Vera tried so hard to sleep. . .
But we wouldn't allow it!
Fireworks over Ohtawara!
A portable shrine being carried by some very drunk people.
It has been awhile since I have been able to put my thoughts down in writing. And man has a lot of stuff happened. I am obviously back in Japan now, but without further ado let's begin shall we.
My trip back started off hilariously bad. I got to spend a bit of time with my little sister and mom joking around a bit in the airport which was fun. Those are two of my favorite ladies in the world. If I had to chose between saving one or the other I think I would opt to sacrifice myself instead and save them both. But anyway the trip started off pretty good I had stayed up the whole night before so that I could sleep the whole way back. Sleeping really helps pass the time on a 17+ hour flight to Japan. I was dead tired by the time I got into Atlanta, and I was ready to sleep on the way to Japan. Only problem is I didn't make it onto the plane bound for Japan. Instead I arrived to a gate with a locked boarding door so I sat there waiting for someone to come and scan my ticket so I could attempt to board the plane before it actually left. So I waited at the gate for around 10 minutes watching baggage handlers load the plane up. Then I watched as the plane backed away from the gate and then took off. I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back to get my stuff the gate attendant was there. I asked the lady when the next flight would be and she said not till tomorrow, and then she proceeded to scold ME for not showing up sooner. Apparently according to her she was at the gate the whole time waiting for anyone who might show up late. A lady who was sitting nearby and saw me waiting burst into laughter at this lady's blatant lie.
I explained to the gate attendant that I had been waiting and she said that I was lying because she never saw me. Then I showed her a picture I took of the gate and the plane to prove to her that she was the liar. She shut the hell up then and was like ohh umm next in line please. If I hadn't of been so tired I could have pursued that situation further but, I was too tired to argue with her and her shoddy lies. I called my friend Sharif up and ask if I could crash at his place he said yea that would be fine so I headed his way. So I took the MARTA to his place and then walked like another half mile to get there. By the time I got there I was soo tired I wasn't even tired anymore! I played some Gears of War and Guitar Hero then enamored some of his friends with stories of Japan. They of course made a big deal out of it as most people in America tend too for some reason. It's not that big of a deal living in a foreign country people!! I mean tons of foreigners come to America and live there and no one is impressed by them in fact most people probably hate them in America. If you live in America and are always complaining that your college professor has too thick of a Chinese accent for you to understand, then go to China and become a professor and see if you can do it before you talk crap. Or go to Pakistan or Jamaica and drive a taxi.
So I got in to Isesaki, where I live, at around midnight upon arriving I walked the wrong way for awhile because apparently I forgot everything abut the city I had been living in for most of the summer. I had to walk through the red light area to get to my apartment. And the whole time I am walking guys are trying to get me to go into their hostess bars. And you know how much I loveee hostess bars! But not only did I have no interest in their bars but I was walking around with a huge suitcase! Who honestly wants to go to a hostess bar with a huge suitcase with them? I can tell you who doesn't me! When I got in I ate something and messed around on my laptop for a bit, until the battery died. No problem though I can always just plug it up right? WRONG! I left my charger in Atlanta. Back in Japan for only a few hours and already things are going bad. A few days after getting back I went to Ohtawara for a festival which was a blast in fact that whole weekend was a ton of fun I never laughed so hard in my life. At Christal's house I laughed so hard that I almost crapped my pants and I have never laughed that hard in my life. Let me say I love other gaijin here in Japan <333!>
Needless to say Monday sucked hard I sat at my desk struggling to fight sleep while trying to look like I was working. I didn't make it though and ended up falling asleep at my desk. When I woke up I thought no one seemed to care, but I forgot this was Japan I am in so people don't tell you things directly they go in the most roundabout way. So on Tuesday my boss came to have a meeting with me he told me that the Vice principal saw me sleeping at my desk and that the principal thought I had changed. Sure I should have went to sleep earlier, but the medicine I am taking was going to make me sleepy that day anyway so either way I went I was going to be very sleepy. Then my boss went on to ask me, if I thought I was the "same" as the other ALTs and teachers?
I thought that was an odd question why would I be different from anyone else? So naturally I replied that of course I am the same why wouldn't I be!?! He informed me that after my accident I was no longer the same, and in a nice japanese fashion he pretty much told me that I am "handicapped", and that people will view me different because of my accident. And this is the best part when I came back I had to apologize to the school which wasn't that bad, but I also had to bring them gifts, I am the one sitting in the hospital all this time and yet I am giving them gifts, I actually don't mind doing it for the teachers but then I also had to do it for the Board of Education WTF!! I don't even really know anyone on the Board of Education and nor do I care to know them, since they screwed up my summer vacation and made me go to work 2 weeks early! I was expecting to come back to Japan and have some time to get used to Japanese culture again, it's still a little bit of culture shock at first. But instead I was forced to work, or rather should I say sit at my desk with nothing to do.
So back to the Vice principal. So not only did he complain about me sleeping for a little bit on Monday but also he complained that I was just sitting at my desk and I wasn't talking to him. Umm I was told before if I am not interacting with students I should be at my desk in case I am needed, that way it would be easier to find me. There were NO students that whole first week so I guess I was supposed to like either stand at my desk for 7+ hours or maybe remove my legs and let them roam the campus while my torso floated near my desk. And as far as never talking to him I never talked to him before. The Vice principal went on to say that I had changed since the accident, and that he didn't think I could do the job anymore. He was sort of right though I can't teach students if there are no students to teach. So the rest of that week was a nightmare! I don't even know how I made it through that with out actually becoming mentally handicapped. Thank goodness for iPhones!
So I believe it was Thursday, and like every previous day it was me and the Vice principal sitting in a hot ass faculty room doing nothing. I glanced over and low and behold that asshole was sitting at his desk SLEEPING! I sat there and watched him sleep for a good hour or so and just when I thought of sleeping myself he woke up and came to my desk to see if I was "working". I asked him if he was sleepy and at that point he realized I saw what he was doing and gave me a handful of せんべい which are basically Japanese crackers. Not only was that some sort of a bribe to keep my mouth shut about his hypocrisy but it was a down right shitty bribe. What kind of a bribe is a handful of crackers? I can't be like hey officer I know you found out I am selling a lot of unregistered guns, but here is a handful of crackers why don't you look the other way on this one eh? I guess people really must think I am handicapped because that is the only way that would have possibly come close to a decent bribe. So I continued to sit there and pretend to work on stuff for my students, which I couldn't actually do because I had been gone for 2 months and had no idea where they were in the textbooks. But apparently my new handicap allows me to mind read and know where the students are at.
So I am at the end of my second week of being back at work and the other teachers are there now and all they do is gossip about me and talk shit. If you are going to talk shit about someone ensure they don't know what language you are speaking that usually helps. But I sit there anyway and act like I don't know what is being said, because ignorance is bliss. Ohh and after the Vice principals hypocrisy I started leaving work early, nothing too big just like 10 or 15 minutes early although I could leave like 3 or 4 hours early since my day consists of me sitting there waiting for lunch, and after that is done everything else just crumbles away. But I am conservative about it, although I can easily just play the handicap card which I apparently have and run out of the building whenever I feel like leaving because I don't know any better.
So I have another meeting on friday which I am dreading like Yellow fever. I am expecting nothing good to be said to me at all which is absurd. I have talked to a few of the students and asked them about the other teacher that was my substitute and pretty much none of them did! The girls didn't like him because he wasn't good looking, and the boys didn't like him because he wasn't athletic at all. I run with the boys soccer and baseball teams and pretty much out run the hell out of them every time. I had suspected maybe the Vice principal liked the substitute more than me since he apparently knew more Japanese than me based on the kanji he was using in his notes on my desk. And if that was the case I could see why the Vice principal would complain and try to get rid of me. But what I also saw was that the substitute NEVER stayed after school to join the students in there after school clubs once. He left exactly on time everyday he was there. I am on probation right now, the students love me but the other teachers despise me. I would say I am not making an effort to win the teachers over but I am. But the truth of the matter is it shouldn't matter about the other teachers, I am not there to be there friend. I am there to be a fun foreigner for the students who will probably never get a chance to interact with someone from another country like this ever in there life. And as far as I am concerned I am doing a great job all the students were super excited to see me I gave out soo many high fives that it felt like I had been lifting weights all day.
So to win the other faculty members over I brought them ice cream today. It's fuckin hot in the faculty room; apparently know one will ever turn on the A/C that is in the room. So I waited to see if they would notice but nothing they still talked trash about me and how I was a horrible teacher, I mean I may not be teaching a class but the students are glad to have me there, and that is what should matter. But I fear that my time at this school is limited sadly, which will suck for the students more than me since I will just go to Osaka, which is where I want to live anyway. But the students probably won't get an ALT who is actively involved in there hobbies like I was. We will see what happens on Friday. . .
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