September 23: A quiet day. I had the day off, so I spent it playing video games and watching movies. I went to Geos (a game shop) to buy memory cards. I had to ask the girl who worked there to take them out of a cabinet. I asked in Japanese, and it was kind of scrambled but I got it out. I then apologised for my Japanese, and the girl replied, "Oh no, you speak it very well!" On the way to the cabinet, she asked me where I lived and what kind of a job I had. Then she asked how long I'd been here, and I said, "Oh, about three months." She replied, "Three months? Your Japanese is amazing! I've studied English my whole life and can't say anything..." When we got to the cashiers' counter, she said to the other workers, "Hey, did you hear her Japanese?" So I talked to them for awhile. I don't know if they were sincere or just being really nice, but either way it was an ego-boost.
September 24: I went to get my gaijin card and insurance. It took me awhile to find City Hall, but I eventually did. I gave them my personal info, and the guy at the counter said, "Hmm...ALS...never heard of it..." I was worried they thought I made it up; he kept wandering around asking everyone if they'd ever heard of the school. Just as he had given up, a woman came around from the back and cried, "Kathryn! Hi!" It was one of my students. I chatted with her and she cleared up the school confusion for me. Lucky, huh?
September 26: I went to Virginia's house to help her with a story she's trying to write. It was a very pleasant morning. When I got to work, I had my rhythmic classes, which are always fun. The kids are adorable, and I basically get to play for two hours.
September 27: I had my rhythmic class today. The one-year-old is warming up, and even though he can't talk he's fun to play with. We had an observer: a two year old girl. She arrived and was cute, except she apparently was due for a nap. She walked in the room and panicked; apparently she had never seen a foreigner before. She attached to her mom and absolutely would not turn around. I heard her mom say, "Calm down, that's not a demon, it's just a foriegner..." I felt bad that she was so upset, but there wasn't much to be done about it. After her freak out, she fell asleep and slept through the whole class. Of course she woke up at the end. I gave her a sticker and suddenly all was well and she was happy. Really, sometimes this job is so weird...
September 28: I went out with a friend today. We wanted to go to the zoo, but it was raining so hard that we decided to go to museums instead. We went to one museum that was stuff from about 1940/50. I really enjoyed it, but it was funny how much of the stuff looked exactly like the stuff in my grandfather's house. It was kind of weird from that aspect. Afterwards, we went to the Kirin beer factory. It was cool, but the whole building was automated; a room would be dark and unoccupied, but as soon as someone crossed the threshold lights would come on and music would play. It surprised me the first time it happened, but it was kind of neat; you could do the tour at your own pace. It was quite an interesting experience.
