the pressure is mounting...

as the days creep slowly toward september (and my first classes), i'm having to do some actual work. shocking, i know. so now i go in to school and sit in the staff room from 10 am to 3pm (i get to work slightly shorter hours, as it is summer holiday and i don't have clubs... yet). this evening i have a conversation class (ie adult education) at the obihiro post office... were teaching postal workers to deal with english-speaking customers... thus the repertoire is kinda limited to stamps, packages and the like. not exactly the exciting lesson-plan style i had in mind but what the hey.

this sunday i was driven around obihiro by greg (the canadian alt) and kaede (his three-year-old son), and i discovered during a visit to hyakuman volt (the million volt store) that small children and displays of laptops and remote controls do NOT go well togther. kaede is really cute and mostly well behaved but put a keyboard in front of him and suddenly its like he's on crack, or maybe pCP, in any case some sort of stimulant that makes you scream like a banshee while bashing things wildy and than getting megamaniacally upset that one dares to attempt to separate his hand from said expensive equipment. kaede (like myself) gets upset when food takes too long and kept asking why he couldn't eat the other tables leftovers/stand up in his chair but his table manners were impeccable... the most important things to say during a meal are "kampai" (cheers... don't drink until it is said) "itadakimasu" (like grace, lit. thank you for going to all the trouble of preparing this meal, same procedure as kampai) and "gochisosama" (basically it was a good meal and i'm grateful).


later that evening i went to another brass band concert... 2 1/2 hours in an un-airconditioned hall that slowly began to bake... the lady to my left kept nodding off. she was sweet though, she kept chatting to me in japanese and nodding at my english and saying, "ah, so desu". generally i find that oler ladies here are like that, very sweeet and polite and agree with what you just said like its profound even though you just said "i'm the english teacher at the high school"..
anyhoo, after the concert, the students lined up outside and we walked past and said goodbye and congratulations (well that's what i said, not 100% sure about everybody else), and i got my first taste of superstar adulation. the girls are really enthusiastic here and kept yelling "see you" and "hello" (sometimes in that order) and one student (who has already emailed me) was so excited to see me her eyes literally shone and she would not let go of my hand... it was a little scary actually but i feel pretty excited about teaching now... my medical students didn't act like that...


i'm sorry not to be writing more often and more individually but i can only use the staff email at the mo... only one computer so i don't want to hog it... when i get my laptop and wireless lan (hopefully next month, citibank be willing) i'll be able to sit at my desk and mail away to my hearts content, and also work from home...

some points...
* there is no vanilla coke here, but i'll forgive them as they have hagendazs... aaaah. even the vanilla is like the cold milk product of the gods... although the green tea icecream is disgusting and tastes more like mashed pea mixed with old teabags. sif.
* my congratulations to leah who is now mrs richard...um..something (sorry rich) having gone and gotten married! leah, one does not simply drop such things into the middle of an email without any sort of explanation! i want details... who (okay that i know), what when where why? i want juice dammit!
*two good sites: http://www.engrish.com and http://www.mulletsgalore.com/ go there now...