day 3. monday: meeting the boss.

We all went to meet Y. at the University so I could fill out some paperwork to get my flight reimbursement, living allowance, etc. We arrived an hour early so we toured the campus, which is really quite pretty. It was a nice oasis, very green, surrounded by streets packed with University students, lined with lots of restaurants and stores. When we entered the campus, there was a group of students manning an activities table, all women and all in bright pink windbreakers. When they saw the boys, it was a pretty comical scene--a swarm of about 6 of them all came running over shouting "Hello! Kawaii!!" ("cute"). Archer played shy, and I think Malcolm may have given them a smile.

The meeting was the first of what I'm sure will be many confusing interactions with people of importance. We went first to meet a man (M.) from the International Affairs office, with whom I had been corresponding and who was a huge help in setting this all up.

I had been told by people who've done work in Japan, or with the Japanese, that business cards are very important. There is a particular way of handing them off (two hands, slight bow), and once received, you should study it and admire it, and it stays on the table during an entire meeting--it doesn't get tossed around or thrown in a bag. There are a whole additional set of norms for interacting with authority figures and superiors, as hierarchy, duty, & obligation are all important in Japanese society.

So you can picture the slight discomfort and confusion on my part during the meeting with me (the most inferior of the group), Y. (my colleague, but superior to me), and M. (clearly superior to me, but uncertain whether he or Y. is of higher status), with M. not only speaking very broken English but also doing so with Cerebral Palsy, making it impossible for me to read any body language. Do I drink the tea they just served us? No one else is drinking the tea. Is it symbolic tea for those administrators who are no longer with us? Are they waiting for me to start? Do I count the money? Do I just peek inside the envelope? Do I pretend it isn't there? How many times am I supposed to bow? We've been bowing now for 2 minutes, do I break the infinite-bow cycle or does he? Or do we keep doing this until an even-superior superior comes along to stop us?

When we all went to visit M.'s boss, it really got messy.

We tried to keep Archer awake all day so that he'd sleep through the whole night, but he fell asleep on the walk back to the apartment for a bit. Little guy was so tired when we woke him up for dinner that we was practically falling off the couch. He did make it through the whole night, thankfully--I think Kate and I were both ready to send the boys back to America on a fast plane if they didn't get more sleep.

Malcolm enjoys his first ramen noodle lunch.