Not Alone

Last night I watched the game on the TV in the lobby. I'd intended to watch it with a coworker, but he had to stay late in the kitchen and decided to go to bed early. So I was alone.

Then I was approached by a guy I recognised from the Chinese restaurant on the 30th floor of the hotel. He joined me and we started talking... have you ever met someone and felt scared by how familiar you feel with them? Like you were old friends simply united after years of separation? Well, that's how talking with him felt like. We were both eager to pick each other's brains - him because I'm a gaijin girl, me because he's a young Japanese person.

Then others started drifting in, fresh back from work, and we sat around eating cherries and yelling at the TV. Well, I did most of the yelling, they mainly just laughed at me.

It's nice not to feel alone anymore. It got to the point, really fast, where I was irritated and bored whenever I wasn't working, just because I'm used to company. But now that I'm a more familiar, approachable face, I've got people striking up conversations with me in the locker room, our communal bath, even the elevator.

Can't believe my luck... being so unceremoniously thrust into Japanese Adult Land scared me to begin with, but now I think I'll be okay.