Has This Ever Happened to You?

So I was closing out my bank account yesterday. I finally got my tax return deposited in my account so I decided to close out my account since I no longer needed it (Nishi and the Kisuki eikaiwa both pay me in cash). I decided to tackle this one on my own since we already ask so much of Mihara-san. So I went to the counter and said that I wanted to close my account. The lady just smiles and hands me a couple of forms to fill out. I start writing my name in English (but they have a small place to write your name phonetically in Japanese script) and I'm doing great! I mean, I've been writing my name since I was about 5 or so and doing it in Japanese for the past 6 years.

So I'm filling out these forms, pleased with my unrivaled ability to spell my own name in two languages when, out of no where, this old man runs up making an "ooooh!" noise. He then proceeds to watch intently as I write my name (there were a couple of forms and i already did the address stuff). He tries to read my name and then claps with glee when I spell it phonetically. No, I'm not making this up. He tells me I am very excellent at Japanese. Skill-full, that's me! The lady at the window and his wife just smile apologetically, but in the words of Tony Soprano, what are you gonna do?

So after I sit down and wait to be processed, the old guy sits next to me and we chat. He declares that I am highly skilled at Japanese. Weird! Only in Japan...

Anyways, it's weird how different the mindset is in Japan vs America. In America, if you come into the country, you are assumed to speak English no matter your original nationality. It's just expected. And if you don't, you are called stupid and looked down upon. In Japan, if you are foreign, it's assumed that you don't speak Japanese at all. But, if you speak even a little of Japanese, you are considered a genius. It bizarre and kinda sucks that both countries have these attitudes.

note: I'm not saying everyone in America feels that way, but it's a definite overall attitude that the country tends to have.

Anyways, I did get my bank account closed with no problem. On Monday, I took our change bowl in to get counted and put in my account. It was awesome. It turned out to be 4732 yen in change! Awesome, considering that it was mainly 1 and 10 yens. Woot! I had so much change that it kept jamming the counting machine. Woops. It seriously took like 30 minutes for them to count all my change. I almost broke the machine because I had accidentally left 2 nickels, a penny, and a quarter in the jar. Oops.

Let's see...what else? Heh...I seem to be getting everything out of order.

Monday morning was kinda a bust for Nishi. I got up early and biked all the way over there. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed riding in the sun and getting some exercise. I even wore a cap and everything. Unfortunately, when I got there...Rika came up to me looking very, very...abashed. Apparently...my class had been canceled AGAIN but she forgot to let me know. Doh! Oh well...at least it got me out of the house. If it were rainy or windy, I probably would have been upset...but I really wasn't. It was just a nice day.

On Sunday, Chris and I had a nice day. We went to Matsue in the afternoon and I got a new purse of bigness! It's really big! I like it though. I can fit almost everything in it! I can carry my text book and all kinds of things. It also has a smaller bag that I can snap on and off of it with it's own strap. It's really neat.

After we got back from Matsue, Jason came over to play some games and watch American Idol's Idol Gives Back performance show. It was really nice. We had yummy pizza and everything!

So things have been going good. We have two smaller boxes that we will ship off soon and that should be the last of our shipping stuff. The next step becomes organizing things and seeing what we want to sell and want we want to pack. Most of the stuff in our apartment will be sold. I imagine that a lot of things will be given away as well. Like toilet paper or food. I kinda expect Jason to come raid out cabinets, which is fine. I actually hope people want the stuff because we won't need it.

Huzzah! Have a great week! (wow! It's already wednesday! What a quick week)