Never really thought of myself as a blogger before... but it seems to be the trend of late, so I thought I'd give it a go. Apologies in advance for the boring content you will endure as I capture my life in size 10 Arial font (for the most part, anyway).
So without further ado, Let's blogging!
I usually leave my computer on at night, especially when I'm, er, "getting stuff" from the internet. So, when I woke up this morning and found that my computer was using battery and not power, I was a little surprised. I looked at the modem - all the lights were off. Flicked on the light switch - still in darkness. Hmm. I walked out of my room and into the kitchen. That's weird. The fridge and microwave are still working. Maybe it's just the circuit in the other room. Flicked the switch for the kitchen light. Nothing.
I went to the breaker and had a look. Everything seemed normal. I flicked the main switch, waited a few seconds and then switched it back on. I heard the fridge whir up again, so I checked the lights again. Nothing.
I called my neighbour to see if she was having any problems. She was already at school, but said that only the powerpoint where her washing machine is plugged in is working. She went to work early and took everything from her fridge with her.
I got to school and asked the other teacher who lives in the same apartment block as me if she had power. Only the powerpoint where her TV is plugged in is working.
There is something weird going on here.
I called T at the BOE, and he asked me to meet him at my place. So I drove home and let him in. He also tried the breaker - still nothing. So he called an electrician. Apparently the guy is working on it now.
I hope I have power when I get home. Though at least my fridge is working.
I was marking tests yesterday, and I noticed that even on the second trial, one student didn't manage more than 4 out of 20. This student isn't the best student in the class, but usually she does better than that. I mentioned my concerns about her to the English teacher.
Me: Did you see K's score on the test? T: Yes. Me: I was a little surprised. Is she ok? T: Yes, she's ok. She goes to juku (cram school) so she is busy with that. Me: Ok... T: Yeh, so she doesn't have enough time to do her school work. Me: ...
That doesn't make sense to me. Especially the fact that it seems acceptable for a student to not do his or her school work and subsequently fall behind, all because he/she is too busy with cram school work. Hmmm.
Even after three years, Japan surprises me sometimes.
For the first time in a while, I spent the entire weekend in Gunma. No Tokyo this weekend, which really was a nice change.
On Friday after work, I hopped in my awesome CRV (I really love my car) and headed down to N's territory - The Bash. She was patiently waiting for the NTT guy to come and set up her phone line for internet (for the second day in a row), and when I arrived he still hadn't shown up. After fiddling around with the wireless adapter and trying to guess the neighbour's internet password for a while, we ended up walking to the train station and going to Takasaki to the beer garden.
The beer garden is open from 6:00 - 9:00pm with last orders at 8:45pm. We arrived at 8:30pm and the lady on the door wasn't going to let us in. We told her our friends are waiting. No. She said it's a waste of money (which it would have been - about $30 each). N suggested 2 for the price of 1. No. But our friends are waiting. Ok, 2 for the price of 1. Get a pitcher and drink fast.
After getting kicked out at 9:10, our friends headed to karaoke, but N and I decided Starbucks was more our scene. A yummy chai tea latte and 2 cookies later, we were back on the train to Maebashi. Watched a bit of telly before calling it a night.
Up at 10:30 Saturday morning, and off to AEON shopping mall in Ota. There was a grand purchase to be made that day. My new bicycle. Rover brand. Folds in half. Blue. Cool. Very exciting. When it came time to put it in the car, though, I couldn't work out how to fold it up. And it was raining so I didn't want to stand outside trying to do something that seemed completely impossible. So with a few encouraging words from the Aussie vernacular, I got the bike in the back of my CRV. Phew.
Then it was off to M's house for a weekend of nothingness. I always go there when I go to Tokyo, and I only have time to scoff down the awesome breakfast her mum makes me. So this weekend was going to be a slow, relaxing weekend there.
The evening was spent watching tv, and then we went to the local okonomiyaki restaurant for some awesome food. M's mum, dad, another friend F and I all drank 3, 1L bottles of beer each before sharing another 2 between us. Feeling very happy (and a little sore after some kids in the restaurant decided to use me as their jungle gym) we headed back to M's house for some more tv and sleep.
Sunday was a lazy morning, with breakfast at 11am. Then at 1pm, we decided to go to Costco in Chiba. Took just over an hour to get there, then about 2.5 hours shopping, and then just over an hour to get home.
When we got back, the weather had cleared so M and I went riding - my bike's debut. (I think I need to name my bike. Suggestions are welcome). Went over to D's house to drop off cookies from Costco and to invite him over for dinner.
D and E both came over for dinner and chats, and then I left for home around 10pm.
So, it's 2.5 months til my stint in Japan comes to end. I can't believe it. (You will hear me say that many many times over the next 10 weeks, I'm sure.)
I have been incredibly busy lately. My sister and her beau came to visit a couple of weeks ago. They were only in Tokyo for three days in transit to their new lives in Dublin. It was awesome to see them and have them in "my territory". Next time I see them, they will be playing tour guide for me in Europe I hope. Can't wait!
Also been a bit under the weather of late. Had to have a camera put down my throat last Friday to check out my insides. Apparently I'm all clean. But I NEVER want to do that again! It hurt so badly. And even before I went in, I was over it. From the waiting area you could hear other patients gagging as the camera went down. EWW.
This coming Sunday I have my Electone Grade 5 exam. I'm nowhere near ready for it, so I feel a fail coming on. But the good thing is if I do fail, I only have to resit the sections I failed, not the whole thing again. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though.
Have also been on a huge centipede-killing crusade this week. Have had seven of them so far - in 7 days. Not happy. Hopefully they are all gone now. They should be after the amount of poison I've put out. The last one I found (about 30 minutes ago) was already dead. So that's a good sign.
Ok, going to post some pics from Tokyo and leave it at that.
I usually leave my computer on at night, especially when I'm, er, "getting stuff" from the internet. So, when I woke up this morning and found that my computer was using battery and not power, I was a little surprised. I looked at the modem - all the lights were off. Flicked on the light switch - still in darkness. Hmm. I walked out of my room and into the kitchen. That's weird. The fridge and microwave are still working. Maybe it's just the circuit in the other room. Flicked the switch for the kitchen light. Nothing.
