August 4, 2004

• OOPS:  my REAL PHONE NUMBER is 088 672 4229.  ill go back and change that. 

  
  

  PRINCIPAL MTG: so it was quite awkward.   it was the morning after i arrived in Itano.  so there was the principal, my supervisor Kitahara, a vice principal and the head of the english dept.  because even tho nobuko Kitahara is an english teacher, her english is not that great.  but it seems like her husband is my acting supervisor for all intensive purposes.  more on him later. hes a scream.  so we re just sitting in the frosty principals office.  he s the only one with really nice air con.  and a huge office too.  i forgot the omiyage/gift and im not sure really how to go about interacting with him again to give it to him.  so we just sat there, had some coffee, all five of us.  talked about the weather, my first time to japan, how i rode my bike through the hot weather to get there that morning.  all this thru TAKEUCHI-sensei, the head of the english dept-great english.  wow.  awkward!  i mean from a 3rd person stand point.  it would be awkward.  i really havent felt panicked or anxious still, barring being afraid of starving to death and possibly realizing that the only thing to do in japan is to bar crawl. 

  
  

  MUZAK: ive heard some fun songs on in the supermarket.  they are weird synthesized lite versions of Wham and lisa loeb and bon jovi.  its sometimes hard to even recognize what song it is. 

  
  

  TYPHOON: did i mention that its typhoon season?  well it is and besides going out with the group on the first typhoon since we ve arrived to japan, last night was a rager. luckily it was all at night, but the wind was so strong i was getting a little worried.  the drying racks hanging outside we re hitting against my windows and it was tough to sleep.  if i were a small child i might have been imagining a monster outside. 

  
  

  TV: my 10 channels turn out to be more like 4 or 5 i think.  a lot of them are repeats of other channels that come in worse.  so the only one the comes in well is channel 1.  which fine i guess because it is a total mash of programming.  last night there was a great show with a magician.  dont have to know japanese to understand that.  and they were so reactive.  the japanese are great.  and there was another show with music video clips-good.  and of course afternoon childrens programming.  yay.  even tho i have only the one station i still feel the urge to change the channel.  i just need to stop holding the remote. at least all the commercials are at the top and bottom of the hour.  but there are all the same 5 or so.  over and over.  some of them are cool i guess. 

  
  

  APARTMENT:  im wondering why, in such a small and barely furnished apartment, why does one need a spaghetti measurer?  its a paddle shaped thing with some different sized holes in it to show you how much dry spaghetti to cook for 1-4 servings.  weird. 

  
  

  BUGS: there are a lot of dead potato bugs on my stairs after the typhoon. and the cicadas are deadly.  they are huge and loud.  and clumsy things.  when they are buzzing it sounds like an electic wire has come loose. 

  
  

  CUTE: so in one of emily`s (my predecessor) little maps, she labeled one building really close by a dojo.  it seems to be a regular apartment building but on the third floor there is some writing on the windows, so i thought maybe up there.  last night i looked out my kitchen window, where a spider insists on builing and rebuiling his web INSIDE the window, and there were all these little boys barely a head above the window frame looking out the window too.  and im on the third floor too so we were right level.  they must ve had a break and opened the windows since its sooo hot and humid.  i have a little air con in my place.  so they waved and i waved, and they laughed and waved more.  it was sooo cute!!!.   and i didnt want to get them in trouble so i waved a little more then closed the window.  im hoping that maybe i can join a class of sorts once i get some money and get settled.  maybe i can be in class with the 8 year olds.  FUN!

  
  

  MONEY TROUBLES: so like an asshole, i did bring enough money.  i knew it wasnt enough.  in general, i heard amounts like in thousands but i didnt have to pay key money or deposit or rent really so i needed much less.  emily told me she brought 1000 and the kitahara s said at least 500.  so i brought 400.  like i said- asshole.  so now im trying to get money from my ATM card and such.  pretty much impossible.  i went to the bank in Itano-no go.  went to the big bank in Tokushima city-no.  they sent us to the central bank building – that guy said that we should have been able to use it in Itano but they just didnt know what to do.  GREAT!  then we also tried at the central post office as long as we were in the city.  NO NO NO.  they werent kidding when they said cash based.  but how do i get my cash?  but today were going back to the bank that now knows what to do hopefully.  and if that doesnt work, i will have the PIN for my visa set up in another day or so and other than that there s MOMMY.  altho i dont know how they would send me money.  they understand VISA here ok, but the whole debit card thing with visa on it is a tough thing to explain. 

  
  

  KITAHARA Aki: thats the hubby, who can speak english.  he s the one who took me around to all the banks and is taking me again today.  he s great.  he s so bubbly. he was talking about cartoons and sesame street acting out the characters at obscene volumes.  and he bought me a sandwich after all the bank crap.  really nice guy.  then says, he is reminded of a funny joke, which he proceeds to tell.  the punchline comes and i didnt really get it, but it was still funny as you can imagine.  i have his cell number for whatever i need too.  of course last time he returned my call after 7 hours, but hey, im alive.  hooray for you, macgyver. 

  
  

  LING THING (really should only be read by linguistic dorks, jen counts, maybe jimmy if he reads this.  the rest of you be warned nerdiness is coming): nama.  namabiiru.  draught beer.  this other JET thought that it meant 1 as in one beer.  isnt that cute and pragmatic? 

  
  

  FOOD: i went to a bakery and the lady didnt speak english so i couldnt really ask what i was buying.  so i grabbed what looked like a small hotdog and some egg salad sandwiches.  they always cut the crust off.  weird.  but the hot dog was weirder.  it was tiny and had mayo and shredded lettuce hiding under it.  i mean it was good.  but huh?  ive been doing the ramen thing still, but i did make rice.  actually that s the first time.  hooray rice cooker.  for a while it just wasnt going on, but i conquered it.  and i also had no way of knowing if i bought the right rice.  but i do know the kanji for rice.  sweet.  and it burnt a bit, but the part above that was ok.  ive found that even eating instant food is tough when you can t read the directions.  unless it s just add water, i cant really cook it now can i???  i think i ve messed up some things where you just add water plus maybe one step.  either that or i just dont like those noodle bowls.  which is unlikely.  some of them have little shapes in them like flowers or hamtaro that you can eat.  they are made of flat noodle or gluten or something, but they are colorful and look like paper cutouts but you can eat them.  NEAT!

  
  

  MEISHI: i got business cards today!  neat!  i dont know what to do with them, but cool! 

  
  

  INTROs: i ve met a few of the teachers here.  they came to me.  i hear that im supposed to intro myself to them, but im scared.  and right when i meet someone, their name goes right out of my head.  DAMN!  so far i have like 5 names down.  that s not enough.  and the english head, takeuchi, asked me to proof his letter and rec for emily!  i made several corrections!  i hope that s not rude.  he s the friggin head of the english department!

  
  

  god, i love the internet and never want to live without it.   EVER.  thats all for now. 

  
  

  FIRST CLASS: tomorrow!  about 10 junior high students are coming to see an english class.  this is kind of a shame since it will be my first class so how typical will that be?  but its low pressure, so im going to do an intro of course and then some games or something.  things i should be doing now instead of spending hrs on the internet like i am.  cool. 

  
  

  and i finished the interpreter.  the end was a little disappointing in the way that it wrapped so quickly i thought.  but it was a good read and kept me interested.  no small feat.  now on to the one other book i brought, then the books left in the apartment: some dh lawrence, some new classics, and some romance novels.  woo.

  • 8:38 pm
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