suzuki san are both in their twenties as well, but Araiken is the most outgoing and talkative of the two. We talk about all sorts of things: Dating, Drinking, Jackass the TV show, cars, and even Disney.

5:00 PM- I’m done with work. The person I am delivering with still has a few hours left on the clock, so someone comes to pick me up from the route and take me back to the delivery center. That’d all be fine but I’m supposed to be off work AT 5:00, so most of the time I don’t usually get back to the center until about 5:15 or later. Seriously….the Japanese have NO concept of getting off work exactly when you’re supposed to. I’m convinced that’s why both my host father’s never come home earlier than 9:30.

5:15 PM- My boss, Funaoka san, always wants to talk to me after work about all sorts of things. He’s a really nice, and I sometimes feel like he looks at me like a son or something. He loves trying to teach me new Japanese words and phrases. But sometimes I really just want to go home at this point.

The other cool guy from work is Nakajima san, who is like an assistant manager. He usually picks me up to go back to the station. His favorite music includes Stevie Wonder and Boyz II Men, so you can imagine we get along pretty damn well.

5:30 PM- I finally leave work and head back home.

6:00 PM- I get home, get changed and plop down on the couch. My mom always comes to give me a little snack and tea or iced coffee.

6:30 PM- I watch Piramekino, the children’s TV show, with Ren. I’m pretty sure he didn’t really like the show much before I came, but now that he knows I like it, he LOVES it.

7:00 PM- Dinner time. After this I usually spend time doing homework or talking to my host parents so I can keep practicing Japanese.

10:00 PM- I’m usually in bed by now since the days are pretty long.

That pretty much sums up what a regular day is like for me. Nothing too special. The weekends always end up being a lot more interesting, for obvious reasons.