Sick in Japan

So after a night of this, the universe decided I had to pay for it, so I got deathly, painfully sick. OK, not the worst cold I ever had, but the fact that it's So Frickin' Cold here made it that much more intense.

After spending one weekend and two sick days in bed, using up my precious horde of smuggled NyQuil and DayQuil, I figure I've been gone from work too long and should buck up and go back, Japanese bop-'til-you-drop work ethic and all that. Plus, 4 days is enough to recover from a mere cold, right?

So I go to elementary school on Wednesday despite being miserable since I know that these kids only get me one day a week. By this time, I don't feel like crap so much, except for the runny nose and uncontrollable cough.

I go in to work on Thursday with an even worse cough and runny nose. (I found out later that the Ny/DayQuil I so carefully wrapped in underwear in my luggage and snuck into the country no longer even has pseudoephedrine, which is why it wasn't working.) This is where the absolute kindness of my coworkers comes in. Instead of ignoring it and letting me trudge on for the betterment of the team, they send me home. Not only that, they find me a doctor near my apartment, call the clinic to let them know I'm coming, and bust out a map to show me where it is. And they tell me to stay home until I'm all better.

Watch for Part 2: The Doctor's

Happi Harouiin!

The weather's getting colder and some of the leaves are just starting to turn. I'm looking out the teacher room window right now, and the surrounding forest is going to be gorgeous!

I think I'm kind of getting the hang of how to teach lessons here. Since I'm an assistant, I have to adjust to one of the English teacher's teaching style. The other is more laid back and seems to be OK with whatever I do. Basically, every 2 weeks, I teach my lessons to the class. The other times, I'm a human tape recorder for the text book dialogs. "Please listen and repeat."
Here at Kita Jr. High, there are 3 classes for each grade level (7th, 8th, & 9th grade) and I'm in each one for one period a week. Life as a JET is pretty much as Az says it is. (If you don't know who that is, this guy is hilarious.)

I've just finished teaching my first round of Halloween lessons. I'm going to miss the festivities this year. The kids aren't totally unaware of Halloween. Most stores have some kind of display up, and you can find exactly 2 pumpkins at Cainz Home (it's like Lowes but with pets and linens and school supplies and a drugstore and beer by the case, actually, it's more like K-Mart but with a home improvement focus minus the clothes - and nicer). Anyway, Halloween isn't a new concept to these kids. No doubt my predecessors have told them all about it in previous years, but I think Disney is mostly to blame.

I don't know if it's just because I'm in the same prefecture as Tokyo Disneyland, but Disney crap is EVERYWHERE. Even in the 100yen stores, especially in the 100yen stores. Everywhere I go I can see either Jack Skellington, Stitch, or Marie. Who's Marie, you ask? Remember the little white stuck up French cat from The Aristocats?
I guess she looks enough like Charmy Kitty (Hello Kitty's pet cat (?!)) to warrant a rival merchandise line.
About 90% of the jr. high girls at my school have something Disney on their person at all times.
Yup, anything kawaii and Disney gets its face on everything, even those gawd-awful Disney Babies. *shudder*

DisneySea

I got to go to Tokyo Disneyland this Sun. More specifially, DisneySea since Disneyland was sold out. At 10 o'clock. In the morning.
I went with a few more JETs and a very drunk Japanese guy who's courting one of my friends (he left the pub he'd been at all night to meet her at Disney station).

So DisneySea is where all those cool-sounding yet aborted Imagineering projects finally get a home. As you walk in, you're in Fake-Venice-land. It's pretty cool-looking but there's not much to do there.

Go to your left, and you're in America-land. More spcifically, Victorian New York-land. Tower of Terror (with some cursed member of the Explorer's Club with an evil tiki instead of Rod Sterling) is here. Keep walking by a ship that's not the Titanic, and you're in Maine-land. Here, you expect salty sea-dogs to walk around saying, "Chowdah," and Stephen King to be skulking about.

Then, it's Future Water-land. This is what all the hip world would be doing on Saturday night if the environmentalists won the war. It has a thrilling but lame sim ride where the story tries to be Star Tours but makes no logical sense. The plus is that the lady that gives the intro presentation has cancer. Don't ask.

Next is Aztec-land. It's actually a mix of Aztec and Maya, but it has a Mexican restaurant and the Indiana Jones ride has a crystal skull theme instead of the Eyes of Kali. You can get Cuban beer here.

Aladdin-land is gorgeous!

So is Little Mermaid-land. Do not pass this by, saying, "This is just the kids' area." Go into Ariel's castle. This, I command. Eat the sea salt ice cream. Do not question my wisdom.

Behind this is a big volcano. Inside is Jules Verne-land. I was truly in steampunk heaven. Only 2 rides but one is Journey to the Center of the Earth. I'm saving 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for next time. The letter "N" was everywhere. And it made me very happy. There also seems to be a part of this with a bar and shops in it, but I could only see it across the lake from Venice-land.

One other great thing here is that every land has exactly one popcorn stand. But that one stand has a different flavor from all the others. We went on a mad hunt for caramel.

It was all very very pretty, and I was very impressed with the level of detail even if I only found 2 Hidden Mickeys.

And lo, the North Winds blew across the islands, bringing rain and bitter chill. And the men lamented and the women donned garments of wool, chanting, "Samui, ne?" - a fruitless charm against their misfortune.

O is there no balm in Gilliad?!

Aye. For a lone god saw fit to smile upon the wretches of the earth. The god Jihanki-sama in all his multitudes bestowed his blessing on the people.
And the people rejoiced and made glad.




Yes, as of this Monday, the vending machines have hot drinks! Woo-hoo! Finally, I'm in Japan!

Here's a cool link.

Fitow?

So the typhoon passed over us, and I mostly slept through it.

It was only a category 1 which, in Florida means, "OMG! Shut everything down! Horde the water & canned goods! No electricity for a week afterwords! We're all gonna die!" Here, it was just business as usual.

The kids at my school got to leave early yesterday, and school started late today. But did the teachers have that same luxury? No sir!
I'm kind of bummed out about that. I still had to leave at 4pm and come back in at 8am. *le sigh*

So I walked outside to get to work this morning to find my little glass wind chime totally smashed and my recycle trash cans all over the place. That, and a nearby shop's old canvas awning ripped to shreds were the only signs of destruction.

Hell, last night I saw a kid on a bicycle going to the convenience store right before the shit went down.

So yeah, aside from the weather watch reports on the news last night, a typhoon here just wasn't that big a deal.

It was as it should be: just a really windy storm.


(The approaching storm)

Typhoon Fitow

This morning I found this guy on my clothesline.


Yup, the transition from summer to fall is pretty dramatic, it seems. One day it's roaring hot with sopping humidity, and the next day it's overcast and cold. Then, there were a few days where it was overcast and humid/hot, and then boom, Typhoon #200709, "Fitow", is about to hit.