March 20th, 2006

So this week has been an eventful week (yes I know its monday, just adjust the weekly calendar to fit this monday in!).

On Tuesday, at 5:00 pm, I got a random phone call. It was Midori Otani! (Do you remember when I talked about teh nationally reknowned teacher? Well, she's not REALLY nationally reknowned, but she is the best english teacher in Izumo, if not all of shimane. She was the one I thought I offended by leaving abruptly). ANYWAYS, I got a call from her and she told me that Izumo Nishi (west) Kouko (highschool) was interested in hiring me to teacher 3 oral communication classes this next school year. She wanted to know if I would be willing to meet with the principal and some other teachers to discuss this possibilty. Of course I want to! So I agreed to meet with the principal and others on Thursday morning (Midori sensei would come as my translator).

So Thursday rolls around and I go to my meeting. It was a very strange and surreal meeting really. They talk Japanese very quickly to each other and occaisionally ask me some questions. Most of the times they are just talking to each other about me and it never gets translated for me to know what they are saying. Its a bizarre thing when that happens. Especially in an important and nervous situation like this one. It was especially nervewracking because it was a formal meeting and I wasnt sure of all the proper japanese etiquette. Anyways, it turns out that they decided to hire me before they even met with me (which also happens pretty frequently here). I will be teaching 3 oral communication classes (two first year classes and one third year class) a week. Hopefully they will be morning classes and not conflict with my other job. They also gave me a list of dates and times for meetings I needed to attend in the upcoming weeks. There are a lot of them! AIiieee! But thats good I think. They sent me off with a handful of text books and a promise to discuss my contract later (I have no idea when they will give me a contract...I usually dont sign contracts, they get signed for me, its really weird).

Speaking of my other job!! On friday I had to attend a Super English meeting (remember Super English? Thats what Ive been doing since January with teh 6th graders). It was a horrifically boring meeting. It was only in Japanese. They only really wanted me to be there to fill out a form. SUpposedly, Watanabe-sensei was going to translate for me but she didnt really. Anyways, I will be doign that three days a week starting in April. I have no idea when my classes are then either, they will assign them to me in the next few weeks I think. I have a Super English seminar I have to go to this Thursday from 9:00-12:00. Im dreading it. Its also goign to be only Japanese. I like the super english people, but its a very odd group when Im around. There are some women who like to talk to me. Im like their cute pet or something. Then, there are a larger number of people who avoid talking to me whatsoever because I make them nervouse because I am a native English speaker and their english sucks. So its awkward sometimes. Oh well. I will just take paper to doodle on.

On Friday night, Chris and I met with some other JETs and did a game night. It was fun. Chris played poker, and I hung out with some other JETs and we played random games. We played Charlie Brown UNO though, and it was totally awesome. Unfortunately, Chris's bike chain off on the way over there. That was poopy. I dont know if I mentioned it, but we bought Chris and new bike last saturday (the 11th) so it extra sucked that the chain slipped. So we wheeled it home and got his old poopy bike. We stayed at the friendship house (where the party was) pretty late. Chris didnt win any dollars but had a lot of fun. I didnt bet any and I had a lot of fun (a lot of sugar too). That was a nice day.

On Saturday we took Chris's bike to the bike-fixer guy and he fixed it right up!! It turns out that last week when Chris's bike got knocked over by some wind, it fell on the gears and bent them a little bit so the chain wouldnt stay on. Suck! That was pretty much our saturday. We hung out together and watched some movies. It was a good relaxing day.

On sunday, we went bowling! Arrr! Bowling is fun. I am really bad at it. Chris is much better than me but his knee was hurting a little bit so he didnt do quite so well. I got two strikes though! TWO! Woot for me!!!! We also went to curry for dinner. This is worth mentioning because I normally get spicy level 1 curry at coco ichi banya (curry house of yum!) and its nicely spicy. But lately I noticed that it wasnt so much. So I got spicy level 2!!!!! It was really tasty. I love spicy foods. So now Im a spicy level 2 girl! (this wont make much sense until you come to Japan and eat at the curry house with us).

Today was an especially fine day. Chris came home at noon and we ate a nice lunch together (hot dogs, chips, and fruit). Then we went to Taisha Elementary school with Jason and some of the other Izumo JETs. His kids are going to Hiroshima in April and they wanted help preparing some english stuff for them. After that, we went to a small restuarant and ate some parfaits. It was a nice interlude with the others. After that, Chris and I came home.

Now, for the real reason I am updating my journal. I wanted to share with you my wonderful experiences. First I drove to the grocery store. Its the first time that I have driven since I got to Japan. I did fine. I have been riding in the car enough to be acustomed to being on the other side of the rode. It was just a big step for me.

Even more exciting, I made my first Japanese meal. I looked on the internet and found an easy recipe for gyudon (beef bowl) and we got the ingredients together and then I cooked it! It was really tasty too. Its the first time that I have made anything JApanese so I am a little proud. I feel motivated to learn how to make other dishes. So thats exciting. It may sound boring to you but it makes me stupidly pleased. :)

So thats this update. I hope it wasnt too boring. Thats just what has been happening around here.

Love and miss you guys!