Random times in Japan...

Hehe, I keep giggling over the facebook post of one of the other ALTs.  She came over with her girlfriend and they are both working through JET, so the locals don't necessarily know they are anything more than friends.  She said they went to dinner with a bunch of old ladies and they were thoroughly quizzed on whether they had boyfriends and what type of blokes they liked.  I keep laughing over the awkwardness of that conversation.  Next time I feel sorry for myself getting the 'do you have children/why not/when' questions, I'm going to be grateful I'm not them!!

Yeah... I've had a few random situations lately.  Driving to work yesterday, in stop-go rush hour traffic, the bloke behind me made the most of the opportunity to do a full personal grooming session.  Including trimming his nose hairs with scissors.  He had to hit the brakes quite hard at one point because he hadn't noticed I had stopped again.  Slamming on the brakes when you have scissors up your nostrils doesn't seem the safest... 

I had finally got used to all the girls (well, mainly the girls!) pulling out their brushes and mirrors to brush their hair during class when I got a new one.  Making the most of the minute before the bell rang, a girl sitting against the wall had her hair straightener plugged in and was attacking her roadkill-flat hair.  Is it just me or is that really odd??

I thoroughly surpised a teacher during a food lesson when I assured him that we don't eat salad for breakfast in Western/English-speaking countries.  Not even in America.  He was so taken aback - I'm not sure he really believed me! 

I have also noticed students struggling with asking what is meant to be 'do you have a boyfriend?'  Here 'boyfriend' has different connotations, so I am regularly asked 'do you have a... a... darling?  A... a lover?'  I'm getting better at not cringing when 16 yr olds ask me if I have a lover, but a 'darling' just makes me think of Peter Pan. 

Having said that, however they ask it's great they are trying out their English on me - lots of students now know the word 'husband'!  Most of my informal chats with students lately have happened while I attempt to infiltrate their sports clubs :D  On Monday I had my first Kendo lesson - I was handed a bamboo sword, was made to hit a student over the head and was asked 'is it fun?'  Actually I felt really mean - I wasn't wearing any protective clothing so they couldn't retaliate in any way.  It was entirely one-sided abuse!  One of the boys was busting a gut trying to translate things for me and I was really impressed.  Then, today (Thursday) I recognised him in one of my classes.  In class he is really quiet, so I had no impression of him, good or otherwise.  Most of the students spend class time pretending they know nothing, but when they need to use it, eg. when trying to instruct Kendo in English, suddenly they have a great vocab! 

The other group I have accidentally joined is a gym session with what turns out to be the girls basketball team on Fridays.  That was random - I just happened to be using the weights room when they came in and got excited to see me there.  They asked me to join them, so I promised to be there the next week.  It's good, similar to a hockey fitness session with different stations and group ass-kicking moves... in fact they're only missing a Sandra! 

Now I'm working on organising one other sport to fit in... probably tennis or volleyball.  Tennis would be good - I figure I make an ass of myself all the time in Japan, so it's a good chance to learn tennis without having anyone call my sports ability retarded.  Not in a language I understand, anyway!  However, if that turns out to be too hard (the 'soft tennis' coach said they are training for a competition atm and the 'hard tennis' (what we know as tennis) coach keeps changing her mind about what day I can join in.  I think she wants to roll out the red carpet and really look after me, even though I find the kids look after me perfectly well and I feel guilty making a teacher try to look after the girl with little Japanese and less tennis ability!)...  Anyway, if it turns out to be too hard, I'm just going to join the volleyball team.  The teacher in charge is the lovely Nakamura-sensei; young, enthusiastic and with really good English!

So... long story short...  I'm finally getting my shit together and sorting out my Life.  In that strange way that motivating yourself in one area often flows into others, shortly after I started making time for exercising, I also started studying Japanese again.  Not a lot - I need to make that clear - but a little every few days.  In fact - don't laugh - around that time I also started straightening my hair, too.  All summer it's been fluffy pony tails, but now the weather has cooled down, I always 'mean to' get up early and straighten it.  Of course, no telling how long this will last for, but at the moment I'm enjoying looking in the mirror and getting a fright when I see smooth, glossy, straight hair.  It's never what I expect!  Now, the remaining question is... when will my new-found willpower extend to not eating junk food?  That's what I want to know!