The shoe is on the other foot

I check for mail. I take all of it up the five flights of stairs to my apartment (yes, the only thing worse than junk mail is junk mail in Japanese which you have to take home because there are no rubbish bins outside), sort out the mail with my name on it (in Japanese), decide whether it's a bill or put it in the too hard basket.

Today I took the "too hard basket" to one of the English teachers who very kindly helped me out. Some of the things we found were:

• a notice that my gas (or electricity???) bill was coming soon
• a form that I could fill in if I want my gas to be directly debited (I labeled it and put it aside)
• a form to fill in for my compulsory pension payments
• information about my internet (haven't had any bills for this and was becoming concerned)

The teacher said that she recently filled in the pension payments form, but there was an easier one which they could send out upon request. So she rang them up for me (assured them that I haven't been in Japan for 6 years) and got a form to be sent to me. The she rang someone else who was employed by the same people who employ me who said that it was already taken care of. Sigh of relief and that paper went in the bin. She also made a call to organise direct debiting for my internet connection, something I was wanting to do, but never had the energy to explain it in my non-existent Japanese.

She also said that she would be happy to help me with this anytime.

When another teacher asked me how I felt about this, I realised that I was quite amused (usually it's me helping other people) and grateful. I also hadn't realised how much trust is being placed on the person who is helping. When I get back to Australia, I have a feeling that I'll probably be more patient, helpful and sensitive towards people in that situation, now that I know what it's like for the shoe to be on the other foot!