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Big
Fatty.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I went to buy a track suit recently so I can wear it at school since I
hate wearing a stupid tie. I also want one so I can exercise some at
school. I went to Xebio (Zay B Oh) and looked for the largest size
they have. I can’t pick out colors I like, I have to find the biggest
thing they have and see if I like it. I have to do that with shoes as
well. I found a 2-piece set that was 3X and tried it on, but it didn’t
fit since I am a big fatty. So now I will have to order something from
the US and have it shipped over.
Today being October 1st means we are supposed
to wear a suit and tie to school every day. Since I “don’t understand
the advanced Japanese way” I ignore this rule and don’t do it. We can
actually wear a suit through the entrance and then change into very
casual clothes then change back when we leave. It’s all about
appearance here.
Some good news is that I have been eating salads for
dinner and losing weight. The guy who is between the BoE and the AETs
/ NTs told me about it and I tried it. Granted sometimes I eat two
salads, I’m still eating healthy light food and a lot of greens. I
need to get my blood quality back up and I think less food and more
light greens will do that. I have lost just over a kilo which is about
2.2 pounds and I hope to keep going. I think it will work since I
would previously workout at night then eat dinner such as sushi and
then get sedentary and go to bed. Now I do the same except I am taking
in far less calories. I’ll chart the progress and see how it goes.
I had one class today that was schedule, but the teacher
forgot so I just sat here typing this. Awesome. That’s not sarcasm as
one would expect, I have grown to love sitting in the teacher’s room
doing nothing. Especially since they told us we cannot bring our own
computers to school and the computers we use are all in Japanese and
have no useful programs on them. At least I am paid well and have
great health insurance.
Blah.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Today I have 3 classes on the same day so I knew something was up. I
looked at the schedule and found the whole chorus club had gone away.
It would be rude for these students to miss other “real” classes, so
mine are scheduled. It always happens. If I have 1-2 classes a day
every day then there is nothing going on that week, but when I have no
classes one day and then 3 another, half the students will be gone for
some reason. In Japan you learn more about being “Japanese” at school
than about learning academic stuff. That is saved for after school
cram sessions and self study.
I went to Ose yesterday and it was average. I had two classes and then
I read some and walked around a bit. It’s amazing how much I get done
without access to a computer. I did realize I am addicted to the
convenience of computers, especially ones connected to the internet.
In the two classes we learned about “have to” and “must” and their
opposites. The kids looked at some manga I drew and it seemed to go
over well. I should really move on to anime though.
After that I went to NISPO and worked out my back and
biceps. I like working the biceps because I can feel a burn while I do
them and then the next day, but I can never feel anything from my
back. I think it’s pretty strong since I added a lot of weight
yesterday and was still able to lift it, but it just won’t burn. I
found a new exercise for the biceps that makes them burn like a forest
fire. Or should I say burn like Tabasco? Whatever, they were hurting.
Then I did laundry at the place by NISPO. I have a washer
at home, but the one at this place really gets things clean. It
tumbles them whereas mine at home spins upright and I just don’t get
the same vibe from it. When I watch the washer at the place I get
excited seeing the clothes fall over into the soapy water, knowing
they are really getting cleaned. I should fine better things to get
excited about. Then I get to dry them which takes about 40 minutes as
opposed to 3-4 days when I have to hang them at home. Plus they don’t
smell like the Bounce dryer sheets at home and they are smooth. It
only costs about $10 to wash a big load so it’s totally worth it I
think.
I have to decide what I will do for Christmas break
although it will probably involve the Thai orphanage again and then
somewhere down South. My friend Larry might go from Atlanta as well as
a few other people. It won’t be that expensive since I know how to do
things cheap and where to stay. I’ll need to start saving for that. I
have been sending $600 back toward my big totally unnecessary school
loan and I hope to do that every month. I could send more, but I need
to send at least that much to make a difference.
Today I had a weird feeling all day. It was just sort of a
blah thing. I had an extra thing of soy coffee this morning and then I
had an actual real coffee drink in the hopes that it would pep me up
and help me get some stuff done, but none of it worked. I still felt
sluggish and blah all day. Maybe I am depressed, but also hyped up
from the coffee. Hmmm, I don’t know. Actually in one class the kids
were working on something and then just before the bell I walked out
and came back to the teacher’s room rather than doing the usual
closing ceremony. I don’t know why I did that.
Rainy.
Monday, October 06, 2008
It’s raining outside. It’s not pouring, just heavy drizzling, if that
makes sense. It’s perfect today since I’m in a drizzly mood. I worried
all weekend about my class with the 8th graders. Many
students are advanced and my classes always lack challenge and luster.
In a word, they suck. The reason is many students are advanced, yet
many are well below average. When I have a lesson half the kids are
bored or half are completely lost. That gets tiring and difficult
after a while.
My second class, and only other class today, was really
blah. I tried to play scattergories, but it didn’t go so well. I wrote
the word “school” on the board and then “S” and explained they had to
make as many words as possible related to “school” using S as the
first letter. That part went great and some groups came up with clever
things, but when it was time to check it got boring. Then we did it
again and it was even more boring. That class is also hard to teach
because some are interested and others act like idiots. A few kids
just get up and walk around the classroom like a zombie since there’s
no real discipline in Japan and they know there is nothing I can do.
I’m really getting tired of living in Konan. I love the
town and the school, but living here is really tough. Not because the
7-11 just closed, though that makes it more difficult, but mainly
because I am usually completely alone. I like myself and can amuse
myself, but sometimes it’s like a minimum security prison. I have gone
entire weekends without speaking a word to anyone and sometimes I
don’t even leave my house. If I have food then there’s just nothing
else to do. The worst is when I am feeling down and want to talk to
someone or just not be alone so much. Then I have to drive all the way
into town, find someone and force myself into whatever they were
doing, then drive all the way back. Whereas if I lived in the city I
could say “how Bill is home, I’ll go over and chat with him for a
while”. I do better in situations where there are people around me. If
I were married then living in Konan would be great or even if there
were several other single teachers in the building (preferably who
don’t have families nearby and didn’t run away every weekend), but
living there completely alone and it being so far away makes it really
hard.
Now I go to another school once a week that is closer to
town. I could feasibly go there twice a week and or to another school
once a week. There are two elementary schools nearby that a friend
goes to, but I could visit them occasionally. If that were the case it
would make sense to live in town. Even now I wouldn’t mind driving out
here 4 days a week if I had a place in town, but if I were at other
schools closer then it would be far more justifiable. Plus I usually
have 1-2 days a week here with no classes since I am completely
underused in the elementary school. I did hear that might change in
April though so that the 5th and 6th graders
would have English once a week. That would give me 5 classes a week
plus any I went to with the Japanese English teacher. I could still do
all that in 2 days a week.
Sluggish.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
I have been in a slump recently. I more or less know why and much of
it has to do with being so isolated in my small town. I just don’t
have any motivation to get out and do stuff nor do want to get
together with people in town. I know that would lift me up a bit, but
it’s a vicious cycle. What I do love, and no sarcasm here, is when I
see people’s Facebook photos and stories about how they were IN my
town not more than 5 minutes away from me and didn’t call me up. In
their defense it would have disturbed my busy day of sitting alone in
my apartment doing nothing. Man that is awesome. I love it. I don’t
think I could physically love it anymore than I do.
Someone is having a gyoza party in a few weeks so that
will be fun. It will also be the day of the National English test and
the day between the school festival days (Friday and Sunday). So I
can’t stay in town and drink, but that’s no big deal. I’m not really
looking forward to the school festival either since I am always pushed
aside somehow. This year I had a big presentation planned and once
again told all the right people several times and I even made sure it
was only 5 minutes long. Then when the festival schedule came out I
noticed I wasn’t on there and got the hint. It would be too direct for
me to say “What the #”$%? I told you I had been working on something.”
I will make sure it happens for the farewell party in March. I might
even do something for Ose as well since their seniors are nice.
Sometimes nicer than Konan which is odd since Konan is a smaller
country school. I wouldn’t mind being an NT there as well.
Today I am going to take some vacation time and go see the
5th and 6th graders play basketball and soccer
at some elementary school in Koriyama. Then I’ll just go workout and
come back. I’m going to try to buy some pumpkins and have the 6th
graders carve them sometime next week or maybe the week after. I found
a place that sells them for a reasonable price. Most places charge
something stupidly Japanese like $50 per pumpkin (I’ve seen melons go
for hundreds of dollars - MELONS). This woman charges $10 each, but
she has some for $5 so I will get 10 or so and have the kids carve
them (and hopefully not themselves) sometime as an international
project.
Idiot.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
I was an idiot today and there’s no excuse really. The first thing is
they told me the BoE would be coming by for a surprise inspection
today (we are told in advance so no one’s feelings are hurt) and yet I
didn’t wear a tie or suit. I even thought about it, but I just didn’t.
No real reason why. I just didn’t wear one. Everyone else is in a
suit, but I’m Mr. Casual in a sweater. At least it is a high collar
sweater and not really clear I am not wearing a tie.
Then there was an English class with the 2nd
years and I just didn’t go. In my defense the English teacher rarely
asks me to go and I usually inject myself into the classes. What other
job in the world do you have to force more work for yourself? So I
knew the BoE people were here, but I thought it was only for the
physical inspection of the school. I didn’t know they would be
stepping into various classes. The vice principal came into the
teacher’s room and asked why I wasn’t in the class. I had no good
excuse unless I wanted to rat on the teacher for never telling me. I
just mumbled and acted like I couldn’t read the schedule.
On a brighter note, I had a great chest and tricep workout
last night. I actually walked for 30 minutes before on the treadmill
and then 38 minutes afterwards. I was listening to an audio book by
Haruki Murakami called “After Dark”. He has nice prose, but I’m not a
fan of the stream of consciousness ongoing pointless commentary. So
far it’s just about a guy chatting with a girl in a restaurant.
There’s no conflict or real reason to keep reading other than I just
want to see if there is some point at some point in the book. I do
like his imagery though.
Oh about the workout, I really pumped the chest and made
it burn. Then I tried a new tricep workout and found I was able to do
a few more kilos than usual. I worked out the triceps pretty hard at
home on Sunday and I guess that helped. I’m going to keep pumping them
hardcore for a few more weeks and then take a week or so break from
working out. Eating the salads at night has really helped me lose some
weight. I eat so much less (and so much better) than I did just last
year.
Compartmentalized.
Friday, October 10, 2008
I am amazed sometimes at how compartmentalized Japan is. Everything
about it fits into a certain place and things near each other usually
are connected. Even if they are similar or related. There is a certain
time and place for everything.
Yesterday there was an observed class here and the English
teacher had a big class. It was in front of all his peers so he
couldn’t fluff anything. When it’s for parents you just need to get
their kids speaking something, correct or not, and they love it. “Did
you see my boy, he was speaking real English to the foreign teacher.
Wow.” But this class was for his peers who would cut through any BS
like a hot butter knife. There were 70 teachers, plus all of our
teachers so nearly 100 people total watching his class. He has been
preparing for a month and constantly asking me if certain English
things were ok. Today I asked him how it was and he said it was great.
I asked if he went home and had a beer or two and he acted surprised
and said no he hadn’t because the official “well done” party was
tonight, not last night. I said “yea, but yesterday was the stressful
day and maybe you would relax after the stressful event, last night.”
He replied that the proper time to relax would be tonight at the
party, not before. He is just holding in, or ignoring, his relief
until the appropriately specified time to release it.
Once I was on a little tour around town, years ago, with
an international club of sorts. We looked at various historical sites
on a bus. I was really interested in the whole trip since we were
seeing some authentic places that were over a hundred years old.
Apparently it was a different experience to the Japanese people on
board. We were told specifically when to feel nostalgic about certain
places, and then when to stop feeling that way. A similar thing
happened in Thailand about 4 years ago at the Bridge over the river
Kwai. A Japanese tour group was walking around talking about the
tragedy that “happened” there (even though it was the Japanese
themselves that caused it, but they ignored that). At one point they
were told to feel sad about what happened here, and then they were
told to stop feeling sad. The moment had passed and now it was time to
think about lunch. Things, such as emotions, can be turned on and off
as the time and place permits.
I think I am going to try to get my job duties changed
again soon. Again this will be in the BoE’s favor, not mine. What I
will be proposing is they give me more schools for the same, or less,
pay. How awesome is that? I really want to move into the city and that
would be more possible if I went to other schools once or twice a
week. Konan doesn’t need a foreign teacher 5 days a week. I’d say 2,
maybe 3 times would be fine. Starting in April I will only have 3 NT
classes here per week since there will be only one class per grade,
and then about 6 classes with the elementary school. Even if I came 2
times a week, that would only be 9 classes and that would be fine.
That would give me 1 other day to go to Ose (where I had 5 classes
yesterday) and then 2 other days for either other schools or one
school twice or Ose twice and another school once or any other
possible combination.
It would be so nice living in the city. I would only drive
when I had to come out here and I’d buy a bike for everything else.
That would be so nice no worrying about parking or gas or what that
noise is under the hood. If there were a train that came out to Konan
I probably wouldn’t have a car at all. That would be a big savings
since this whole next paycheck will go to paying the car tax in
November. Just when the dollar is really weak and I would make money
on the transfer I won’t be sending money back. Poo.
Poorest Planning Ever.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
I went to the big palette International Festival with a new Koriyama
ALT named Angela. She volunteered to work at it for a while and I
wanted to go get some international food. When we arrived they said
the lot was full, actually all lots were full, and we had to park at
the Culture Park. Ha ha, I thought you said Culture Park, but that
can't be right because it is 5 miles away. Yep, that was right. We
drove until we found this random amusement park in the middle of no
where. When we pulled in the guy acted surprised that we were there
and didn't know where we should park. Then he moved a cone and let us
park right up front. We got on a shuttle bus and headed back for the
big palette.
When we arrived I took her straight to where the FuJET booth always
is. It has always been in this one area of the convention center. I
noticed there were tents in the parking lot and all around the
building. Classic Japanese thinking to plan several things at once. We
couldn't find the booth or any booth that looked remotely like where
we were going. Then we saw two people involved with JET and they told
us the FuJET booth was:
A)
outside
B) in the parking lot
C) at the absolute far end of the lot
I had a moment of WHAT THE %#$@ and then I remembered I was in Japan
and things rarely make any logical sense. So we walked all the way out
there during a wind storm and noticed there were hardly any people
outside in the windy sprinkling rain. Why would there be hardly anyone
outside in the windy sprinkling rain? The few people that were out
there were watching a tradition at this festival. The tradition is
that there MUST be a stage with music that is way too loud and usually
completely UNinternational.
Here we have a band of Japanese guys who occasionally played a Beatles
song and then played some Japanese songs. There will always be a
semi-almost famous local group like this to attract people to the
International festival, otherwise people (especially young people)
would not come.
Finally we found the booth near the end and Angela started to work her
magic on some kid. Luckily she was a design major and has some drawing
skills. Other volunteers were only drawing Japanese flags or easy
things. I was bored so I went in to explore the inside and find some
good International Food at an International Festival.
It was foolish of me to think there would be international food.
Apparently this year the reason it was so big was that some other
educational festival invited the international association to join up.
Once that was set in stone the EF people explained it would cost
$3,000 per booth to be inside the building. Ah, hence the reason the
Fukushima International Festival is outside at the end of the parking
lot. I also heard that all the food booths were only Japanese
traditional foods since people might be uncomfortable with
international foods. I can understand this. I too don't want to eat
the garbage those peasants eat. Who wants to mingle with lower people?
So typical.
What was even more typical was a common Japanese custom related to
reserving seats. I always hate it when I go into a restaurant and see
people go over and put their bags down and then go get in line. It
seems logical to me (ah, I am using logic) to get your food and then
find a seat. But what I saw
 today
was a stretch and really annoying, but it didn't surprise me. I saw an
empty table and wanted to get it, but as I was walking toward it
someone jumped in front of me and grabbed it. That's absolutely
classic Japanese and though I was mad, I expected it. The woman put
some bags down and then left. I bought some overpriced-less than
enough curry rice and sat on a concrete block near the table. I
noticed after about 5 minutes no one was there yet. Then I saw the
woman and her family watching something on a stage and not actually
getting food. I ate slowly and waited and still nothing. Finally
Angela came back and she took my pole-seat and ate while I went to go
look for something sweet. I found it and came back and still no one
was sitting there. Then I went inside the big room and walked around a
bit and when I came out, still no one there. The family was still
watching the stage and just reserved the table for whenever they got
around to eating. A few minutes later when Angela finished I saw them
come to the table and sit down to eat after about 25 minutes of
hogging the table.
Inside the hall there were some cool educational displays like the
aquarium truck that also had some portable aquariums with cool stuff
in them. Other than that everything was a bit too educationally
serious for me.
Outside there were some interesting booths like the one related to
building with wood. It was in the international section even though it
was not about international stuff at all. It allowed people to do
something with the wood. I didn't mess with it even though I like
hands on things. Then on the right there is a picture of a boring "Why
we should not litter" booth which, oddly enough, never had any people
at it.
I have
never been to one of these festivals that wasn't annoying in some way.
This year it wasn't due to poor planning by the guy that planned it,
but moreso by the Educational Festival people that used this festival
to make theirs look bigger. They are going to get credit for having
"500 booths" even though the festival end got the shaft. Putting
people outside in the parking that is uncovered....bad idea. When it
rained or looked like rain people fled. Having a festival take up the
parking lot completely and then restricting all the other ones around
the event...bad idea. I would have said forget it if I had been alone
or if Angela hadn't agreed to work at it. It was a huge hassle driving
5 miles across town and parking somewhere else only to get on a
shuttle bus that left every 45 minutes. We had to wait about 30
minutes when we decided to leave since there was not another bus for a
while. They expected 10,000 people to come and it was closer to 2,000.
Hmmm, I wonder why.
Knock Knock.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Today was a school holiday.
I was leaving to clean my car this afternoon and there were two women
in the lobby of the apartment building. They started rambling on about
something and I said I didn't speak any Japanese (in Japanese) and
then one started speaking English. They were Jehovah's Witnesses and
started with their little speech. I told them I wasn't interested and
went on my way. I knew they were going to knock on the doors of the
unoccupied apartments, but I didn't care. I just wanted to get away.
I think the thing that annoyed/annoys me the most is not that they are
going door to door selling their religion. Or as Elton John says
"handing tickets out for God". What really annoys me is that they send
non-threatening attractive females who appear to be there against
their will. I almost felt bad enough for them to talk for a bit, but I
just resent the whole door to door disturbing me idea. It had me
really annoyed and as I cleaned my car I thought about why they would
do this. Surely 99.9% of the people who they visit say NO or something
less polite. Can't they just post billboards saying "Hey, here's our
church, come by if you want". I was really in a tizzy about it all.
Then I started thinking about what it would be like to just drop in to
a new church. I mean a church of all places would be about the most
welcoming place I could imagine to cold visit, but still there would
be that whole idea of dressing up and diving there and then actually
going in and having people look at you and wondering who you were and
all that. If you had a friend that went there then it would be so
easy, you just go with the friend. But if you knew no one at the
church and you were thinking about going, but didn't want to go alone,
what would you do? Well that would be the perfect time for two
non-threatening women/girls to stop by and offer to talk. Hmmm,
looking at it like that I can understand it. And they don't come by
enough to be annoying, just often enough to find new people who might
have moved in since their last visit. Plus they do stop and leave the
second you say you aren't interested. Next time they visit I'm still
going to say I'm not interested, but I won't be so annoyed by them.
In Excess.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I made about 80 gyoza to make sure I remembered the recipe. A friend
named Sarah and I are having a gyoza party at her place this Saturday.
It should only cost about 500 yen ($5) per person to eat as many gyoza
as they want. Gyoza are cheap to make, but sell for about 50 yen per
piece in some places. I can make them for about 3-5 yen each. I should
start a restaurant, even though cooking nothing but gyoza would get
boring fast. Anyway, I made the usual size batch to see how much it
would make and it made about 80. So I will quadruple it and add a bit
more meat and it should be good to go for the 10 people showing up. I
don’t imagine I will eat that many because…..
I had a major headache after eating all of them in one
day. I think it was from the excessive soy
sauce I took in. Soy sauce being pure sodium i.e. salt. It started as
a blood pressure headache which is the very top of the head for me.
Then I took some medicine to lower my BP and later it was a regular
back of the neck headache. I took some regular Aleve for that and it
quickly went away. The only thing I like about having a headache is
when the medicine kicks in and it starts to tingle away. I’d rather
not have that feeling if it means having the headache first, but if I
have one I look forward to that feeling. It’s probably something like
my neurons being eaten or destroyed, but it sure feels dandy.
Then I woke up at the usual 6am and hit snooze 5 times
because I realized I had left the window open when I woke up at 3am
with the neck headache. I was freezing and ended up turning on my wall
heater and then taking a long hot shower. It was one of those where I
didn’t want to turn the water off although I had finished well before.
I was just spinning around the shower and dreaming about having two
faucets. Whenever I buy a house I am going to have a fat shower with
two nozzles on opposite walls. I’m not looking forward to the cold
weather setting in. I’m going to pull out my electric blanket tonight.
I figured out what that noise was in my car. I don’t know
if I mentioned that before, but if not
 there
is some annoyingly loud squeaking noise in my car. I assumed it was
nothing major since the car still runs, but it squeaks every time I
hit even the smallest bump, which is basically every foot. I searched
around and compared both sides of the back end and found it has
something to do with where the axle connects to the frame. Axles and
frames seem like such small insignificant parts of the car so I’m not
worried. Nope, not a bit. I mean what would happen if they completely
separated? The car would crumble to pieces and crash? Well that could
be fun. I have my yearly mandatory car check in early November and I
expect it to wipe me out financially. Any money I had started to save
will be spent on that. Awesome. I love having a car in Japan. Photo
The frame and the rear axle support completely separated from it.
As Planned.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
I bought 14 pumpkins for my 28 6th graders last Monday.
I’ve been planning this for a while and it came out nearly completely
as planned. The only thing that would have been better would have been
to have two class periods so they could go a bit slower and have more
time, but we started 10 minutes early and went 10 minutes over and
that was almost enough.
I paid 500 yen each for 14 pumpkins and had no intention of asking to
be reimbursed, but the 6th grade teacher was so impressed
with the class he pulled the money out of the 6th grade
fund to repay me. It came at a perfect time because I am broke and
there’s no longer an ATM in my stupid dumb head town with stupid dumb
trees and stuff. Anyway, I kept them in my car and didn’t go into town
last night because I didn’t want anything to happen to them. Then I
cut the tops and cleaned out the insides since I knew that would take
the kids 30 minutes. It would be about 5 minutes of doing it and 25
minutes of whining about not wanting to do it.
This morning they finished their morning stuff around 8:20
and then had the mandatory morning greetings and stuff. Finally they
finished everything at 8:30 and I went on. I had told a few kids that
my class this week would be awesome, but I didn’t tell them what it
was going to be about. They assumed it was some new computer game I
made, but they were wrong. When I went to the front of the class I
told them about what we do in the US as kids around Halloween. Then I
said one thing we do is carve pumpkins. Finally I said “I have 14
pumpkins in my car right now, so let’s go carve pumpkins”. Their jaws
dropped and they cheered which is the reaction I wanted. There’s
always the chance that they wouldn’t care or be bored, but I love this
class and knew/hoped they would be excited. I rarely see pumpkins
around Japan so I was pretty sure they don’t carve them.
We went down to the front of the school and I had pulled
my car up to the front. I had the kids spread out two big tarps, get
into pairs, and take a sheet of newspaper. Then they lined up and I
dished out the goods. Then I gave them some sample faces on a printout
and a marker and told them to choose one or make their own. I didn’t
mention that complicated faces or ones with curves would be tough, but
most went with some variant of the old standard. A few went with
curves or stars or difficult things, but it ended up ok I think. About
5 minutes before the class was supposed to be over they started
cleaning (which I had planned to do alone) and then we took shots of
the pairs with their pumpkins. Then a group shot, which I will
treasure. Finally we were finished about 10 minutes after class was
supposed to end. Actually it was about 5 minutes into the next class,
but that was apparently a free class. Overall it went almost exactly
as I planned and I am very pleased. I hope their parents are pleased
when we display them at the school festival this Sunday.
Down and Out.
Thursday, October 17, 2008
It’s out school festival today and Sunday. Tomorrow morning I have to
be here at the school at 8am to help administer the national English
test. That’s fine. Then after that I am going to Koriyama to help host
a Gyoza Party called Gyozapalooza. Well only I call it that really.
This morning when I got here everyone asked if I was going to play
basketball on the teachers team during the festival. I quickly
remembered something I forgot at home and said I couldn’t participate
since I had to run home. The truth is I don’t do sports (at all
really) competitively. If I am goofing around then maybe or a few guys
having fun then maybe, but when stakes are high or people are counting
on everyone doing their best, then I don’t participate. Basically I am
a terd when it comes to sports. I don’t know all the details and rules
of basketball and usually do something stupid. It’s really like
watching a newborn horse trying to stand up for the first time. You’re
like “eh…come on…almost…eh I can’t watch this”. Plus when they made me
participate two years ago the red pullover jersey was grossly too
tight and short. I looked ridiculous and it really highlighted my
obese stomach of which I am embarrassed by easily.
The kids and teachers are all happy and working intently
preparing for the big part of the festival on Sunday. I, on the other
hand, have no real duties that I can do at school and I’m just
wandering around doing nothing really. This is the part of the culture
I hate. Everyone has a job and is focused on doing that job as best as
THAT PERSON can. Sometimes I will offer to help because there is
something I can do efficiently, but it’s not about that at all. If I
were to help it would put someone out of a job. So I usually get
brushed off, either politely or abruptly. After that happens about 10
times I start getting introverted and feel like hiding or running
away. It’s rough feeling unwanted, but it’s something you get used to
in Japan.
I can’t really watch the festivals anymore since I have figured out
they are nearly identical. It’s like a template they use every year
and only change the song names. Everything else is identical. The
girls dancing are doing the same dance as the girls last year, to a
different song. The choruses are singing different songs. All the
skits are nearly the same. The song the teachers sing is the same. The
taiko group is playing the same song as last year (and years before)
and doing the same routine. Our video is nearly the same. I have put
in several hours in making the video and most of the time was spent on
the subtitles. Since having to read or listen to simple English would
be too much for the babied students. Someone might feel left out if
they didn’t understand some part. When we were filming I even told
them kids to not worry about mistakes since no one was listening,
everyone was reading the titles, and even if they were reading they
couldn’t understand the English anyway.
I’m having some problems making the video so I went home
to try and break it up into smaller chunks and then put those chunks
together to make a whole movie. There are some stupid Windows errors
so I ended up having to buy a whole new program. I’m using Sony Vegas
Movie Studio 9 which is affordably priced and has nice features. When
I installed that program it too had problems and wouldn’t load. I set
in a help request so maybe that will be ok later. Argh.
Festive.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The school festival is today. I just showed the English game show
video I made for the elective English class and I realized that I
truly do not understand Japanese culture sometimes. The video was
great, but they didn’t laugh at some parts that were really funny.
They did laugh at some parts that were horribly mundane. I mean like a
guy walking down the hall. Someone standing up. Someone sitting and
turning her head. Those parts were hysterical. It’s like the word
“blue” they would laugh at that like they were at a Steve Martin
concert, but something funny caused them to just sit there.
Luckily the video before was horrible and that made us
look a little better. Basically the video before us involved them
having no script and just turning on the camera and filming. Then the
kid that gets really hyper surprisingly got really hyper and they
filmed that. He was just yelling, barking, chanting, babbling, and
clapping for about 2 minutes. It was so far beyond the point of funny
or anything that made sense. I wanted to read over and stop the video
it was so bad.
The funniest thing about the whole festival was the anti-climatic
ending which was even moreso this year. They always build up to the
same thing, pulling a string and some ball of confetti opens and it
falls down on the two student council people. This year they pulled it
and it did nothing for about a minute. They were both totally confused
as to what to do so they stood there looking it at in total silence.
Then the ball opened and it fell. There was so much waiting time after
they pulled the string that I was able to pull out my camera, turn it
on, debate about whether or not to take the photo, and then actually
take it.
Just
staring at the ball.
It finally fell.
Later the teachers got on stage and performed some song. It was nearly
all the JHS teachers, but not me. I have hinted that I could play bass
or something for a few years, but they never seem to invite me. The
punishment in Japan for anything is to be excluded from a group. I'm
not saying I was being punished, just that that's how they do it.
There was a big party in town after the festival, but I didn't go. I
wasn't in the mood to be sober and be ignored.
I had
typed a lot more, but the computer locked up and I couldn't save it.
Oh well it was just me whining anyway.
No Longer Festive.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The big news of the day is that my car is dead. Completely kaput
(which seems to be a word). It has been making a nasty sound for a
while which gradually got worse. Then it stopped when I went over a
big bump in the road. I searched to find what it was last week and saw
the rear axle had separated from the frame. [see entry above with
photo] I knew it was either going to be expensive or it would be the
end of this car. When I took it to the repair shop in town (one I know
and trust) he showed me how the frame had rusted out completely and
told me I couldn’t drive it anymore and that it was amazing I hadn’t
had an accident with the curvy roads around here. I wasn’t terribly
surprised since I had seen the problem and knew frame issues are big.
He gave me a loaner for a while and said he would search for a car.
Someone at school is also searching for me.
The photo is of the loaner.
This time I am going for smaller and cheaper. I am going
to stick to my budget this time. Last time I set a budget and the car
place came back with the dead car at about $1,000 over my budget, but
I went ahead and took it. This time I am going to stick with it and
say maybe $2,000 total. I’m tired of buying cars in Japan. As often as
they are mandatorily checked by garages here I should be able to get a
decent one that lasts a while. Plus I rarely drive it.
So this pretty much crimps my winter travel plans. I
wasn’t really excited about going anywhere for some reason, but now I
don’t think I can do anything. Maybe I can travel around Japan with
someone else who is staying or someone who might visit. Big bag of
poo. Maybe I can find the money somewhere and still manage to get out
of the country even if it’s only to Guam or South Korea, but I doubt
it. More poo.
Hmmm, another odd thing is the big public observed class
coming up in November. Sometime last month the English teacher told me
I would be teaching and asked who I wanted to teach. I said the 1st
years so I could do a listening and reading activity. Then I didn’t
hear anything about it for a while so I asked today. He looked at the
schedule and saw I wasn’t teaching any class. Apparently when he wrote
me down as being with the first years that meant “ok unless anyone
else wants it, then you’re out”. It’s fine with me in the sense that I
don’t have to worry about preparing a great class like I do every
year, but also disappointing in the sense that I look forward to doing
a wild media-filled class that blows people’s minds. I wasn’t even
told that I was off the schedule, but that doesn’t really surprise me.
Today I am going to some other school after lunch to see
an observed class. That will be fun, but after that there is some
boring meeting all in Japanese for about an hour or more. I went to it
last time and it was interesting. It was actually at Ose where I go on
Thursdays so it gave me a sneak preview of the school. More on that
and the car matter when I get back.
A Loss.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Having my car taken away on the spot was like losing a distant
relative or friend suddenly. I’m not crushed or heartbroken, but I had
done things to it that day and made future plans for it and now all
that is gone. I filled up the tank, gave it a good $10 thorough wash,
cleaned the inside, I was planning to buy some fancy wheels soon and a
new radio/speaker combo, I had already bought winter tires for it, and
I had attached an auto engine starter. All that was wasted now and it
was so sudden.
When I got to school the VP said the guy from the car
place came yesterday (when I was at Ohse) and explained a few things.
Basically he has a car or two that he wants me to look at. It’s not a
k-car (which means small and cheap), but it is semi cheap and I think
I can pay over a few months. Every time I decide to pay down some loan
with some spare money I have a car issue. Every time without fail and
sometimes it has been nearly the exact same amount. It’s truly amazing
in a way that makes me want to pull my hair out. The last time it
almost happened was when I had an extra $300 from the Bush
Administration’s Stimulus Package (i.e. we don’t need to send this
money to Iraq, so you can have it back), I was going to buy an iPod.
The garage said it would cost $300 to fix my brakes. Instead of doing
that I decided to drive it until the problem got worse (although I
still didn’t buy the iPod). It’s good that I did that because now I
don’t have to pay for the brakes since the car is scrapped.
Yesterday I went to Ohse and it was a really slow day. I
actually shouldn’t have gone, but they had me on the schedule to go. I
had one class and then sat there more or less doing nothing. Actually
since there is no computer for me to use I always get caught up on
reading and making lists of things to do. This time I planned some
lessons for next week when I have 4 classes. I plan to make a video
for the 7th grader’s lesson about “what time is it” and
“how’s the weather”. It’s based on a web-chat with people from around
the world.
Finally something cool.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Well I think I found a car that I can afford and it’s actually cool.
This would be the first car I’ve ever had that I thought was really
cool. I always buy cars that are economical and safety and reliable
and priced right. I’ve never had anything that I thought looked really
cool. But this car is actually affordable and cool and long. I think I
can lie down in the back with the seats down.
My first car was an Oldsmobile Omega. Think of what your
grandmother drives and that’s it. But it was my first car and I have
fond memories of it. It was not the Delorian that I wanted, but that
was too expensive anyway. The Omega was affordable, but not cool or
overly reliable. My next car was a graduation gift and it was brand
new and semi-almost cool. It was a free new car so I loved it and it
was reliable for the first 10 years, but I drove it hard. I used it to
go to and from college which was 4 hours away. Then I traded it for a
great Honda Civic, which was stupidly totaled by someone with no
insurance so I barely made any money off it. Then I got a used cheap
manual Nissan truck which was almost cool, but it was so old and basic
that it had some problems.
Yesterday I took the day off so I could get my blood
checked again. It was better than last time and some tests were in the
normal range, but still not where they should be. I think it’s because
I haven’t worked out for 2 weeks and ate poorly a few times when I had
no time for a proper meal. Then I went to the board of education and
asked them for the stupid form that proves I have a parking space. You
can’t buy a car without one. The guy said it would take about a week
even though it’s just filling out a form and stamping it. So I can’t
buy the car until next week sometime. I’ll have to get up to Fukushima
city somehow and buy it then.
It’s a white plate car which means gas will be back to $70
per tank and other fees will be more as well. For some reason the
smaller yellow plate “cheaper” cars are actually not cheaper. They
cost more than the big white plates, but taxes are cheaper and so is
the stupid inspection every two years.
I spent several hours at home and then more here early
this morning preparing stuff for the 6th graders. Then
minutes before the observed class the teacher said he changed the plan
and none of my stuff was needed. That’s ok since he does it a lot and
I’m used to it. His kids are going to be great as 7th
graders when I get to teach them alone since he’s prepared them so
well. The problem is only when we are teaching together that he goes
off plan and usually excludes me or something I’ve prepared. It’s no
big deal though.
I’ve been super productive this week and I don’t know why.
It’s not like I drank some coffee which made me hyper, I just planned
a few things well and actually got them done. Monday I worked on
translating several things for a project. Tuesday I did all that stuff
around town. Monday I also filmed some parts for a video I made for
Ohse JHS. It’s me talking to another version of me about “where are
you…I’m in Atlanta…how’s the weather….It’s cloudy”. Tuesday I finished
it and made it into an independent DVD with subtitles and menus. Today
I am typing this in class during an activity. Last night I also made a
print out for the 2nd graders and then some stickers of my
face. I give them Ryan Stickers after each class.
[later]
And the Universe has spoken. And it has said “HA, you
thought you were going to get a cool car that you liked? Nope, you are
destined for the standard plain economical reliable car. Forget the
cool cars you saw in Fukushima city. You can only drive a smart car
your parents would be proud of.” And it shall become so.
I called the local mechanic to tell him he no longer needs
to search for a car. When he answered he started saying “Hey Ryan,
great news, I found a car for you and I already bought it and it’s
already on the way.” So I couldn’t tell him to un-buy it. I’m not sure
what the details are, but it’s a 4WD small Pajero Mini. I think it’s
cheaper than the ones I saw (the cools ones) so that will be a plus.
The other thing that’s a plus is that this place knows the place I
bought the scrapped car from and that place feels bad that the car
they sold me a year and a half ago is now junk so I heard they MIGHT
be taking care of something related to the car, but I don’t know what.
I’m now depressed because I tried to escape who I am and I couldn’t.
I’m the guy that drives reliable economical cars.
Not Needed.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
I
mentioned that I made a video for Ohse JHS to be used today. It took
about 6 hours to plan it, film it, capture it, edit it, and make the
DVD. I was so excited when I got to Ohse because I wanted to show them
the video that was perfectly matched to the lesson. Then we did the
lesson and didn't use the DVD. He said we would use it next week. Then
he came back later and said he would be on a business trip next week
so there would be no classes with the 1st years so I won't have class
with them for 2 weeks and by then the lesson (and video) will be long
gone.
It was depressing that I put all that effort into making the video and
it wasn't used. I'm not mad since things like that happen all the time
in Japan. Just this week on Wednesday a teacher had me prepare tons of
stuff in color and print them all out and do about 4 hours worth of
work. Then just before class he said he changed the plan so none of it
is needed. You get mad the first 382 times that happens, then you get
used to it and laugh it off. I'm really not mad about the video since
I learned some things about making videos and I can make a better one
next time. That's one thing I love about my Native Teacher classes. No
one gets in the way of what I have planned.
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