Work was uneventful this week. Remember my terror of a student, I? Well he is no longer my student, and this week that class was much more manageable. Its better, and I'm happy about that, but I feel bad for Briana who now has to deal with him. Sorry Briana!!! There are also two students of mine that I didnt see for the entirety of seminar season, so I've only taught them for the past two weeks. The younger P5 one and I have hit it off. She is really smart and gets through the material really fast, so we play a lot of long and fun games together. I have even started teacher her hand jives before/after class. Her class is very refreshing because both of my other P5 classes are pre-teens who are incredibly disinterested. Getting them to do drills is like pulling teeth. My other "new" student is another P7 (the same level that my "cousin" is in). And while the other P7 class is really goofy and funny and relaxing, this student is very quiet and awkward. Its also a private lesson.... so there's that. I get the feeling that he really doesn't want to be there, but him Mom is really pressuring him. Its a shame, because his English is great (except his pronunciation is horrible). I can talk normally with him and he generally understands, and he can express himself well. His English ability is probably the level of my Japanese ability (except my pronunciation is flawless). Can get by, not perfect, but on the way to fluency. Its an awkward class, but we manage.
What really stands out about this week at work was the amount of manual labor I ended up doing. For the first time this week I had to do what we call "posting". Every month the school gets a crap ton of flyers that we then have to go and put in the mailboxes of all the houses in the vicinity. Me and two of my JTs went on on the HOTTEST day of the week to a really rich neighborhood with these huge houses. The neighborhood really reminded me of ones back home. It was a weird sine of nostalgia wandering around the curvy suburban streets. I had 200 flyers to put into mailboxes. We split up the neighborhood into three sections and I set out on my own. I had a bag with my wallet, iphone, water, and the flyers in it. It was surprisingly heavy and left angry red marks all up and down both of my arms. I played music from my iphone out loud since I forgot my headphones, but I only saw one person the entire two hours I was out there, so I don't think I disturbed anyone. I entertained myself by seeing how many of the names written in kanji (Chinese characters, and the only of Japanese's three alphabets that I have yet to master). I walked around in my work close is 95 degree and very humid weather for two hours. It was draining. Good exercise, and the neighborhood was pretty, but damn. I don't wanna do that again any time soon, but we do it every month!
Then the next day was air conditioner cleaning day! We all threw on a mask, grabbed a toothbush and a stool, and picked a room. Basically I had to scrub all the lint/mold/dust/whatever from the the filter and the unit itself. It took about an hour of intense scrubbing while standing on my tiptoes and trying not to get dust in my eyes. My arms were dead by the end of it, and my work clothes were covered in crap. Its amazing how much dust is in those things. And they all work so much better now! I should do the same thing to my own a/c unity at home... later. Posting and cleaning were literally both in the job description, and everyone (including Manager) had to do it. So I don't really have room to complain. But it was a shock to my system.
So this weekend Steve came to visit. Remember last week Briana and I went to Kobe to see him? We all went out to lunch at Cheesecake princess, which was delicious! We then headed for Gifu for a small matsuri. I think it was a hand-made crafts bizarre of sorts. There were some really cool products for sale! Like these old burnt pieces of wood that had been turned into planters for small shrubs, grass, and/or moss. Very cute! the whole reason for going to the festival, however, was for me to meet with a taiko team that was performing there, Gonna. About a month ago I posted in a taiko forum that I was looking for a team in the area and someone hooked me up with this guy Tatsuya who is the head player. They were amazing! Like no other team I had seen before, very unique. I'll possibly post a video later. But they really inspired me and I wanted to play REALLY badly. Afterwards I went to talk to them. unfortunately they don't do open practices, but Tatsuya promised to help me find another taiko team that does. So I'm one step closer to playing again! Yay!
After the matsuri we went back to my place to relax for a bit and beat the heat. Then it was back out for Korean for dinner (I'm a fool for chijimi) and then Miroku! Because in Briana and I's world, all roads lead to Miroku. It was a fun night! Except for when a middle aged Japanese man told me i'm a fool for not liking Tom and Jerry and that I'm a little fat, and all American's are really fat. The conversation ended right after that. I wasn't even talking to him, I was chatting with his nice friend before he even showed up! Ugh... The group of foreign guys showed up again last night as well, and it was fun getting caught up with them.
This morning Steve left. But not until after we grabbed some lunch and ice cream at the local mall. I then spent the rest of day doing absolutely nothing. I just realized about an hour ago that I desperately needed to go grocery shopping. Whoops... But I did write some letters to send home and studied a little Kanji. A really nice relaxing day, which is exactly what I need before going back to work. I'll just get groceries Wednesday morning, I don't start work till 1pm that day. Side note; I did the calculations and realized this weekend that I work a 48 hour week. Holy crap that's a lot! Tomorrow I wear a suit to work for the first time, so that's exciting. And its a 4 day week because Saturday is a holiday. Three day weekend baby! I'm headed to Kyoto!
まったね！
～寒
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