So the summer holiday has arrived with typical Japanese promptness. How is it going so far? Well, like black and white really.
Friday: Went to Theo’s after school, played a game of AGoT that last three hours. I lost 15-12 in the end but it was a really close fought match and Theo came right back into it from 12 points down to win. A thoroughly entertaining game. Dropped round Mayumi’s parents house afterwards where I was given various gifts for no particular reason.
Saturday: Mayumi has to do parent/teacher interviews at school so she has no holiday. I go to hospital to get my toe looked at again (recently had the nail removed because it was ingrowing for the 4th time) and then go to Wakayama city to try and pick out some summer clothes. Uni-Qlo yields nothing interesting so I make a move to go further out to Garden Park (a mall about an hours drive away) to look in Muji and have a browse round a few other stores. I get there, I enter the car park and then a batshit loco Japanese “lady” drives past a stop sign coming out of the car parking lane and ploughs directly into the side of my car. Leaving me with a wheel hanging almost completely off. Of course the Police can’t come and judge who was wronged as they’re like to do because it’s a “private area” which means it’s left to the insurance companies. Always irritating as there is bound to be arguing from the opposite persons side about how much they pay, the fact that the person driving ignored right of way, stops signs and was the person to “hit” the other car not withstanding, I doubt they’ll really want to pay 100% of the repair if they can possibly avoid doing so.
Here are a couple of pic links to the aftermath (the other person having removed her car because we were in the way of hordes of traffic and one of the store staff was getting shirty).
So, after an hour and a half wait I got my car towed back to the garage I lease from and the owner had prepared a replacement car for me. So aside from the general inconvenience of having half my day spent waiting for someone to take my car back home there was really no major knock on effect to my weekend. The weirdest thing about the whole incident was. The person that hit me was a crossdresser. I swear I’m making no joke. He had a man’s name, in his driving license picture he was bald, yet in meeting him her had an obvious shoulder length womans hairstyle, he was also wearing womans clothing complete with makeup and earrings. All the time he/she was speaking in an over the top womans voice as if her were in a pantomime or something. I was expecting Ashton Kutcher to jump out at any moment to punk me.
Sunday: Conversely, Sunday was one of those “perfect day” days. Mayumi and I had the day off, we watched Forrest Gump in the morning (one of my all time favorites), went to a brand new shopping centre in a different city in the afternoon, I found a bunch of well priced summer clothes I wanted. We ate lunch at an awesome sushi place. Came back to Kimino, went to the river because it was baking hot for a swim,(swimming in the river in Kimino is a bit of a thing here as the water is so clear it’s like glass) the river was deserted save for us and the water awesome. We came home had dinner and watched a movie. Damn near perfect.
I am left to wonder however if there will be a pattern emerging as to how my days will procede from this day forth. I certainly hope I got rid of all my bad luck in one go.
I’m a little distressed that I couldn’t conjure up a less vanilla title for todays entry than that, but one must carry on regardless. In 3 (probably long) hours, the term will be at an end, meaning my annual 44 day stretch of no classes and half working days is imminent. Truth be told, I’m on tenterhooks, the first semester is always the most trying of the year. Staff changes, new students, new learning styles, new class routines, the humidity of early summer and the monotony of teaching the very basic 1st grade textbook from the start again all develop into a pimple of malcontent, burst only by the promise of 44 days of sloth like relaxation.
I’m determined to enjoy this summer more than last year. Last year wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but apart from going to a few festivals and a few days in Taiwan, I didn’t do much. This year I want to explore. Towards the end of August we’re headed to Korea for a week, which I have every faith will be great, I also want to head to Kyushuu and Shikoku as well as finally seeing the panda twins at Adventure World in Wakayama. I also need to do my usual rounds of the festivals and eat a lot of Takoyaki. I guess I should also keep studying for this goddam Japanese test in December, as depressingly difficult as it is.
Teachers often complain about the workload and sub-standard pay rates that come with working in public education, however, a workless summer, winter and spring holiday seem like a reasonable settlement. Better yet, be an assistant teacher, and then no one gives a damn what you do when the kids aren’t at school.
Jesus tapdancing christ it is like a sauna in here today. I’m certain I smell like 20 sandals. I even drove home at lunch for an emergency cold shower, 15 minutes after I get back to work and it feels like I’ve not showered this century again. On the plus side, everyone else appears to be in the same boat and slightly worse for zero bonus showers. I suppose I ought to be thankful its taken until now to fully set in, I vaguely remember last year the humidity hitting at the end of May and stretching out until the ass end of October.
In “I told you so” news: I just had to go and film a congratulatory message for two young teachers who departed from Misato in April to new schools. The point is, I had speculated aeons ago that they were having an affair (at least one of the two was in a relationship) as they were thick as thieves. On the video message I really wanted to say in English “Miyashita .. Nakao… I just want you to know. I called it!”. And call it I did. Just like I called another certain person and their girlfriend, ages before they were official. I call things, that’s what I do.
