Yeah, it has been awhile. First update in the month of September. Stuff has been going on, what can I say. Tuesday, my car broke. The fan belt had been making horrendous noises for a couple of weeks, I ignored it hoping that it would go away, and finally it broke. Problem is I was about 45 minutes away from home shopping at Park Place and the JAF guy said it would be about 200 bucks or so to tow it back. So I called the local hometown mechanic and he brought out a big truck and loaded my car in the back. He just fixed the belts, should be ready to go tomorrow, who knows how much the entire total cost will come to. I would like to get a newer car, but when you add it all up it just doesnt seem to be worth it.
This weekend our schools had our sports festivals, think Field Day Japanese-style. It is definitely a big deal- it takes a lot of preparation, and the whole school really gets into it. Anyways, it rained pretty good on both days, and I was pretty sure everything was going to be postponed, but the powers that be decided to go ahead with it anyway. Several events, mostly running, had to be canceled because of the sorry field conditions. Still all the students got to do their dance and cheering routines that they had been practicing hard for. But I loved the high-tech solution to getting the field ready. Everybody gets out a bunch of sponges and buckets, and sponges up all the mud! Rinse and repeat. I felt like a convict in North Korea. But in the end the students had fun, so in that sense it had to be a success.
The two sports days I went to were on Saturday and Sunday, and Monday was a holiday, so I got Tuesday and Wednesday off as substitute holidays. Two days of school on Thursday and Friday, and then its the weekend again already! A very strange feeling. Its gotta be a first for me.
So anyway with my car broke, of course I cant drive to school. So last night, I called another teacher to ask for a ride to school. When I talked to her on the phone, she seemed really preoccupied, and sure enough this morning she totally forgot to pick me up. Fortunately while I was waiting for the bus, someone from the town offices spotted me and offered a ride to school. So that was nice. Of course, this being Japan, the teacher who forgot about me literally apologized about seven times, making me feel somewhat guilty about the whole deal.
Going back a little bit further, I had a crazy weekend. On Saturday, I went Fukuoka for some shopping (got a really nice camera) and to meet some friends. I caught the last train back and by the time all was said and done it wasnt til around 130 that I got back home. The next day, I got an offer to go hiking, so I spent all day hiking the day after a big trip. Needless to say I wasnt doing too great when Monday came around, somehow I made it through, but on Tuesday I was completely toast and didnt even make it to lunch time before having to head home due to exhaustion. Guess the lesson is, dont push yourself too hard, kids.
Also, my keyboard is messed up... somehow I switched the defaults around or something, and the inputs just dont want to cooperate at all. Obviously I can type somewhat, but it can be a real pain. Now with my Japanese OS, it should be a joy to figure out just how to get everything back right again. Great!