Jo in Japan

Want More?

2010-09-07T23:54:00.000+09:00

Come here to see the teaching life continue... in LIBYA!

The End.

2010-06-18T02:50:00.002+09:00

It's Friday 18th June. 2.50am. I should be 'getting up' at 5am to head to the airport... and onto the next chapter in my life. I was too hyped to sleep earlier, despite getting just three hours sleep last night. Seems to make more sense to sit it out now and doze on the way to the airport and on the flight instead.

Japan has been. Five years and nine months have passed. I'm totally ready to go - and totally excited about moving on - but also a little nervous of being totally out of my comfort zone. But it'll be fine.

Over the summer, I don't know how much internet access I'll have but there'll be one more post on here, once I've set up the new blog, to share the address.

Take care!

What? Where? When?

2010-06-13T01:10:00.002+09:00

Early hours of Sunday morning: Picture the scene: I'm sitting on my futon; above me the aircon hisses away, the tv is on - it's the news. In Japanese. I can guess what the stories are but I'm not paying that much attention. In front of me are things, behind me are things. In fact, see me as the centre of a clock with numbers in every direction. Now change the image of those numbers to - things. Things, things, things.

I'm going through the extremely tedious job of picking up every piece of paper, every object, and trying to decide whether:

it will never be needed and is crap to throw away,
it will never be needed and can't be thrown into normal rubbish,
it is useful, but not to me,
I'll need it between now and Friday,
I'll need it during the summer,
I won't need it until the end of the summer and so need to get it boxed up to send on Monday,
I can't actually decide so it can sit around for a few days... and then I'll probably dump or chuck it.

There was (is?) a stray cat outside my sliding doors. I had the doors and curtain open, and suddenly saw this little face staring at me. I opened the mozzie screen to see if the cat would come in. It wouldn't. But kept staring. I put my hand out but it wouldn't come towards it. I noticed it had infected weepy eyes and some mange. It moved back a little. I held my hand out again and it moved forward, cautiously, and swiped my hand. Long claws. Ouch. Luckily it didn't draw blood. I didn't know what to do. I don't actually have anything edible in the house that I could have given the cat anyway. It kept staring. I got bored. Eventually I just shut the doors and curtains. And felt guilty. Until I realised how many bugs had come in during the time the screen was open. Then I stopped feeling guilty.

Seriously?

2010-06-09T03:39:00.002+09:00

How can I be expected to sleep when I have so much to be excited about?

leaving Japan
two new jobs
a summer of fun in London

And things to be not so excited about:

finishing diploma coursework
packing, chucking, sending, sorting, etc
er, can't think of anything else. those are enough!

Oops.

2010-06-08T00:14:00.002+09:00

I never got round to coming back to my A - Z post or things I like / don't like here. Maybe I will; maybe I won't. Depends how depressed I get with packing!

In ten day, TEN DAYS, I leave Tokyo. Of course, my level of preperation is, thus far, pretty non-existant.

Friday before last I took my diploma exam (bloody hard) and the next day was my final day of work (yes, I was extremely happy to leave). Since then I've been working on my diploma portfolio (final draft finishing, waiting to hear if I need to do any amendments) and, er, not a huge deal else. A couple of lunches and things but I really don't know what I've been doing with the time.

I certainly haven't been sorting through my stuff and deciding what to send in advance, what to give away, what to sell, what to throw away, or what to take with me. Although I'm getting a pretty good idea what to 'hide' in the back of the cupboard in my room!

So that's me. Had a fun day in the park yesterday. A sort of goodbye picnic. We went to Shinjuku Gyoen, which you normally have to pay to get into, but it was free yesterday. A couple of my friends had a baby, so they brought a tent to keep him shaded from the sun. Within minutes of erecting the tent, park warden dictator guy ordered us to take it down. Even more ridiculous, in the middle of a beautiful hot summer day - ie 4pm - they closed the park and kicked us all out. Only in Japan. I mean, how ridiculous? 4pm??? We moved elsewhere to continue drinking.

I've got such mixed feelings about leaving at the moment. Mainly, it's excitement, but also a little bit of fear... it's been such a long time since I lived in London and I do feel a bit 'institutionalized' from living in Tokyo so long. It's little things, like wondering if I'll get my things nicked in London vs. leaving my computer on a table in a cafe, bag with iPod, wallet and phone on seat, and wandering off to the toilet here. (Okay, I asked someone to keep an eye on the computer, but had it been bag only, I wouldn't have said anything).

So, I'm nervous. I'm wondering how I'll get on in the new job as it's going to be something so different from what I'm used to.

And I'm excited. Above all, I'm excited. I can't wait to leave now and get back to see all my friends and I'm so looking forward to a summer of London fun. And, even better, knowing I'm leaving again after the summer!

Numbers

2010-05-23T00:44:00.002+09:00

Today is all about numbers:

39 - the very scary age I just turned. I'm 39. Me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck.

5 - the number of teaching days I have left in Japan.

5 - also the number of days until my diploma exam.

19 - the number of days until my diploma course work needs to be in.

27 - the number of days until I leave Japan.

Uncountable - the number of possessions I have to sort out and things I have to do.

HELP!

Oh My!

2010-05-19T01:18:00.002+09:00

I am currently having major second thoughts about 'the place I'm going to after London'.

I'm sure it'll be great. I'm sure I'll have a hell of an experience and will learn much and have much to blog about.

But I'm starting to have nagging doubts. The more I'm researching, the more I'm flicking between excitement and doubt.

It could just be that so much else is going on right now - like being 1.5 weeks away from my exam and a month away from leaving Japan...

But I'm nervous. Really really nervous. I'm determined to see it through but - and this is partly the problem - mid-September is quite far away. Far enough away to look for and find something else. Though I know I shouldn't...

Oh!

Nice!

2010-05-17T00:04:00.002+09:00

Despite not sleeping much last night, got up early and had a very good study session in Kichijoji. I can't study at home as I play on the computer, nap and a heap of other things.

The sun was shining, the day was warm, I was in flipflops. After a good few hours of productivity, our brains reached overload and we took some cans of drink to the park and hung out for a bit. Caught up with an old friend I'd not seen in a long time, which was super lovely. Listened to music, chatted, drank, relaxed. Headed to a bar for gyoza and booze. Threw around a model airplane. Laughed so hard tears ran down my face.

Went and played pool. A couple more drinks. Did amazingly well at pool. For me. Who really is not a good player. Headed home earlyish. Hot shower. Sleepy. Happy. Nice.

Brain Overload

2010-05-16T02:39:00.002+09:00

I just remembered my a-z. Had totally forgotten about it.
Noticed on Facebook that lots of my mates have birthdays coming up over the next week. Remembered I do too. Next week. Had totally forgotten. Not that it means anything, but still.

Time is moving too fast:
My diploma written exam is on the 28th.
I finish work on the 29th.
I have a few days after that until my portfolio deadline.
I have a heap of paperwork to do for work detailing all my classes.
I need to recertify my BULATS examiner status.
I need to sort out my stuff - what's to be sent to England, what's to be given away, what's to be disposed off and what's to pack.
I'm leaving on the 18th of June.
That is ridiculously scarily soon.
I'm nervous about going back to London.
I'm even more nervous about where I'm going after London.
I'm not exactly having second thoughts about my plans; but I'm hesitating a little. This is why I'm not telling anyone where I'm going. I have my own nerves and doubts and don't need to have to justify my choice right now.
I'm nervous I won't live up to the expectation the new jobs have for me.
I'm slowly going nuts through lack of sleep.
I can't relax.
It's all work, study, worry.
And more work, study, worry.
I can't relax. I have no time to relax. I'm so way past natural energy. It's all about caffeine these days.
I struggle to fall asleep. I struggle to stay awake.
I want to have less things flying around in my brain. It's relentless right now. And I don't like it much.

Black Magic

2010-05-03T20:19:00.004+09:00

Strong.

Black.

Hot.

Free refills.

Magic!

An A - Z of Jo's Japan - Part One.

2010-04-25T21:38:00.006+09:00

A is for Animation - is anyone not crazy about animation here? Whether it's comics or cartoons, everyone seems to be nuts for it. From the salaryman, reading his porno manga on the train, to the 18-year old school boy dangling his favourite Disney character from his phone; from the cartoon characters warning you against getting your fingers stuck in the train doors, to the cute character on the garbage vans. From his and her matching cartoon character clothing, to the old lady with cartoon characters dripping off her stationery. It's everywhere.

A is also for Apples - which are massive, often require two hands to eat and are the sweetest juiciest ones I've ever tasted. Yummy!

B is for Booze - now I have to admit that the last 16 months I've actually drunk very little, comparatively speaking thanks to studying for the Diploma and general tiredness / aversion to smoky places BUT drinking in Tokyo... shochu is probably my favourite drink. It's a clear spirit that can be made from various things like sweet potato, rice, barley. It can be drunk straight or on ice but is commonly used here as the base for cocktails. And it's bloody lovely. Bit of a gamble about the hangover though.

No post about booze would be complete without mention of the nomihodai which, roughly translated, means 'you are now challenged to drink as much as you can before your time runs out / you pass out and we'll take a ridiculously small amount of money from you to do it.' Nuff said. Wouldn't work in England, bars would be drunk dry. In Japan, the tolerance level is much lower. I'm sure bars shudder when a foreigner orders nominhodai.

B is also for Bikes - everywhere you go - bikes. Granny bikes mainly, with little baskets at the front, one gear and a self-locking device instead of a chain. And everyone cycles on the pavements, which can be rather annoying. Especially when it's raining and the cyclist is holding an umbrella. (see D is for Danger).

C is for Chan - which, along with Kun, San and Sama are honorifics added after people's first names. Except when they're used after the family name! Kind of like Mr or Miss. Except pets, kids (generally, although not exclusively, girls) and cartoon character are all referred to as Chan. Hello Kitty is Kitty-chan. Seriously. Kun is used for boys, San for adults and Sama for people who deserve a lot of respect.

C is also for Chihuahuas - Silly little bug eyed things that are not cute and can't cope with the Tokyo winters (but then neither can I) or summers and are generally carried everywhere anyway. In silly clothes. Okay, they're not that bad, but definitely not suited for Tokyo. Other than for the 'cute' factor. They're not real dogs though and, scarily, 'chihuahua' is also the second most popular search that has brought people to this blog.

D is for Danger - Tokyo is a dangerous city. You might step on a cockroach, slip off your stilettoes and sprain your ankle, break a nail fastening your designer bag, fall off your bike when trying to juggle steering with holding an umbrella and talking on your phone. You could be bruised by a granny's elbow as she charges past you at 20mph to nab a seat on the train or pass out from the salaryman's booze fumes on the train in the evening.

Okay. Tokyo is actually an insanely safe and secure place. I've not felt intimidated or worried for my safety here. I'll leave things on tables in cafe's while going to the toilet and know they'll still be there and, before my lovely green granny bike turned into a rusty mess, I'd happily cycle with things in the basket knowing they wouldn't be snatched. Heck, I'd even leave them in the basket while I went into a shop.

D is also for Dry Squid - love the stuff. Comes in a bag, very moreish - when it doesn't make you choke. Many hours of enjoyment come after eating it too, from trying to extract the strands caught around your teeth.

Part Two coming in next couple of days.

Things I Won't Miss When I Leave Japan - Part One

2010-04-25T14:01:00.002+09:00

Takes battle stance for potential can of worm opening time:

1. People being able to smoke in bars and restaurants.
Many restaurants don't have separate smoking and non-smoking sections, let alone a ban. Often, if they 'do' have two sections they will be literally next to each other. I like to enjoy the aroma and taste of my food without inhaling your fag smoke, thank you. And I like to go out drinking for an evening without taking aching lungs home with me.

2. People who pretend to care about the environment.
I could say a lot but let's leave at one example: my house has 6 bins (9 if you include the small ones for batteries, pet bottle lids and lighers) to separate rubbish, and people get very uppitty if others don't abide by this. However, they people in the house think nothing of leaving all lights on, all extractor fans on and the heating on - when nobody is around.

3. Spoilt kids.
My opinion. Discipline and behavioural guidelines are sorely lacking in many many of the kids I've seen.

4. The weather.
Too cold and too wet. Summers are good though.

5. Shared living.
I'm too old for shared living!

6. Not being able to access a good selection of shoes.
My foot size is bigger than the average Japanese woman's. This excludes most shoe shops. The ones that DO have my size are expensive and the selection is crap!

7. Blind faith.
The students I teach are individuals who generally don't question anything and however much they might dislike something, often believe it's good for them and won't change it.

8. Cuteness.
Used to love it. Now it's too much. I don't see why everything has to be cute. From the shoes on the dog's feet to the character on the garbage vans. Why?

9. How long everything takes to get done.
Things that really should take a short time, really don't. Japanese people I've asked don't understand this either.

10. Rules.
Too many rules. That. Don't. Make. Sense.

Things I'll miss when I leave Japan - Part One

2010-04-24T01:05:00.002+09:00

1. Convenience Stores - they're just so... covenient for last minute groceries and a million other things.

2. Vending machines - that work EVERY time. You put money in and, tada, a drink comes out. You may laugh but think about England: you put money into a vending machine and - well, it's a gamble if you get anything, in fact you're probably likely to lose your money.

3. Hot coffee in cans. Seriously. LOVE the stuff. Especially from a vending machine on the station platform on a cold day.

4. Feeling safe ALL the time. Knowing if I have my wallet and phone in my hand that they won't get snatched and I won't get attacked.

5. Oden. Seriously. When I first came to Japan the smell made me feel sick but then I sort of got into the occasional oden munch out. I'm particularly into the sausages, hard-boiled eggs and daikon (radish). So good on a cold day.

6. Being able to use large denominations of cash for small items. I wouldn't dare try it in England.

7. Consistantly hot summers. Okay, slight cheat this one as - well, you'll find out in September - but I certainly don't expect to experience more than about two hot days in a row in London over the summer.

8. 100 yen shops. Oh bliss, bliss, bliss.

9. Living in a no-tipping society. It's not that I'm tight, it's just that tipping confuses me and it's nice that staff do a good job because it's their job to do so, and not because they're after a tip.

10. Going into shops and restaurants where staff are polite and don't show they really don't want to be there - like they often seemed to do in London.

I'm going to find adjusting to London life hard, aren't I?

Part two coming soon.

Spring what?

2010-04-23T00:10:00.002+09:00

We're in the middle of a pre-rainy season almost daily non-stop pissing it down season.

*sigh*

And the Japanese always go on about how Japan has four seasons.

I think not.

We have cold, very cold, back to cold, wet, very wet, hot, bloody hot (love it!), typhoon, cold.

And somewhere amidst all that we have cherry blossom season and autumn.

Four seasons? Pah!

The Time Is Right

2010-04-22T09:56:00.003+09:00

November 2007 NOVA, one of the big chains of language schools in Japan, collapsed.

April 2010 GEOS, another of the big ones, collapses.

Aeon? Gaba? ECC? Shane? Surely it's only a matter of time before another one bites the dust.

My company just shut it's New Zealand branch. We can't afford new textbooks to replace tattered ones in the schools. Student confidence can't help but be shaken by what's happened with GEOS after NOVA. Maybe it won't make students leave, although I'm sure students will seriously consider whether or not to renew - but I think the affect on potential new students is going to be huge.

Teachers come and go from language schools, but the sheer number of teachers leaving from my district - experienced teachers; teachers who have been around for a long time; good teachers, is quite staggering. I can't help but think that this will persuade any teacher worth half a grain, to seriously consider other options now - and not wait around for the whole Japanese language school industry to come toppling down like a neat little row of dominoes.

And with the departure of good and experienced teachers, will come the departure of loyal students. I'm not saying inexperienced teachers won't do a good job - we all started somewhere, but with a lack of support from experienced colleagues, the potential to learn from others just goes.

RIP Industry. I'm glad I'm getting out while I still have the choice.

--------------------------------

On another note, I'm glad I'm getting out before I go batty from hearing things like:

First year university students don't work hard because they're so tired from their entrance exams;
It's okay for kids to sleep in class if they're tired;
It's good for kids to go to cram school at kindergarten age because they need to get into a good elementary school;
Kids don't need free-time - it's healthy for them to get up at 5am, spend an hour travelling to school, go to their music/tennis/flower arranging club after school every day and then go to cram school and then go home and do their homework before going to bed. And it's good that lots of Japanese kids spend Saturdays being shepherded from swimming lesson to English lesson to music lesson. Okay, I'm paraphrasing slightly on this last one.
I've just had enough now of seeing babied / overly tired / uncontrollable kids. We're teachers NOT babysitters. Not every child is suited to the environment we teach in. That's a fact. If you're going to come to exhausted to a lesson - have an energy drink. Or don't come. If you're too tired to catch a ball and too tired to keep your eyes open in the lesson if you sit down, then what are we, as teachers, expected to do?

I adore some of my students but others should definitely be either at home sleeping or running around a football pitch to expend their energy. They shouldn't be coming to us.

And unlike some organisations where students attend 2 or 3 times a week for 90 minutes at a time, how on earth can people expect to progress when they come for 30, 40 or 55 minutes once a week and can't be bothered to study in between lessons. It's a struggle to teach them. They don't show progress because they don't put the effort it. They choose to study for whatever reason but I don't think the reasons are 'solid' enough. The courses are ongoing. They never end. There's no goal. There's no exam at the end. There's no progress check before going to the next level. Many of the students have never gone abroad. Most of them are certainly not brave enough to go on a trip that isn't an organised tour. They don't NEED English. They know this. And that's half the problem. The number of students who came back from a trip abroad who, when asked if they practiced their English when away, said they didn't is staggering.

There. I said it. I said what I really feel.

I'm not talking about every Japanese person. I'm not even talking about every Japanese student of English. But for the majority of students who come to our schools, it feels like this is the case.

Things that once seemed amusing to me are now just irritating. The time really is right to get out.

----------------------------

On even more devastating news: my external hard drive, containing thousands of photos, documents, movies, songs, etc has died. I've tried freezing it. Nothing. Am gutted. Hopefully a data recovery service can work some magic - and without charging an arm and a leg for it.

There IS something

2010-04-18T00:06:00.002+09:00

A colleague, who is also leaving, and I were talking about work today. He said, 'there really isn't anything you're sad about leaving here, is there?', and it got me thinking. It's not that I'm actively not sad, if that makes sense, but rather that there's so many quirky ways of working and quirks in students, students parents, that sometimes I do find myself sighing in relief at the thought of leaving.

I'm sure the adage, 'you don't know what you've got til it's gone', may hold true in the case of Tokyo and my current job but, right now I can't see that. And, of course, I'm so utterly utterly excited about what's to come that I can't live in the mundane now. I want to be in the new future.

As far as work is concerned, that's not really a problem. I'm still making a big effort with the lessons I give and trying to support the teachers in my school as much as possible. But that's it. Unfortunately, this attitude is also distracting me somewhat from the diploma, which is a bad thing. I did, however, buy a new computer today which should make the diploma easier to get through as it's very small, light and portable and not old and prone to freezing or crashing.

I have come back down to earth regarding what's coming next but it IS kind of hard to not get excited about it all. The big groups of teens and seeing everyone in London over the summer and the amazing adventure that will start in September. And I have no reason to believe it'll be anything but amazing!

I'm Cold and I'm Tired

2010-04-16T10:21:00.002+09:00

I spent all of yesterday completely knackered, got home, put the heating on it was so cold, fell asleep. Guess what? I then wasn't tired until about 3.30am. Am, again, exhausted.

I'll say this for Country 'x' - it isn't a cold country.

The weather in Japan is abysmal. Mid-April and the heating needs to be on? Still, at least we're not suffering from the volcanic fall-out.

Another incoherent post brought to you from the depths of knackeredness.

Today...

2010-04-14T01:56:00.002+09:00

... I'm bouncing around in a bubble of excitement about September. No anxieties today.

... I'm excited by the thought of having time between jobs - at the beginning of September - to do a little bit of travelling - current thoughts are Paris, Finland and Glasgow. Thoughts change...

... I had a good day. I like Tuesdays. I love my Tuesday students and two of my groups got bigger today - that means Tuesday is a three group day. I also have one teen that it lovely and my day finished with two giggly 20-year old friends who I thought were hilarious.

... I didn't get any diploma work done. I'm a bit concerned about how this is going at the moment but I'm so distracted.

... I went and explored (online) my 'new' home from September.

... I received my contract in the post for June (London).

Everything is good. Apart from my sleep patterns. Oh and the weather this week? Sunday - lovely, Monday - terrible, Tuesday - lovely. I've been alternating between heating and aircon in my room (I don't really need the aircon, but my computer does. It's seriously on it's last legs.)

Random Monday Thoughts

2010-04-12T12:12:00.002+09:00

I can't believe it's cold again. Yesterday was lovely.

I'm finding it so hard to concentrate on my study right now. And I have so much to do....

Todays mood.... sleepy.

Exhausted

2010-04-12T00:18:00.002+09:00

A full-time job.
A diploma exam.
Leaving Japan.
A summer job in London.
A two-year contract in x.

There's so much going on in my head right now that I'm exhausted, my sleep is all over the place and... I'm nervous.

It will be understood why the big secrecy about x, but part of it is that I'm 99% sure it's the perfect decision and I'm worried that telling people may fuel the 1% of doubt to increase - if that makes sense. I don't want to justify my decision or have to explain it.

Part of my choice is for pure adventure and something I can't imagine. Part of it is going back to Plan A. Plan B was South America, Plan C was Spain. I'm not sure how many people knew about Plan A. But that's where I'm going if you DO remember that far back. Another part is - well, I've got a big ambition and this goes towards achieving it. Again, you'll figure out what I'm talking about somewhere down the line when I make it more explicit.

And above all. It's a good choice. A reliable choice. A choice that - given I'm not 25 and unlikely to change career - is a wise choice.

But there are so many thoughts racing around my head now and I wish they'd just calm down.

Today's thought was: I probably won't be able to get sashimi. Like, WTF? Of ALL the things I could be concerned about today it's whether I'll survive without raw fish.

I'm daft.

Things

2010-04-09T23:38:00.003+09:00

Lots of Japanese TV programmes seem to have Japanese people on, speaking in Japanese, with Japanese subtitles. I have no idea why.

I've noticed in Japan, and other Asian countries, lots of skin whitening products. I find this very sad.

A student the other day told me she'd just got a new job. A part-time one. She explained this was because she'd recently got married and couldn't cope with a full-time job and cooking and cleaning. I asked if she'd liked her job. She sighed and said she had. I asked if her husband helped in the house. She said he didn't know how. Good to know equality is live and kicking.

Another student told me she'd joined a marriage bureau. Fair do's. I mean, why not? She told me they were famous. And expensive. She said she'd known about them since she was a kid (like WHAT?). She said she'd had to get a certificate from the local government to prove she was single. She said she had to tell them her salary, height, weight and rank eight colours in order of preference. She's now considering paying them for 12 months to find her a husband. R-I-G-H-T.

Out of the mouths of students: 'I have a friend who is a transvestite, but he's okay'.

I have a student who looks like Ronnie Corbett. Except for her manicured nails.

I have another student who is the spitting image of Charlie Brown. She doesn't have manicured nails.

I have a stinking cold that came on suddenly probably due to too much excitement and not enough sleep this week.

It's cold. Bloody cold. It's the middle of April nearly and it's still cold. I think we've had three warmish days this year. Last weekend I was meant to go to hanami, the popular Japanese fight to find a spot to put you tarp down and sit on the ground until you bum goes numb, share food and get outrageously drunk festival in celebration of the cherry blossom which you must take lots of photos of - every year - even though it looks the same - every year. Anyway, the combination of having to work in the day (TWO six day weeks in a row!) AND the cold weather, and I just couldn't face it. Oh well. I can look at the photos I've taken every year since I've been here instead ;-)

Calmer

2010-04-09T10:42:00.002+09:00

Today I feel a little bit calmer.

After a flurry of emails last night things are making more sense and I know what I need to do when.

The problem is I'm now in a position where I'm not only working full-time and meant to be doing senior-teachery things BUT I'm planning to do my diploma exam at the end of May and need to re-submit two bits of portfolio and I'm thinking about the move to London / the move from Japan and logistics of that and the summer job and the permanent job (job 'x') after that.

And job 'x' involves a bit of a complicated visa process plus yesterday I was still hyper-excited, tired and uber-caffeine fueled.

The big problem is time. In London, I'm working full-time and won't have much time to sort things out for job x, so I wanted to do it now and here - with obvious complications. But it's fallen into place. Job x is getting me local help in London, Summer job will let me have the odd afternoon off to visit the local help and sort things out.

Am still very excited - and this is the reason I'm refusing to say where I'm going. You'll understand when I do say. Or, more likely, when I announce it on a new blog! Tiredness is overtaking me though. With so much going on right now my mind isn't very calm and so sleep is not being a good friend to me. Caffeine is though. And, of course, that isn't a good combination, is it?

So excited!

2010-04-07T02:06:00.001+09:00

I got the job!

That's the next two jobs sorted now!

Happy happy!

Interview no's and woes.

2010-04-05T23:26:00.003+09:00

If I've been lucky enough to get an interview for a job, I've generally gone on to get the job.

I'm good at expressing myself. I'm good at getting employers to see what a wonderful thing they'd be doing by employing me. Piece of piss.

Okay, okay. It isn't but I've generally found them a pretty positive experience and not been too bothered by them. Take my current job: I knew the way they worked from a little bit of research and talking to someone who worked for them. I dressed the part, babbled with enthusiasm about how great it would be... and got the job on the spot. My job for this summer, well let's say within five minutes of chatting on the phone I knew I had the position. In TV interviews are unbelievably informal. Or mine were anyway. More a formality than anything else I think.

And then there was today. A phone interview for something I want with someone I really want to work for. High stakes. Won't say more. I applied - not a particularly great application as I hate application forms (do you see a pattern forming yet?) and prefer to let my CV do the talking - and was pleasantly surprised to be invited to do a phone interview. The interviewer basically said the job was as good as mine as long as I answered the questions and they got good references.

So. Phone interview. TWO INTERVIEWERS. On a phone interview. On speaker with mini time difference time delay and pauses so they could write down what I said. Oh my word. I sucked.
I was incoherent, repetitive, kept forgetting the questions, became less and less articulate. I didn't even SOUND like myself. *sigh*. I have never had an interview like this before. The first half was very very formal where I had to site examples of things I'd done in my teaching career that related to the questions being asked.

My typical responses were:

'er, yes, one time i er, no, wait, er, yes, i know, one group had er..... sorry, could you repeat the question please?

I talked a lot and answered something or other each time, but I don't think I actually answered the questions that were being asked.

I can think on my feet. I can bullshit til the cows come home and through me hypothetical situations and I can come up with good responses but ask me to remember instances of things that relate to things that the nature of my current job probably hasn't given me the opportunity to do and, well it was a disaster. The second half was more informal and I had lots of questions and the tone was much lighter, but I think the damage was done in the first half.

I emailed to think them for interviewing me and they said they'd take into account that it was the first interview of that type (competency based) that I'd done. I took this to mean they thought it was as bad as I thought it was.

*Sigh*. I'm so annoyed at myself. I prepared well for the interview. Or I thought I'd prepared well. I was even pre-empting the shitty interview questions like why do you want to work for us? what are your weaknesses? what could you bring to the job? what would you do if students didn't talk, etc. But they didn't even come up.

I am gutted.

Absolutely gutted.

I'll get a formal response in a couple of days but I'm so annoyed at myself for being so crap.

I'll pull out the silver lining somewhere later down the line. Right now, I'm just horrified at how shit I was.

Japan

2010-04-05T00:20:00.002+09:00

I'm sure I'm not unique in my feelings towards being here. In fact, I know I'm not, but here's the thing: I did used to love being here. Back in the days when it was new and exciting and different. The first couple of years, in fact. And then the nature of the work I was doing started to get to me. I love teaching. I really love teaching. But in the environment I work in it often feels more like I'm entertaining than teaching.

That's not down to my company, it's the nature of the type of language school teaching that is done here. Students don't have fixed term courses. It's ongoing. Whether a student progresses to the next level is dependent on factors aside from the actual student in many cases. Some learners come for years and show no real progress. But I don't want to really get into this right now.

Tokyo frustrates me. I'm a restless soul, and being anywhere too long gets to me but there are so many other things.

Take kids, for example. And if I cause offense with what I'm about to say, well, it's not intentional, I'm just stating things as I've seen them.

As a quick aside, I read recently that shyness is the most desired quality for a kid to have according to parents surveyed. The same article talked about how the opposite is true in America and how Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world... and America one of the lowest. No point. I'm just saying.

When I first came here it used to shock me how kids rushed for train seats and left parents standing. It doesn't any more, although recently I've seen TV ads trying to teach kids that they should give up their seats, not throw rubbish, etc or they'll grow up into delinquents. Seriously. Now the fact that the TV is having to teach kids these things is part of my point. When I worked in kindies here, kids weren't corrected for bad behaviour. Kicking a teacher was met with a smile. General misbehaviour was either ignored or corrected by another kid.

In my schools, it's rare for a Japanese member of staff to tell a kid not to do something, even when that something is annoying, loud, disruptive or potentially dangerous. I'm talking about 5.5 years of observations here. Oh and if the parents are around (and often the kids will turn up or be dumped in the school between 30 and 60 minutes before a lesson and possibly left to hang around for 30 or so minutes afterwards) - they won't tell the kids to stop shouting or throw things around whilst waiting. I've seen toddlers run OUT of school and watched the gossiping parents take a good couple of minutes to notice this before.

I'm also shocked by the lack of interaction I see between parents and kids. And I want to highlight that I realise that I only see these things for a very short time and I realise I'm not aware of what goes on the rest of the time, but I can count on one hand - less than one hand - the number of times I've seen any kind of real interaction during a train journey between a mum and toddler. I've also seen a huge number of kids totally ignored while they scream and shout for attention to mums busy gossiping to other mums.

We see kids come to our classes who are uncontrollable, disruptive, rude to each other and have no respect for property.

On the other end of the scale there are children. Children. Not babies. Who are overindulged and coddled to hell.

Many many years ago I was a volunteer for a summer on a kibbutz in Israel where all the babies were grouped together during the day. Even with the babies, once they were toddler age (ie vaguely able to walk by themselves) they were classed as kids, not as babies, and if they fell over or anything, we were discouraged from picking them up. This is obviously the opposite extreme but I'm making a point here.

Further, I au paired for two years in Paris. During this time I saw some interesting things. Amongst them a LOT of coddling by parents who employed people to look after their kids and so overindulged them in the short time they spent together. What was interesting about this was how the kids reacted. One girl I looked, who was 3-4 when I took care of her, was treated as a baby by the parents and acted as a baby when with them. I treated her as a human being and she acted a good two years OLDER with me than her parents. Just saying.

Incidentally, I also saw kids who were given NO boundaries by their parents and grew up to be very confused little beings.

I'm not a mum. I have a psychology degree and am very interested IN child development but that's it. I'm not asserting I know what is right and what is wrong because I acknowledge every case, every family, every kid, every relationship, every culture is different BUT what I am saying is I'm shocked by some of the things I see.

Kids as young as 1.11 months have been thrown into our classrooms by mothers desperate for them to learn English. Now, we're not a kindergarten, we're a language school. We teach all ages and our class sizes range from one through to six students. We don't have a Japanese speaker in the room with us (which tends to happen when you teach in a Japanese kindergarten or school). Some of the young ones cope brilliantly, despite the bizarreness of the situation. I mean, imagine you're a kid and you've only ever seen green people and only ever been looked after by your parents (this is a society where babysitting is NOT a popular thing). Suddenly, you're thrown into a room with an adult person who is red and talks gibberish at you which you're expected to repeat for unknown reason. How would you feel?

I'm not saying that two years old is too young to learn a foreign language, because I don't think it is, BUT I do feel it's a bit.... strange!

To look at the bigger picture though, our job as teachers to these little people is kind of multi-fold - we are giving them their often first contact with a foreign person, and one who looks different to them at that, but we're also teaching them classroom skills, to listen to someone who isn't their mum, and so on. Valuable life skills. In an ideal world.

But often it feels like a losing battle. I honestly don't know what some of the mothers are expecting - other than the chance to go and have a cup of tea quietly somewhere. I see kids of three and four - KIDS - demanding to be carried the 20 metres across reception into the classroom, even after coming for a long time - and the mothers happily indulging this. The mothers don't say no. They don't try and discourage them. Shit, they don't even communicate with them, just lift them up and bring them in. AT THREE AND FOUR.

I have a new class of three year olds that just started. Kid D's brother has long been a student at our school and D's mum decided he should try a class. Kid D refused the first time. The mother allowed him to refuse. The second time Kid D allowed the mother to bring him in but wouldn't allow the mother to put him down. The mother didn't try and laughed at his 'cuteness' when he went shy in the lesson. The third time Kid D came, was to a new class. Kid D's mother was the only mother to come in and sat with Kid D on her lap in the lesson. When we did colouring, Kid D picked crayons, handed them to mum, and mum COLOURED IN THE FUCKING PICTURE. I 'suggested' maybe she let him do it, but she just shrugged. Like, WHAT THE FUCK????? She didn't even try to encourage him.

I've seen so many more things but enough for this post. And don't even get me started on adults who use the phrase 'we Japanese'. As in 'We Japanese don't like Asian countries.', 'We Japanese think all of Asia is the same', 'We Japanese don't eat....', etc.

Enough.

And now, the end is near....

2010-04-04T00:13:00.002+09:00

My life in Japan, and this blog are drawing to a close.

I shouldn't have stopped updating but I think I got to a stage where:

a) I didn't really have anything positive to say
b) I had too many negative things to say and
c) I was just too busy.

In the last month I've been studying for my diploma, sorting out my next job and the one after that, working long weeks and earlier mornings, sorting out flights and other logistics, trying to keep my sanity....

Anyway, I did have a lovely time in Seoul a couple of weeks ago (tenth Asian country I've visited and possibly the last for a while...) despite it being really cold. My hotel room - as is common in South Korea, I think - had underfloor heating which I loved - and which was a great aid in drying out socks and boots that were soaked through by the rain!

I found Korea to be very similar to Tokyo in many ways. The general feel of it, the cleanliness, etc.... although I think I pissed off a few Japanese students by telling them that. I packed a lot of sightseeing into almost three days and it was fun to explore a new city.

This is such a bitty post, isn't it? But I'm plain exhausted from the schedule which has involved getting up significantly earlier on over half the week than normal - which has meant the days I've not had to get up early, my body has still woken me up early and I've been in a state of exhaustion for two weeks. Roll on Monday when things get back to 'normal'!

It's Slushing!

2010-03-09T23:16:00.001+09:00

I had a 'Weather Pixie' on my blog, but she seems to have disappeared. I guess she's as fed up of this weather as I am. This (so-called) spring there have been TWO warm days. And today it's snowing. Well, the snow is sooo wet, it's actually falling as slush. So not nice.

In othe news, I'm going on a mini-break to Seoul from Sunday to Wednesday :D

Thinking of teaching in Tokyo?

2010-03-07T17:04:00.002+09:00

Are you thinking of teaching in Tokyo, and wondering if it'd be the right job for you? Well, here's a quick mini-guide to the requirements for the job. A university degree (any subject) and an ability to speak better English than your students is a requirement. Got those? Then jump on the plane and get a job. Grammar knowledge, teaching experience very optional.

You must have good sense of humour. The importance of this is evident on many levels. The best way to execute this is to remind yourself that you won't be working in the same place forever and all students eventually will leave. Playing tricks on your students is always a good one too - Japanese learners like a safe environment, choosing the same place to sit each week, etc. It's always fun to rearrange the classroom so they are forced to sit in a different place ;-)

Acting skills are a prerequisite. For example, the 10 millionth time a student tells you they went to shopping and cleaned their room at the weekend, you must make it sound like you think it was a fun thing they did and pretend to be interested in who they went shopping with this time and what they bought. This time.

You must have no inhibitions. You will spend a part of every day demonstrating verbs, racing around a classroom, dancing in front of parents, making stupid noises, etc.

Subtlety is important. You cannot say: 'what the fuck are you on about?' to your students. However tempted you may be. Likewise when a student is doing so little work on their English and attending so erratically that their English is actually getting worse, you cannot tell them they are crap and wasting your time and their money.

Patience is very important. You will have older students with memories of drunken goldfish. Expect to spend 3 weeks in a row, for example, explaining 'Fair Trade' to the same student. Even when you've exhausted every pie graph, chart, story, time line, diagram, picture you can think of, and they appear to have 'got it'. And then ask you about it again the next week. Patience is also important when you're doing a craft activity with a table of 3-5 year olds who ALL need help at the same time.

Multi-tasking skills are a bonus. See above. You need to have eyes in the back of your head, be able to work your hands like an octupus, supply cuddles as required (strictly with kids this one. Although, come to think of it, some of the male teachers.... ), think 3 steps ahead all the time, fix a kids' hair clip while handing a tissue to another kid, helping a kid glue and stopping another kid from cutting their activity in half.

Time management is important. Always clean your board while saying goodbye to your student. Never after. Not if you want to sprint to the toilet and get a coffee before the next student 3 seconds later.

Creativeness is a bonus. My current favourite gadget of choice is a timer. I've got low level students amazed at how fluent they can be when they don't have time to think in Japanese before speaking. It also seems to be working well as a motivator for phonics work, which kids don't really like.

I'll add some more soon!

Odd Day

2010-03-05T01:59:00.002+09:00

My bedtime seems to be slipping later and later every night, despite my best intentions! This evening I was so tired I had a nap around 9pm, which has fucked up tonights sleep but I've finished up a bottle of Arak a student gave me a while back, so I've a feeling that might help with the sleep.

Today another student gave me a gift of alcohol. Bring it on! This guy works in Shochu. Not literally. He does copywriting or some kind of promotion for them. Anyhoo, today he gave me a huge, heavy, VERY VERY nice award winning bottle of shochu. I almost danced around the school. Reception thought I was nuts for being so happy at any rate!

The school I work at on Thursdays has a very different vibe from other schools I've worked at. Part of it is down to the school managers that have worked there and part of it down to the students - it's in a very wealthy area of Tokyo - if that's relevant. Anyway, it just seems a lot friendlier than other schools. There's more chatting; it feels more relaxed. It also has some of the strangest students in the company - but that's something else! Okay, okay, it isn't. For example, there's Mr. Echo - the student that echos everything you say. Not repeats but echos. A millisecond behind you. VERY disconcerting. He doesn't understand me and I don't understant him. A friend of mine, another teacher, used to text me every time he got Mr. Echo on his schedule. Not the most popular of students. Then there was Mrs. Anime Woman. Mrs. AW is in her 60s. Long purple streaked hair, dungarees, need I say more? Very amusing and interesting student - when you could understand her. She was, unfortunately, very prone to monologues. Mr. Record Business was another one. He only wanted to chat. And every lesson, with almost every teacher, all he wanted to talk about was himself and his job. Nice guy but telling your teaching 'I like talking about myself' - well!

Anyway, recently there's been a host of lovely - but very giggly - work experience women. They've mainly been sitting in a room translating a business text teachers notes from English into Japanese. They've been allowed brief stints on reception too! Today I gave a business email lesson to four of them - one was elementary, one pre-intermediate, one intermediate and one advanced. Miraculously the lesson worked. Awesome ladies. I'll miss them now they're going.

And there's the other thing. An email I got from an old friend. Sorry, ex-friend, who's father is dying. I feel bad about not making contact but there's a lot of complicated history and I don't want to make contact. But there's the guilt. Nuff said. I have to deal with this.

"Interesting"

2010-03-03T22:51:00.003+09:00

Doing an activity today on probability. Students had to say how probable it was that this would be their best year (or something like that). Two of them said it was highly probable because their kid/grandkid had got into a new school.

No comment. Just thought it was an interesting take on students here.

------

Another student - a freshman in his job - have I mentioned the whole 'freshman' thing before? It's used to refer to people in their jobs. They then use 'second year', 'third year', etc. I still find this quite strange but, in Japan, remember that a majority enter their first (and sometimes only) job straight from university and so it is seen this way - unlike in England where we chop and change jobs so much.

So, this guy studied sports training or sports management, or something like that but wasn't interested in doing a related career (again, pretty typical here, in my experience), didn't know what to do, and so ended up working for an optician's where he does eye tests, etc all day and fits people for contact lenses. Now, I don't know, but I would imagine in England you'd need to qualify in optometry or something to be able to do this, wouldn't you?

He described his life as a student. Unusually for a Japanese student, he lived in halls of residence. A flat of 20 people. All studying the same course, but from different years. The younger students were required to cook for, run the bath for, clean up after, etc, the older students. At university.

Hmmm. Different worlds, aren't they?

Blogs

2010-03-03T22:43:00.002+09:00

My blogroll is hopelessly out of date but I have a lot to sort out before I sort that out. In the meantime, am currently obsessed by 65redroses which I found about a month ago through mcmama's blog which I found about six months ago through matt's blog which I found a couple of years ago through thorntree which I found in 1999 when I was researching my first trip to New York. Phew, so there you go.

DISCLAIMER: all of these blogs have been going for a while. If - like me - you are prone to read blogs from the beginning, I will not be held responsible for your 'wasted' day.

Go and check them out. 65 red roses's Eva and Matt are pretty inspirational people. I've cried reading there blogs. A lot. A lot lot. Mcmama's is a different case. I can't really say why I'm hooked on it - but I am.

Who are you reading these days?

Life in a Gaijin House

2010-03-02T00:14:00.004+09:00

AKA - when Google Translator gets it wrong!

I'm finally getting around to post this. I took photos of these notices, in my new house, the day I moved in but, as ever, things don't tend to make it onto the blog for a long time. There is no cleaner in this house (a lot of gaijin houses have them) but there is a rota for the cleaning. Hence these 'instructions'.

All punctuation and spelling is as per the notices. I find them very funny. But then, that's me. I mainly understand what they are talking about!

- Garbage throwing away
It checks in the plastic bucket on the side of the door.

- Cleaning of common space
To complete with a detergent and a tool.
When you wash me, please do washing and exchange to a common towel etc, together.

- Management of vessel
Check on vessel (Toilet paper, Detergent, etc...), The thing that not is and the thing that seems to disappear are repporte and order to housemanager or the houseoffice.

Please without forgetting it is symbiosis! To do comfortable life, everyone always bears it in mind!

We wish to express our gratitude for you cooperation. Thank you!!

*Please give the person on duty note to the door in next person on duty's room after the person on duty ends of me.

Oh a further notice tells us that the garbage must go

to the decided place untill 8am.

After some consultation I've concluded this means 'before'. Clear as mud, innit!

London

2010-03-01T22:43:00.001+09:00

London?

London!

Sunday.

2010-03-01T13:20:00.002+09:00

I had to work on Sunday. A special promotional day of demo lessons to prospective new clients. Kids. Luckily I got to get out of there at a reasonable time and met up with an old housemate, E, and one of her friends, A, for a really fun evening.

We went to a small bar to see a comedy act Shoshinz (love the English on this website!). Before they came on, there was a singer and - well, their fans are utter geeks. E, A and I were in hysterics watching them. One song was called 'Milk' (I think) and I guess it was about a cat as the audience kept swooping - totally out of time with each other for the most part - and pawing the air singing 'meow, meow', waving about light sticks, etc. Utter geekdom. Fucking funny. And taken so seriously. Apart from by E, A and I.

The geeks were all thirsty and disappeared off to the bar after singer finished, allowing us to get right to the front for the Shoshinz, who were pretty funny / rather strange depending on what they were doing. It was all very cute though. They're act is without speech, just lots of expressiveness, use of their bodies, singing, etc. Different.

E is a sake expert. Seriously. She's (apparently) the first qualified sake somelier in France. Not that anyone in France drinks sake. Apparently ;-)

So, we went off to drink sake. Lots of sake. A started off with a beer, while E and I attacked sake setS. And then more sake. And then more. The food was awesome and it was all bloody cheap.

We had a lot of fun and - bizarrely - a lot of the Japanese people sitting around us spoke English and we had some funny random conversations with them too.

Got home. Headache set in. And blocked nose. Now (early afternoon) head is fine but nose still blocked - and I have a phone interview later on! Yay.

OOOOO LOL - advert on telly for a cream or cleansing product or something (didn't take that much notice) called... 'VIRGIN FACE'. LMAO. (okay, I accept I'm maybe in a minority that finds that very funny).

Saturday

2010-02-28T00:09:00.002+09:00

Get up. Early. Quick shower. Leave. Realise I've got to work EARLY. On a Saturday. Drink coffee. Eat sandwich (Doutor). Prep for lessons. Try and get some answers from reception. Fail. Drink another coffee. Rearrange room. Teach two kids. Have another coffee. A bit more prep and some clear up. Rearrange room. Teach two kids. One kid. Rearrange room. One adult. Back to back. Drink a coffee while teaching adult. Adult has come to lesson depressed for last three weeks. Have to act as a counsellor. Am not a counsellor. Am not an entertainer. Am a teacher. Who wants to teach. Not entertain. Not counsel. At least this week she didn't burst into tears. Progression. Am still talking about adult here. Listen to her problems for 30 minutes. Have a decent sized break. Thanks to a cancellation. Eat lunch. Drink coffee. Try and get some more answers from reception. Mainly fail again. More clear up. More prep. Rearrange room again. Try and get some answers from reception. Fail again. Teach a nightmare class. That used to be a great class. But whereas I see students, other people see only money. It's not as important to other people as to me that they cannot disrupt 3 and 4 year olds as much as they are. That they need routine. Not important. Made my job impossible. Lesson finished. Five minutes to rearrange room / tidy room / grab coffee / mentally psyche myself for low level elderly adult. Listen to how much she likes old J.Pop. Especially Leona Lewis. Patiently explain Leona Lewis isn't Japanese and therefore not J.Pop. Granny surprised. Explained Leona Lewis not an old singer. Manage to not burst into tears. Listen to more bewildering comments. Spend about 5 minutes getting granny to understand 'go to work' and 'go home'. Clear out granny. Grab another student. Teach. Eight minute 'break. Tidy room a bit more. Rearrange room. Grab coffee. Grab student. Students first lesson. Say: how are you? Students said: how are you? Smiled. Said again: how are you? Student eventually got it. Wondered if student had been allocated wrong book. Struggled through lesson. Finished lesson. Cleaned up. Tidied up. Put away. Left. Got home. Salad and muffins. Collapsed. Watched American Idol and Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Struggle to stay awake. Decide to crash nice and early as can hardly keep eyes open. Turn off light. Snuggly. Relaxed. Put on eye mask. Nice and dark. Drifting. Drifting..... SNAP! Brain turns back on. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Worrying. Worrying. Stressing. Stressing. Mulling and mulling and mulling. Too much going on. Light back on. Do a Sudoku puzzle. Normally helps me drop off. Didn't. Decide to jot down things I need to tell my boss next week. If the words are on paper they won't mull around so much in my head. Will they? Didn't work. Gave in. Took pill. Put on computer. Know I'll be fucked again tomorrow. Know I won't be able to drink so much coffee tomorrow. Know I drank too much today. Know I had no choice. Tomorrow have to work. Early start. Exhausting day. Possibly very lucrative day. Fun evening planned. Looking forward to that. If I'm still awake by then...

Too.

2010-02-27T02:33:00.002+09:00

2.35am. too late. should be sleeping. saturdays are early starts. too tired. too awake. heard if you can't sleep you should stop trying and do something else. waking for brain to quieten. hoping typing the words will help. or the pill to kick in. something. don't want to take two. not enough sleep hours left. i hate insomnia. it's my on-off constant companion. right now too much going on. a few interviews coming up. yes, a few. had an almost 100% success rate on applications to interviews so far. not many more to wait on just now. need to get my head straight about which is which. and which i want. too much diploma to do. too much work stress. anxiety. last post. anxiety. tomorrow. i'm dreading tomorrow. really dreading it. anxiety. unavoidable anxiety. tiring young child day ahead. and going to feel so exhausted from this weeks anxiety. sigh. and moving. co-ordinating my things to go when i go. and where. and what after. and knowing i'll probably not have the autumn sorted when i leave for the summer. because that's how it goes. and weight. putting on weight. not sure why i'm putting on weight. suddenly noticed. and tired. tired. always tired. need to stop. need to sleep. need to have a clear head. not so much anxiety, worry, stress and shit. sleep deprivation. coffee. sleep deprivation. pill. tired. coffee. endless. endless. endless. shit weather. one day of spring yesterday and it's turned to cack again. energy. low. so low. motivation struggling. house okay. quiet. strange. anal. the house. not me. strange. but quiet. clean. weird. tokyo. exhausting. trains. crowds. predictable students. getting out. can't wait to get out. i need to get out. i've gotten all i can from here. so tired. so much to do. pill kicking in. relaxing. feel myself sinking into my futon. will feel so crap when my alarm goes off. when i face tomorrow. when i face the consequences. and there will be consequences. there will be. and i'm not looking forward to them. no wonder i've slept so badly this week. it's all just too.

Freaking Out

2010-02-26T00:07:00.003+09:00

Something I did is making me freak out.

I can't talk about it.

Though I wish I could.

But it's freaking me out.

It was unavoidable.

But shit timing.

So I'm freaking out.

A lot.

Oh Shit!

2010-02-25T21:52:00.003+09:00

Two of the kids I teach R & S have lovely mothers. I'm sure a lot of my kids have lovely mothers but R & S's mothers are particularly nice and we always chat before and after R & S's lesson. R & S are 6 and 7 and a pretty good level. Especially R, who attends an international kindy.

Anyway, today, R's mother put her foot right in it: there are work experience ladies at some of our schools at the moment and a couple of them were standing around with me, the mothers and R & S before the lesson, nattering and gossiping.

S, the boy, was upset. Doesn't really matter why - nothing to do with me anyway - and R's mum (R's a girl) suddenly said - in English - I wish I had a son. Poor little R nearly burst into tears (like I said, her comprehension is pretty good)

The mother tried to backpedal as quickly as she could but it was hard.... as we were all pissing ourselves laughing.

R got over it pretty quickly!

Not bad for one day

2010-02-24T22:09:00.001+09:00

Today I...

... had a long chat with my DoS about stuff that's been bothering me.
... got an email from a company who wants to interview me next week for a summer job.
... booked a flight to Seoul.

Not bad for one day, I think!

WHY would you say that?

2010-02-24T11:03:00.002+09:00

In one of the groups I teach, H is the only man in a class of 5 students. H is in his 60s and a bit of an odd character. Maybe I mentioned H before when he said his mother was very old and he was probably going to have to look after her for another ten years as she was so 'healthy'. He said it with a lot of bitterness.

Yesterday I gave the learners some question dice (each side had 'who, where, when, what, how, why' on) and got them to use them to talk, in pairs. As an activity this generally works pretty well, especially when they're not given any guidance about what to talk about. Now and then one of them would ask me how to say something or I'd throw some errors onto the board to sort later.

Anyhoo, M asked H why he studied English conversation and H said he didn't actually like English.

H is self-employed, doesn't use it for his job, has no company making him use it... so you do have to wonder WHY he's studying it, don't you?

More Applications...

2010-02-22T20:13:00.002+09:00

To be honest, I'm a bit hopeful for a couple of the things I've applied for for the summer. The not-so-hopeful-paranoid part of me isn't taking it lying down though and today I painfully churned out a few more applications. On forms. Took AGES. Am sure I wrote a load of twaddle...

But the thing is...do I know stop and wait, or continue applying?

What's making me even more nervous is that chances are I'll be starting a summer job without having anything firm lined up for afterwards as a lot of the October recruiting isn't done until August or September.

This really does make me rather nervous as I always need to think two or three steps ahead. I have no 'wait-it-out' plan. I can't go back to a parental home and figure things out... It's not an option and it makes things like this rather complicated.

Oh well.

My Weekend

2010-02-22T10:24:00.002+09:00

Some drinking. Actually rather a lot of drinking of Friday, some on Saturday, some on Sunday.

A lot of room sorting. YES! I've almost finished unpacking. It's important that everything goes in the 'right' place. Takes time to figure out where that is.

A lost of runny nose and coughing. Enough said.

One job email; one job application; one application started and given up on (I donno what to write in my 'greatest achievements' section. Especially when they want TWO! One I could cope with. And one more I'm definitely planning to do today.

Er, that's it. Big supermarket shop. Full fridge. Happy.

Olympics. I got around to plugging in my TV for the first time a few days ago. Now hooked on the Olympics. Am fascinated by the curling. I wonder how the decision was made to include curling in the Olympics. It's not a sport. Although it's strangely fascinating to watch!

Archiving

2010-02-21T01:20:00.001+09:00

Anyone got any idea how I change the monthly archive to yearly tabs?

I've hunted around the blog tabs but can't figure it out.

Cheers.

Just Get On With It Already

2010-02-20T22:30:00.004+09:00

Subtlety. Not one of my strong points. The fact I'm leaving - planning to leave - has become something that I've not exactly been keeping secret.

When I want to leave, where I want to go, and who I want to work for, I know.

A wheel is turning, no breaks have been applied, and I'm not sure exactly where the station is. Plan A is alive and kicking and is now out of my hands.

Plan B though. Plan B. Plan B. Plan B involves a bit more work. I'm not saying Plan A was simple but... okay, it was simple.

Plan B involves application forms. Probably a fair few of them. If I'm lucky a few CVs may suffice, but mainly application forms and this is the week to apply for summer jobs. This is the week they are a ill being advertised. This really is the week I have to get more cogs turning. The longer stretch - post-summer, I can't really do much about now but, if I am to get out of here by the summer, I need to act now.

But application forms and applying for jobs...

Throughout my working life - and certainly post-university - I've filled out very few application forms. And quite a few of the ones I did fill out where a formality rather than anything else. I'd got the job and the application form was subsequent to that.

In television-land, it's all about who you know or CVs. I don't remember filling out a form for any TV jobs.

My CV and a cover letter always got me the job / the interview / ignored. It was enough.

In my current job - well, at the time I applied teachers really were being recruited in droves. I did my research. Well. Very well. I knew I wouldn't have a problem getting this job. That's not cocky. It's a fact. I knew.

One day I decided I'd had enough of London life and working in TV. I decided I wanted to work in Japan. The name of the company I work for came up and I phoned them to see if they were recruiting. They asked me if I had a CELTA or TESOL. I said I didn't. (I got one a couple of years later). They said they only took teachers with TEFL qualifications. I told them I knew that wasn't true. They laughed and emailed me an application form. I knew I didn't need to know anything about teaching to get a job teaching. Shocking fact. But true. To teach English you don't need to know how to teach English. Apparently.

With the help of a lot of waffle, google and teacher friends I filled out the application form. For some reason I had no doubt I'd get the interview.

I read my head off about Japan. The job was mine. I had to get out of London before going crazy. I put on a suit, slapped on a ton of make-up, and got the train to the interview. It was a bloody hot day. All the make-up melted off by the time I arrived. I babbled my head off in the interview. I wanted the job and I wanted them to give it to me. There was no Plan B. And they did. On the spot.

The timing for the job start was perfect. The company seemed good. My escape plan was coming together. I was very happy. Everything then moved very quickly. Visa. A week of training. Packing up house. Goodbye party. And on a plane to Japan. And the rest is history!

In the interests of my philosophy of not blogging anything that'll come back to bite me I've self-censored the story slightly, but that's how easy it was.

In 10+ years, I've pretty much only filled out one application form. And now I have to write about my achievements and other things that I deem to be totally irrelevant to how I am as a teacher.

It's also the reason I've stayed here so long. People have asked why I haven't left Japan if I've not been happy here, well - it's easy to not apply for other things than it is to apply. Or something like that. And now I'm being baffled with questions I don't know how I should answer.

For I believe there definitely IS a way questions 'should' be answered. And I'm avoiding doing it.

But can't keep avoiding it!

Oh well.

Tomorrow!

Sorry, just to clarify, I believe there is a proper way to answer the questions, I just don't have a clue what it is!

Quiz Time!

2010-02-17T22:06:00.006+09:00

What do the following four pictures have in common?

No, I have no idea either. Except that Softbank (one of the mobile phone companies in Japan), has called their new range 'Jellybean'. Being Japan, the Jellybeans have 'cute' faces added, which reminds me of Moomins (not sure why but they do) AND AND AND

they have put KNICKERS on the Jellybeans.

I don't get it but lots of smiling Jellybeans in knickers REALLY disturbs me.

On the train the adverts are sort of semi-3D, which make them even worse. I took a photo but, well, you know how crap I am at getting around to uploading photos so you'll just have to imagine.

*shudder*

Oh and I didn't mention but in the TV ads - which I can't see because my beloved computer can't cope with Youtube (it's very old!) - the phones remove the jellybeans knickers. *double shudder* - and definitely not cute. Just WHO are these ads being aimed at?

Anyhoo, Sassymoo, 'kindly' found and posted a link to the ad in my comments. So, here you are.

Enjoy.

Well, Obviously.

2010-02-16T23:41:00.002+09:00

Sentence to complete:

"If everyone were colour-blind..."

no, I didn't write this, it comes courtesy of a lovely textbook.

Student wrote:

"...we'd all wear perfume."

Me: eh?

---------

Japan is so different to England. The Japanese way of doing things is so different to the English way. In so many things. I've come to accept this. Hell, I wouldn't have a blog if this wasn't the case. And it's the differences between people that make them interesting. That make us want to know more about them. And yet I still get baffled by the logic behind lots of Japanesenesses.

For example, a conversation today with a uni student who has some job interviews lined up. One insurance company has a process of about five interviews for prospective candidates. Bare in mind, undergraduates go in their penultimate year to have these interviews and then piss about, I mean don't have to worry or work, in their final year at uni. Also bare in mind (bear in mind? always forget which it is) that larger companies take on new recruits in LARGE numbers. A couple of hundred at a time wouldn't be uncommon for large companies. No, I don't know where they put them either.

Anyhoo, so student R has the first of his interviews in a couple of days time. As there are so many candidates the first step of the process is...

...wait for it...

... to meet and have lunch and be 'scored' by someone from the company, who then 'reports back'.

Sounds reasonable, I guess.

Until you take on board this someone is someone who has been at said company for ten months - ie they themselves graduated last year and started their first ever job ten months ago. And they are being put into the position of making or breaking someones career. Okay, a tad exaggerated, but you get my point?

And to make it even more comfortable, an entire restaurant is made up of these cosy little 'tables for two' with everyone trying to get the right boxes (or whatever) ticked.

I said it sounded like speed dating. R laughed.

Sounds horrendous and ridiculous to me at any rate.

cough cough splutter splutter

2010-02-13T00:21:00.002+09:00

Well, I've come down with a full-bodied elves pouring water down my nose, kicking me in the throat and thumping me in the stomach cold. No doubt caught from one of my lovely students. Thanks guys.

Does, kind of, explain the extra shitty mood I was in this week though. Work was a bit trying, to say the least, but things have settled for me in the house. I'm over my 'shall I move before unpacking' thing. People have stopped leaving pathetic notes around and it just feels a bit more... real.

Guess that means, in between sniffles, that I'll be unpacking this weekend!

Old Place. New Place.

2010-02-11T01:06:00.002+09:00

This house couldn't really be any more different to the last one.

I've not yet unpacked most of my stuff and I realised it's because it doesn't feel like home yet. It doesn't feel like somewhere I want to stay. Does that make sense?

The old house - and it was old, falling apart, dirty, noisy... felt like home. From the start. Does that make sense? I've lived in a LOT of places and it generally takes me a while to get a feeling for where I want things to be.

In the old house people whinged through the agency about each other. Here people leave notes. It all seems so much more... anal. The draining board is always cleared quickly - I wonder how often the tea towel is changed - doesn't feel very hygienic to me. If someone 'dares' leave a cup draining, it gets placed on the window sill like god-forbid someone has to move someone else's clean cup into a cupboard.

There are - I kid you not - SIX bins for rubbish here. SIX. And separate containers for used lids, used lighters, used batteries. And people dig OUT rubbish from the wrong bins and pin notes on them... and no, it's not all mine!

I miss having my own kitchen. I miss being able to wander to the toilet or shower room without getting worried I'm going to be doing something wrong.

I miss having a fast internet connection.

I like having a clean, quiet house but I really don't feel that comfortable here.

In the old place, when I had Japanese male flatmates, I found them really nice to live with, really laid-back and, well, nice. Maybe it's a language thing but I don't know how much anyone in the house interacts with anyone else. Certainly upstairs, where they have the dorm room, I get the feeling it's pretty quiet. The Aussie guy here is nice. There's one Japanese guy who scares me and I've not really seen the others.

I know it's only for a short time and I know I don't really have any choice - I can't move again! - and maybe I will feel more settled soon - as I said, I've lived in a LOT of houses and I normally settle very fast - even if my unpacking takes longer.

I also wish I could blog a bit more about what is really on my mind but I promised myself to NEVER write anything on this blog that could come back to haunt me in the future. And no, I'm not going to start another blog for that! Let's just say, in the words of 'Lost' - I don't have a constant right now.

Run that by me one more time

2010-02-10T00:34:00.002+09:00

A student had to complete some 'recommend' sentences. One was 'if you want to lose weight i recommend ('type of exercise or diet') .

Student wrote: 'drink sweet coffee'.

I asked her wtf, I mean what she meant exactly, and she informed me about the latest Japanese fad, er, diet where drinking only three cups of sweet coffee a day helps you to lose weight. Like, no shit, sherlock.. Further 'investigation' clarified you are allowed breakfast OCCASIONALLY. And this was all recommended by some scientist or other on TV. Apparently.

Japan seems to thrive on these bizarre diets. A couple of years ago some celeb or other apparently advocated eating gravel as a way to suppress your appetite. A small number of people died from this.

And then there was the banana diet, as recommended by some other celeb on telly. The result of this (and this was a few years ago) was that bananas flew out of supermarkets and couldn't be found anywhere, such was the demand.

I've also had skinny students telling me their parents told them they were fat...

Bizarre country.

---------

I gave a 15-year old girl some written homework a couple of weeks ago. She had to imagine herself 10 years from now looking back on the last ten years. I nearly burst into tears when I read the last couple of sentences where she talked about how she had an office job but couldn't wait to get married so she could leave her job.

So so sad. And yet so indicative of the attitude many women have here. But to have that attitude at 15 when you're on the cusp of starting high school with everything being possible and so many avenues lying ahead of you. It broke my heart a little bit.

--------

I'm reading 'The Language Instinct' by Steven Pinker. I now know all about octopus sex. In fact I may never get the image out of my head. *shudder*. Okay, if you're interested, mr. grey octopus sees ms. female octopus and turns stripey in his excitement. seven of his tentacles caress her grey voluptuousness and - if she lets him - the eighth slips into her breathing hole (i guess this is the same as the mouth. do octopi have mouths? do they have noses?) and shoots some sperm into her and then glides away, greyly.

I don't really like having the image of octopus sex in my mind. Thanks Mr. Pinker. I'm now heading to some very bizarre dreams I think!

One Week

2010-02-07T22:31:00.002+09:00

I moved house last Monday. Naturally I was still packing at the last minute and, after a run of dry days, it rained. Heavily. Which wasn't the greatest weather to be hauling boxes and bags around it, but at least it was over and done with before it started snowing!

I've been here a week now. The house is quiet, clean and not falling apart. Bit of a change from the last place. It's taking a bit of getting used to having to share a kitchen again and I'm a bit paranoid about separating the rubbish properly - if it's always been done properly and suddenly isn't, they'll know it's 'the new girl'. We have SIX different bins to separate into plus separate containers for used PET lids, etc. Before I kind of figured things were basically 'burnable' or 'recyclable' and kind of left it at that. Bad, I know.

The house has 8 beds but only 7 people live here right now. There are 4 single rooms and a dormitory with 4 beds. 5 of the people are Japanese here.

The location is nice. I've not had a lot of time yet to explore but it's quiet with lots of food places and lots of hairdressers and I'm nice and close to the station.

As for unpacking: I haven't really yet. Part of this is down to laziness, part of it to not having had time / being too tired and sleeping badly, and part of it down to figuring out the best place to put things. I think mentally a part of me doesn't want to unpack either but just wants to be out of here.

On the subject of which, I've started looking at summer jobs and need to buckle down with applications now.

Moved!

2010-02-04T00:37:00.004+09:00

On Sunday I happily succeeded in not actually getting any packing done until about 5pm, or thereabouts. After I got to a reasonable stage - ie exhaustion - I had to stop as I figured it wouldn't take me the long to complete the next day. Right. Naturally what actually happened was I got up later than planned, packed a lot, went and go breakfast/lunch from the conbeni, came back, faffed and ate, tried - and failed - to complete the packing before the guy from old housing agency arrived.

It also meant he did a LOT of the carrying from room to van while I continued faffing.

As he arrived he told me it was due to rain heavily later - and then to snow. It had just started raining as we left and knowing my things were on his open topped (albeit covered by canvas) van meant I also knew unloading would not be fun. Anyhoo, I have more stuff than could fit on the van, so we ended doing two trips as the rain slowly got heavier and heavier.

Later that night it started snowing. Thankfully I was already in my room - having found a local supermarket, shopped and made food, before it started.

I found out about 90% of the old house elected to move to the new premises with the agency. I am so happy I'm not one of them

The station is very close to get to from home and very straightforward. Thankfully!

Am still a little disoriented though as I'm trying to figure out which box or bag has things lurking in them.

And getting ever closer...

2010-01-30T07:47:00.002+09:00

The fucktard in my house (should I say the biggest fucktard) did it yet again. Woke me up at 6am this time with the washing machine. He knows it's loud. He knows there's a house rule about no usage before 7am, but does it make any difference? Like fuck. This fucktard is the one with two volumes - asleep/out and loud. Every week he wakes me up or keeps me awake with crashing around, shouting, etc. He doesn't care. The agency doesn't care. So nothing can be done about him.

Thankfully I don't have to put up with him for much longer.

------------

Yesterday was another of those days that is spurring me on to leave Japan.

Some highlights:

The student who told me about his dead grandfather being kept on dry ice in his house for a week and how tedious it was to have to visit him every day.

How it's really annoying that, because of death of said grandfather, he can't go on a vacation for 45 days.

The student in her mid-60s who has to fly across Japan every week to take care of her parents before coming back to feed her husband. Her husband encourages her to go but only as long as she prepares all his food for him before she goes.

Another student who is in her mid-40s and lives with her parents because it's convenient and they are rich.

Another student, who has been studying English for a long time, but couldn't combine some random letters to make even a two-letter word.

Another one who insisted divorce is wrong and tried to convince me that all Japanese marrieds are happy.

And then there were all the company policies and government policies that I was told about that are just plain bizarre - such as a company who is severly short staffed but because they are undergoing a merger IN THREE YEARS TIME cannot promote anyone into a vacant manager position.

And so on and so on. I think I've blotted out a lot of the rest, but it seemed to be relentless yesterday!

When you get passed the 'cuteness' of Japan, the weirdness comes out and, for me, this is not always in a good way.

Don't get me wrong. There ARE things I like about Tokyo (and I'm sure my experiences would have been very different in another city or town here) but, quite simply, I've been here too long and am completely ready to go now.

Nerves!

2010-01-28T23:16:00.002+09:00

As moving day approaches part of me is thrilled at the prospect of getting away from the house I'm in now. Three of the housemates in particular are just so noisy when they come in, go out or just move around, that it drives me nuts - especially as it regularly wakes me up... and the other six manage to move around quietly.

The house is old. I won't miss the mice scratching in the walls or the damp and mould and cockroaches in the summer.

I will miss the location. I'll also miss having my own kitchen...

I move on Monday, as I mentioned, I finally narrowed the places I'd seen down to two and, although I saw a couple of interesting places listed on craigslist, just couldn't face seeing anywhere else. I chose the place I wanted last Friday and put down the agency charge - and then spent the weekend not being convinced I'd chosen the right one. Today I'm sure I've chosen the wrong one but I've a feeling whichever one I'd have chosen it'd have left me feeling like this!

It's all about the unknown. I have no idea what to expect of the house and, while I know the general location of the house, I'm not thrilled with having to re-locate myself, find my way around, etc.

But I'm sure it'll be fine. It might even be great.

And I'm looking forward to getting back on with the diploma and with job hunting!

After all - I'm not planning on sticking around that long.

Blast Off!

2010-01-26T23:37:00.002+09:00

10. Had a lovely day on Sunday with friends enjoying a boozy lunch at the Meguro Tavern - a British - ish pub - that does an AWESOME Sunday roast. That was followed by a nice walk in the park. Lovely Sunday.

9. Packing is about half done. Chaos reins.

8. After I move, on Monday, it's full-steam ahead with the diploma again.

7. It's also full-steam ahead with job hunting for a summer job in Spain or England.

6. There are only six more sleeps to survive in this house before I leave the housemates. Half of whom I'm clueless about and the other half of whom are bloody loud / annoying. Especially one who has two volumes: out/asleep or bloody loud.

5. Twats of the day: Softbank (old Vodafone) who wouldn't accept a change of address from me before I get my Gaijin card changed, despite me telling them I move in six days and it'll be at least two weeks before I can get the Gaijin card changed. Maybe they're not bothered where they send my bills to?

4. I have to have my photo taken tomorrow for a colour insert that'll go into local papers to promote a campaign in my school. I hate having my picture taken. I particularly hate having to 'pose' for my picture to be taken.

3. Related to 4, above: I NEVER get spots. I mean, never. I have dry skin. I didn't go through teenage acne and can go for months or years between spots. Well, guess what? I have FOUR of the fuckers on my chin. Like, WHY????

2. Love of the day: there's a lovely (non-Japanese) lady who works in the local convenience store. She's always been very sweet and friendly to me. Today I went in to get boxes and she led me to the back of the store and loaded me (ladened me?) down with more boxes than I could manage - or would have if I hadn't made her stop. She THEN offered to help me get them home! I said she didn't need to but, like, bless! What a honey!

1. I have every intention of getting my India photos up once I move. My intentions don't always pan out, but I'll try.

BLAST OFF!!!

And that's that.

2010-01-22T22:42:00.002+09:00

Saw another couple of properties this morning and spent lots of time going back and forth between choosing one of them and one i saw week before last. Lots of pros and cons for both and, to be honest, i could keep looking forever and not find somewhere i like, so i threw the question to a colleague, nicer house or nicer location - and went with the location. Hope I made the right choice...

Current twatty agency has confirmed they'll move me on the date I want.

Because it's being demolished, I don't have to concern myself with any cleaning.

Deposit is paid.

Moving date is February first.

Er... I 'just' have to start packing now. And there's rather a lot of stuff. But am happy it's sorted now because as soon as I move I can get back on with studying. And get away from the idiots I live with now. I think all the people in the new place are Japanese and, based on my rather limited experience of Japanese housemates, they are a lot quieter and more considerate than Europeans and Americans.

------

Sometimes I grumble about my students. All teachers do. But I realised yesterday that, actually, I really like most of them. That scared me.

------

My English is going to pot. I'm picking up much too much Japanese English. Other than getting out of Japan I'm not sure what I can do about this!

-----

It's now also time to start thinking about summer jobs overseas if I want to get one. Am a tad nervous about them being unknown entities though. My current company I applied to because I knew someone else who'd previously worked for them. It's weird: I have no problem with moving to a new city or country or travelling without planning it all out in advance but, for some reason, I'm nervous about my 'next' job.

Guess I'm just strange.

Confusing Times

2010-01-20T22:55:00.004+09:00

Saturday the temperature was 3 degrees. Yesterday (Tuesday) it was 10 and today it was 13. What on earth is going on with the weather?

-----

Am getting house hunting stress. Am very tempted to say yes to the first place I saw (provided it is still available) but what if I find something better? What if I don't? What if I leave it too late and someone else snaps it up? What if they don't?

My agency (who promised to help us move) doesn't want to move me on a Monday. Monday is the only day that really suits me.

----

I've been taking sleeping tablets again recently. For some reason this has been giving me very strange dreams. I rarely remember my dreams, but have been lately. The other night I dreamed I had a big garden (I hate gardening) and there was a (friendly) wolf and a panda (not together) in the garden, looking at me. There was also a queen sized bed. In the garden. I have no idea what on earth any of this could mean.

But the following day when a student started randomly talking about pandas in the lesson, it did kind of freak me out.

----

In Tokyo, I have no problem with slinging a coat and crocs over roomwear (pyjamas in other words) to go to the convenience store. What I love is that nobody else does either, and at 10.45pm when I pop in for emergency biscuits, stockcubes, shampoo and conditioner, nobody bats an eye. Gotta love it.

----

One of my students is getting two weeks off school soon because OTHER kids in her school have exams and so the teachers will be busy. Like WTF? Kids usually get a few days off after they do exams too so that the teachers can mark them. Like
that would ever happen in England.

Additionally, some kids have 'fake' teaching days so that parents can go and observe their school lessons on a Saturday. The kids get an extra day off instead. Actually, a lot of sports events are held on Saturdays in schools - followed by extra days off.

A lot of high school kids seem to have finished for the year now (academic year is April to March in Japan). It would seem it's not so tough here for all kids.

----

Another student, who is going to university in April, and who has finished for the year, has a part-time job in McDonalds. So far she's had FIVE days of training, including HOW to clean a table and how to smile.

I had a part-time job in McD's when at uni. I think I had about 30 minutes of 'training' and was watched while I got on with it. I remember a 16-year old squirt telling me off for salting the McFries from left to right and not right to left.

Like whatever.

But then again, in 'real' jobs here there seems a lack of 'training'. People talk about studying their job or learning their job here. Nobody I've asked seems to have had any kind of handover from someone in the position prior to them and neither are they prepared to give it to others.

Each (society) to their own, I guess.

Too many decisions.

2010-01-18T18:04:00.003+09:00

Too small.
Too far.
Too dark.
Too little storage.
Too messy.
Too many people.
Too noisy.
Too.
Too.
Too.

Saw too many rooms today. None of them were 'right'. None of them spoke to me and said, 'Yay, we can have a good relationship, you and I.' None of them. My mind keeps going back to one I saw last week though. A little bit further from Shinjuku station than I wanted, but it talked to me...

I just need to play a little game now as it can't be held for more than a week without charge. It's been available for some time, so maybe I'll be lucky... Or I could push the agency as I think they might be flexible on this... Or fuck it, I might just pay a bit extra and sod it. I mean, I could look forever otherwise until I find something I like... and it's only for such a short time. Plus, the sooner I move, the sooner I get away from the decrepidness, noise and people in this house.

But I DO love a) the location of where I am now and b) having my own kitchen. I'll miss both.

And - eek - packing up... NOT NOT NOT something I'm looking forward to. Thankfully the agency I'm with now will move my stuff, for free, as they're inconveniencing us so much... Be interesting to see how flexible they are about this though.

Oh well!

And at the weekend I sent off my first application for a new job. Fingers crossed for me please!

Danger!

2010-01-15T22:28:00.002+09:00

1. This morning I saw a couple of dozen men standing around a heap of SMALL boxes, unloading them and putting SMALL plants into the ground...

all while wearing hard hats.

How dangerous can three inch plants be?

2. Anyone who has been to, or lives in Tokyo, knows the average hole in the ground will have at least a couple of flashing lights, some barriers and a workman or two standing around to point it out to you. BUT...

the last few days there's been some work being done on one of the pavements nearby. Pedestrians are being alerted to this by a portion of the road being barriered off into a new path each evening. The barriers are luminous AND lit with flashing lights. There are a plethora of workmen with flashing jackets AND flashing batons standing to point it out AND (in case that isn't enough), there's an illuminated van with a six foot pole at the top of which is a 6 foot high illuminated BLUE poo / teardrop / waterdrop. With a big smiling face. And arms and legs.

3. When you decide you can't be arsed to wait for the little red man at a crossing to turn green - which I usually can't if there's no cars coming - you should, of course, check for any fast approaching traffic.

You should also check for any stationary taxis waiting ten metres in front of you, because it's a little bit embarrassing when a crowd of politely waiting Japanese watch you almost collide with one.

Not that I would do that, of course!

Yes, Absolutely

2010-01-13T21:59:00.003+09:00

Student: "I've never heard a dead person living forever."
Me: "I'm not sure I completely understand you."

-----------

3/4 of my students are coming to class with colds. Great.

----------

And another link I'm knicking straight from Facebook, cos it's too good to not share:
'Shocked' Woman drove with body in windscreen.

Like, doh, what else what you do?

J-j-j-j-january

2010-01-13T10:07:00.002+09:00

Cold outside. Dress up warmly. Overheat walking to station. Freeze when stopping for traffic lights. Overheat when walking. Bake and sweat when you enter the way-too-hot train. Change trains. Feel sweat on neck turn to ice. Get back on train. Melt. Get off train. Freeze. Go in building. Melt. Pop out to shop. Freeze. Enter shop. Melt.

Such is winter in Japan. The heating inside places is cranked WAY up. But anyway.

Here's a couple of amusing links I've knicked from other people: This one illustrates beautifully the paranoia of Japanese people. It's about how the Swine Flu was treated in one guy's company.

Of course, catching flu would be bad because it might stop people working and, well - there's so few hours in the day anyway that those poor overworked salarymen just don't get enough time to work, drink AND sleep so have to take advantage of every little minute, don't they? Like in these pictures.

Bless!

Now..

2010-01-11T23:19:00.003+09:00

why would you get a big purple heart dyed onto your dogs thigh?

why?

[spotted today in Nakano Sakaue]

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In other news, had a good attempt yesterday at updating my cv. I've never done a teaching cv before so kind of hard to know if I'm on the right track with it, but hopefully... Also had a stab at the cover email I'm sending with it. Will check them again tomorrow and see if I want to change anything.

I'd like to have a clear picture in my head of when I'm leaving as soon as possible. At the moment it's kind of between the beginning of April and the beginning of June which may not seem like much but it is...

-----------

Went and had a look at a room today that was quite nice. I have a lot of stuff and don't really want to chuck much away at the moment - before I leave Japan most of it will go, but that's another thing.

I want to move at the beginning of next month (a real pain if it IS only for a couple of months, but hey) and the task of packing up my room now is not one I'm relishing.

I'm putting all study on hold until I've moved. It's just easier that way.

----------

I broke out the heat pads today and put them in my gloves, but then my hands got too hot so I took off the gloves. My hat made me too hot too, so I took it off. And then I got cold about five minutes later and put it back on again. And repeated this about 20 times in 20 minutes. Went into the agency and nearly melted.

Did I say I hate this weather? It's just so impractical!

In Culva (Goa) I hit on the idea of writing a book. It's something I've wanted to achieve for a long time. I started it yesterday.... First, I spent about 30 minutes on Amazon trying to think of a title that didn't already exist. Next, I wrote the first paragraph. And rewrote it. And rewrote it.

And was then too exhausted to attempt another paragraph.

The book may not be coming any time soon!

f-f-f-freeeeezing!

2010-01-10T01:00:00.002+09:00

8.45am today was 6 degrees in Shinjuku. That's 11 degrees below bearable, imo.

Day two back, saw only one error on today's schedule and I caught one for Tuesday early. Joy.

Conversation with student:
Me: hello
Student: *giggle* (student is 36 years old)
Me: how are you?
Student: *giggle*
Student: I have a cold. Now maybe you will catch it from me. *giggle*
Me: I'd better not...

Student: I started cooking classes.
Me: What kind?
Student: [blank look]
Me: Japanese? Italian? cakes?
Student: bla bla bla Japanese and cakes and bread.
Me: Do you like cooking?
Student: I've never cooked.
Me: ???
Student: I live with my parents (student is 36 years old, remember?)

Same student then goes on about how how this will be a bad year for her because, according to some Japanese custom I've never heard of (and when you teach mainly one-on-one and small groups you generally get the same stories again and again and again) - in Japan everyone gets six unlucky years and for women it's ages 30, 31, 32, 34, 35 and 36 (33 is given off for good behaviour?) and men it's 20, 21, 22, 40, 41 and 42 (or something like that).

She had NO idea why it was meant to be bad luck or what you were meant to do or not do in these years - apart from going to a special shrine blessing (temple blessing maybe? can't remember!) but she believed in it.

Blind faith, anyone?

----------

Went out tonight. Had a couple of drinks. Have a headache now.

---------

It's bloody cold.

First day back and

2010-01-08T22:39:00.003+09:00

Three lessons were missed off my schedule...

One cancelled student I didn't know about although reception did, until after the start of the lesson...

One student couldn't decide between travelling to Korea or New York but was worried the tiredness from the New York flight but cause her to catch swine flu...

One student asked whether I had to eat with my hands in India (yes, sometimes) and then asked what if they were dirty (er, i cleaned them first, doh!)...

One student led in with asking if I got stomach problems in India...

One student said she wanted to change her job but had no idea at all what she wanted to do...

One student had been told to write 5 things for her homework and had numbers 1 - 5 written in a list. She had things written against the first three. I asked her where the others were and she said she thought she only had to do 3. (did she think I couldn't SEE the 1-5 list she had in front of her?)

One student reminded me how fucking ridiculous the way of working in Japan is and how ridiculously unfair the age over merit system is and how Japanese often don't say what they mean (I paraphrase slightly here, natch )...

One student told me how she spent 40,000 yen to go to Osaka for New Years Eve by Shinkansen - 3 hours travel to get there - found it cold. Found big queues everywhere. Couldn't get into a countdown concert - and so returned to Tokyo later that day - 3 hours travel back. Ate takoyaki from a stall. Declared it a fun but expensive day. Like, doh? (Let's recap - 6 hours travel to and from, approx four hours actually there, cost of a flight to somewhere a couple of hours away).

I had a Thai curry for lunch and have felt sick since...

My bedroom is like an ice box...

Roll on day two...

Back to work

2010-01-08T10:40:00.002+09:00

And already it feels like the holiday was such a long time ago.

Tokyo is cold. Not cold by a lot of people's standards but cold by mine. Too cold. In Japan, this means when you go IN anywhere, the heating is cranked RIGHT up. Lots of hot stale air. Nice. And then you freeze. You dress up for the street, and then you melt as soon as you go into a building or get on the train.

Not nice.

And now I have to sort out packing up my room, finding somewhere new to live, applying for work in Spain - am still utterly unsure about whether to aim for work for the spring or whether that really is going to be impossible, and a heap of other things. Am going to pull a halt to studying for a couple of weeks while I sort those things out.

And am holding that the tiger I saw in Mudumalai is a token of a good year to come, as this is the year of the tiger.

Okay. That's me. Gotta get ready for work now. Am thrilled at the prospect of lots of stimulating input from my students. Hell, I can dream, can't I?!

Bombay and Matheran

2010-01-07T15:59:00.003+09:00

Bombay wasn't about sightseeing. I did that last trip. This time it was about enjoying relaxing and catching up with Nicola and her family and exploring the areas in Bandra (a Bombay suburb) that I didn't see last year. It was about hanging out basically in a very 'normal' area that isn't frequented by tourists. Thankfully. Although I did try to persuade Nic to write a guide to the area.

New Years Eve saw the first party I've been to on a NYE for a LONG time. Pretty low key. Nice people. Beer. Food. Who needs more? Midnight was seen in with sparklers and setting on fire an effigy (no, not related to the effigy of Calvin mentioned in the Colva post) to burn out the old year.

After a couple of days chilling in Bandra we headed off to Matheran. Now, Matheran is another hill station like Ooty but couldn't be more different. For one thing, the weather was rather nice. For another, motorised vehicles are banned so there's no air pollution or horns being honked.

At just 90 minutes from Bombay, it's very popular with Bombayites (Bombayers?) and we saw very few foreign tourists. From the train, we took a taxi as far as we could and then had a 30-minute walk up to Matheran. Some people took horses but I didn't want to inflict my weight on a horse and the horses didn't look too healthy anyway.

There were lots of coolies around to carry peoples luggage for them, but that seemed awfully lazy to me, so I elected to carry my own up the hill.

Matheran has an obscene number of shoes being sold. Shoe shops and sidewalk shoe sellers were everywhere! And monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys. I saw one jumping onto a climbing frame and swiping the kid out the way that was on it. I laughed. I'm evil.

There were also a LOT of hair salons and old-fashioned games places for hooping skittles and that kind of thing.

I found Matheran pretty charming. Save for the amount of garbage chucked around, but I've realised this is to be expected. One of the main pulls of Matheran are the amazing views from the top of the hill station and the walks to get to the view points. I'd have thought it may have occurred to people that they were spoiling these for others by throwing their food wrappings, empty pet bottles, etc around but the two didn't seem to be equated.

So, we walked lots and relaxed lots more and enjoyed our little mini-break there before returning to Bandra.

As I said, we walked up as no vehicles are allowed. There is an alternative. A toy train. But the queue was too big when we arrived and we didn't want to hang around a couple of hours waiting for the next one, so we'd walked. Once at Matheran we pre-booked the toy train tickets to come down. An hour and a half of chugging through beautiful crisp scenery - albeit in a tiny train squished between other people! Loved it! Oh and the hairpin bends were pretty interesting too!

------------

Had another day and a bit in Bandra after that were we took in more sights including a Dhobi Ghat (sp?) where a large amount of Bandras laundry needs are taken care of. There's a massive one in Bombay that I'd seen last year, but with the Bandra one we were able to wander all around it taking photos and asking questions and watching the men (only men - although recently women have been allowed to press the clothes, apparantly) drawing up water fom wells and emptying it into huge tanks to soak clothing, bedding, etc. After that they beat the items by hand before moving to another tank (bath) where another man trampled it by foot. We then saw them wringing the water out by churning it round and round in a machine and then finally hanging it all up to dry in the sun.

We also took in a very old fruit and veg market that was interesting to see (and photograph) but not overrun by people.

-------------

Had all my hair chopped off in Bandra while I was there too.

-----------

I mentioned that women don't work in the dhobi ghats. Well, women DO work on building sites and in construction and seeing slim, sari'd women doing that kind of work was quite interesting - not really anything I'd seen before.

-----------

It's hard saying what highlights of the trip were, because there were many, but one thing I did really enjoy was on the final day going to see Nicola and Sanchia's old school. I'm quite proud to say we managed to disrupt almost every class that was being taught whilst there. We had three lovely girls show Nic and me around the school. The classrooms were small, with 50+ little old desks crammed in. Very England circa 1960's I thought! At lunchtime the hallways were splattered with kids outside their classrooms eating their lunches. It was fun chatting with some of the kids too and seeing what they were doing and how different it all looked from an English school and how different the kids were from Japanese kids!

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And that was it. Time to come home. I spent FOURTEEN hours on the plane from Bombay to Tokyo. FOURTEEN. We were delayed for 90 minutes in Bombay AFTER getting on the plane and then delayed AGAIN for 90 minutes in Delhi (where we had to stop for an hour). And I didn't sleep the whole flight (although did sleep most of the bus ride home - which took about 2 hours cos of traffic).

Happy to be back? Hell, no! But I have lots of expectations and optimism for the year ahead. I think 2010 is going to be a good one. Can't be worse than 2009 anyway!

Going from Goa

2010-01-07T15:43:00.002+09:00

Had a little contemplative wander in the morning before heading to Goa airport. After a year of feeling I was wobbling along a tight rope, these few weeks in India have seen me totally grounded, relaxed and happy. Life isn't a holiday, and we do have to face the daily routine or battle that is work and general everyday life, but it's how we approach these that matter.

It dawned on me that possibly I'm going about things the wrong way. Possibly life in a built up developed busy city ISN'T the thing for me. Maybe I would be happier where things are simpler and less complicated and noisy. It occurred to me that maybe the idea I'd had of going and teaching English to monks in Laos was actually a pretty sensible idea that would enable me to try and figure out exactly what I needed to be doing.

Naturally, that kind of work pays jack shit so I figured (and Spain IS still in the picture for this year) that balancing two lives would be the best way: get a high paying job in the middle east for a year or two and save. Go to a less developed place for a year or two, enjoy the calmness. Repeat.

---------------

Heading to Goa airport I soaked in the sights around me. Colour. India is about colour. One of my most vivid memories from my 2008/09 trip to India was Hampi and the heaps of brightly coloured spices and dyes and scarves in the main street and the brightly dressed women going into the river in the saris for the festival.

In Goa, it's the houses. Bright. Scarlett red. Fuschia. Bright bright blue. Bright yellows, greens, oranges... sticking out from lush greenery - long grass, palm trees - and between decrepid shacks and dirt peep out big bright houses with white trimmed balconies, windows and edges. Cheerful. Like a child colouring in a picture... A big contrast to everything around.

And relax (ed)

2009-12-30T22:43:00.002+09:00

Colva. Goa. Colva. Goa. *sigh*.

Came face to face with some wild boars a few minutes after leaving the internet cafe day before yesterday. They were pretty un-wild. Saw lots more yesterday and today in Colva and the cutest ever baby wild boars. Boarlets?

So. Yesterday was interesting. Am still utterly blissed out but things took a strange turn yesterday. The whole of Colva went on strike. Everything was shut. Every shop. Every restaurant. Only food places in hotels and those along the beach were open. Barricades were put up. Tyres were burned. Nothing with four wheels was allowed in or out. The tension in the air was frightening.

Why?

Blasphemy!

Freedom of speech isn't alive or kicking in Goa and neither will musician dude be if the locals get to him before the police do.

In a nutshell - for people who can't be arsed to open the link - and the 'facts' of the article aren't exactly the same as the facts I've heard around the village:

Musician dude released a cd singing about a local priest being indiscrete and also bad-mouthing the local head of police and a local politician. Musician dude is, apparantly, protected by some other politicians so, one version says, he CANNOT be arrested. Another version says the police don't know where he is.

The priest got angry and declared the church shut. The village got angry. They burned down the dude's house and put an effigy of him on a lamp post. The tension in the evening yesterday was incredible. Really strong. People were almost totally silent. If you've been to India, you know how loudly Indian people generally talk. Imagine a silent mob. It sent shivers up my spine.

The streets were eery. Normally they are busy with taxis and buses coming and going. Shopkeepers calling people into their shops. Instead it was ghost town like.

Imagine the witch hunts you see in movies where the locals want to hand out their own brand of justice and set off with their pitch-forks / rifles. It felt like that.

This morning the strike was over. Musician guy is still at large. Apparantly he's still definitely in the village. How that is known I have no idea. The police are being given two days to arrest the guy or people go on strike again / go looking for him themselves.

Eesh.

-------------------

So yesterday was certainly different. I walked. I read. I ate. I drank. I enjoyed. Not really so different for me. The sun isn't so bright. It's a little overcast but I've got a tan and if it was hotter I'd probably not be so content. It's warm enough. Dipping my toes into the warm sea and feeling the warm sand between my toes - how could I not be content?

I started chatting to an English couple yesterday along the beach. Nattered for quite a while before they invited me to join them and some friends they were meeting for lunch. It was nice but I was happy to get away and settle back down with my book again.

Since I left India last year I've not read a book for pleasure. It's all been diploma related stuff. Am blissed out now. Have been here 2.5 weeks (I think!) and am half way through my 7th book. AM BLOODY LOVING IT!

Today I walked my socks off! Went strolling along the endless coast and didn't stop for ages, apart from a brief coffee break. Loved it! Perfect peacefulness. Not many people were along the way. The main sound was the ocean. I practiced breathing and focusing on the sea. Nothing else. Happiness.

I feel so relaxed. It took me a while to figure out but the tension I've felt ALL YEAR is gone. Quite a feeling.

Thing is, I don't know how long I would be able to stay here without getting bored, but right now these few days are absolutely perfect, and I get to leave BEFORE I get the chance to get bored.

There's a LOT of middle-aged European couples around which is strange for me. I haven't really seen any middle-aged European couples in a LONG time. There seems to be a lot from the north of England too. They talk about bringing ketchup and branston pickle with them. I don't think they leave the beaches but I hear them talking about how adventurous they are being by not going to costa del (insert your own spanish costa here). I guess they are. But then most of the food you could find in restaurants in England, you can find here. Just cheaper. But each to their own. As long as they are happy.

Goa - Colva

2009-12-28T23:28:00.002+09:00

I recovered from yesterdays garlic fest, in case you were wondering!

Today am utterly blissed out. Sleepy from lots of sun and more relaxed than I've felt in ages.

I've moved down to the south of Goa - to Colva - which is, basically, beach resort, and the kind of place I would ordinarily have chosen to avoid like the plague. But I like it. It's... something.

Got a couple of buses this morning from Panaji to here after I actually found the Colva bus stop in Margao, and found a rather nice (rather expensive - oops!) hotel that's nice and central and near the beach.

After dumping down my things, I made for the beach, kicking off my shoes as soon as I hit the sand and sluffing through the powdery sand down to the sea where I managed to soak my trousers to thigh level kicking the waves that were toe depth where I was mooching through for about 300 or so metres until I found a nice clear area (ie almost no people) and settled down for some serious reading and relaxing!

Had another lovely meal and then walked about a kilometre up the beach - enjoying the sun and the peace and watching a mad random guy with a golf club, hitting a ball up and down the beach. He seemed happy anyway. And then I sat and read some more and kicked my way through more warm powdery sound.

Am in heaven!

Goa continued.

2009-12-28T01:54:00.002+09:00

Today was a lovely day.

Got up quite early, had a lovely breakfast at a local heritage hotel and got the bus to Ponda, which is just another Goan town (in the centre of Goa). Wandered around briefly before reaching that conclusion and then got a taxi (the main reason for the trip to Ponda) to go to a Spice Farm. It was quite a ride (nice of course) and when I got there I went on a tour of the plantation which was pretty interesting and set in beautiful grounds.

The group was quite big but it didn't really matter and the guide was good and quite funny. We got a demonstration from one of the workers of how they pick betel nuts. He shimmied up a tree and then swung from tree to tree. Really was something to watch! That was followed by a really nice buffet lunch overlooking a river and then I went back to Ponda.

Got the bus back to Panaji but it was still quite early so decided to go and chill out at a nearby beach.

Went to Miramar beach because it's very close to Panaji. I knew it wouldn't be great but all I wanted was to be near the sea and to read, read, read. And I achieved that! There were lots of families and a fair amount of litter (see previous post about Indian families and litter) but it was lovely just chilling out on the sand until the sunset turned things a bit chilly and I returned to Panaji feeling very refreshed, happy and slightly grubby!

Went back to the same restaurant as yesterday after I'd cleaned up a bit, and had delicious pomfret cooked in tooooo much garlic. Am VERY garlicy now! Also had a pint of wine so got a little bit pissed.

It's all rather good though!

Tomorrow I'm leaving Panaji and heading down south for a couple of days to stay in Colva and visit a couple of beaches down there.

Of litter and Of cows

2009-12-28T01:48:00.002+09:00

Litter. Litter. Litter. Everywhere, litter. On beaches. On national heritage sites, in pretty streets. In busy cities. Everywhere. Litter. And it's Indians, not foreigners that I see throwing it around. Why? Don't you have any respect for your own country? Heartbreaking.

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Cows. Whilst I've probably managed to offend a few people with what I've written above, I'm now going for the kill. Cows. If you're going to have a holy animal in your religion, can you not have chosen one slightly less stupid than a cow? I mean, the Egyptians got it right when they started worshiping the cat. The cat is a sensible animal to worship. It's a clever animal. But a cow? You let them sit around in the streets, blocking the traffic, chewing on cardboard boxes, unafraid of people or traffic and too docile to actually do anything else. Why not eat them? Why not solve the hunger problem here?

Okay. I've gone to far now, haven't I? Should I now go into anonymity for insulting an entire religion in one paragraph?

But you get my point, don't you?!

Goa - Panaji and Old Goa.

2009-12-28T01:31:00.002+09:00

We arrived in Panaji and I was tired and dying for a shower! So much so that i decided to give in to what I knew was a scam (although it sometimes does pay off) and accept a lift in a taxi to look at hotels. I knew hotels would be more expensive in Panaji at this time but some of the prices were ridiculous.

Anyway, I accepted one place and then decided to go and look for somewhere for subsequent nights. The place I stayed in was overpriced and out of the centre - and I walked between the two a few times! - but what the hey.

Went for a wander around Panaji. It's a Portugues colonial town and very pretty in places. Kind of similar to Pondicherry but not so many places to chill out. I think it's awesome anyway. Had a bit of a wander, mainly to find a new hotel and lunch and decided I was so knackered I should just go back and have a nap and a rest.

Got my energy back and went on a major wander through Panaji, taking lots of random photos and soaking it all in. This is yet another side of India (how many sides does this country have?) and the quiet colourful streets were lovely. Peaceful and calm and very interesting to explore.

Found a nice restaurant attached to a hotel and had a lovely meal and a double vodka with fresh pineapple juice (well, it was xmas day!) and followed that by treating myself to a foot massage. They steamed my feet first. I have NEVER had my feet steamed. Odd! Headed back to my room (trekked back to my room) and crashed after that.

Next day, got up early and headed with my bag to the new hotel which is very central and the couple who run it are lovely. The price is okay but the bed isn't that comfortable. Still, it's the convenience I like. And the owners!

Found breakfast at a local Indian place and then got a bus to Old Goa, less than 30 minutes away and spent a few hours exploring churches, cathedrals, monasteries and ruins. Bliss...

Discovered a couple of nice places to chill out and managed to gatecrash a wedding in the cathedral (along with a few other Indians I chatted to afterwards). The couple (or their families) must have been very rich as this was the oldest cathedral in Goa (or in India maybe? need to check facts). It was cool anyway, and I didn't try to gatecrash the reception, so no harm done!

Returned to Panaji, cleaned up and then went to a really nice chilled out restaurant and sat in the courtyard eating. (There are chill out places, just only at meal times here!)

In the courtyard, surrounded by Europeans, I felt I could have been anywhere in the world (not Tokyo, natch) - it was a nice, but weird feeling.

Talked to a retired Scottish couple (what IS it with Scots this trip?) who were utterly insane about how they spent six months of every year in Goa and had done so for the last 20 years, or something. She was hilarious, he was merely trying to keep up I think!

Mysore to Goa

2009-12-28T01:18:00.002+09:00

Yes, I really am a nutter who choses to do 16 hour bus rides by normal buses. Although that being said, the so called 'ultra deluxe' buses don't really amount to much more and the more I save on travel, the more I have to spend on other things, no?! And the only difference between a normal bus and an ultra deluxe is the reclinability of the seats, so no biggy.

We left Mysore early - around 3.30pm - with a full bus. Every time we stopped people clamoured outside to see if there were free seats and threw newspapers or handkerchiefs onto them to 'save' them, so they wouldn't have to stand. It was pretty amusing.

Some of the pick-ups were at 3am and people were just waiting around in deserted streets for the bus to pass by.

Actually, there were lots of odd random people hanging around in the streets, by themselves, in the middle of nowhere, when the bus wasn't stopping. Kind of weird to me!

After an hour or two, the bus suddenly stopped and it all went dark. The electrics had gone. Comforting so early into such a long journey. It took the two drivers and ticket guy about 45 minutes to get it going again and meanwhile we didn't really know what was going on.

During this time I struck up conversation with some of the middle aged Indians around me. (I'm not a totally anti-social bitch. I do like chatting with people sometimes. Just on my time and my terms!!!). We chatted about pure randomness all the time the bus was stopped. It was very entertaining - especially as we only mostly understood each other and there was a lot of cross-translations going on!

With the bumpy roads and the lights going on every hour or so I didn't get a huge amount of sleep but the time passed quickly enough and my iPod kept me amused for the rest.

At one point I was SOOOO desperate for a pee that I got the bus to stop so that I could get off and pee behind it. Such a lady, no?

Actually (confession time), I've got into a habit now of not only taking advantage of toilets when I see them (sometimes this is quite a feat) but of taking advantage of deserted alleyways for - ahem - quick toilet breaks. Well, an empty bladder is a happy bladder I've always said!

Ooty 'n' on

2009-12-28T00:54:00.002+09:00

After being woken for the second morning at 5am by chanty/drummy/stringy thing i couldn't identify (temply thing?) I had an earlyish breakfast and headed to the bus station where I waited nearly two hours for the bus and headed to Mudumalai - a national park nearish to Ooty (ie a couple of hours maybe. I'm on Indian time, can't figure out how long things take any more!)

On the way to the park, saw lots of wild elephants on the road. One stopped in the middle of the road, and held up a lot of traffic for a long time. It was pretty amusing. The bus ticket man got me to come and sit at the very front of the bus so I could see all the action. Bless him!

The drive, of course, was absolutely lovely. Lots of fields, hills and trees as far as the eye could see.

Got to the park and saw lots of monkeys and monkey babies just hanging out all over the visitors area. I was staying for the night, but hadn't realised I'd booked an entire dorm of four beds for myself! - actually, it reminded me of the hospital ward I stayed in in Bylakuppe last year. Least said about that the better!

There was another guy in the other dorm in the same building. A hilarious retired Indian guy who'd lived in the States for the last 30 odd years. We enjoyed complaining to each other about the traffic noises in India!

After throwing my bag into my dorm room, I went and booked myself onto a safari around the park. The safari was in a minibus/jeep of 24 people, but it went off road into the jungle / forest (donno the difference. should probably find out.) unlike the private jeeps that only hit the main roads.

I saw a tiger! How fucking cool! I saw a tiger! It was just chilling out in the trees, lazily staring at us. Didn't manage to get a photo as everyone else was going so crazy but I saw a tiger!!!

Also, lots of wild elephants, various types of monkeys, deer, birds. It was VERY exciting! Later outside the only restaurant in the park, I saw a wild boar wandering around.

In the restaurant the non-veg option was chicken, but I was told I would have to have a whole one! I declined. It didn't register why until I later saw them (I had veg) carrying through a squawking bird!...

It was very peaceful in the park. Once the safaris had finished it was mainly just the sounds of the insects in the trees and the occasional animal cry. There weren't many other people staying in the park, so that was lovely.

The next day I got up early to go on another safari. Didn't see as many animals as the evening before but there were lots of deer, bison, birds, etc around so it was cool!

Headed off to Mysore on the exact same day I was there last year. With no intention of sticking around there! Luckily managed to get a ticket for a bus to Goa that left four hours after I got to Mysore. Had lunch, pissed around on the net for a while and then got on an ordinary bus for the 16 hour trip to Goa!

On the trip to Mysore, I realised that I actually like travelling between places as much as actually being there. Sometimes more, as it allows me to soak in the landscape and see village people going about their everyday lives. I can just observe everything without having to be a part of anything. Actually, that's kind of how I like to live me life generally, but that's something else. Best thing about the travelling is I don't have to interact with other people if I don't want to.

Pondicherry to Ooty

2009-12-26T01:23:00.004+09:00

In Pondicherry, in the French district, there is a distinct lack of traffic thanfully. This means a lack of annoying beeping of horns which is constant here. Constant, loud and very very irritating. People speak very loudly here too. They do. Really. Peace is hard to come by - which is why I liked Pondy so much.

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In this age where everything is computerised, it's most odd seeing ledgers everywhere. Do you remember ledgers? I haven't seen any since the 1970's!

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So, on Sunday night I left Pondicherry on an "ultra deluxe" bus. Ultra deluxe in name only. Actually, I took a 'normal' bus to Goa (more of that later) and the only difference was the seats reclined a little bit on the "ultra deluxe". Do not be fooled by labels. I knew it would be un-lux but it was amusing to see what it was like when it did turn up. The journey took nine hours, but I didn't sleep much. Yay, for iPods!

Got to Coimbatore and the Scotsman and I (mentioned him before - not drinking Scot, bus Scot) hunted for the Ooty bus which took another three or so hours to get to Ooty. The trip to Coimbatore had been mainly in darkness, but the Ooty leg was in day light and I hadn't realised how big a hill could be. I mean seriously big. And we spent most of the three hours climbing up and up through twisty turny roads surrounded by beautiful landscape as far as you could see. (Okay, I was actually spending much of the journey thinking about how much I wanted to shower and nap rather than drinking in the beauty of the hillside, but you know what I mean!)

Ooty, Ooty, Ooty. Lonely Planet and people I met last year described Ooty as lovely, charming, quaint, relaxing, amazing.... but by no stretch of my imagination could I find myself able to echo those words.

I'd expected Heidi countryside and found small Delhi on a cold hill. With rain. If I'd wanted to go on a group trek or take a two hour bus ride I could have perhaps found Heidiland but it was too cold! I did see a lot of goats though in the streets, and it is pretty green in places. It's just not so different from other Indian cities.

Don't get me wrong: I didn't hate it, I just didn't love it and the main reason for that was the rain (people kept telling me it was due to snow soon. great.)

I spent time wandering around the town and walked around a lake (for the hell of it). Donno exactly how big the lake was but I reckon about 10km around. It was a nice peaceful walk though, although I did detour off the path at one part onto a little path on the water's edge. Nobody else was there, which made it more tempting. I clamboured down to it and enjoyed toddling along. When the paving ran out I carried on along the grass and when the grass ran out - well, the bank above me was pretty steep and the cow on the path wasn't much help. She just continued eating grass and stopped to have a very long pee. Seriously. How much water can a cow hold? I eventually found a place that looked okay and to go through the garden of a very amused old lady to get back from the wilderness.

Ooty has a botanical garden. It's very different to Pondicherry's. It's organised and laid out neatly, although still a little more of a park than a botanical garden, but semantics. I enjoyed relaxing there and wandering there anyway.

The weather was bearable in the daytime for the most. It started off cold but did get better.

TBC...

Pondi continued...

2009-12-24T17:00:00.002+09:00

So, I went to a meditation session at the ashram.

Now, meditation and me -

I know meditation is meant to be good for you. I know it's something that would probably be very good for me but it's something I never quite get around to doing. Lame, no?

I mean in Cambodia (or was it Laos?) I went to a 'learn to meditate' session run by monks and I 'got it'. I learned what to do and the whole thing was de-mystified. So, of course after Cambodia (Laos?) I meditated every day. Sometimes 5 times a day. Okay, did I fuck! I never quite got around to it.

In Hampi last year, I learned how to do breathing exercises for health and meditation. Did I practice those? Of COURSE not!

So, I have all the theory but never quite got around to doing it.

At the ashram there were dozens of people seated in a coolish courtyard. The smell of incense was wafting around and there was complete darkness and silence and a gentle breeze. I called on everything I'd learned and - when I wasn't painfully aware of how sore by arse was getting on the hard ground - I did my best to concentrate.

At the end of the session, I floated out. I felt amazing. And of course, I've not quite got around to doing it since, but the intention is still here!

-------

Floated my way into a nice restaurant and had a beer and some food and talk about bad luck...

At lunchtime and in the evening I'd gone to two different restaurants and had the bad luck, both times to be seated near Anya ('Unya') from Denver. Both times she was with different groups of people and both times she was talking their ears (and the ears of everyone within a 500m radius) off. Loudly. For someone I didn't talk to, I sure managed to learn a lot about her life, her husband, her first date with him, why he has his name and - I've managed to blot out the rest thankfully. But seriously people!

------

Pondicherry reminded me of Luang Prabang.

It took a while to dawn on me that was because they're both French colonial towns.

I really liked Luang Prabang too.

-----

I've been doing pretty well with last minute bus bookings. So far I've had no problems. Like booking my Coimbatore bus (for Ooty). There were no seats left, but the bus guy agreed to get his friend to move to the day after so I could have his seat...

... the next day, I was talking to a Scotsman who was travelling on the same bus, and who had been given the same story.

You gotta laugh. Wonder how much the guy is making from this scam? (40 rupees from each person)

-----

The last full day in Pondy was HOT. Nice but bucket sweaty! After sorting out the Coimbatore ticket, I went to the 'Botanical Gardens'. It deserves inverted commas. Think wild park with lots of overgrowth. Not really what springs to mind when I think of botanical gardens. Still, it was a nice place to chill for a bit and hassle free and calm.

Walking to the bus station and around to the botanical gardens I'd walked through the non-French side of Pondicherry which was pretty hectic. What is it with Indians and beeping horns and shouting? It's a veritable noise fest! And not in a good way. I still found Pondy had it's charm and the manicness was manageable.

Back in the gardens, I met a Scottish guy (plague of them, no?!) and we started chatting. Bumped into him later and we spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and then beered it up in the evening together - until I had to go to my hotel and hit the curfew time! It was fun hanging out and felt a bit of a connection with him (no, not like that, he was gay. Hot. But gay!)

But, later that night I woke up feeling shit. Burned up a right fever and threw up. A lot. Felt vaguely human the next day but took lots of anti-nausea tablets. Don't know what it was. Maybe mild food poisoning (although ironically, I've been eating mainly in 'nice' places so far - cheating, I know!) - but no poo problems. Maybe mild heat stroke? Donno. It's over anyway.

-------

Spent some time listening to the waves lapping against the rocks in Pondi before leaving which was nice and relaxing, but it always gets me how of a long stretch of free coastline, people manage to come and sit right. next. to. me.

Oh well!

Pondicherry

2009-12-23T01:02:00.002+09:00

Loved it.

Hopped on a flight from Delhi to Chennai, jumped into a tuk-tuk and got (almost literally) thrown onto a bus for Pondy - ie driver suddenly stopped, said - that's the Pondicherry bus and dashed out of tuk-tuk to stop bus and grab my bag. Slightly insane, very amusing.

I settled into a big seat and managed to keep it to myself for the whole 4+ hour journey. The trip took an hour less than I'd been told so I don't know if the driver was racing like a madman or whether the ticket guy gave me the wrong time but the journey was lovely. The Tamil Nadu scenery was beautiful. Spectacular and calming. And soundtracked by my iPod on random shuffle mode throwing all manner of tunes at me.

I arrived nice and relaxed at realised at that point that perhaps I liked cities a lot more before than I do now.

Pondicherry can be split into two. A very Indian side and a not so Indian side. The Indian side is a little bit like a very very watered down version of Delhi - complete with normal temples, shops, etc and a botanical gardens that may have seen better days. Or maybe not!

The non-Indian side is French colonial. Lots of bright old crumbling mansions. I can imagine how amazing they must have once been. A sea front promenade, with no beach to speak of. Lots of small quiet streets. Character. Real character. I loved it instantly and had the best time just wandering around, snapping random pictures and observing.

I stayed in a cheap guesthouse run by the local ashram. Very basic. No TV, no hot water, a curfew, hard mattresses, but clean and very very convenient.

Went to a meditation session at the local ashram... but more later. Need to see if my credit card is working again yet and book a flight...

Delhi (backtrack)

2009-12-23T00:26:00.003+09:00

The last post was just a little rambly, wasn't it? Sorry about that. Hope it kind of made sense, but risking repeating a tad, here's the bits I missed out (plus I have time to kill thanks to banks being twats, etc!) -

In Narita (airport in Tokyo) I succeeded in getting first in line to claim my bulkhead ticket - which I did in advance last year but couldn't do this year as they had changed their policy. Got told Air India only gave MALE passengers emergency exit seats. Like, WTF??? Anyhoo, got a whole row of bulkhead to myself which was lovely - and they had backseat televisions (unlike last year) showing movies in English (again, unlike last year). No problems at all - apart from the little shits who kept running in front of my seat continually at around the 7 hour of confinement stage. After their 30s rotation, I told them it was bothering me and please stop. After their 35th rotation I got a little angrier and they finally pissed off.

Getting to Delhi Airport I was very surprised to find it so different from Mumbai last year. Mumbai airport last winter consisted of a terminal building that was half reconstructed and hundreds of people waiting for their friends, taxi drivers, hawkers, etc. Chaos. Except I was met by Sanchia and her father, so it didn't really matter then.

I expected that level of chaos this year and found it to be an oasis of calmness. Seriously. It was all very very civilized and ordered. I'd arranged for the airport to meet me (did I post this below already? Can't remember, didn't check) and the airport guy said his tuk-tuk had broken down so we were taking a pre-paid cab. The streets around the airport were dead. As always happens when I leave Japan, I go into a state of wowness over seeing signs everywhere written in English. Either you know what I mean, or you don't. But it gets me every time. I'm just so NOT used to seeing English signs.

I stayed in a nice enough hotel in Parhar Ganj. Enough said if you know the area. A good choice of area for me to stay in anyway. Slightly mad, rather tatty and extremely convenient. As we got nearer the taxi driver suddenly got into a fight with a bloke on the streets. Voices got louder and louder and angrier and angrier. My taxi driver got out of his cab and stood face to face with this bloke shouting. And then got back into his cab and they continued shouting. Meanwhile, we were blocking the traffic and pissing off drivers behind who were bashing on the back of the cab. A crowd gathered around the front of the cab. The hotel bloke said nothing. I sat frozen in fear. Were they going to kill my driver? Beat him senseless (read Shantaram last year). Beat ME senseless? Like what the fuck was going on? After what seemed an age, we carried onto the hotel and the hotel guy told me the taxi driver had hit the foot of the guy and that one of them (not sure which) was a crazy man.

Welcome to Delhi.

Delhi didn't surprise me. It had it's moments and I stayed four nights doing as much exploring in that time as was humanly possible, all things considered - namely adjusting my body clock and coping with the Delhi weather - first day, lovely, subsequent days, cold and scattered wetness!

I found the tourist sites were well worth going to. From the sheer size of the Red Fort to the green parrots I spotted in Lodi Gardens (yes, I'm sad to say I got very excited by seeing wild green parrots!), and the insane structures jutting into the sky at Jantar Mantar, I found endless things to captivate, astonish and amuse me.

I loved the crumbling buildings and the statues everywhere, the mad noisy squirrel things, the chai sellers...

One afternoon I decided to go to Tibet House to learn a bit of history from the museum. It was closed because the museum person was off sick, but the guard agreed to try and find someone else to open it. I was so happy... until I got into the museum and saw a few old rocks and bits, lots of tapestries and NO information about Tibet! - and it was the only Delhi museum I'd chosen to go to see. I'd seen a couple of smaller ones that were part of other sites but didn't go out of my way to visit any.

So, what didn't I like? The noise. The intensity. The constant beeping of traffic horns and shouting of people. The constant demands of people wanting me to buy from them, give them money, see their shop, go in their tuk-tuk, etc and what felt like a constant stream of people who chose to walk alongside me and wanted to talk ('where you from?' 'when you come india?' 'where you go now?' ad nauseum) when ALL I wanted to do was observe, notice, soak in, contemplate...

And the constant auto-rickshaw drivers attempts to charge me way over the odds.

The dirt, the trash, the piss smells.... that I can put up with. Just play fair and leave me alone!

Delhi-teful?

2009-12-18T00:12:00.002+09:00

Delhi. Delhi. Delhi. Kind of like Mumbai on bad drugs. Not helped by catching a cold on my first day. From the flight? From the fact that everyone in Delhi had a cold? Who knows. The weather on the first day was nice. Then went kind of downhill. The constant hassle of people really got to me this time - much more than ever before (if you don't know - this is my second trip to India and I've been to other Asian countries where this is par for the course) - I'm not sure why. Maybe the introspection I normally save for later in the trip hit me at the beginning this time. This is not good. I came to a lot of realisations that whilst not exactly marring the trip, will have an effect on my mood whilst here. It could just be that I've actually got time to concern myself with something other than the diploma, my multitude of 2009 health problems, house problems, japan problems and so on and that NOW I can consider other things.

IF this blog were passport protected I'd elaborate more, but there's some things I don't want out there so I'll maybe leave it at this and talk about India instead.

Delhi. I got to the airport and expected it to be as insanely manic and confusing as Mumbai airport was last year and was most surprised that it wasn't. Got met by a guy from the hostel - who told me his tuk-tuk had broken down so we were taking a pre-paid cab. We set off through relatively quiet streets, all seeming ordered, calm and nice. And then it got busier and busier. We got near to the hostel and suddenly some random guy started shouting at the driver of the taxi. Next thing there was a full-on shouting match going between them and lots of people gathering around. Have you read Shantaram? There's a scene in it where an angry mob pulls a cab driver from his cab and beat him to death. This was going through my mind and I was more than a little bit uncomfortable with it.

Found out from the hotel guy later that, apparantly, the taxi driver had run over this guys foot or something and he was a crazy guy. I'm not sure which guy the hotel guy was referring to though.

So, my problem with Delhi. I found it a little hard to put my finger on initially but I think the full weight of it dawned on me earlier today whilst on a bus soaking in the Tamil Nadu landscape. I just don't like big cities anymore. There. Said it. Shocked me to realise this but I think this is it!

If you don't know Delhi, it's constant. Constant noise. Constant horns beeping. Constant dogs barking. Constant hawkers hawking, autorickshaw drivers hassling, taxi drivers hassling, cyclo drivers hassling, kids hassling, shop owners..... the number of people asking for money isn't actually that great - but it adds to all the rest that won't leave you alone.

And then there are the people who 'don't want anythng' who walk alongside you trying to talk to you. ALL. THE. TIME. I don't know if people travelling together get this so much but NEWSFLASH - there IS a reason I chose to travel alone - actually there are a few - but one of the main ones I like to be alone. I'm not a sociable person (whatever you might think) and constantly having to think of things to say when I just want to ... well, you get the idea, so it's not so enjoyable when all I want to do is wander alone, soaking in the atmosphere, trying to not smell the smells (!), notice the small details, take strange photographs. And it's hard to do that when you're being constantly hassled.

The dirt. The smell of piss. The litter everywhere. Not a problem. I just want to be left to be though. And perhaps strangely, the most peaceful places are the tourist sites - if you can get through the hords of postcard vendors and other vendors who are selling the strangest things that you didn't even realise that you didn't need!

In three days I saw: Purana Qila, India Gate, Rajpath, Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Lal Qila (the Red Fort), Chandni Chowk (mental road!), Jama Masjid, Jantar Mantar (mental shapes), Connaught Place (bits of - several times), the Lotus (Baha'i Temple), Humayun's Tomb, Nizam-Ud-din's Shrine (hmmm - too many sidey roads with people begging), Tibet House (expected to get some history, but didn't - although I did persuade them to open the museum just for me) and Lodi Gardens.

Phew! Many breathtaking sites. Photos to follow. The beauty about many of them was the scale -meaning the ease to wander around in your own little bubble, imagining, soaking in, snapping pictures...

Anyway, more tomorow!

This is not an indication of things to come...

2009-12-12T20:55:00.003+09:00

Started off this year on antibiotics.

Am I going to finish it on antibiotics too? Hopefully not but...

I've not had the healthiest year (refer back to previous posts) and I've had a lot of tooth and gum problems that several trips to the dentist didn't exactly sort out. Anyway, I opened my throbbing mouth at work this morning and saw something that looked like a hair across my tooth. Further investigation (ie I stuck my finger in my mouth and touched it) confirmed the worst: the tooth was SPLIT. Split from side to side across the top. Great. And on a Saturday to boot. And when I was at work. AND when I'm flying to India tomorrow.

Thankfully someone found me a dentist and got me an appointment after work and the tooth - and an abscess - were taken out. I now have a big hole in my mouth and am back on antibiotics. And hoping, hoping, hoping that I don't get it infected while I'm in India.

*sigh*

India

2009-12-09T22:20:00.000+09:00

after four more sleeps and three more days work.

yay!

On the home stretch

2009-12-08T10:04:00.004+09:00

Brrrrr. It's cold in Tokyo. Is it cold where you are?

Yesterday I had the diploma practical exam and interview. The time flew by and the examiner was really nice - and didn't throw me any questions I couldn't answer. I walked out feeling rather happy. Or maybe it was just relieved because the diploma pressure is now OVER. Whatever happens (ie even if I failed any of the portfolio or failed any yesterday - which, obviously, I'm hoping ISN'T the case) nothing can be done until next year. I still have a written paper to do - but that's end of May. I can come back from holiday and work slowly and steadily on it all.

So, I left the exam yesterday, smiling, and went and picked up a few bits and bobs for India (actually, almost nothing. I have everything I need to take. I think.) and reserved a seat on the bus to the airport. And just walked along the street like a mad smiling woman. I don't smile enough generally. Well, not like I mean it anyway! Got home, and realised nothing was urgent anymore. Confirmed my Delhi hotel and relaxed. Ignoring the mess around me that really needs sorting now the Dip. pressure is over.

Five more working days. Five more sleeps. Then India...

It's ALL good :D

Except it isn't. After the fun and games with being sick in and after India last year - which I'm still convinced was started in Japan and just exacerbated by being out there - my skin has been pretty much 100% clear all year. ALL YEAR. Despite stress, despite everything. Until a few days ago. The skin around one of my ankles is sore. In a strange way. Am slathering on steroid cream, trying to relax and am hoping for the best. But inside am freaking out a little bit. I go to India on Sunday. I have a long flight with aircon that may freak out my skin. If I go to a doctor before - well, it doesn't look serious - but I know the potential implications that lie with what is going on. I'm freaking out. But if I go to a doctor, it's unlikely it'll be taken seriously unless I go back to where I was earlier this year and..... OH! Anyway, I have every intention to take a couple of sleeping pills for the flight and hope that rendering myself unconscious will immobilize me sufficiently to not end up clawing at the skin like I did last year.

I do not want a repeat performance of what I went through. I do not want to start 2010 with doctors and hospital stays like I did 2009.

Nearly There.

2009-12-06T19:31:00.002+09:00

Tomorrow is nearly here. I am nearly there...

Yesterday the school xmas party was successful, I think. As senior teacher for the school, I'd have felt pretty crap if it hadn't, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I was too busy during the party talking to students and doing games to eat or drink much but went out for a couple of large drinks afterwards.

And woke up this morning with a hangover and a million and one things to do for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have a teaching practice exam and, until I sat down with a blank lesson plan in front of me this morning wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. It's all figured out now though and hopefully will work. I'm taking a bit of a risk but, the way I see it, we get marked on the lesson plan and the analysis we do after the lesson as well as the lesson itself so, if it doesn't work, that gives me a lot more to discuss afterwards.

I also have to give a presentation. I've kind of worked out what I'm going to talk about, so fingers crossed on that. I haven't had much time to review phonology and phonetics (another part of the exam) but should be okay!

And then, by lunchtime tomorrow, it's over. No more diploma pressure. I have to do a written exam at the end of May but I have a long time to read and prepare (I could have taken it a couple of weeks ago but elected not to because I wanted to spend more time reading and studying).

Tomorrow afternoon I have to prepare for India as I go next Sunday. This time next week I'll be in India.

How fucking awesome is that?!

Surfing on the waves of exhaustion

2009-12-01T22:33:00.002+09:00

Am all wiped out.

Diploma portfolio is all done, but woke up this morning with major muscle pain in my neck. Guess from all the typing, clicking and scrolling.

Got five days now to prepare for the external examiner. The heat is still on.

whimper

2009-11-30T22:38:00.005+09:00

UPDATE:

All three reports are in a good condition now. A little bit of tweaking, re-reading, editing and re-re-reading needed and they're good to go. I hope they are good enough! I'm not expected an amazing pass, but TO pass would be good!

Tummy is a bit better and back a bit more relaxed. Eyes a bit sore from so many hours of computer though! But hey!

Got a tummy ache. And no peppermint tea in my room. And no time to go out and get some.

Got a back ache. And no long hot bath I can sink into. Actually, no bath. And if I did, it'd probably be 3/4 length.

Got too much left to do on reports. Well, not a hideous amount, but still too much.

And my nose is cold. And my fingers. But at least my computer is holding out. (Heating on = computer slows down, remember?). And I'm wearing a hat and legwarmers with my pj's and ... thankfully I'm not too bothered about what anyone else in the house thinks about this.

*whimper* tummy.

*whimper* back.

*whimper* reports.

*sigh*

And I'm tired and can hear the mice. Stressed? Me?

Countdown

2009-11-29T19:40:00.002+09:00

1.5 days until my portfolio deadline.
Could be going much better. Am extremely distracted. Obviously.

6 days until the xmas party I'm meant to be helping organise.
Have really done nothing for this. Feel a bit bad, but timing is shite and school manager is very focused, unlike me.

8 days until I meet with the external examiner for the diploma, have a lesson observed, give a presentation, and get tested on my knowledge of phonology and phonetics.
Ha! Ha! Ha! I have SO much to prepare for this day. I have a vague idea about the lesson, a vague idea about the presentation and a vague idea about the phonetics and phonology. Okay, maybe 'slightly' more than a vague idea about these. But only slight.

14 days until I go to India.
Have done fuck all. Thank god I sorted the visa out early or I'd have been stuffed. There are clothes to take that need repairing, there are... oh sod it, that's what airport shops are for. Really DO want to book the first nights hotel though.

38 days until I get back from India.
Not such a biggie. Just means new term and getting organised as I'll still have lots of diploma to do but with the exam end of May, I need to keep the momentum going. Also means I'll have time for 1,001 things I've been delaying. Most important of which is sorting out my room and deciding what to pack and not.

Also need to househunt in case I don't move into agencies other house. Idea of sharing ONE kitchen with ten people is REALLY not appealing (I have my own kitchen now).

63 days until I need to commit to a new contract, or hand in my notice.
See last load of posts in reference to this. I don't know what I'm doing but updating my CV is definitely on the cards - and sending them off at some stage.

91 days until I HAVE to be out of this house.
Oh joy. I fucking hate moving house. I've lived in more houses than probably anyone I know. I stopped counting when I hit my mid-20s but it's gotta be 40ish properties by now probably.

Of Comings, Goings and Confusion

2009-11-28T20:21:00.004+09:00

T-shirt of one of my eight-year olds today: 'Stake my life on you and love it.'

I have no idea what it meant, but it's better than the six-year old the other day wearing a 'throbbing [something i can't remember but felt a little inappropriate]' t-shirt.

Another student today told me how a colleague of hers was pissing people off because he takes a day off every week that he shouldn't take and that this means lots of extra work for the rest of them. I asked how long he had been doing this. She said: TWO YEARS.

Japan still sometimes manages to amaze me. What other country in the world wouldn't have shown the colleague the door a long time ago?

The Japanese are season mad. Japanese students regularly inform us that there are four seasons in Japan. Now, firstly, they are often surprised to learn other countries also have four seasons. And, secondly, there aren't four seasons here. There's bloody hot, wet, schizophrenic with autumn leaves, bloody cold, cherry blossom, and typhoon season. Bloody hot season has everyone complaining. Wet and typhoon have everyone complaining. Bloody cold has everyone complaining again...

And cherry blossom and turning-of-the-leaves season have everyone taking three-hour train journeys, annually, to take photos of the cherry blossoms and turned-leaves.*

Cats. Around my way there are lots of stray cats. People feed them and give them little cardboard box 'houses' to live in. They breed and there are more stray cats to be fed in the streets and housed in cardboard boxes. I have to say that it does befuddle me somewhat that these people don't just rehouse the cats. But animal welfare isn't a big thing here.

Cats and birds. One of my students told me she had to put her garbage out at 7.30am this morning (Saturday) and so she was tired. On questioning why she didn't just put out the night before, she said it wasn't allowed as cats and birds would get at the rubbish. I asked why they didn't throw a net over it like EVERYWHERE ELSE seems to. She didn't know.

I asked what time the rubbish is collected. She said about 9.30am. I asked why she didn't put it out later then. She said it was a rule of her area. She then said in some roads around her way, rubbish was regularly not collected until 3pm or later, but they still had the 7.30am rule. I questioned whether animals weren't just as likely to get at it in the day. This confused her somewhat as it hadn't occurred to her this might be a problem. Even. Though. She. Admitted. To. Having. Seen. It.

Gimme strength!

I sometimes cross the road when the traffic signals say I shouldn't. I get glared at for this. Bad gaijin.

More thoughts on life after Japan: I think I'm over the Paris idea. Indecisive, moi? But there seems to be a small consensus that spring won't be a good time to get work in Europe. Now seeds have been planted in my brain of staying until end of May and getting work teaching summer courses in London before starting in Europe in September. Provided I can find work!

I'm sure I'll change my mind again.

Portfolio update: slowly coming together. Should be done and dusted by end of Monday. HAS to be done and dusted by end of Monday. Too knackered to do any tonight.

xxx

*it's my blog. I'll exaggerate if I want to.

Disjointed Thoughts

2009-11-27T09:44:00.002+09:00

I'm sitting in a bubble of tired haze, having crashed around 2.30am and being woken up at 6am and 8am and not needing to get up until later.

The water jug is heating. Water jug? I don't actually know what it's called. Kettles are rare in Japan in my experience. That's not to say they're not around, just that in my experience they are rare. And the ones I've seen in houses are kettles that heat on a stove, not electric kettles like England. But I have a jug thing that heats up, and that's what I've mostly seen.

Tired. See? And rambling.

Had a VERY strange dream last night, and I'm not one to remember my dreams normally. Can't remember all the details but it was diploma portfolio related and involved my tutors, Jillian Michaels, being accused of cheating by asking someone to check over my papers, and being arrested and taken away to be tortured.

Pretty interesting anxiety dream in all, I'd say!

And now, my hazy self must go and make coffee and unhaze a little as I have a long way to go still before the start of next week when the portfolio must be submitted.

xxx

P.S. Told landbitchlady I'd move into their new house. A few reasons - mainly cost and convenience.

Dear oh dear

2009-11-26T22:59:00.002+09:00

Dear Student,

If you want more conversation then please take the initiative. Please think of some things to talk about. Please give me longer answers - preferably more than two words at a time. Please understand you can ask questions to me as well. Please realise the conversation you want will never happen until you start to actually make some effort and stop it being a q&a session.

Regards,

Jo sensei*.

----

Dear Local Council,

You DO realise this street is being demolished in a handful of months, don't you? So - just a little curious here - why have you spent money putting unneeded streetlights around our house. TWO unneeded street lights. Can't you see they are both merely ten metres or so from other streetlights?

Yours gaijin** san***.

-------

Dear Self,

Have you always been so indecisive, or is it a recent thing? Yes, I didn't think it was recent. Sometimes, dear self, it amazes me how you achieve anything in life. Of course, you ARE getting older now, and senility is bound to creep in sooner or later - probably sooner - still, then you won't be aware of your indecisiveness so it won't matter.

Kisses,

Self.

P.S. Whilst a huge bowl of banana, persimmon, apple and satsuma is an awesome idea, drowning it in alcohol could explain why you are now a little bit drunk.

---------------

* sensei means teacher. i'm normally called 'jo sensei' at least a couple of times a week. i don't particularly like it.

** gaijin means foreigner.

***san is an honorific. kind of like mr/mrs/ms etc. adults are 'san'. (ayako san) dogs and girls are 'chan'. (spot chan). boys are sometimes also 'chan' but normally 'kun'. (Yo kun)Hello Kitty is 'kitty chan' here. Whilst decorating a xmas tree at school today, the school manager referred to a bauble as 'bauble chan'. but never mind'.

From 'hola' to 'merde'

2009-11-26T10:11:00.002+09:00

The next move.

A couple of years ago I decided it would be an awesome experience to go and work in Saudi, the UAE or thereabouts. Then I got hooked on Argentina. Argentina turned to Madrid and finally settled on Barcelona. I've been totally committed to moving to Barcelona for most of this year. Totally. Studying Spanish, reading Barcelona blogs, keeping an eye on the company I want to work for and the alternatives committed.

Until a couple of weeks ago when I started worrying about the Spanish market and how easy it would be to actually get work there. And then other Spanish cities, German cities, French cities started creeping into my mind. No Italian cities. Italians are crazy. I've lived with some. Kidding. Italians are lovely BUT maybe a little too enthusiastic for a day-to-day grump like to me to deal with without losing the little bit of sanity I still hold.

And then.

Then last night I watched BEFORE SUNSET again. First time in years. A passing thought to Paris has turned to obsession in the last 12 hours. It started the moment the camera hit 'Shakespeare and co' and took me on the hugest trip down memory lane.

Paris. Paris. Paris. Perfect Paris.

I'm not going to blog about Paris now but suffice it to say, I lived in Paris for two years after university and the time is filled with many fond memories. I also met up with a load of people for a huge pissup about nine years ago. More fond memories.

Paris is idealised for me. Paris makes me smile. Paris is all shiny and happy and lovely.

And - should I go back to live there - well, I don't believe in backtracking and maybe it WOULD be backtracking. Maybe it's not the best idea to consider. But moving forward means taking a new road.

I'm sure there were things I disliked about living in Paris. But I can't think of any. And there lies the danger.

Then again, I'm sure nine years after leaving Tokyo I'll look back with nothing but fond memories too.

Maybe I'll just toss the coin of fate into the air - make an attack on Paris, Barcelona and yet to be decided German city (Berlin maybe?) and see who throws it back to me.

Maybe.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I'm blogging so much of late, it's because I don't have time. Seriously, I don't. It's just easier than finishing the diploma reports that have a looming deadline, and I'm sitting over my computer anyway and it's the most pleasant procrastination device I can think of.

And Paris? Maybe I'll share some of the memories soon.

Not my finest moment

2009-11-25T21:09:00.004+09:00

The brother-in-law of one of my students was in a coma for six or so weeks after wrapping his car around a central reservation.

Today the student said: 'My brother-in-law's not dead'.

I said, rather enthusiastically, 'That's great! You must be very happy.'

She said, 'We went to the funeral yesterday.'

Somehow I think she didn't say what I thought she said originally, and with clarification the brother-in-law had, indeed, died. The ground didn't open up and swallow up, though could have been useful if it had, and I still don't know what she meant to say. Maybe 'got dead' or 'now dead'.

The joys of teaching, eh!

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I'm all confused now about what to do next year. When my contract ends at the end of March, I was planning to leave Japan. It'll have been 5.5 years by then and I only came for a year or two. I'm desperate to get back to Europe for a number of reasons and delayed leaving this year for the sake of doing the diploma.

To leave end of March, I need to commit to leaving by end of January and yesterday my DoS sewed seeds of doubt in my mind as to my timing for leaving. Sewing seeds of doubt in the mind of an indecisive person is like putting a bone in front of a dog and telling it not to touch it. Or something. Anyway, I now really don't know what to do!

Help!

student say - teacher tell

2009-11-24T22:21:00.003+09:00

Have you seen this story from England about Mckenzie Dunkley? (yes, I sometimes look at the British tabloids online, as well as the broadsheets, BBC, etc - but that's besides the point) - Mckenzie is a cute, four-year old nutcase and the youngest kid ever to be expelled from school.

To be honest, the actions of this kid didn't so much shock me as the mother agreeing to have him named and shown in the press.

But, as I was doing language for advice with a group of intermediate students I thought I'd get their take on it.

Bear in mind the attitude here is a two-plane one of a) kids don't know any better and b) teachers are scared of parents. I've mentioned before kids I've seen here in kindergartens kicking teachers who just smile at them, etc.

So, I told them the story of little Mckenzie and they decided he should not have been expelled, he should have been talked to and that hitting / kicking a teacher was okay, but hitting / kicking other kids wasn't.

They were all in agreement that hitting parents wasn't okay though.

Interesting.

-------

Student Y is in a group of low-level learners. I think she's a complete nutcase but she's extremely amusing - in a bit of a Susan Boyle kind of way. I love the group she's in. I've only been teaching them a couple of months but they adapted very quickly to my way of teaching and they amuse me no end.

Student Y - sorry, just to clarify here - she's in her 40s, the other women in their 50s - likes to sing - English kids songs - and has no problem spontaneously bursting into song. You can't really help but like her. Like I said, reminds me of Susan Boyle.

Today we were talking about the body and pregnancy (yes, of COURSE she started singing 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes') and we talked about knowing and guessing the sex of your kid. Y has a son. She wanted a daughter ('because girls are pretty') but didn't get one. So when her son was three she always dressed him as a girl. She has photos. She's saving them to show at his wedding...

So. We're doing parts of the body. They've brainstormed a load and start asking me about the names of other parts. We discussed man-boobs. This is a foundation level class. On the way out I told them to look up more parts and pointed to some random ones including my wrist. Y (of course, Y) said 'breast'. I clarified the difference between 'wrist' and 'breast'.

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And finally, one day I'll learn if you don't want people to know what you're planning, spending months hinting at it, isn't really the way to go as people do start putting 2 and 2 together! Still, this doesn't put me into a bad place so no harm done. (bla bla bla, leaving Japan next spring).

P.S. Diploma - second draft of one paper finished. I hope. Two more first drafts to get finished ASAP.

Well..

2009-11-23T20:26:00.002+09:00

it seems i have the concentration ability of a two year old.

and that i'm unable to focus.

or to write in a non-chatty style.

or to write coherent english.

all of this is not good, seeing as i'm trying to write up three diploma reports right now.

*sigh*

i'm also realising there is nowhere comfy in my room to sit and type.

not good.

Surprising? No.

2009-11-22T16:59:00.002+09:00

Bloody hell, it's cold. I'm in my room in a LOT of clothes and a hat. I keep turning the heating on. And off. I like the heating. My computer doesn't. And, as I'm trying to get my diploma reports finished, the computers wishes are rather more important than mine. (Too much heat slows my old computer down too much and I don't want to buy a new computer in Japan).

And while trying to finish said reports my concentration is focusing on everything but.

I'm remembering a couple of things I forgot to put in my last blog entry -

Like about a new student that comes to class with both a Louis Vuitton (yuck) bag AND a pink 100 yen bag (50p). It's kind of odd - but it kind of isn't. Maybe I really have been here too long. I've attempted to figure out what message she's trying to give with this combination, but concluded she probably isn't. Whatever takes your fancy, I guess.

In our classrooms everyone sits around a (normally rectangular) table - well, in adult lessons anyway. I normally sit on the floor with kids, or chairs without tables..... anyway, in adult lessons we sit around a table (no space not to) and in almost every class students choose to sit in the same place every week. A private student, as much as a group student. I've had students moving chairs around if one is missing from their normal gap and they want that gap. I've also had students arriving AFTER a new student has arrived and telling them to move from 'their' spot. And had new students asking members of a class where they can sit.

Of course I move students around sometimes, but they really don't like it.

Anyhoo, I decided to play detective and asked one group why this was the case. They decided because they had found a comfortable seat was the main answer. (All the chairs are the same) and that they didn't like changing. Oh and maybe out of politeness.

If it was up to me, I'd have the lot of them sitting on the floor! But my real point here, is (and I'm sure this is not a nice thing to say) one of the things that frustrates me most about my students IS their predictability. I know where they'll sit. I know what they'll say. I know how they'll react (or not react) to things.

I know I'm the teacher and it's MY job to motivate THEM, and not the other way around, but sometimes I just want to shake things up. Of course, not all of my students are like this. And for that I am thankful.

Now, enough of this procrastinating. I really must get one of the three reports finished tonight. Or maybe I should tidy my room, or wash some clothes, or book a hotel in Delhi, or have a nap, watch a movie, make some pasta, update my twitter profile, check facebook again, email one of the many people I've been meaning to email for ages, study some Spanish, update my iPod, make a cup of coffee, go for a walk, have a shower......

REPORT!

Oh, P.S. I decided to not do the diploma exam last Friday. I'm going to do it in May instead.

P.P.S. My house that's being demolished -I have until the start of March to move. The agency is offering a pretty good bargain to move into another of their properties but I have to assume here that all their bread isn't baked in the same oven as - well, the condition of the current place and the mentality of the landlady are both not good. Still, won't be forever, so am considering this option.

Nearly Over.

2009-11-19T21:37:00.003+09:00

Recent recents I haven't blogged about. Prepare yourself for some totally disconnected randomness. But to kick things off, a photo. Apologies for the quality but a) it was taken with my very old crappy phone and b) I was being 'discrete' when I took this. To fully understand what you are looking at, this is a woman wearing KNITTED black drop-crotch trousers covered in large beavers (I'm guessing 'beaver', could be mole or groundhog or something else large and rodenty I guess), hearts and stars. I didn't know if she was giving out a message (I *heart* beaver) or had just totally and utterly lost the plot. Guess we'll never know!

And for the rest of the randomness:

My local train station has a sign in English saying 'no dangerous good'. That's it. No picture. No clarification.

Seen recently on a t-shirt: 'mellow is not enought' (sic.). No, I have no idea either.

Had a student about a month ago, who complained that she didn't want to come to an English school to just learn English. I said maybe we should be teaching her to juggle.

Had another old granny student tell me about how she'd had a 'special massage' abroad. I didn't delve any deeper into that one.

On the subject of Japanese first names and what made parents choose certain names, one student replied she and her husband had named her daughter 'Tomomi' which means 'beautiful fat sheep.' (Before anyone jumps on this one, the kanji they had chosen meant this. I'm sure other kanji can be used for 'Tomomi' which has a different meaning.)

Not funny but -actually REALLY not funny - but I want to share this. Talking to a high level teenager about Aboriginals and other indigineous people and asked her what she knows about indigineous people in Japan - ie Ainu. She'd learned they live in trees, they don't work, they don't send their kids to school, they eat food from the forest around them. I managed to not cry. But only just.

Another student - and again, really not funny - described how she'd been to observe her daughter's maths class and the kids had just chatted away while the teacher was trying to explain something to them. I asked what did the teacher do? She said, nothing. I asked the whole group their opinion on this, and the agreement was, the teacher should have done something but teachers are too soft and they are afraid of the parents. Just kill me now.

Talking about changes in Japan over the last 12 months. The student decided the most significant change was that the recession had meant Uniqlo (clothes shop) jeans had gone down by 800 yen or something (about four quid).

The quid sign has vanished from my keyboard. It used to be here.

Same student as #8 - on the subject of Obama's visit to Japan. I asked her and her classmate what they'd ask Obama if they got the chance. One student said she'd ask about his Nobel Peace Prize. Mrs. Bargain Jeans lady said she'd ask him what time he got up and went to bed. Other student and I both looked at her as if she was insane.

Another student went on a holiday to England. Asking her about her trip she described in great detail which supermarkets she'd liked (Bath) and why Swindon's were a real let down for her (apparantly the supermarkets in Swindon only sell things you can buy in Tokyo).

Asked a teenager what her dream vacation would be. (Tokyo) Disneyland. I said, 'your DREAM vacation, OUTSIDE Tokyo'. She panicked and looked frightened as I pointed at a world map reminding her there IS a world outside of Tokyo. She eventually decided her dream vacation would be to Italy because the food is 'very gorgeous'.

A past question for an entry interview for high flying high school students who get the chance for early acceptance into universities: if your father and boyfriend were about to drown and you could save only one, which one would you chose? (This is for Japanese 17 and 18 year olds to answer FFS!)

The mice are back in the walls of our house. The landbitchladymadcultwoman doesn't give a crap.

My insomnia is back.

When my insomnia ISN'T affecting me, my house is. I'm regularly kept awake / woken up by people in the house. Although the late night noise is against the rules in the contract, the landbitchladymadcultwoman doesn't give a crap.

I mentioned the house is being demolished early next year didn't I?

I also mentioned I've had no time (cos of diploma) to do anything about moving yet, other than register with some agencies.

Am not looking forward to moving. For one, I'm in a gaijin/guesthouse now BUT I have my OWN kitchen. Anywhere else I'm going to have to share. I don't like sharing kitchens.

Additionally, I'm not prepared to commit to a 12-month contract so that limits a lot of options down to... gaijin houses. And I need to get as much money together as I can so I can't afford big downpayments. And I have SOOO much stuff to sort out. Not good.

I decided to delay the diploma exam until next year as I don't feel ready to do it yet. I do, however, have to get three reports finished for my portfolio by the end of this month (all in various stages of completedness right now), prepare a presentation for an external examiner, prepare a lesson for the external examiner, review phonology for the external examiner.. oh and she comes in 2.5 weeks.

I also have to help organise a school Christmas party. You can imagine how I feel about this. Especially as the party is two nights before the external examiner.

It's bloody cold and wet these days.

Can't bloody wait to get to India. First day in Delhi may involve a visit to a hairdressers. Haven't had time (this year) and REALLY need to get it all chopped off. Well, maybe not all of it ;-)

I have NO idea why I've done this post in numbered points but doubt anyone is reading it anyway.

... well, there's more I want to say, but can't.

xxx

Must Work Harder

2009-10-27T23:21:00.002+09:00

One of the four year olds that I teach has to stop coming to private English lessons because she has to start going to cram school twice a week and can't fit it all in. She's at nursery school now but needs to do an exam in two years to go to kindergarden, hence why she has to go to cram school after nursery.

Of course, this is nothing on the kids who go to cram school from age two here.

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Fucked up slightly this morning: last night felt sick (actually I was sick) and normal recent insomnia settled in for a snuggle. So I popped a sleeping pill.

Recently I gave in and, as much as I don't like them, bought some earplugs to keep out the annoying novelty alarm of the guy in the room next to me from waking me up at 6am every day, before the clattering and shouting of the housemates wake me at 8am (I don't need to get up until 9 or 10am as I start late and finish late).

Oh and alarm clock battery may be going too.

Anyway, bad combination - sleeping pill + earplugs. I completely slept through the alarm clock and slumbers and woke up at 12.15pm. I should have been in school for 12pm. Really not the best start to the day.

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The sun is back though :D

Finally coming together maybe

2009-10-27T00:02:00.002+09:00

Thanks to a couple of extra days off and too much shitty weather to be arsed to leave my pyjamas or the house (except when I left the house IN my pyjamas to go to the convenience store, having run out of food and not wanting to go in the rain to the supermarket / just not wanting to leave my p.j's), I've been a litte bit productive.

I'm still a long way from chipping into my to-do list but I've figured out where I'm going in India (ah, sunshine, can't wait!), made tentative enquiries about not doing the diploma exam in Tokyo. Only tentative. Nothing is decided - except that I'm not doing it next month.

Two of the four pieces of written work I need to complete for the diploma are done, pending corrections...

And I've found time to study lots of Spanish and write some emails and continue to look for houses to move to. And continue to look at my rooms and wonder when I'll have time to sort them out as obviously packing involves chaos. I'm thinking after India makes more sense.

And it's finally turned winter. Cold. Wet. Not pleasant. And I had it in mind that today I wanted to go to the park to take photos and kick leaves - or at least try and find some leaves to kick. They don't tend to lie around for long here. A couple of weeks ago, during a typhoon, I saw people sweeping up leaves. Like, that's sensible. And a few years ago I saw people up trees picking leaves off so they couldn't fall.

So wrong!

It's all very circular...

2009-10-26T00:38:00.002+09:00

Life.
Wake up (get woken up).
Get up.
Drink coffee.
Study.
Go to work.
Study Spanish on way to work.
Work.
Study in work breaks.
Come home.
Study Spanish on way home.
Check Facebook / Twitter / Yahoo / Housing websites.
Watch something I've downloaded.
Worry about study / finding somewhere to move to / packing up all my stuff / sorting out India / my upcoming deadlines / whether my flatmates will keep me awake or wake me up.
Find myself unable to sleep.
Lie awake.
For a long time.
Worrying.
Eventually drop off / pop a pill.
And then it all starts again.
Very zen.
Or not.
Well, the circular bit is. The stress and worry not so.

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

2009-10-22T11:13:00.002+09:00

Woken up early yesterday by housemates.
Tired.
Drank lots of coffee during day.
Got home from work 10pm.
Lots on my mind.
Crashed around 2.30am.
Woken by tinkly 'Stairways to Heaven' alarm in neighbours room at 6am.
Rewoken by the Swiss contingency of the house shouting outside my room at 8am.
Didn't need to be awake until 9.30 / 10am.
Feel shite again.
BUT have no work Friday or Saturday this week :D

So, finally, everything has fallen into place.

2009-10-22T01:32:00.002+09:00

Okay, not really but I felt like saying something positive!

I'm not feeling so stressed.

My head is still about to explode, but I'm not having a meltdown anymore.

On the house front: well, I have always been a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Not in a god like way, because I don't 'do' religion, but in a 'what goes up, must come down' kind of way. Things just are and things happen and there is sense in most of it, although sometimes it takes a lot of hunting to find the sense in things.

But I'm going off on a tangent, so let's loop back around.

On the house front: This house is too hot in summer, too cold in winter and I really don't like the people who live here.

However, doing nothing is so much easier than doing something.

Knowing the house will cease to exist, is a good thing. It means I have NO choice but to find somewhere else to go to.

I'll miss the location. I'll miss having my own kitchen. But such is life. I've got my eye on a couple of companies gaijin houses (guest houses) and when a suitable room comes up, I'll grab it.

On the diploma front, I'm concentrating on the portfolio work at the moment and haven't done any unportfolio study in a while. I can't cope with the house stuff and the full whack of the diploma right now, so I'm being realistic and postponing the written exam until next year.

I'm studying Spanish like a mad woman these days because I don't have enough else to do!

I keep looking at my room and groaning at the thought of how much stuff is in it to sort out!

And I really do need to find time to figure out India in case it means I can any cheapo advanced tickets, etc.

Oh and I have to help organise a work xmas party.

And find time to sort out my India visa.

And sort out my sewing pile.

And continue with weekly dental trips. Yay!

And hope I don't catch 'new' flu. In Japan, they apparantly won't call it 'swine flu' because that would upset the pig farmers and panic the whole population into giving up pork. Or something.

*oink*.

Solution

2009-10-10T18:40:00.003+09:00

After last nights meltdown post and lying awake mulling for hours before popping a couple of sleeping pills... I reached a decision.

It's not a decision I'm happy with and it's not totally down to me so I'll have to see what happens, but what I think I'm going to do seems the better of a bunch of bad options right now.

There IS no right decision or right answer and I hope following my gut will be the right thing to do here.