Raaaaantingggg

Oh, I hate to burden the four people that read this, but I am frustrated and need to rant!

1. I finally (after MUCH kicking and screaming from my motivation) finished the first draft of my graduate course tutorial. Now the stupid #$%*&$# file won't load to the server. I've tried 3 times and each time it FAILS. I have a sinking suspicion it has everything to do with file size.
2. I have 4 tires in the back of my car and I am trying to get rid of them without having to pay for them. To make a long story short, I got new winter tires for my Starlet 2 months ago, I've yet to pay for those tires (the guy never gave me a bill), the Starlet went to shit 2 weeks ago, I got a different car and those tires won't fit, I kept them and they are now in the back of my March, i am TRYING to get my supervisor to call the guy and just ask if he'll take them back and not charge me and she's having a MINDFART (and why is number 3 rant).
3. ALL THREE of my English teachers at Yatsuo are leaving!!!!!!! I won't miss the one dude cause he never let me teach with him anyway. I will miss my supervisor - I mean this is the lady who took me to driving lessons, the dentist, the ladies clinic, and is currently half-heartedly working out the tire situation. This means a new supervisor AND two new JTE's to break in - BAH! Bah, bah, bah!!!!
4. Need to change insurance and they are telling me I need this and that and I am trying to explain I’ll give them what I have and it there is a problem the two $%#*& people that speak Japanese can @#@_ sort it out!!!

Of course the real reason I am sitting here fighting tears is hormones and the fact that most of the situations above are, for the most part, OUT OF MY CONTROL! It's so frustrating! Man, I am going for a walk before I kill someone!

How to Waste an Entire Day

Well, I've managed to waste another day at school. To my credit, I did teach one class - so I can account for 45 minutes of my time. Oh, and I did mentally plan my lesson for tomorrow. The rest of the day was spent reading this blog and sucking snot back up my nasal canal. Bad news is I still have 9o minutes to go. Even worse, I have homework that needs doing........

In other news, there is a convention of teachers being held 10 feet from me. I have no idea what they are really talking about - but in the exciting world of my mind, here's the conversation:

• A-san: "What have you got there?"
• B-san: "The sliding doors from the classrooms. Someone kicked the shit out of them"**
• A-san: "Really??"
• B-san: "Yes, really."
• C-san: "Hum, what should we do?"
• A-san: "Well, I've raided the shoe cubbies of the unruly boys and we are going to match the shoe prints."
• C-san: "Ugh, but they are all unruly."
• B-san: "That's true. This could take awhile. Maybe we should just ask the teacher who was in the room when it happened."
• A-san: "Bah, where's the fun in that. Plus, the shoe technique is more fun. Not as if we're going to actually punish someone for this."
• B-san: "True, true."
• C-san: "Hey, what's that noise?? I hope no one started a fire in the bathroom again!"
• All: "Let's investigate!" (all run out the room. One teacher returns to bag the evidence (aka the tennis shoe))

** someone really is squatting down holding a tennis shoe and comparing it to a stack of broken doors

Happy Easter from Japan!

When good Karaoke goes Bad

This weekend a bunch of us headed to Unazaki, home of famous onsens (naked bathing) resorts in Toyama. I won't lie to you, it was not what I was expecting - more like an extremely overpriced bath (nakesd, with your friends, and strangers). Having said that, I still had a good time with those friends. The inspiration for this post however occurred during our late night karaoke session. Now I am sure most of you have spent some time on the Internet checking out the misheard song lyrics that are rife out there. And the karaoke screens of Japan are in no way immune from this phenomenon. But Saturday night, they destroyed one of my favorite songs and for that I will never forgive them!! I am a big fan of the song Africa, by Toto and my favorite line (and I have no reason why) is:

I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti

I was all set to sing it and what do I see on the screen but this:

I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises LIMBLESS above the SAD KENYA

WTF?????

Obama-rama

Yet another reason to love Japan :)

My morning routine is this: alarm goes off at 6:50, I hit the snooze about 4 times and finally get out of bed between 7:20-7:30, then I turn on the TV so I can watch the morning news as I go about my business. Obviously, I don't understand the words - but I get the meaning. So this morning as I sat down to eat a bowl of imported Fruit Loops, I watched the news for a bit. And there on the TV was US political campaign crap. But then it was followed with a story about the town of Obama, Japan. It seems they've taken up the cause for Obama and are supporting their namesake. They were singing Obama songs and wearing Obama gear (headbands, tshirts, kimono with Obama obi!) and eating Obama roll cakes (chocolate cake (obama) with white cream (hiliary) - that was a bit disturbing), Obama bean cakes, Obama fish burgers, you name it. As with all of Japan, the town has taken a local thing (the name Obama) and made it work for them! Hilarious!!!!

You can read about it for yourself here: Obama-rama