Jeff's birthday

Sorry that may not be a very appropriate title - I don't have much to say about Jeff's birthday but I have no idea what I intend to tell you in this update.  Not that that concerns me.  I usually think I'm going to write about one thing, title the post as such, then only remember to mention that thing at the end (because I re-read the title). 

As for Jeff's birthday (29!), the one thing I wanted to report was that I got him an All Blacks polo.  Jeff was pretty stoked, as expected.  The most exciting thing was that it FITTED.  None of this trying to squeeze into XXL (or is it LLL?  I get confused...).  I really went out on a limb to get it.  He had been talking about wanting one for ages, so I thought if he knew I was doing online shopping he would immediately realise what I got him.  And he would have to know, because my credit card is now an ex-credit card (my old one got changed for a new one, but the new one never turned up - either lost in the mail or lost at my parent's place.  Not that I knew until a couple of months later when I was trying to book Malaysian trains.  Whatever the case, I told the bank to just cancel it asap). 

Anyway, I decided to pretend I had bought something here, but borrowed Mum and Dad's credit card.  To make this convincing, I then had to work late, while pretending I was at the mall (I hid in the storage cupboard when he called, as I hoped the echo would sound like the mall bathroom, because my office doesn't have the blaring mall music!).  I also hid some money in the wrong compartment in my wallet, so it looked like I had spent it.  Sitting at work mucking around on my laptop I had to remember NOT to sign in to facebook, because that would have been a total giveaway that I wasn't where I said I was!  (no, I don't have a fancy iphone!)

Mum and Dad's credit card turned out to be the most difficult part.  Dad's sausage fingers typed in some wrong numbers, so when I went to buy, it didn't work.  I then spent about three hours sitting at work long after I should have gone home waiting first for some family member to come online and rescue me and secondly to physically fetch the details (Laura misunderstood my 'need now' for a 'need soon' and left me hanging for an hour or so while she facebooked or something :P ).  That sounds overdramatic, but I had an online voucher for Hallentsteins (where I bought a few other wee gifts too) and if I logged off to wait at home I would have lost my voucher.  So I was going to sit at my work desk until midnight if I had to, to get my 20% discount!!  While that may not be altogether practical, I was digging my heels in! 

The last slight complication was that I wanted the boxes delivered to my school (again, obviously, so Jeff didn't know about them).  I asked a teacher for the school address so I could have something sent here.  She looked unsure and went to phone the office and ask.  She came back to me saying that the office couldn't give out that information, that it was private and teachers couldn't do that, that we had to use our own.  I wasn't sure WHAT was going on, but it was pretty clear there was some major miscommunication going on.  I tried to rephrase my request, explaining my letterbox at my apartment was too small to put a parcel in, when the penny dropped.  "Oh, you don't want an email address?"  "Ah, no, like the physical address."  I thought that was so strange, that when I used the word 'address', there had been an assumption I meant email!  Anyway, another phone call was made, I was given the school's address and the packages were delivered with no further drama. 

In the end Jeff was totally surprised and I managed to not say anything to give the game away - even though there were a couple of close calls (you know where you're several words into a sentence when you realise you can't mention that thing...).  Not surprising when you look at how much I went through to secure his presents! 

As for Japan...  We are not doing AWESOMELY atm...  We seem to be paying money hand over fist, although we are not sure why.  Of course, the parking drama didn't help.  Neither did the 20,000 yen I was told I owed a couple of days later (2,500 per month for the time that I've been in my apartment.  Only they never mentioned it until now, so I got hit with a hefty sum!).  Apparently it covers communal stuff like outdoor lights and sewage.  By that point I just sighed and handed over the money.  Well, not quite.  I had to go to the bank to get out more to pay a bill like that, but there was no way I could get around it.  I just wish I had been warned!  Of course, it's always the way - when you are trying your hardest to save, all those annoying, unexpected and unnecessary bills crop up (just before we left NZ was the last time we felt like this - we needed all our money for Japan and I went and pranged the car!).  A month and a bit from NZ, when we really want all our extra $$ to put in our savings account, we feel like we are pouring our money down the drain.  Jeff is further frustrated by the high NZ dollar - the highest it has been against the yen since we came to Japan.  Not the ideal time to be bringing home large amounts of cash!  We will probably investigate that ASB foreign currency account, so we can bide our time. 

It's been a funny time, since we got back from Singapore.  All the ALTs talk about is who is staying and who is going.  Several of our good friends are leaving, so next year will be quite different.  We are bad enough at meeting up with and staying in touch with people, but with two of the ALTs we see the most of leaving (Emma - our 'neighbour' only half an hour away and Gabby - the other ALT who came in at the same time as us and brought her lovely family), we are going to have to make an effort to socialise more with some of the newer ALTs.  Although I suspect the ALTs who started in my year who are staying for a second year will be in the same boat.  It seems like lots of ALTs are leaving after their first year this time round, so those staying for a second year will probably also be looking to shake up their social circles (yup Katie, you still need to get back to me about Indian!). 

It feels like a sad time, actually.  The winter makes everyone a little down and we are preparing to farewell lots of good friends.  Plus most of us have signed (actually, I think today is the final day to make your decision!), whether we signed to say we are staying, or signed to say we are leaving, and everyone is now having doubts about their decision.  There will, inevitably, be people who, come August, will leaave wishing they were staying, or will stay wishing they were leaving.  For us, it seemed like a no-brainer - we are finally on a good salary and I'm enjoying the new job.  But then (after we had signed!) Jeff pointed our that if we leave after three years, we are currently only halfway through our time here.  Because we are signing now for the third year, we FEEL like we are already two years in.  But Jeff's point about being only halfway now was a little scary.  It's always hard feeling like you have commited to something for a long time (my contracted one year in America was much, much harder than my here-and-there ten months in Europe) and it feels like we have been in Japan for such a long time already.  Who knows how we will feel about the place in another year and a half! 

Hmm... just heard an intense three teacher discussion.  All I could pick out was my name and Monday.  Repeated a bunch of times.  Who knows... 

Ok, time to get myself ready to teach.  Have a good day all.