Our Japanese restaurant is a typical set up with two rooms of traditional seating, meaning the tables very low to the floor, with floor seating. I knew we had a couple rooms like this, with straw mats, and tables over a sunken pit...but the taking of shoes off, and kneeling to serve gets tricky...and dangerous. I'm not what you could call a graceful Gretchen anyway, but add in a tiny tray with easily tip-able dishes containing all matter of foods that spill and stain and you have me: a ninja appareled bull in the proverbial china shop.
Tee hee.
I spent most of the day in and out of the private rooms trying not to kill the guests with trays of food, or burn them horribly with molten tea. The trays are a joke, only two or three dishes fit comfortably on them, and compared to iCafe, they are the puny and laughable. One of the trays is only a couple inches wider than my whole hand. Its a hand sized tray---why don't I just pick it up! I glared at its glossy surface and asked, "Whats the point of you???"
Another great way of exercising is dribbling water all the way from the kitchen to the station on the other side of the restaurant. Someone will notice, and they will ask you to clean it, and they won't have a mop, which means you will clean it by hand and do it by lunging awkwardly across the entire span of the restaurant in your black pajamas and white socks. This might make you a little disgruntled, but at least you're not standing around awkwardly!
Whenever someone enters we all say, (usually halfheartedly), "Yi la xi ya, ya yi ma se!" (eelah shee yeah, ee ma say) which means "welcome", in Japanese. We also say goodbye but its much more complicated so I just say "domo arugato". I kinda mumble it after everyone else then smile 'real' big, hoping that makes up for the mush of words that just came out. The staff there is incredibly sweet, and I'm making friends with the servers and the sushi chef. Once they discovered I can speak enough Chinese to mash a sentence together, they let forth the flood of questions about me and America. I really enjoy when people ask me about America...it's all so generalized! I get questions like, "Do Americans like Chinese food?" I'm like...well maybe a good portion of them do, but it's not really Chinese food, so I can't actually say they do, but if they count our Chinese food as the same then yes...a good amount of people do." Then I get that smile and nod that means nothing I've said sunk in, but they wouldn't dream of asking me to explain myself. It's both comforting and mildly infuriating. The mixture of the two kinda phase each other out though, and I end up just being kinda neutral about it.
Every white person I saw at work (and by white I mean non-Chinese/ Japanese) told me I look like a ninja . I just shrug nonchalantly and say comfort is sneaky, or something that involves lounge wear and being ninja like. Taking off the shoes is a breeze, which is great when I have to quickly slip them on or off. I only do this when I muster up the courage to go into the rooms that have the traditional seating, and usually I slide around on the mats and look generally uncomfortable as I collect or deliver dishes.
I am not a delicate person...and I've decided working in a Japanese style restaurant has firmly placed me in the "stout and capable" category, and not "petite and graceful" where I might faint with overexertion. (and by overexertion, I mean stacking more than five plates and bowls on one tray) Maybe this rotation will teach me how to float around, and seem like a collection of light fluffy clouds instead of a tribe of sumo wrestlers learning to river dance.
Also, because they're starting construction on our floor, they're moving us up to the 20th floor. It is amazing! Wood floors, new appliances and of course more tvs!! We are so spoiled.
No comments:
Post a Comment