Monday, August 03, 2009
New Month, New Face (Same Old Shituation)
Oh hey, it's August! How are you doing? I didn't see you come in. Perhaps because I spent so much time in the bathroom during the last week of July?
Yeah, without getting into any detail at all, I just have to go on record as saying this past week has been craptacularly uncomfortable for me. While I'm lucky that this didn't all go down during the school year, because I was in no condition to teach classes, this was a relatively busy week as far as summer vacation goes and it wasn't easy to handle.
The fever which had me out on the couch for two days (and sent Mako and Go hiding at her parents' house for three) left without much trouble, but certain lingering symptoms continue to vex me. The medication I received on Friday had some effect but my condition has not changed, so I may need to revisit the doctor this evening to see where we go from here. I don't think there's anything serious to worry about (yet) but a week of this is about five days too long in my opinion, so I'm not going to just sit it out anymore. I must insist on active medical remedies at this point.
Why was I busy when classes and students are nowhere to be seen? Well there's a new JET coming to Hana Town and she arrived on Wednesday of this week. As both the RA for our area and (more importantly) the only other JET in Hana Town, I made it a point to be there to greet her at Shin Osaka station alongside our supervisor from the Board of Education.
The good news is she's very friendly and I'm sure that she'll do a terrific job working with the middle school students. Her California accent isn't too strong so her pronunciation is good, which is key in this job, she has experience teaching and working with children, and she seems to be so positive about everything that I bet the kids will really like her.
The bad news is that she doesn't speak Japanese, so I spent a good chunk of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday trying to translate the world around her in addition to answering her many questions about her job, this area, and Japan in general. I hope that when Japan gets weird on her (and it will, eventually) she can handle it even if I'm not there to explain what's happening. Otherwise she'll leave and we'll have to do this all over again next summer.
We haven't really talked about Internet issues or my blogging, so I'll refrain from getting into any of her details, such as her name. At this point it's unclear whether or not we may work together at all or if she'll take over the tiny mountain school as her predecessor did for me last year.
Speaking of which, that's where I am right now (or rather, when I typed this) and that's unusual because I don't normally come here during the summer. Without any public transportation to connect this school to the rest of the world, in summers past I would simply spend my time elsewhere, but for some reason they actively wanted me to show up here today. I stress "for some reason" because I've been here for two hours and no one has yet to talk any kind of school business with me at all.
In completely unrelated news, Go turns six weeks old tomorrow. I've read this is a major step in his development, so we'll see how that goes. Supposedly he'll start sleeping more, but I suspect that will take a little more effort on our parts to not respond to his every tear. He cries a lot, even when full, and rarely is he able to sleep on his own. For his sake and for ours, this needs to change.
Of course, all that can wait until after my mother and sister come through here next week. Despite my warnings that summer in Japan is nothing short of hellish, the urge to see Go has overtaken the two of them and they cannot wait to hold him in their arms. Will that urge also drive them to change his diaper and give him his bottle? Because we will happily hand over all relevant materials and sit that week out if needed. We're flexible like that.
Yeah, without getting into any detail at all, I just have to go on record as saying this past week has been craptacularly uncomfortable for me. While I'm lucky that this didn't all go down during the school year, because I was in no condition to teach classes, this was a relatively busy week as far as summer vacation goes and it wasn't easy to handle.
The fever which had me out on the couch for two days (and sent Mako and Go hiding at her parents' house for three) left without much trouble, but certain lingering symptoms continue to vex me. The medication I received on Friday had some effect but my condition has not changed, so I may need to revisit the doctor this evening to see where we go from here. I don't think there's anything serious to worry about (yet) but a week of this is about five days too long in my opinion, so I'm not going to just sit it out anymore. I must insist on active medical remedies at this point.
Why was I busy when classes and students are nowhere to be seen? Well there's a new JET coming to Hana Town and she arrived on Wednesday of this week. As both the RA for our area and (more importantly) the only other JET in Hana Town, I made it a point to be there to greet her at Shin Osaka station alongside our supervisor from the Board of Education.
The good news is she's very friendly and I'm sure that she'll do a terrific job working with the middle school students. Her California accent isn't too strong so her pronunciation is good, which is key in this job, she has experience teaching and working with children, and she seems to be so positive about everything that I bet the kids will really like her.
The bad news is that she doesn't speak Japanese, so I spent a good chunk of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday trying to translate the world around her in addition to answering her many questions about her job, this area, and Japan in general. I hope that when Japan gets weird on her (and it will, eventually) she can handle it even if I'm not there to explain what's happening. Otherwise she'll leave and we'll have to do this all over again next summer.
We haven't really talked about Internet issues or my blogging, so I'll refrain from getting into any of her details, such as her name. At this point it's unclear whether or not we may work together at all or if she'll take over the tiny mountain school as her predecessor did for me last year.
Speaking of which, that's where I am right now (or rather, when I typed this) and that's unusual because I don't normally come here during the summer. Without any public transportation to connect this school to the rest of the world, in summers past I would simply spend my time elsewhere, but for some reason they actively wanted me to show up here today. I stress "for some reason" because I've been here for two hours and no one has yet to talk any kind of school business with me at all.
In completely unrelated news, Go turns six weeks old tomorrow. I've read this is a major step in his development, so we'll see how that goes. Supposedly he'll start sleeping more, but I suspect that will take a little more effort on our parts to not respond to his every tear. He cries a lot, even when full, and rarely is he able to sleep on his own. For his sake and for ours, this needs to change.
Of course, all that can wait until after my mother and sister come through here next week. Despite my warnings that summer in Japan is nothing short of hellish, the urge to see Go has overtaken the two of them and they cannot wait to hold him in their arms. Will that urge also drive them to change his diaper and give him his bottle? Because we will happily hand over all relevant materials and sit that week out if needed. We're flexible like that.
Labels: family, JET, number one son, poor health
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