RANT

Last week was crap.

Or perhaps it just does because I am. And I'm an idiot.

All started on Monday the 21st. I get to the bike shed to find my bike missing from its usual spot. For 2 seconds I thought that it was stolen. And then I retraced my thought to the previous few days...and it dawned on me that I had left it at the bus stop on Friday afternoon when we had to go to the Board Of Ed that day. FREAKIN. So I had to speed-walk to the bus stop to get it because I had first period. And it also had to be the most humid day of the year so far, so I was literally drowning in my own sweat and self-reproach. So I finally get on my bike and bike to school, only to have a bug fly into my face and get stuck on the one-inch mixture of sweat and make-up. Eghh.

I got to school just on time. I was still sweating my eyeballs out. Ms Shoji was...being herself and 'dying' of the heat. I seriously think she needs to move out of Japan to somewhere more moderate. Anyway, we had to start the 1st period - with the special needs kids. Great. Ms Shoji and I had absolutely no plan at all. So we just went in and wing-ed it. They weren't too hard to satisfy though, fortunately.

All day I had been looking forward to our apartment-JETs-dinner-gathering at the Indian restaurant down by the waterfront. The thought of having naan and curry and mango lassi kept me alive through the 4 periods I had. Evening came and we all biked down in eager anticipation - only to find it SHUT and SHUT FOREVER. FML. The irony was they shut the day before, because there were 'no customers'. So we had to settle for Italian.

Tuesday the 22nd, which was exactly 24 years after I was born. We (the non-recontracting JETs) had to pay a visit to the Superintendent, the top BOE staff and the city mayor. We got introduced three times, said thanks/polite stuff three times, bowed many more times, and a crappy 'souvenir' from the city government. It was probably the hottest day of the year so far and we had to be in suits. Yuck.

Then I remembered someone once told me that on your birthday you can get a free scoop of ice cream at Baskin Robbins. So we made our way eagerly to Baskin Robbins in the hopes of a free scoop of SWEETNESS and COOLNESS in the sweltering heat. But when we got there, I was told you had to register onto their keitai (cellphone) internet site as a member which takes time and then it will take more time to get that birthday coupon. WHAT. What a STUPID idea. And so none of us got ice cream at the end. BR just shot themselves in the foot.

The day improved as I met a few friends for sushi for dinner (although one girl wasn't very happy either since she just lost her wallet and a whole load of money). Raw fish - always the best cure for crappy times. We then proceeded to Bar Quartet - the coolest most tasteful bar (and smallest) bar I've been to ever. We had vanilla chai and wonderful cheesecake (with candle, b'day song and all! Thank you Kotaro!) and lovely company.

Wednesday 23rd - I wasn't really looking forward to the kindergarten visit in the morning. And I was proved correct. It was another mucky wet sticky day, and I had to entertain 25 kids for 2 hours. Kids don't understand the concept of foreigner. So they just kept talking and talking and talking to me like I understood what they were ranting on about. I got about 60%. They also kept dragging me around and hitting me and hugging me and pulling my shirt. We then sang 'Head shoulders knees and toes 8 times', played 'what time is it Mr Wolf' and did some other stuff. By the end I had lost half of my voice. The taxi that was supposed to pick me up from the kindergarten at 10:30 didn't come. The kindy had to call for one again I had to wait at the entrance in the wind and (almost) rain til 11.

I also got an email from a friend who meant good when she was giving me advice on something but I interpreted it wrong (and I was feeling grumpy already) and got even more grumpy.

Thursday 24th - all the germs that the kids gave me yesterday were defeating me. My voice was half gone, my nose was spraying, my head was throbbing. I endured the day but was grumpy and looked like hell. I also had digestive issues...ugh.

Friday 25th - The week finally gets better - because I took today off from work. I slept, watched TV, got groceries, read some more of the book about the fall of modern Japan, and in the afternoon went into town, got dressed in a Kimono and went to the JETs farewell party thrown by the Board of Ed. I took many pics, and drank a moderate amount of alcohol and spoke to many people. Silver-lining!