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Ha
ha, no not that.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Wow
it’s already December. I’m planning to go back to the US for the break
to see the folks and stock up on American adult sized products. It’s
going to be costly, but I’m trying to fly directly there via Delta. It
such a hassle to do a layover on such a long flight.
Anyway, this week I am one of two “shuuban” teachers. It
means in charge of various things for the week. Shuu means week and
ban means number and somehow “in charge of”. Oh it also means turn as
in “my turn” so maybe it’s “my weekly turn”. Anyway, I went ahead and
checked all the doors and windows on the 2nd and 3rd
floor and the other teacher will do the 1st floor. I also
have to write some nonsense in a stupid log book. It’s actual
nonsense. It’s things like “the weather was nice today” just to fill
up space. So I checked the doors and windows and then told the other
teacher, or at least I meant to tell the other teacher. I actually
said something terrible, but luckily only he heard me. I meant to say
“toe G ma-D she mah she tah” which means to close the windows and
doors, but instead I said “toe sah sue she mah she tah” which means “I
took perverted pictures”. When he looked at me with wide eyes I
replayed it in my head and corrected myself. I learned it last week
when I translated a memo about some teaching getting arrested for
doing it in another city. That was awesome. By awesome, I mean not
awesome.
Gone
with the Wind.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
I
bought a $5 DVD of GWTW. It’s in English with Japanese or English
subtitles. I realized I had never seen it, plus I wanted to know how
to say it in Japanese. Anyway, I can’t stop singing the theme song in
my head. I guess that’s good for the person that wrote it since it’s
been 69 years and the song is still catchy. It’s really fitting and
nostalgic which is why it’s easy to remember. Anyway, one odd thing I
didn’t know about GWTW is that it’s like 900 hours long. I have been
watching it at night when I go to bed and so far I’ve watched a bit
for three nights. I keep watching and it doesn’t end, it just keeps
going and going like the Energizer bunny. Surely it will end tonight.
Today I had a class with the 5th graders. I did
‘directions’ which is always a fun class. I’ve had a few boring ones
with them so this one was needed. I taught them the basic 5 go
straight, go back, turn left, turn right, and stop. First they had a
printout activity and then we made the room into a maze and had them
give directions to their partners. It was pretty good overall.
[later]
WOW. I just had a great class with my 8th
graders. Normally they are a bit lazy in any class especially the
foreign-English-teacher-who-can’t-give-grade’s class, but today it was
nearly all English the whole class. I put them into groups of 3 with
one as the A person, the second as the B player, and the third as the
Japanese police. Person A would ask Person B “is there a soccer ball
on the table?” If the answer was yes they moved on, if they said no
then Person A got a point. The police person would listen for any
Japanese and give him/herself a point. The police people were getting
really strict which made the players say everything in English. Then
they rotated jobs and did it again. It was amazing and I am going to
work it into all my classes somehow.
Joys
of Country Life.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The
garage guy that sold me the Pajero Jr. called me on Monday about a
remote engine starter I asked about the previous week. My battery is
dying on my phone so I told him I would stop by Tuesday sometime. I
did around 5 and we talked about the engine starter. It’s a nicer
version than I had before in that it has something called “answer
back”. That basically means the remote lets me know when the car
actually starts. I love the engine starter and it’s the greatest
invention known to man.
Anyway, when I asked him about it I had said I could pay
around $200 for it, but then I bought the pricey camera so my budget
got incredibly smaller. When I talked to him Tuesday I told him I did
want it, but I couldn’t pay until after the 20th which is
payday (well it’s the 21st, but that’s a Saturday). So he
said “eh…don’t worry about it, you can pay next year when you get
back”. I replied with the usual and expected, “oh I could ask you to
do that” and he said “oh no problem, it’s cold in Konan and we need
these”. That’s one of the beauties of living in a small town. He’s
even going to come to the school and pick up the car and then bring it
back. I guess it’s because I teach his kids (who are both awesome) and
because I’m clearly not a flight risk.
Auto
Start.
Friday, December 5, 2008
As I type this (though not as you are reading it) an remote engine
starter is being installed in my car. I’ll be able to start the car
with the heater on and have it completely warmed up before I leave the
house. The remote engine starter, as well as the electric blanket and
knee high plastic shoes, are some of the greatest inventions ever
made.
I remembered that I haven’t sat through a teacher’s
meeting in a while. I remembered that when I had to sit through one.
It was the same as all the others in that we were given dozens of
memos and then they were read to us. One woman who had a sore throat
had to read a memo to us and I could tell it was a strain. Why are
they read to us? Why can’t they just point out the highlights and have
us read it later. This happened at the gym when I was helping Lydia
sign up. The nice girl behind the counter started reading the whole
rule book to us and we were both starving and were trying to get out
so we could go eat. She started reading the bit about parking and I
said we could skip it since Lydia wouldn’t be driving. She said ok and
then continued to read it to us. It’s like one of those toy wind up
cars hitting a wall. It just keeps moving forward no matter what
happens.
Customer Service...ARGH.
Sunday, December 6, 2008
Today started out
great, but then went downhill. I woke up and went into town and
did some errands. I went to Starbucks and had a venti frappucino since
I have to start eating right for my health check on Friday. While
there I met an attractive Japanese girl that lived in the US for a
while and speaks great English. Then I did some other things and
finally met Megan (and baby Zinnia) for a late lunch. We went to
Indian and I had some butter chicken marsala and two dishes of cheese
nan.
So at this point I am still feeling good. Then I went to do laundry
and after that forced myself to go to the gym. Then on the way home I
decided to go by UNIQLO and get some more underwear and some socks. So
I picked out some stuff and took it to the counter and charged it. But
my card was declined twice. So I called the emergency number on the
card and was told, by a recording, to call another number. So I called
that number and found I had maxed out the card, even though I hadn't
(more on that in a second). So then I called the new number and
went through 30 menus to hear "your financial institution has
pathetically lame business hours, please call back on every 5th
Thursday from 10:20 to 10:23". Seriously, this isn't a major
emergency, but if I had a real emergency and needed to call them and
couldn't because they have no overnight customer service, man that
would really suck.
So then I drive back to Konan and I realized I hadn't had dinner and I
had planned to fill up my tank with gas using my credit card. But
everything closes in Konan at 7 so I started getting really mad about
living out here. I like the town and the the apartment, but it's just
so far and isolated. I think I am going to apply for a Japanese credit
card soon. I want to apply for an American one, but I would have to
give my Japanese address and that might be a problem.
Leveling Off.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
It was a bumpy weekend, but it has started to level off. I forgot to
mention why my credit card was locked and seemed like I had maxed it
out when in fact I had not. I overpaid my credit limit and then called
them so they would release the overpayment as credit. I needed to buy
a plane ticket to the US and I have a low credit limit. That’s for my
own protection since I tended to overspend. So they released the money
and I bought the ticket and there was still about $300 left over.
Apparently when they released it there is some weird lock on it until
they do something to allow me to use it as usual. Since I bought the
ticket Friday night their time and they work pathetically lame hours
the card was locked all weekend. I checked it again Monday night,
which would have been Monday morning for them, and it was back to
normal.
Before this happened I figured I would buy something with
my US ATM card so I went to use it and it was declined twice. First it
said it was rejected, then it said it was invalid. So I sent a message
to the bank (that has unheard of service 24 hours a day) and they said
I have to call and talk to them. Also I should tell them in advance
before going overseas. I guess I should have told them 7 years ago,
even though I have used the card dozens of times since then. So I am
going to call later today when it’s late there so I don’t have to wait
on hold for an hour. Though to temporarily solve that problem I
transferred some money to another bank that doesn’t have these issues.
I’ve been eating well this week and plan to exercise
everyday. I have gained weight recently, but at least my blood should
be better than last year. Although I don’t see how it couldn’t be
since the doctor said I should have been dead or at least have
diabetes with those blood levels. There’s no way I can get to a
reasonable weight since they judge people by Japanese standards. There
was a girl a few years ago who was perfectly normal in western
standards and actually on the verge of a bit thin, but she was
classified as obese. When we saw that we laughed and stopped worrying
about that silly test. That is Friday so I will probably take vacation
time afterwards rather than rushing back for no classes. I might even
try to go out to Bandai-Atami (bahn die ah tah me) for my other
monthly blood test, as long as I don’t eat anything at the first test.
I think I will pass on the barium drink this year.
[later]
Ok, I got the ATM card taken care of. I called them and
got right through and explained the situation. They said it was
because I tried to take out more than my daily limit, although this
was back in November. I tried once and it was declined, then I went
somewhere else and used it for slightly less (and under my daily
limit) and that went through. Then it gets cancelled which makes no
sense. So I answered some questions and they said it was restored.
Well that’s fair enough I guess, but I still plan to get another
credit card either Japanese or American.
Healthy.
Friday, December 12, 2008
I had my health check today. That's one of the perks of having this
job, the board of education pays for us to have a yearly health check.
I mean it's not some simple check up, they check our eyes, ears, heart
(EKG), chest x-ray, blood test, vision, urine, poo, optional barium
test, and much much more. I really love it even though some of the
younger people whine about it. Anyway, apart from me being heavier
than last year the rest seemed to go well. I'm sure the blood test
will come back much better than last year. The other good news is I
can now overeat when I go back to the US in a week.
My goal for 2009 is to get to 90 kg. I think this will be more
possible than before for several reasons. One of which is that I will
be moving to Koriyama city and that will make me busier than now. I
tend to eat when I am bored. Also I will get a bike and ride around
locally while only driving to Konan or other distant schools. There
will be more opportunities to eat out and drink, but I think that will
be ok. Plus I will be living about 100 feet from a big park where I
can run or walk in the mornings. I do that some now around the rice
fields, but they aren't as nice as a park.
2005-2007
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