In the mad dash to get everything ready, we finally did what we had been putting off for months......getting rid of the extra pieces of crib. You see, we only got part of the crib in the move - a very long story involving many emails, phone calls and bad words. We did finally receive a complete crib which we set up, leaving the extra pieces to dispose of. In New York, this would be simple.
1) Put pieces on curb
2) Watch them disappear.
In Tokyo, this requires many phone calls, trips to the 7-11 and also many bad words.
1) Find handout on "disposing of waste".
2) Read the part that deals with "oversize waste".
3) Seeing that it requires going to the 7-11 to get (and pay for) a waste disposal ticket to attach to pieces of crib - think many bad words.
4) Measure the pieces, remembering to write down the centimeter measurement and not the inch.
5) Take handout on disposal of waste, paper with measurements and digital camera that holds a picture of the crib pieces to the 7-11.
6) Apologize (for the mangling of the Japanese language you are about to speak), point to handout on disposing of waste, show them picture of pieces of crib and say "ticket".
7) Watch as the two people behind the counter converse amongst themselves, finally calling over a third person, who joins in the conversation.
8) Stand there sheepishly.
9) Listen as the one person behind the counter who speaks Enlish says "you call number, they tell you price, you buy ticket"
10) Thank all of them profusely thinking "I really need to learn Japanese".
11) Walk home and wait until Monday.
12) Call number.
13) Recite my phone number to person who answers the phone who doesn't speak English, but will have someone call me who does. (numbers don't count as "speaking English").
14) Wait all of two minutes for the phone to ring (in New York, if you ever had to do this, you would be waiting for weeks)
15) Explain what I am throwing out and then listen to the lady on the phone tell you how much it will be (200 yen, about $1.75), where to get the ticket (7-11 I knew this!) and what day they will pick it up (Friday).
16) Thank her profusely and hang up.
17) Walk to 7-11.
18) Buy ticket.
19) Walk home in garbage disposing directional haze.
20) Stick ticket on pieces of crib, after bundling them together as requested by lady on phone.
21) Bring pieces down to basement (actually, tell Jed to bring them down to basement).
22) Relax in "extra pieces of crib" free apartment.
And you were wondering why it took months to get rid of the pieces of crib....
1) Put pieces on curb
2) Watch them disappear.
In Tokyo, this requires many phone calls, trips to the 7-11 and also many bad words.
1) Find handout on "disposing of waste".
2) Read the part that deals with "oversize waste".
3) Seeing that it requires going to the 7-11 to get (and pay for) a waste disposal ticket to attach to pieces of crib - think many bad words.
4) Measure the pieces, remembering to write down the centimeter measurement and not the inch.
5) Take handout on disposal of waste, paper with measurements and digital camera that holds a picture of the crib pieces to the 7-11.
6) Apologize (for the mangling of the Japanese language you are about to speak), point to handout on disposing of waste, show them picture of pieces of crib and say "ticket".
7) Watch as the two people behind the counter converse amongst themselves, finally calling over a third person, who joins in the conversation.
8) Stand there sheepishly.
9) Listen as the one person behind the counter who speaks Enlish says "you call number, they tell you price, you buy ticket"
10) Thank all of them profusely thinking "I really need to learn Japanese".
11) Walk home and wait until Monday.
12) Call number.
13) Recite my phone number to person who answers the phone who doesn't speak English, but will have someone call me who does. (numbers don't count as "speaking English").
14) Wait all of two minutes for the phone to ring (in New York, if you ever had to do this, you would be waiting for weeks)
15) Explain what I am throwing out and then listen to the lady on the phone tell you how much it will be (200 yen, about $1.75), where to get the ticket (7-11 I knew this!) and what day they will pick it up (Friday).
16) Thank her profusely and hang up.
17) Walk to 7-11.
18) Buy ticket.
19) Walk home in garbage disposing directional haze.
20) Stick ticket on pieces of crib, after bundling them together as requested by lady on phone.
21) Bring pieces down to basement (actually, tell Jed to bring them down to basement).
22) Relax in "extra pieces of crib" free apartment.
And you were wondering why it took months to get rid of the pieces of crib....
1 comment:
japan is complicated however very efficient!
I envy you for living there. It sounds like such a cool place to be! I
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