Oh my, what a weekend! There was so many good, good things about it, and one big bad thing, that was so big and bad that it was as big as all the good things put together. It was that bad.
It started off on Friday: I didn't get my wish, and I spent Friday night alone. But that was ok! Because I had Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi to keep me company (hmm, so I suppose I wasn't entirely alone). That's right, readers, I rented The Karate Kid (or Besuto Kiddo in Japanese)! It was soooo good, it gave me goosebumps. I grew up on this film. Daddy still uses quotes from it even now. "Daniel-san! Always look eye!". After that, I decided to try Mulholland Drive, which I have heard a lot of good things about. I got about 2 hours into it, before I gave up and pronounced David Lynch on his own planet, which only a privelaged few are allowed to visit. I am not one of them. :)
On Saturday, I was picked up by Nate and Smitha (new ALT in nearby Ikeda), and we drove aaaallll the way out east to Naruto Park for... Ultimate Frisbee! It was a blast! A lot of people came out, and we got a good game going. It's really fast-paced, and I haven't run like that in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then us three Westies went to Uniqlo (Gap-like shop with really good prices: also gaijin-friendly sizes), and then hopped over to McDonald's for dinner. We were joined by Dave too, and it was nice to sit around for a wee while and chew the fat. Hmm, literally methinks!
We drove home via the expressway, and Nate decided to come back to mine for films and beer and chat. We said goodbye to Smitha, stocked up and headed home.
I haven't had such a good night in a long time. Nate is one of the easiest people ever to talk to, we have a lot in common, similar senses of humour.... he's super-social, so it's not like we are bosom buds, but he is definitly going to be one of my closest mates this year. It was just so nice to kick back and relax, and listen to music and laugh away. We didn't get to sleep until 4.15, with lots of beer and shochu inside us (that was Nate's fault, bad influence!). Unfortunately, I had to be up at 6.15am. That was the start of the badness...
It had rained all through the night, and I had a hope as I crawled (slowly) from my futon this morning that the school sports day (for which reason I was up at such an ungodly hour on a Sunday for) might just be cancelled. Nate was still snoring away, no sports day for him. The town announcement went off, and sure enough, the event was cancelled! All right! I get to sleep! Erm no. I phoned my Japanese mum (but officially she's only a work collegue) and checked that I had the right end of the stick. Yes I did. But. Staff and students were expected at school.
So odd. A bit miffed, and looking decidedly worse for wear, I ambled down to school, looked at the schedule board, and nearly had a blue fit when I saw we were scheduled for a full day. This was the bad thing. I'd had two hours sleep. I was wearing no eyeliner (big deal). I hadn't brought my electronic limb, my laptop, in the belief that I would be safely back in bed after the short meeting to officially cancel the sports day. I had brough nothing to see me through a day of hell, such as I saw it.
Maaaaaan. What a bummer! I slipped home at lunchtime, Nate was beavering away at his Japanese textbook, having had about 4 more hours sleep than I did. Collected my laptop and some other materials and sulked back to school.
So this was the crappy end to the weekend. I'd almost have rather felt awful, and had to work at the sports day, than feel awful, think I was getting a day off, then not, but not really having any work either. What a let-down.
Still, it happens, and I think the good just edges out the bad from this weekend. More than just. :) It was a great weekend. Mostly. ;)
3 comments:
Yeah, that'll happen. We had our sports day cancelled in my first year, and so everyone just tried to pretend it was Monday, except with bento lunches instead of kyuushoku. None of the teachers seemed to especially enjoy it, and needless to say the students were less than genki. Last year, when I had gained the ability to speak and hear more Japanese, I was able to pick up in a meeting that if the day was cancelled, monday schedule would be the order of the day. This year would appear to be the same.
Hey Matt! Ususally in our school, if they cancel the event, then they swap it with the holiday day, which has happened before. That was why I was so shocked. But we have a new Kocho AND Kyoto this year, and I guess things are run differently now! Oh well... it was held today in blazing sunshine, and we get a day off tomorrow. :)
Interesting. When our school changed principals, the new principal waited a full year before he started changing things. Now that I think about it, that could have been due to other factors. He had just spend three years as the principal of a japanese-government-run weekend school in Detroit, Michigan. And that school had easily twenty times the number of students that this one has. Before that, it sounds like he was a principal at another school of 1000+ students, maybe in komatsushima? So either he needed the year to get back into the groove and get over reverse culture shock, or maybe he needed it to get the feel of a tiny little school. I may never know. Unless I ask.
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