Day 192 in Japan - I’m late. I’M LATE (for a very important day of classes)

Aaargh! This morning I woke up before my alarm, and felt pleased with myself. That is, until I looked at the alarm clock to realize it was 8:25, and school started in 5 minutes. I fell asleep last night in a fever-induced daze, and didn’t remember to actually set the alarm for this morning. ALL STATIONS GO. SUPERPOWERS ACTIVATE. HOLY SHIT, RUN. I chucked clothes on, grabbed my bag, called my teacher on the way out the door, and after a frantic ride to school managed to still make it there by 8:45. Albeit with unbrushed teeth and yesterdays socks on.

Thankfully, yesterday’s high temperature had broken, so apart from a slightly ridiculous voice and a pretty sore throat, I was on the road to recovery. My teachers were lovely, and gave me hot soup and told my classes that I was sick so they had to be on their best behaviour. I really didn’t want to miss any of today’s classes, because it stuffs the teachers around (at Shimizu, I had the lesson plans ready to go, and the teachers just had to get them to finish last week’s resume-making in English), and because I really don’t want to miss my last lessons with the classes. It’s sad (read:pathetic), but I will miss teaching the students. I know that it is doubtful that they will remember me very much, and probably definitely won’t remember any of the lessons we had, but I will miss Mr. Bushido, Spongebob, Jack, Sparrow (they were allowed to choose their own names for their namecards) and all of the characters that have come through my classroom. Anyway, I had some great last classes listening to the student’s speeches about other countries.

In the afternoon, we had my science class speeches. The student’s have been giving short presentations about “Something Scientific”. They could choose any topic, and they have to ask 3 hypothetical questions and then answer them. They have been seriously good! Their topics have been great, and the presentations have been really interesting. The majority of the students have prepared Powerpoint presentations, and I have been impressed with the quality of presentations that 15 year olds can make in another language about a technical topic! They are better than many of the first year university students I have met. Anyway, today’s stand out presentation was my favourite (I mean, if I had a favourite… uhh…) student. He gave a presentation on Rubik’s cubes, and casually finished a 3 x 3 x 3 cube while he talked. I learned that there are special names for the 4 x 4 x 4 cube (Revenge) and the 5 x 5 x 5 cube (Professor), and about some of the other non-standard sizes. He actually had to ask permission to bring his cubes to school for the presentation, because they are considered toys, and so they are banned from the school grounds. Weird! Anyway, it was a super cool presentation, and he got to show off for all the girls in the class.

Food Highlight of the Day: Toast for dinner :)

Day 191 in Japan - Sick Day.

Today was not one of the top days in Japan, but it was memorable as my first sick day! Yes, after various sniffles and minor infections and stuff through the year, today was the first day that I had no choice but to stay home. My alarm went off at 6:45, and I tried to swallow, only to realize that I couldn’t really get my throat working. It was really, seriously sore and I had no voice. I waited until 7:30, then called my teacher to try to tell him that I wouldn’t be in, although he could barely understand me over the phone. He was lovely and told me not to worry, and that he would take care of everything for me. Thanks, Mizuno-sensei! You are a champ. I went back to sleep for a bit, then dragged myself to the supermarket for some throat lozenges, painkillers and something to take down my temperature (it was over 39). I think that the walk to the supermarket did some to take the temperature down – it was -3 at 8:30

Didn’t do very much for the day. My throat felt a lot better with a few throat lozenges, eucalyptus lollies and cups of earl grey tea tipped down it, but I still couldn’t speak. Sam thought it was wonderful (although he worked all day, so he only saw me in the morning and the night, when I felt my worst). I actually felt a little guilty at about 2 pm, once the Panadol started to bring down my temperature and I felt like I could have worked, but then I tried to Skype Mum and Fletch and couldn’t talk properly. There is no way I could have got through yelling at 4 classes at Shimizu today. Right? (assuage my guilt, blog gods) I took it easy, slept a lot, watched a lot of Veronica Mars, and tried to look through some of my latest photos. I pretty much stayed under the kotatsu and had a bath and drank hot liquids – all of the things that Japanese think that you should do when you are sick.

Food Highlight of the Day: Vegemite toast and earl grey tea – my traditional “sick day” foods.

Day 190 in Japan - Cold Cold Day!

Today was one of the coldest days we have had on record. It was under -1 all day, and we had a light dusting of snow in the afternoon. We really didn't do too much today. Overnight it is supposed to get to -7 in Akashi, and much lower not very far to the north of here.

Day 189 in Japan - Brazillians for all!

Did my usual Saturday morning cleaning routine, and then had a really good Japanese lesson with Kojima-sensei. After the lesson, I met up with Sam and went jacket shopping, to try to get him a coat. He’s been putting off getting a coat for a full, very cold, month now, so we went and tried on a bunch of really nice jackets near Okubo station. We ended up buying a cool jacket with rounded bits at the bottom of the front hem. It was a nice jacket and all, but I’m pretty sure that the reason he said yes to that and no to some of the others was that there was a really cute and cool looking girl working at this store who agreed with me that it looked nice on him.

After our shopping, we met up with a bunch of other gaijin in Kobe for a night out. Arjun’s younger brother was out from Perth for a quick visit with his girlfriend, so we went out for a night of Brazilian nomitabehoudai. The meats were absolutely delicious! I had never had Brazilian-style food before, and I will definitely be going back for seconds (and thirds, and fourths…). I sat with Dan and Simon and Trudie, and I loved their company. I miss talking shit over beers and food, and tonight filled a little hole that had been developing in my heart. It was over all too soon, and people had to run for their last trains as usual. We had a bit of spare time, so we went into Sannomiya with ye olde Australian posse and went to an awesome 70’s bar with a grumpy bartender, brilliant record collection and a 500 yen seating charge (what, me tight?). I got to talk to the guests of honour (Jai and his girlfriend) a little and got in a very decent gin and tonic before it was time to shuffle for the last train. Midnight is just too early to leave a nice night like this!

Soccer was on TV when I got home – Australia vs. Japan for the Asia Cup. We watched to full time – it was 0-0 all the way to the end, and then I fell asleep. Apparently, Australia lost as soon as I closed my eyes. Not looking forward to talking to my soccer boys on Monday.

Food Highlight of the Day: Chicken hearts on skewers at the Brazilian restaurant. It wasn’t the most delicious food I ate, but it was the most memorable.

Day 188 in Japan - Tori Dorichious!

Awesome day at school! After a long morning of teaching, I had an extra double period with my science class where they were giving more of their speeches. They have been truly wonderful so far - I am very happy with their chosen topics, their powerpoint presentations and their English speaking. They have also been listening to all of the other presentations like champions. They are great.

After school, Sam and I went to Tori Doru - a nearby yakitori chicken place. It has my favourite karaage (fried chicken) in all of Japan, so we went, drank umeshu, ate karaage and had a really nice night out. Ahhh, Fridays.

Food Highlight of the Day: Japan/the world's best karaage - Tori Doru karaage.

Day 187 in Japan - "To suck"

Got to school a bit early and then went on a bit of a photo mission around Akashi Shimizu.

It was a fairly quiet day at school. One good thing happened in class - one of the girls came across the phrase "this sucks", and asked me about it. I explained that it was colloquial, and then tried to exaplin about the verb "to suck". I drew a picture of a dummy, a lollipop and a straw, and used them examples one by one - "You can SUCK a dummy", "You can SUCK a lollipop", "You can SUCK a straw". She got it, and the other students actually understood as well. Then the boy next to her said "chin chin" (which is a slangy Japanese word for penis). So I feigned ignorance, and said "Yes, he can suck a chin chin". The class absolutely fell apart laughing, and I was quite happy to make this kid the butt of jokes for a change, as he normally picks on several of the other quieter students. And I'm pretty sure that most of them will remember "to suck".

At supermarket on my way home, there were two very cute little kids (probably about 4 and 6 years old) running around saying hello to everyone. Like EVERYONE - I could hear them running up and down every aisle, yelling "Konnichiwa" at the tops of their voices. I was like "Oooh, they are coming up my aisle, and so I got a big smile ready and turned around to see them round the corner, their jaws drop, and them change from a crazy run to eyes down politely walking past me until they were two steps past my trolley. Then they resumed their game, and said hello to every single other person in the store. It was pretty funny, but I still wanted my hello.

Food Highlight of the Day: Made some delicious steaks for dinner.

Day 186 in Japan - Happy Australia Day!

One particularly momentous event happened today. I handed in the form to say that I would not be re-contracting for the 2011-2012 period. I wrote a note for my principal explaining that I didn't want to leave, and that I really like being here, but that I have to head onwards for the sake of my science career. It's true, too. I miss science and I want to get back into it. So it's time to figure out what is next, and enjoy the hell out of my last 6 months.

Even thought today was Australia Day, we didn't do anything very Australian. I told all of my kids that today was the big day, and made them all say "G'day, mate" in class. For homework, they had to say it to someone else. I wonder if any of them did it? I kinda doubt it.

Anyway, other than that, Sam and I had listened to the end of the Hottest 100 countdown on the internet and had a special Australia Day supper - Tim Tams and Milo. Nothing else very Australian went on. They were very good Tim Tams, though - we did the sucking up warm milo through the biscuits to make them go melty thing. Ahhh, the taste of home. 

Food Highlight of the Day: A Tim and a Tam.