complain, complain, complain

Thank god February is just about over. I'm sick of it. It may be the shortest month, but it certainly does take it's time about moving on. Maybe it's just because I've had a crappy month: I was sick, my car died, my shower stopped working, nobody will take over my job as the publisher, my classes keep getting cancelled, and it rained.

I'm thinking about forming a complaints choir in time for the annual HAJET talent show. Hey -- they have them in


Birmingham (the first complaints choir)


Helsinki (far funnier and a bigger choir)


the children of Poikkilaakso Elementary School


and there's even a CBC radio version (hooray CANCON!)

Overpaid, underworked English teachers need a complaints choir too. If you aren't familiar with the concept the complaints choir website explains:

In the Finnish vocabulary there is an expression "Valituskuoro". It means "Complaints Choir" and it is used to describe situations where a lot of people are complaining simultaneously. Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen thought: "Wouldn´t it be fantastic to take this expression literally and organise a real Complaints Choir!"

What a great idea. Now all I need is a choir.

It's not fair!

best. office. day. EVER.

I didn't have classes today. That usually means that I go to the Board of Education office and sit at my desk, trying very hard not to stab my eyes out with a pen.

But not today. Last week I was at the Junior High later than usual, and it came up that the whole school would be going to a local ski hill. On a day when I had no school to go to. So I was invited to tag along with the school for a ski day.

I rode along with my supervisor, Takahata, and another guy who works in the school affairs section, Dojo, in the ski transport truck. We bumped along behind the buses full of students with all of their skis.

Once at the hill we were presented with Ski Instructor badges for the lifts and left to our own devices. We only had about four hours on the hill, but it was good times. And definitely better than sitting on my butt at the office.

onomatopoeia and me

Teaching at the elementary school today, I was reminded of how onomatopoeia can be applied to everything in Japan.

I had just wrapped up class with the second graders – a rowdy group to be sure. There are a couple of kids in that class who are a little excessively grabby for my liking, but they’re generally harmless. Anyways, after class a few of the girls come up to me to see what else I have in my teaching goodie bag. There are always a few things left over, as I like to try and have extra stuff on hand in case the planned activities run short or don’t work or whatever. Once they were satisfied that all I had was more boring alphabet cards, they turned their attentions to me.

Byong byong!

Just guess what that is the sound for in Japanese…

Wan wan is the sound a dog makes.
Tsuru tsuru is the sound for something slippery.
Giri giri is the sound for cutting it close.
Betsu betsu is the sound for separate.
Bara bara is the sound for scattered.

Apparently byong byong is the sound that happens when second graders feel you up.

It must be the new bras…

RIP Dierdre

Well, I said I was planning on driving my little car into the ground.

Too bad I did it a little ahead of schedule.

This morning on the way to work, my Mitsubishi Minica died on me. As in, made horrible squealing noises and stopped running. I got it to the side of the road, and couldn't get it started again. So I called my supervisor (reason #8032802 why being a town JET rocks: any problems you run into can be handled by your supervisor) who came out with a BoE-mobile to give my car a boost. I was pretty sure the battery was fine. This sounded engine related to me.

After a while (during which time I realized my supervisor isn't so car savvy as I might have hoped) and a number of helpful suggestions from passerby, we called a mechanic. He came and took a look, and decided it must be the timing belt. That sounded expensive, but feasible. I went off to school and was too busy to give it much thought for the rest of the day. Until I finished my classes and remembered I would have to walk back to the office (not such a big trial -- my town is pretty small).

At my office, I found a note from my boss*.

"The engine of your car.
Crank shaft is broiling (sic).
Can't be repaired engine.
Can't be used engine.

1) second hand engine exchange
2) can be looked for a used car.

1), 2) Both a large amount of money.

What do you do?"

First, I muttered a lot of curses under my breath. Nobody in my office speaks English, but everyone knows all the most useful swears. Then I figured out how much longer I will be in Japan, and guesstimated what it would cost to buy a new car. Five months and not cheap.

My current thinking is that I will just suck it up and go without car for the rest of my stay here. I'm guessing I will already have to pay a large sum of money to get rid of the car, and buying a car that I will only use for 5 months just doesn't seem worth it. Especially when I'm not guaranteed to be able to sell it to whoever replaces me. It just doesn't seem worth the expense. However, I also enjoy the freedom that having a car affords me. Without a car, I won't be able to take off for the nearby onsen/ski hill/ foreign food store/ friend's house whenever I want. But people do it. I'm sure I can too. I just won't be very happy about it, that's all.

And it certainly will put a damper on the rest of the ski season.

Mutter, mutter, mutter.






* I get a lot of notes from my supervisor. He doesn't speak a lot of English, and he's embarrased to speak what English he has. So we spend a lot of time writing each other notes. It's been great for my Japanese, not so great for his English. Sorry about that, future successor! That being said, his notes are usually very entertaining. And at least he's writing them without resorting to a computer translation.

outbreak

Well, here I am at home and in bed, trying my best to get over the disease that I started getting last week. That's right. I've been sick for the better part of the week. I'm sure I didn't help the recovery process by going to Abashiri for the long weekend, but in my defence it was a long weekend. How could I have spent a whole three days in bed when I had an offer to go to Abashiri, see sea ice, ride a boat, go to three different ice-related festivals, stay at an onsen hotel, and go snowshoeing -- and these were just the advertised highlights!

It seems the whole town is sick. I'm convinced I picked this up from my elementary school kids. Highly likely, considering the school has been closed for the last two days because a third of the students are home sick with "i n fu ru e n za". Better known as the flu.

That has made it very easy to take the last day and a half off to sleep and recover. We'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. I should be going to work, and then driving to Setana (really really really far away) for musical rehearsal. Which I'm sure will be very restful...