It’s been formally requested by my dad (happy birthday!) that I write shorter entries and maybe use more concise bullet points. The ones lately have been ridiculously long, haven’t they? I just have this urge to document every little thing–and while I’m aware of the fact that I do have an audience, no matter how meager, I just want to throw everything in “just in case,” for when I come back and read these after I leave Japan. Still, I’ll try to make my posts a little more manageable.
It’s actually been getting a little stressful here…I can’t quite put my finger on one thing that’s triggering it, though. I think it’s a combination of several things…
- finding out as of yesterday that Chalice, the new Ikeda ALT who’ll be arriving Sunday, will need to spend the next week staying at our apartments, because the BOE apparently doesn’t want to consider alternatives that involve money (staying at a hotel, which the other BOEs we know of have done when there’s an overlap and the JET housing is quite small) or effort (having me move ASAP to my new place so she can stay here for the week, which means drafting temporary contracts and setting up utilities at my new place and canceling them here Friday after Chalice takes over Lindsay’s place). Our immediate boss is on our side, but everyone above her disagrees, and we can’t figure out why. Don’t get me wrong, we’re happy to have Chalice (and we’re trading off with Lindsay because she’s going INSANE with last-minute preparations)–I just wonder why our BOE has made this of all decisions.
- planning my trip home…the week I want to go home is the same week my parents are now planning to not even be in Atlanta. I want to go to Boston, want to see the wedding and the relatives, want to see my family…but I really want to see my friends and all the familiar things about my home that I’m really craving. I’m really not sure what to do.
- also planning a trip to Sendai to visit a professor from Georgia Tech who’ll be there for the summer, but she doesn’t quite know her availability yet.
- rugby this weekend. There’s a major rugby tournament that Tokushima’s hosting not far from here, and a lot of people from across the prefecture and the country are coming. I really want to go on Saturday, but right now I think I’m the only person who doesn’t intend to spend the night out there (it’s a 2-day tournament, so it’d make sense to go Sunday, but I really want/need that time to myself), so unless I can secure a ride to a train station, or call a ¥2000-ish taxi, I can’t go at all.
- cleaning my apartment, packing, and carting my stuff down a flight of stairs into my new apartment. And rounding up my friends to help me move the aircon/fridge/washing machine/chest of drawers/etc.
- looking for a car. I’ve been getting rides from people a lot lately, which usually involves them going out of their way (anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes). There’s also the matter of my taking the lunch truck to/from classes, and as usual, I’ll have to arrive at my elementary school 2 hours early tomorrow due to the bus schedule.
- putting together Golden Week plans. Louise and I are definitely checking out Iya one day, and I want to go back to that open market in Ko(u)chi again, and maybe spend time in Takamatsu (Starbucks!) and/or Tokushima, but past that, I don’t know. We need to do some research.
- tomorrow being my first day of classes, and having a class of students who have NO English experience, since this is an all-6th-grade class. That’s completely new for me. All my classes also start up next week, and this’ll be the first time I’ll need to have several different lesson plans each week–my Double-Length School of DOOM has actually purchased its own English materials it’d like me to start using, and there are varying levels throughout all my classes…
- strained a muscle in my left thigh (this is why you need to STRETCH when you work out, especially if you haven’t worked out in MONTHS–I’m such an idiot), so I can’t really run, and I can feel it straining when I even walk quickly. I’ve been kind of limping slightly to go easy on it. If it doesn’t heal up in the next few days, I may have to see the doctor next week.
…er, whoops. So this wasn’t shorter, but the bullet points are a lot more concise than they could be! Sorry, Dad. But yeah, I guess all these “little” things are finally adding up.
I’m now off to Sunshine to buy sausages, among other things. (Heh, I can see my friends’ eyebrows shoot WAY up–don’t worry, they’re not for me. I haven’t caved under the pressure of Japan’s anti-vegetarian lifestyle just yet!) Later, guys.