So, as proof that this was a terrible mistake and that I need to find another place ASAP..... unmarried, middle-aged, Japanese women, who can't afford real housing and live in share houses in order to catch a foreign man, are like middle school girls. They have no lives and apparently think that bullying, being loud and obnoxious, and vandalizing other people's things is acceptable.
What am I talking about suddenly? Well...
I work as a teacher at an international kindergarten in Tokyo. Kindergarten means, I need sleep. I usually sleep around nine, but since this is a share house, or "social residence", I understand there may be some noise. So, I told the girls who were sitting in the lounge directly outside my room that I was planning to sleep and to please keep it down. The two who were there dimmed the light and started talking quieter. However, when more girls came in, the noise level went up.
When I again went over to the open "window" between me and them and asked them to be quiet, they went silent for a moment. Then they went into apparent shock!
These women in their late 20's and 30's couldn't believe that I would have the nerve to ask them to be quiet while they were in the common space. How could I have the audacity to think that respecting the other residents and at least trying to be quiet should be acceptable to full-grown women?! *shock*
So they proceeded to have long, drawn out conversations about how ludicrous it was to think they should be quiet. They went on in very loud whispers about this for a good ten to fifteen minutes, obviously expecting me to react... and being tired and annoyed, I did. I asked them to be quiet again (or maybe I told them, after all I don't use Japanese much these days.) Their response was to tell me that it was wrong of me to think that my wish for quiet should outweigh their group desire to be obnoxious and loud. When I mentioned that it was ten o'clock and a good time to quiet down, they retorted with, "not for another ten minutes, and the house rules say we don't need to be quiet until eleven." Of course, I knew I should hold in any response to this, but I couldn't help but comment after hearing them continue on about how ridiculous they thought it was that anyone should live in a share house and not expect it to be obnoxiously loud, I couldn't help but mention that I didn't get the memo that children were living here. After all, adults should understand that someone would want to sleep before work.
*Note: Some of these women don't even live in this area of the house, but upstairs where there is actually another lounge area set up that isn't open to anyone's room.
Mind you, if this was the worst, I probably wouldn't post this until much later if at all.
I share a room, or at least a door with a lock, with a French girl. This is important because, for the next hour after I had asked them again to quiet down, they talked on a few other subjects (still loudly and without care) but kept coming back to how surprised they were that anyone should want quiet, or to sleep, or to think they should be quiet. They also talked several times in slightly more quiet whispers about sneaking into my room and stealing the blankets, messing with my things, and other inappropriate (an illegal) things. Mind you, this was all highly amusing until it went on for an hour and made me realize.... these women have NO lives! Which means that it is likely they will remember and try something.
I decided to go to the toilet and made a point of locking my door to see what they'd do/say. When I walked out and returned they turned completely silent (so it is possible). Then I looked the door when I came back in. Maybe I shouldn't have made it so obvious that I understand their idiotic rambling. I soon heard one of them ask "how can we do it though?"
As if on cue, my room share buddy came back from the shower and stopped when she reached the locked (previously unlocked door). They mentioned that I had locked it and then casually changed the conversation to asking if she uses Facebook. She happily said yes and gained some new Facebook friends. I feel like I'm in middle school again. Only I can't just beat people up and get away with it anymore. Damn.
Anyways, I asked the French girl to lock the door when she went out to shower or something. She said it would be troublesome for her and said no one would mess with anything so why bother. When I mentioned that, judging by their conversation for the last hour, I wasn't quite sure about that, she again said it was troublesome. So I restated my request and my insecurity and left it at that.
We shall see. Luckily, except when I shower in the morning and they sleep, I keep most my valuables on my person.
Basically, I just thought this would make an interesting post. If I wasn't involved, I would probably find the story more amusing.
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