Brian’s Japan Adventure

November 29th, 2007

 A Very Busy Thursday

Slept a little late today, and rushed to get ready for K-Sensei’s class. Just as I was ready to walk out the door, Mom finally called, so I was able to get Christmas gift arrangements for them and myself all sorted out. It’s not the perfect solution, but it’ll work well enough this year. The call didn’t take long, so I went up the hill about a half an hour before class. I didn’t have time to get on the Net at all, but since I just did it yesterday it wasn’t a big loss. I’ll be on again either Friday or Saturday anyway.

K-sensei’s class went smoothly. We talked about the development and growth of the Internet, a subject I knew a lot about. When I explained that not only did I own a computer store during the mid-90’s when the Internet really took off, but I had run an e-commerce store for the past few years, not only was he impressed, but so were many of the (still silent) students. I think this was probably my longest lecture in his class to date, probably because I had a lot to say.

Off The Hook

K-Sensei lets me leave when I am done, so I got home around 11:40 or so. I forgot something important in my phone call this morning, so I called back to the States, and sure enough the phone was off the hook. It would have been around 9:30 there, so I know they were still awake. ARGH!  I think I have actually gotten through to them one time since I arrived here, every other time the phone is off. Why they don’t at lest get voice mail, I will never understand. They don’t even know I wanted something since I couldn’t leave a message.

Wrap Up Your Troubles

Japanese class doesn’t start until 3:30, so I had a choice. I could either study Japanese for three hours or try to get my big Christmas package taped up, sealed, and mailed. I hadn’t even signed the Christmas cards, but it didn’t take as long as I’d thought; Japanese Christmas cards don’t leave a lot of room for long notes. Mom’s card got nearly no not at all due to the size of the writing area, and he kids got very little in the way of a note either, which is unfortunate. I guess I can write letters anytime, and that’s probably something I should make time for soon. Once I finished the cards, I packed them all in the big box and taped it up. I had a few blank customs forms that I picked up the other day, so I filled it out at home.

Using the elastic straps that I bought a few months back, I tied the whole bundle on to the back rack of the bicycle and rode to the little station. I figured it would take some time, so I took along my Japanese class stuff so I could go straight there afterwards. I then parked the bike and carried the box to the bus stop. Ten minutes later, I walked into the post office, handed over the box, paid and walked out. No discussion, no hassle, no questions. It was much easier than on Monday. I have to assume that since I walked in the door with the customs form already filled out that they assumed I knew what I was doing, while a few days ago, it was obvious that I didn’t have a clue.

I looked at my watch and it was 12:30, still three hours before Japanese class. What to d, what to do? The post office is only half a block from Co Co Ichiban, so the decision didn’t take long. Unfortunately, neither did lunch. I don’t know how they fix dinners so fast, but I was in and out of there in 20 minutes. I decided to just go back home and study for the remaining time.

Changes!

Just a s the bus drove up, the phone rang.  Mom? Nope, it Y-san. She wanted to tell me about additional schedule changes. Something has come up at the elementary school, so Marc and I will not be going there at all in December. Oh darn, you all know how much I look forward to that. It’s not so bad really, but I am not exactly disappointed in the news. On the other hand, now we both will be teaching what Y-san calls a “correspondence course” through a lesson on January 13th. It’s not really a correspondence course, she said, it’s more like an American GED Course. It’s only a one-time thing, and it’s on a Sunday. I don’t like using up my weekends, but at least it sounds easy enough.

So then I arrive home and study for a little bit, probably less than an hour, certainly less than I should have. Then it was time to go, and the class went as usual. We talked about invitational phrases such as “Let’s … (do something)” and “Shall we … (do something)?”.  It was pretty easy. Then it was time to go, and Marc asked what I was doing for dinner. I already ate, but it’s not like he asks all that often, so I went with him. We ended up at a place called Yamadoya (I think). They only have about six items on the menu. All the food there is quite cheap, and not bad looking, so I’ll probably try it again. I got a beef bowl that consisted of boiled beef strips over rice. It wasn’t impressive, but it was edible. Marc got Yakiniku, which looked pretty good. I will go back and try that next time.  It ain’t Big Boy, but it’s one more place to try when I get bored with the others.

March of the Gamers

While we were eating, the subject of Christmas presents came up, and we agreed not to get each other anything. Cool. That’s one thing less to deal with. He mentioned that he had visited the new electronics store downtown (called Bic Camera from now on), and was impressed as I was. We then talked about what we might “get ourselves” for Christmas. He said he really wanted a PlayStation PSP. Apparently they have a new model out that is not available in the States yet. I think I like the cartridge games that the Nintendo DS uses rather than the disks the PSP uses, but that’s just my opinion; they’re a little more durable. He wants the PSP because it has wireless Internet and MP3 playback ability. I already have that ability through my Palm Pilot and/or iPod. I have too many toys with me.

I told him that if he wanted one that badly, he should get it. Not only that, but since today was payday, he ought to buy it now while he still had the money. He said that sounded like a good idea, and that he’ll have drank up all his money by the end of the month. Those were his words. I just can’t picture anyone actually saying that about themselves and not trying to change.  But anyway, we ended up riding our bikes from the restaurant to the store downtown in the dark to look at videogames. He decided to buy one, but didn’t have the money with him. On the way home, he decided he “wanted to sleep on it” and maybe get it over the weekend. I know how those decisions go. Been there, done that.

While we were at the store, he noticed they had little shortwave radios for a little under 2000Y ($18) or so. We both bought one. When we got home the next hours was spent writing down station numbers that we could receive over shortwave. There are lots and lots of Japanese stations of course, and more than a few Chinese as well. We picked up stations in Russian and German, and maybe even one in Arabic, we weren’t quite sure about that language.  Although there were a few things in English, there wasn’t any news or anything interesting one while we listened. We had hoped to get the BBC or Voice of America broadcasts, but we didn’t find them when we were listening. Maybe they only broadcast at certain times. I’ll check the Internet for times and stations next time I get on; that stuff must be available.

And now it’s 9:30. This has been a pretty busy day for a Thursday. I’m not quite sure what’s on the agenda for tomorrow yet. I told Mom to call me tomorrow at the library, so I could straighten out that problem with school, but I really don’t want to go both Friday and Saturday. I tried to call and change it, but as I said, they had the phone off the hook. I’ll try calling again first thing in the morning so she can call me Saturday morning instead of Friday morning. Or then again, maybe by morning I will want to go to the library. Time will tell.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Japan, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.