Playin' Catch Up

Fall Leaves, Iide Town

Stayed home sick today. I caught the cold over the weekend and I was once told by my former boss that you're contagious for the first 72 hours (Thanks Dave!) so of course I didn't want to be the cause of a cold epidemic in my tiny town. Thank goodness it's only a cold and not a fever. I've already finished a big tissue box but things are clearing up.

When it comes to getting sick, I think there are two kinds of people: a) the ones that instanly jump at any small cough as an opportunity to call in sick, even if they aren't that ill and b) the ones that try to hide the fact that they are sick so that they can stay at work. I think I'm the latter. And that's not a good thing (neither is the first one).

Which can create a third type of a person: the sensible ones. The people who use their sick leave when they truly are sick, and have no problem with doing so.

I always feel guilty when I stay home sick. When I was a child, my parents once heard me cough and threatened me with, "Uh oh, sounds like you're sick... looks like you have to STAY HOME FROM SCHOOL (dun dun dun)." And I cried. I loved going to school and I wasn't about to let my dying body stop me now. That was their form of discipline by the way.

But we shouldn't feel guilty to use our sick leave when we actually are sick. That's what it's for. And people at work sure as heck don't want your sickly being around them. I also think it's an act of kindness that we choose to stay home because in some way, we don't want to spread it to others and we're giving up a day's worth of pay. In my case, I absolutely don't want to get the kids sick even though they were probably the ones who gave it to me in the first place.

Either way, use your sick leave people! It's for the good of the team, and it's A-OK.



PLAYIN' CATCH UP
So since I'm home and have nothing else to do other than to lay around and talk to myself, this is the perfect time to finally catch up on my blog. It'll make for a veryyy long single post so I'm breaking it up into two: Halloween (which will be tomorrow's post) and everything else (today's post).



MUSIC IN AN OLD HOUSE
Last Saturday I went to a spanish guitar and flute concert with my friend and her family. It was in a 145 year-old house that was nestled in the mountainous part of Iide. The day started off really rainy and it never let up, but we made the best of it.

The house did look pretty old, but I guess it's a landmark so they won't tear it down...yet. I was a bit shocked to see how many people were there. I guess it's because the musicians were famous in Japan (I of course didn't know who they were) and famous people hardly come to my little town. The house managed to hold a good 70 people in one room.

It was a really up-close and personal kind of concert. We were almost at the very front; so close that I could hear the flute player gasp for air between notes and I could see the sweat on the guitar player's head.

It was kind of painful to sit through though. We had to sit on tatami mats with no support behind us. I kept shifting sitting positions and it was a bit cramped.

The concert was really good. I personally preferred the guitar player over the flute player. I could listen to him all day and her, not so much. But they worked well together. They seemed to be funny but I couldn't understand their jokes. I just rendered a 'hehe, why are they all laughing, I should laugh too" chuckle.


There was one uncomfortable moment though. Prior to the concert's start we were just sitting around talking away. I had made the mistake to tell my friend about the discounted tickets I was offered, but I had turned down because she had already purchased ours. Now, don't get me wrong, my Japanese friend is very nice and very interesting, but she can have such a big mouth sometimes!

The guy that had offered me the discounted tickets had approached me to say "hello" and that some of my students were sitting in the back. I then told my friend, which in retrospect I shouldn't have, that this was the guy who wanted to give me a deal. So she says half-jokingly, "Oh, you were going to sell her discounted tickets? Do you think you can still give her the deal?"

SO UNCOMFORTABLE. He was caught off guard, I WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD. And I just looked at her like... "Geez, woman!" He walked away and a few minutes later he came back with my refund. We both said, "oh no no no," but he insisted.

I just didn't like the whole situation. I should've just kept my mouth shut. This is the problem with language barriers. Everyone's intentions are good but they tend to come out skewed. Next time I will tread cautiously.


But it actually turns out that my "discount" wasn't really a discount per se. The section chief at my Town Hall had made a few phone calls and told the vendor that he would pay a third of the ticket price for me and to sell me the ticket for "less." How nice! I don't know what I've done to make them be so generous towards me, and as much as I appreciate it, sometimes it's just not necessary. These people are awesome.



PRETTY FALL
Fall is upon us. It has exploded everywhere, dotting the area with hues of red, orange and yellow. A fiery scene and Sunday my friend and I decided to drive around to capture the beauty of it all. We drove towards my school in the mountains because that drive is just breathtaking and then we continued into a little town called Oguni. We just kept driving...

The pisser is that I had made sure that my camera was charged the night before, but I completely forgot that I didn't have a memory card in my camera! So my friend took pictures for the both of us, here they are:

A bridge that we weren't supposed to be on, whoops!

This one is from my camera, I like the reds

KIDS ARE FASCINATED BY SIMPLE THINGS
Tuesday I taught at Dai-ichi Elementary School, the largest elementary school in the area. It was a very good day - taught grades 2, 4 and 6. The 2nd and 4th graders are so enthusiastic, I love it! And surprisingly the 6th grade was soooooo much fun. Really, I've said this before - but the Japanese teacher makes a HUGE difference. Ate lunch with the 4th grade and as always there is something entertaining during lunch. This time I had to sit between two boys, who were both so surprised that I was sitting next to them. Shy at first but they soon opened up. One girl kept picking on the boy to my right. She would constantly tell me, "He wants to play with you during our break!" and he would blush. LOL. Hilarious.

The boy to my left was not as shy. Asked me a bunch of questions - and spoke in slurred in Japanese. Then we got onto the subject of the rare and expensive Matsutake mushrooms. When I was trying to describe what a mushroom was I made a very curvy picture with both of my hands in the air and everyone thought it was so funny! (Why!?) So they asked me to do it over and over again - and soon my mushroom rendition had spread throughout the whole class. We looked like a class of mushroom ballet dancers!

During our break, I did play with all of the kids including the two boys I sat with. They were excited. We played a version of tag where if you are tagged by "it" then you have to hold hands with them. Guess who got to hold my hand. They run so damn fast. I don't get how they can play these games right after eating lunch. I wanted to hurl.



LOOKIN' LIKE MICHAEL JACKSON & SNOW BOOTS
Bought snow boots the other day, and not cutesy boots either. Granted they are pink, they are boots made for the snow. The other night, the temperature dropped to 2 degrees Celsius, almost freezing. The weatherman said it's supposed to snow twice this month. I can feel it coming.

And with a change of season comes a change with our body. My lips are chapped, my face feels weird and dry. My skin needs some lovin' and moisturizer. I just want something warm inside me, hence why we drink so much tea and coffee. The change of season is also also probably why I got sick. Everyone is getting sick. My supervisor dropped by today and brought me fruit and made me take my own temperature to see if I had a fever. She helped me fill my kerosene tank for my heater, which I've never used before.

My Japanese friend also stopped by with a bag of "Pure GluCose." I'm not kidding you that's what it says on the package. It's grape flavored and on the package it has the o-chem structure for glucose. LOL. I really did laugh. Looking at it made me think about more than just the fact that it was pure glucose. Personal endeavors really. Anway, it looked like something I would've taken out of a cabinet at chem lab. But she assured me, "It's like candy! Eat it, it'll make you feel better."

It looks like chalk and I don't like sweets.


She also brought me a mask that Japanese people wear when they are sick and what Michael Jackson wears because he's either a germ o'phobe or his nose isn't holding up that well. I'm contemplating whether or not I'll wear it tomorrow.



BIRTHDAY IN JAPAN
Friday was my friend Chris' 22nd birthday. We all went out to Yamagata City and engaged in an Izakaya (all you can eat, all you can drink). I tried EVERYTHING (friends and fam, you should be proud of me). Most of it was good, some not so tasty. I liked the tofu. I had a lot of fun, it was a good way to end the very, very busy Halloween-filled week. Made me realize that when we celebrate our birthdays over here, we only have each other (other foreigners) - and quickly, we become each other's close friends in Japan.

Everyone stayed in the city but I decided to head back with my friend because my cold was starting to make itself comfortable. We took the train and entertained ourselves by wearing our birthday hats and seeing what reaction we would get. Like we already didn't know what they would inevitably do... We also refused to have anyone sit next to us... I wasn't having any of that tonight. Of course, if it was an old person or a pregnant woman I'd let her sit down... but everyone else - sorry!

The Birthday Boy, Myself and David


Siobahn, Kaitlin and I


Train Ride with my Birthday Cone

KEEPING IN TOUCH
Anyway, I'm upset that I didn't keep up with my blogs the past week - if I blog every other day I wouldn't have to do play catch up. Oh! I talked on the phone with some of my dearest friends back at home: Ayla and Sarah! It made me so happy, I miss you both! And I briefly talked to Kris online - it's so good to catch up with friends, even if it's for a few minutes. Miss you all!



FLIPPER!
Heard about the Hayden P. Dolphin Story in Japan. I found the Hayden P. story to be really funny. But I don't think Japan should be eating dolphin or whale. I know I said I'd be down to eat anything when I came to Japan, but when it comes to dolphin or whale, I refuse.





Please stay tuned for my Halloween Post! It will be interesting =)