So yeah, Typhoon Chanchu is currently showing the poor people of China the back of its hand. Down here on Shikoku, we were caught in the fingers of the storm, and had a lot of rain all day long yesterday. We're still rather cloudy today, but it looks like it's going to blow itself out before it hits us. I sort of like typhoons. I hope I get a big mother of one before I leave here to give me a lasting impression...
In other news, I got beaten up by a three year old boy on Tuesday. But he was cute as a bean, so I resited the urge to hit him back. Yuuki has started at Higashiyama's nursery school. He has a gammy leg, so he walks and runs with a limp. He's a a tyke, though. He ran towards where I was sitting on the floor the other day with a big slavery smile on his face, and squealing "Errriiiii!", and when he got to me, gave me a cuff round the jaw. It was pretty sore, but he giggled so much, as did everyone else, so I just poked him in the belly, which made him laugh all the more. Bless.
I had one of those lovely walks the other day, between my house and the Daimaru, where practically every car that passed me had someone in it I knew, and who waved to me. I had the 'Cheers' theme tune running through my head.
Neto-kun and I are off camping in two weeks time. We're going to hike and camp Mount Ishizuchi, the tallest mountain on Shikoku, and the tallest in Western Japan. I am so looking forward to it, but I think it'll be hard. On Nate's advice, I have started running everyday, just a short way to begin with. It feels good, and I am fitter than I thought I was, which is encouraging. I am looking forward to getting up into the mountains, it SO LONG since I topped out! I only hope with weather will be fine.
But this weekend is the biggie in Tokyo: my last AJET meeting. And I won't pretend I'm not looking forward to handing all this over. When this is done, it'll allow me to concentrate on packing up, CV writing, looking for a job, and all that sort of crap. But I'll miss the crew tremendously. There are so many good people on the AJET council, and I have had a lot of fun with them, particularly at the Tokyo Orientations.
Speaking of AJET, it's time to finally bid goodbye to my baby, the Team Taught Pizza. I am now well into the process of handing the beast over to its next nuturer, a person who goes by the name PJ. He sounds well up for his challenge (I certainly hope he is), and I think he'll do a grand job. He has much more experience than I did when I took over, so I have no worries at all.
The Japanese have just passed a law that will make it compulsory for all foreigners to be finger printed on entering the country. They're worried about a threat from terrorists. Well... in my memory, Japan has only been attacked by terrorists once in recent years... and that was by one of their own kind! But no. The gaijin (how I hate that word) must be watched. We are dangerous, dontcha know? I sort of like being dangerous. Sometimes I get eyed up in the street, like I might pounce any minute, and kidnap the next cute little chibi-chan that walks past me. Other times, I know these people are just curious about me. What a mental country this is.
I want to eat pizza. I wonder if there's a Pizza Hut in Kabuki-cho. Maybe slotted between the pachinko parlour and the Russian-staffed soapland. Yummy.
2 comments:
Why do you hate the word Gaijin? It's just the shortened form of Gaikokujin. Do you hate the word Monbusho, too? It's a lot easier to say than Monbukagakusho.
It's derogatory... for me, it has the same connotations as the 'n' word. The word 'gaijin' actually has a slightly different nuance than gaikokujin, and it's not really a good nuance.
Post a Comment