Odds and Ends

Some stuff I didn't get into last night because it didn't involve pictures (though I wish there were some pics.)

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The other day at the post office, I saw a little old lady that was so short and stooped over her head was at my stomach. Old ladies like these sometimes walk with a cane and sometimes walk with their hands clasped behind their backs. I see them taking their sweet time getting off the bus every day, but I think it's cool that their still out and about doing their own thing. I've never seen one that short though, but I have seen some sitting on the bus seats and their feet don't even reach the ground, and their heads are just these big balls stuck on top of a marshmallow, no neck. They're really funny.

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Speaking of body proportions, I bought a suit yesterday (my first one!). I had to get the second largest size on the rack. The sales lady spent a lot of her breath talking about how jealous she was of my chest and my long legs. I'm just happy I found one that fit.

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Speaking of suit shopping, funny how that happened. The teachers had offered to let me wear one of their kimonos, but since only the homeroom teachers of the graduates wear them I thought it would be a little costumey so I politely declined, and mentioned I was going to buy a suit. The young science teacher I was with said she wanted to go to the mall to get a dress for her friend's wedding, so we should go together the next day. Classes were over, and all we were doing in the afternoon was giving retests, so we planned to go at four. Then she talked to the vice principal and weaseled her way into getting us to go at one! I've never been to the mall as a part of work; it was pretty fun. While we were waiting for them to fix the pants, we went to the electronic store and got a new microphone cord, and then went to Baskin Robbins and got sundaes, which we didn't tell the other teachers about. Then, because we got to go to the mall and everyone was stuck at work, the science teacher got everyone at our workstation cream puffs, which they injected with cream with a hand pump right there. It was pretty cool. We got back at 4, and on the way back to the school, kept on passing students in the neighborhood and waving at them and laughing at their surprise at seeing us outside of school.

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Speaking of not working, it's crazy how hard they work sometimes and how hard they don't. Like, it's ok to just take half a day off and go to the mall if you word it correctly, but other times teachers stay until 3 in the morning. Earlier in the year one of the English teachers was late to a teachers drinking party because she was writing a test. Then she said that she was going to go back to the school after to finish writing the test, and that she had a flight to Hokkaido in the morning. What?! Also, I saw my friend Yuka this weekend, and we were all really worried about her because she works so hard. She has a job making fake teeth with lasers, and she said she had had a really hard project and was at work for two days straight without going home or sleeping, and even her boss had told her to go home. Although that's an extreme example, and even other Japanese people think she's insane in that regard.

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Last weekend I went to an onsen with a bunch of other people (and Yuka). It was very rustic, and had about 5 different baths down different wooden hallways so that I got lost a lot. One of them was a room made entirely out of wood and smelled really good. Another one I went to with my friend in the middle of the night, and although they are supposed to be very relaxing places, we had had a little bit to drink and there was nobody else there so we did back flops and laps across the bath.

The next morning after drinking Yuka was not feeling very well, and had trouble forming sentences. She asked us where her keys were when she was holding them, so I took them out of her hands and handed them to someone else to drive her to their house so she could take a nap before heading home.

The bath and hotel was only about $40, but we had to pay for our cotton robe rental, towels, using the room heater, etc. The best one was in the communal kitchen where all the guests cook dinner there was a really old contraption you could put 10 yen coins in to pay for gas for the stove.

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Tomorrow is graduation. I still can't get my head wrapped around the idea that they have graduation for preschool, elementary school, and middle school. It's weird to me. The kids have already had about 5 practices, where they seriously practice standing and sitting in unison until they can do it quietly and in a split second. They also practice who moves the microphone where and when, who gives what speech when, when to bow, where to walk on the stage, etc. Today the students and I cleaned the red carpet that was run down the length of the gym. There were about 20 kids, all with those lint removers on poles or with tape wrapped around their fingers working on the carpet. It was pretty dirty before, though. I also got a paper today that has every single teacher's name and what their job is to the 5 minute mark, both in and out of the ceremony. This person will be directing traffic in the parking lot from 8:25. This is when you'll bow. This is when you'll sit down. It's pretty detailed. I'm serving tea tomorrow from 8. I have no idea how to serve tea.

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After graduation, I have to get home and finish packing, then get on a night bus to Tokyo. I'll go to sleep in Morioka, and wake up in Tokyo, then hop on a train to go to the airport, and land in Korea. Then I'll get on another plane a few days later and go to Hong Kong. Yay!!