October 25, 2007

• Work!

  ‘New Foos album rules! And one of the songs is called “Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-up Is Running)” Hehe…

  You really know you’re in Japan when you find yourself scarfing down
  Mister Donut and drinking cold lemon tea from a small mug with the
  words “Do you like vegetable? We wanna live healthily. Being healthy is beautiful” written
  round the rim. I didn’t buy that mug. A lady at Interac named
  Makino-San gave it to me. Anyway… anecdote time. Just last week I was
  out in the car-park beside my apa-to building
  skippi… *ahem! I mean “jumping rope.” Or “jump-roping.” or whatever
  (but definitely not “skipping”…) as part of the
  newly-revived-Mario-and-Mike-initiated NUFS Gym Crew routine when I got
  a phone call from Matt. (Good job as my left ankle was curiously,
  mysteriously hurting for reasons I am totally unaware and that
  definitely have nothing whatsoever to do with Matthew Lott…) Anyway,
  Matt and I had been talking for a while when suddenly a devistating
  realisation hit me; we had spent the past half an hour… talking about
  work! We had become the grown-ups who talk about work to each other,
  made all the worse by the fact we do the same job! We stopped doing
  that instantly… but we had just spent a good 30 minutes talking about
  class, our JTLs, our schools, the kids… and now I find myself looking
  for something to update about and drawing only… this. Work.

  

  You really know you’re in Japan when a classroom of 14-15 year olds
  laughs derisively at 1 poor girl exclaiming she wanted to go into
  politics when she’s older but doesn’t bat an eyelid when a boy tells
  you he wants to be a beautician. Anyway… these are my schools.
  Shikino JHS on the left and Kuniyoshi JHS on the right. I only do
  Tuesdays at Kuniyoshi, the rest of the time I’m at Shikino. I gotta say
  I enjoy my job, by and large. It certainly doesn’t suck and I know
  there are a lot of people out there whose jobs do suck
  so I reckon I’m pretty lucky, all in all. My JTLs are all pretty cool
  and have helped me a lot. I’ve no idea if I’m that great an ALT right
  now but I seem to have made some good impressions with my ability to
  advise them on the nuances of the English language and the kids are
  pretty cool. Kuniyoshi is a little out of town, quite inaka,
  so the kids are all a little innocent and, as a result, really cool.
  Shikino is a town school and, whilst most of the kids are ok (and some
  are really cool) some are…. a bit…. more… challenging. Still,
  it’s a far cry from a school in the UK or US where I’d bet the jerks
  out-number the cool kids pretty heavily. There are a couple of boys who
  I get on really well with in and out of class and when a girl comes up
  to you and says, in English, “you are a nice guy and a great teacher”
  you do feel pretty good!

  You really know you’re in Japan when you have to explain to your JTL
  why you were laughing cos the 1st years wrote in their essay about
  things they own, “I have balls.” Anyway… life beyond school is
  simple, if a little uneventful. I have been occupying myself with
  bike-rides, a bit of working out more recently and ridiculous amounts
  of time online, as usual. My trips down to Matt and Dani’s place in
  Gifu generally occur 1 weekend per month at present, at least til my
  bank balance starts to put on some weight. I am seriously indebted to
  Calex for lending me the sizable sum of 250,000 yen which saved my ass
  from starvation this last month. Luckily I should receive my first real
  paycheck by the end of this week.

  You really know you’re in Japan when powerful celebrities can be seen
  endorsing unknown products. Check it out. The Governator advertising
  something called “California Fair!” I dunno what it is… I was just in
  shock at seeing Arnie on a Japanese advertisement and simultaneously
  scrambling for my keitai. “Kalifohhneeah Feeeaah! Yaaauuhh! I’m going to sell you this unidentified product and I want you to buy it immediately!” Anyway…

  
  You really know you’re in Japan when you can’t help but buy an energy
  drink cos it’s based on something from a video game. I drank my
  “potion” whilst working out this Monday. I think it helped, though the
  absence of little green numbers appearing above my head had me
  concerned maybe it was not doing the job… Anyway… talking of being
  in Japan, Jeremy arrived not so long ago and Balex should be settling
  in as I type. Our forces grow ever stronger…

  Guess I’m done for now. Peace out! “Dear God, I’ve sealed my fate… Running through hell, heaven can wait…”

  
  

  • 9:37 am
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