Didn't think that i would have a bad day at work, and during school break of all times! two things didn't go quite as planned today. first was the speech contest meeting. yes, despite the near-fiasco due to one school not really putting in the effort last year, the town seems to be enamoured with the idea of holding an english speech contest. i didn't have a specific goal/milestone in mind for today's meeting, but i surely imagined that we'd get further than just deciding on the date. spoiler: even that wasn't done. all of my suggestions were met with...not resistance exactly, but like reasons why a particular date was bad. i know it's nobody's fault; there are really quite a lot of events in the school year. it comes down to how important is this event, and how much the schools and the kids are willing to accommodate it.

this is something i'm starting to dislike about the japanese decision-making process. it's wonderful that they're considerate, but this is entering "too considerate" territory. i get why they do it - if a really bad date is chosen, or if there's a scheduling conflict, the school will have to choose. and being forced into that situation creates a losing situation all around. if i'm being honest, i think most schools won't prioritize an english speech contest if forced into such a situation. i'd want to avoid making them choose as much as possible too. having said that though, i think it's possible to be firmer about setting a date, like "after looking at all the schedules of the various schools, we've come to the conclusion that XXXX is the best date for the speech contest. we'd appreciate your cooperation and support."

remember my appraisal meeting last year? i told the board of education that the balance of english teaching hours in the school is off. because the other english teacher goes to only one of the secondary schools, that school effectively has one more day of native english exposure. so the issue i saw here is that the bigger school has fewer days/hours of english exposure, and the effect on the standard of english there is obvious. to help balance it out somewhat, i suggested to them to move one of my half days (preferably friday) from the small school to the big school. that way, each school gets the same amount of english contact time a week. that was shot down too...something about the principals wanting to maintain the status quo. i didn't quite follow that train of thought, because both principals are retiring anyway, so why should they have a say in future plans?

more annoyingly, it was the whole "don't fix something that isn't broken" / "it's always been this way" mindset. i'll acknowledge that it happens everywhere in the world, but it's especially obvious in japan. in this case though, what makes me more angry is that something IS broken, and my suggestions to fix it are not being taken. the town is always going on about how lucky they are to have 2 foreign english teachers, how important english is to the kids...but their actions don't reflect that at all. well...my plan is to directly talk to the superintendent tomorrow, to see if i can't change his mind or at least make him aware that this is contributing to the stagnation/decline of english in the town.

you know, i realize that i'm facing a similar dilemma in gaming. i've been telling myself that i should get around to completing this current raid tier, or maybe take a crack at one of the other ultimate raids - largely because of the glowy weapons. but i don't want to put in the time and effort to research the fight, find a good team, etc. so, as much as i don't like to say it, i know that i don't deserve the nice shiny weapons because i didn't put in the required effort to get them. and unless/until i do, they'll be out of reach. same for english ability to the japanese. no matter how important they say it is to them, nothing will change unless they start doing things differently. and if they don't want to invest the required resources, then they won't get results. honestly, i wouldn't have been mad if their words matched their actions. if they'd told me from day one, "ok, we just want the kids to be able to communicate with the most basic english imaginable," i would have completely switched off and not be this invested. i'd probably have left earlier too!

once again, i have to give myself another reminder - i am in control of how i react to news. even if it doesn't go my way, my current arrangement isn't bad. i'm happy that i get along well with the kids in both of the schools, so my quality of life isn't much affected by which school i go to. it may not be a bad thing either. after all, i don't know how the new english teacher in the new school will be like, but i know that the english teacher in the small school is amazing. i guess we'll see what happens tomorrow. to manage my own expectations, odds are high that nothing will change. that tends to be the case when the higher-ups have said something. but i owe it to myself to try, at the very least.

-random thought of the day: Remain calm no matter what.-

My resolve is being tested. the science subject head just told me about another job she has, similar to the previous one. only this time, it's building off someone else's work, so i'll need to look through 21 existing questions and come up with explanations, and find 29 questions from the database. all this, for about $220. granted, it's easy work and i could probably finish it in a week or two, but i'm wondering if it's the best use of my time. on the other hand, it's not like i use my spare time for other money-making activities anyway. i'll sleep on it and reply her by tomorrow. right now, i'm 65% leaning towards no.

attempt #2 at fried rice didn't go well either. even though i dried the supermarket rice out in the fridge for 2 days, it still stuck to the bottom of the pan. granted it was better than the first time, but still a far cry from my ideal fried rice. well, at least it tasted good, especially after i stirred some sambal through. if i have spare rice and cheese, i might just make a risotto. that seems to be a better use for the rice.

on the topic of cooking experiments, let's do a quick inventory of my supplies. at this point, i still have:

- tapioca flour (~800g)

- glutinous rice flour (~1kg)

- palm sugar (~900g)

- coconut milk (~5 cans)

- fish sauce (1 bottle)

- maple syrup (~1.5L)

- inaniwa udon (~half a pack)

- food colouring (various)

not as much as i'd thought! of course, this doesn't include the condiments and seasonings in smaller pack sizes. the goal is to get through most of it by summer. after which, i'll stick to things that i can get from the supermarkets or amazon, before stopping all cooking activity maybe a week before my final departure. still a ways to go until then though, but it's good to have a plan.

this weekend was lazy, mostly due to the rainy weather. was just thinking that i haven't been to the bakery for a while. should drop by on a day off. thinking ahead, i don't think i have very many things to do this spring break? send the car to the mechanic, make something for the office on the last day of the financial year, update the english website...i think that's about it. looking forward to a restful spring break!

-random thought of the day: Need to do more cleaning.-

Yet more proof that teaching isn't the career for me - today, i heard that 4 of the primary 6 kids will be going to different secondary schools. as luck would have it, the problem child and another kid i don't really like are in those 4. the other 2 are a kid i'm neutral about, and another who i feel slightly positive about. anyway, my first (internal) reaction was "YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!", just like this gif:

of course, i maintained a poker face externally and was professional about it to their form teacher. lucky she can't read my mind! it sounds bad, but i'm so happy i won't have to deal with them from next term onwards, and they'll become someone else's problem. looking at it more positively, there's a chance that they may get along with their future teacher, and the problem will simply vanish!

today's the last day of term. i attended 2 closing ceremonies, in the primary school (where i got the info) and in the smaller secondary school, where the new intake of sec 1s next year is a grand total of 5, compared with 35 for the bigger secondary school. also got to say goodbye to most of the teachers who are leaving, and exhausted my supply of singapore flag pins. lucky my friend brought another lot for me! not sure how i'm going to use them, but that can wait till a year later.

closing ceremonies apart, i also attended a farewell party organized by the bigger secondary school. it was in kochi city, so convincing myself to go took some effort. a lot of the conversations flew over my head, but there was plenty of laughter and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. it was my first such party organized by the school, so i wasn't sure what to expect. thankfully, it was quite similar to the parties organized by the board of education. the main difference was that they had an afterparty in mind. i passed on that, partially because i didn't have the stamina to go on, and also because my parking time was about to run out. i might have given it a go if the party(ies) were the only thing on the agenda for the day, but with school beforehand, definitely hard pass.

supposed to blog a little more, but i'm sleepy. normally, this is where i say i'm getting old, but the fact that the 60 year-old principal went for karaoke kind of blows that out of the water. thank goodness i have the weekend to recover, and 2 weeks of school holiday to recharge.

-random thought of the day: 1.2 bags of tapioca flour to go!-

Personnel transfer results are out! the ones for schools were published after school, to allow teachers to concentrate on their classes, i imagine. like last year, i'm satisfied with the result. i might go as far as to say i'm by far and large happy with them. let's break it down by school:

secondary school A (smaller)

the maths teacher is moving back to secondary school C

the principal is retiring

the english teacher is staying!

secondary school C (larger)

one english teacher is transferring out of town, the other is going to the primary school

one of the maths teachers, one of the social studies teachers, the japanese language teacher, and the music teacher are transferring out

the principal is retiring

primary school C

the principal is retiring

one teacher is retiring, while another is resigning

the english teacher is staying!

i don't have the full picture, because there are some contract staff whose info isn't posted in the prefectural transfer notice. and since tomorrow is a holiday, i'll only get all the info later in the week. based on the info that i have now, i'll say that i'm extremely happy that the bigger school is getting a complete swap of english teachers (excluding yours truly, of course). they're great people, but the way they teach is brute-force memorization, which is a huge turn-off! hopefully the new teachers are better at teaching.

a couple things are making me uneasy, though. all three principals are changing. as i've learnt, my happiness and flexibility levels in the school are influenced in a large part by the leadership. it could go either way, of course; i don't know the new principals yet. just hoping for the best. in the extreme worst-case scenario, i can pull out a couple of trump cards - one being "stupid foreigner" (it's less effective now) and the other being "board of education intervention". the latter is a real bridge-burning move though, so unless the principal or new english teacher is completely insufferable, i have no plans to use it.

separately, i noticed that a few young teachers quit. the cute maths teacher from when i just got here, and a teacher in the primary school, to name two examples this year. i always thought that teaching was a lifelong career in japan, but apparently that's not so. i'm happy for them, though. it's my bias, but i think that at least in this rural area, teaching isn't very rewarding. and i mean that both in a financial sense and in a fulfilment/achievement sense. my colleagues in the office told me that teachers may quit from the prefectural education system to move to another prefecture or to a private school, so it's still premature to congratulate them on leaving teaching. but wherever they end up, i hope it's an improvement over their current situation, and that they're happy/happier.

my left shoulder has been feeling out of sorts recently. think i hyperextended it while playing with the kids a couple of weeks ago. it's nothing major, but occasionally there'll be a movement that brings about a jolt of discomfort. i'm really getting old! should look into visiting the chiropractor. still haven't found out whether the national health insurance will cover it. that's something for me to do this spring break. speaking of which, i've submitted my leave plans. i think i'm working mostly half days, with a couple full days off. should still have plenty of leeway to take leave next term.

-random thought of the day: Talk about feeling happy for people.-

Fried rice is the latest entry in my list of cooking fails. the problem stemmed from the fact that i used glutinous rice instead of regular rice. i'd thought of doing like a fried rice/lotus leaf rice hybrid, but what ended up happening was that the rice formed into a giant sticky clump, and some of it got smashed and stuck to the pan in a pasty layer. that also made it impossible to stir beaten egg into the rice, as i'd originally planned. granted the result was still edible (and actually tasted pretty good especially after i added prawns, spinach, and sambal), but it wasn't what a singaporean would typically associate with "fried rice". next time, my plan is to buy pre-cooked rice from the supermarket. that should save me the step of drying my rice out.

thanks to the 2 off days, this week felt shorter than normal. i suppose it helped too, that everyone's in end-of-term mode and classes are kind of casual. tuesday was the worst, though. the japanese english teacher in the primary school was out sick, which left me and the other foreign english teacher to power through 3 classes. i noticed that the kids were a little worse behaved. maybe because they associate "foreign teacher" with "playtime". well, this is the first time in 2 years that the teacher has called out sick, so i'm not upset or anything. but it's something that i definitely don't want to do again.

you know the feeling of seemingly unrelated pieces of trivia coming together to form a learning point, and it just clicks in your head? i love when it just clicks in my head, because the thing tends to stay in my memory better. so the thing was a lyric in the bigger school's school song. one phrase was "栄あり". because i know chinese, i know that the kanji means "prosper/glory". but i didn't know the japanese reading. while listening to the kids practise the school song, i heard them sing it as "さかえ (sakae)", and then it clicked for me. sakae sushi! granted that the character is slightly different due to japanese vs chinese styles of writing (栄 vs 荣), but it's close enough for the association to be made. doesn't affect me profoundly, but i suppose another addition to the kanji bank isn't a bad thing.

along with the weather getting warmer, march also means personnel transfer time. my original supervisor is on maternity leave, so i won't see her at work until basically next year. just based on that, i don't think they'll transfer her out. i'm kind of hoping that my current supervisor stays on. he's doing a pretty good job, although i find that he does some things a little extra. like, he wants documentation for every little thing, even when it would sometimes be perfectly fine to go without. i've filled in unnecessary paperwork for him a couple of times, but all in all, we work together quite well. as for the teachers, i'm hoping that the primary school teacher stays. him, and the teacher in the smaller school, though i kind of wish the latter would be transferred to the bigger school. but it's not really important to me which school she's in, as long as we can still work together. the transfers will be announced on monday, by the way, so i expect some teachers might not be feeling their best, depending on how they like their result. just a reminder to myself to be more sensitive on monday. good thing that tuesday's a public holiday, so at least they have a free day to process it!

-random thought of the day: Started wearing short sleeves!-

Writing the dates of the past 2 days in the american style gives 03/13/23 for monday, and 03/14 (pi day) for yesterday. just wanted to share those 2 bits of trivia to start this post off.

today is my second replacement rest day. i kind of like having a break in the middle of the week; 2 X 2 days seems more manageable than 5 (or even 4) consecutive days. i was starting to feel a little exhausted, but i think that the rest days on monday and today should boost me back to normal levels. just in the nick of time too! and i guess it helps that the school term is almost ending, and the content is covered in class at a more leisurely/casual pace now.

after i made my decision to quit the science video thing, i felt like a great weight had been lifted off me. odd thing is, i didn't even realize the weight was there! guess it built up over time. it's taught me a valuable lesson - that i really don't want to do easy but boring/tedious things. this includes teaching, too. i mean, i'd be happy to help my cousins' or friends' kids with short-term tutoring close to exam season or something like that, but career teaching is definitely off the table for me. the JET experience has also confirmed that.

i couldn't remember what my contract said about early termination, so i read through it again. always important to keep a copy of all paperwork. anyway, it said that either party could provide a month's written notice. but somewhere else in the document, i saw that it was only effective for a year, and it's due to expire at the end of next month. so rather than rock the boat by quitting, i'm just going to opt not to renew it, and let it expire. it's a softer approach, i guess? well, whatever it is, the outcome will be the same. plus, the additional duration gives time for my payment to be processed!

one more reason why it's important to keep records of your conversations is to ensure that you didn't pass on the wrong info. my predecessor said that he'd be staying in kochi until thursday, and he wanted to attend the primary school kids' graduation ceremony. thing is, the ceremony is next thursday, ie. a week away from tomorrow. since he was so specific about staying until thursday (i assume this thursday), i started to panic because i thought i might have given him the wrong date! can you imagine, if he'd planned his stay around my information and ended up not being able to fulfill one of his main objectives for coming!? but the relief is that i wrote the correct date clearly in the email, so it's on him if he misread it. of course, the best-case scenario would be if he planned to stay until next thursday and got to attend the ceremony.

puma (the shoe brand) recently launched a line of shoes and clothes in collaboration with final fantasy. in particular, there's a pair of black and purple sneakers which i kind of like. they cost 17050 yen though. since it's limited edition, stocks are flying off the virtual shelves. i think most of the popular sizes were sold out within half an hour of the launch. just went to check, and they're now out of my preferred size too. good in a way that i'm now unable to buy them. moreover, i'm not in need of shoes now; my former lab shoes (now work shoes) and running shoes are more than enough. in fact, i asked my friend to bring my formal office shoes back to singapore, simply because i never used them at all! since shoes have to be interchanged so frequently (to indoor slippers, toilet slippers, going barefoot, etc.), the japanese have a custom of judging your attire only until your ankles. so i've never needed the super formal shoes. wish i'd known that before coming!

the lesson? message? takeaway? here is that i should be less impulsive as far as bigger purchases go. also, the whole wants and needs thing again. i might need new shoes in the future when the ones i have need to be replaced, but for now, they appear to be holding up fine. one less thing to take up space when i move, too.

like i mentioned before, the term is ending soon. next friday, to be precise. after that, there are about 2 weeks of school holiday (deskwarming for me) before the new school year begins on 7 april. i just realized that i'll have to come up with a leave plan, as well as confirm the number of leave days i'll be getting in august. i think they should give me the full 20, but i'm not going to bank on it just yet. other stray thoughts include transitioning to a "last" mindset, getting another piece of luggage for the move back, and initiating contact with australia. will blog about those at more appropriate times.

-random thought of the day: Fried rice plans aren't working out!-

Better blog before i sleep, just to get the thoughts out.

graduation ceremonies were today. it's not my first time attending this kind of event in japan, so i was a little surprised to find myself feeling mild disappointment that the students in the bigger school didn't prepare anything for me - like messages or something similar. perhaps their seniors from 2 years ago spoiled the market by giving me a photo album despite only seeing me once a week for just 3 months. for perspective though, only the form teachers got stuff. none of the other subject teachers did, as far as i know.

this is the third cohort that has graduated, and my second graduation ceremony in this school. didn't attend the first year because the head teacher (who's since moved on to another school) told me not to. she said it was due to COVID, but i have my doubts because the other school let me attend. ah, no use speculating. to be honest, i'm not super close to this class; i'll only miss maybe 4-5 of the 22 kids that graduated. a part of me wonders if it was my fault. during my first term in the school, i severely overestimated the kids' english ability, and might have come across as...not condescending (i hope), but perhaps visibly frustrated that i couldn't communicate effectively with them in english. but well. i hope i made up for that in the subsequent terms we spent together.

the 3 graduating students in the smaller school each left me a heartwarming note. i'm a little sadder than i thought i'd be to see them go, which is strange. i mean, we got along just fine, but i never really felt any deep connection to them. i suppose it's because they were great students - always volunteering answers in class, and just very positive attitudes in general. thankfully, their juniors are following in their footsteps - one or two may even have already surpassed them.

also, i finally met my predecessor in person! he's taller than i'd imagined. and he looks really good too - like straight out of an anime kind of good-looking. most of the kids recognized him, and the graduating students asked to take photos with him (and not with me). but i'm not jealous or anything. the way i see it, he was with them through their developmental phase in primary school, so it's natural for them to feel more attached to him. i'm just finishing what he started. for me, it was nice to finally put a voice to the face, and i got to thank him in person for handing everything over so well. of course, there are some things i wish he'd told me about, but discovering things is part of the fun of JET.

working for 7 days straight is no joke. i've fallen asleep in front of the computer so many times this week. should use my offs-in-lieu to reset a little. also, have to do chores. i've let the rubbish accumulate a bit too long. was supposed to do laundry today, but got lazy. not a bad thing though, since it's raining outside now. don't know how intense it is, but there were a couple of bright lightning flashes. tomorrow, then.

-random thought of the day: Can't recall a song!-

3, maybe 4 things to blog about today. to start off with, i should say that i'm now in a much better mood than i've been in for the past 2 days. that's directly linked to thing 1, which is my phone bill.

for some unknown reason, my SAFRA card, which i'd set up to pay my singapore phone bill before coming to japan, got declined. it was weird, because it'd worked fine until now. so i asked DBS, and they told me it was because my SAFRA membership ended. to be fair, SAFRA did send me multiple reminders to renew, but i'd registered with an email that i don't check at all. so, my card got blocked, and circles.life sent me a notice that the payment didn't go through. i thought it was a technical error at first, so i left it alone because they said they'd try again in a few days. notice #2 then came, and that got me worried.

normally, things like that would be settled on the app, where you can change card details. problem for me is, the app requires an OTP (delivered by SMS) to log in. and i can't see the SMSes sent to my singapore number because, you know, overseas and all. so i got in touch with the helpdesk. customer service agent 1 said i could pay this month's bill by bank transfer. but they stressed that it was a one-time courtesy, so i'd have this headache again next month. customer service agent 2 wasn't much help, either. they didn't offer any solutions at first. then, when i gave some ideas, they shot all of them down. when i asked for a solution, they recommended upgrading to the $28/month plan, so that i could activate roaming and receive the SMS OTP to access the app. for reference, i'm on the $5/month plan, for nothing more than to preserve my number while i'm in japan. asking me to pay 460% more per month for the next X months while i'm overseas, and worst of all, only using the roaming service once and not getting any of the other benefits...can you say cash grab? so just tonight, i talked to customer service agent #3. they were so much better! i offered to pay upfront for 20 months, and reiterated that i was overseas and wouldn't come back to singapore for at least a year. i don't know how they did it, but the request was approved. just transferred the money and sent them proof, so that's one big load off my mind. also if my number is terminated for some billing-related reason, i have grounds to fight!

although if it were at all possible, i really wouldn't want that to happen. i've had this number for literally more than half my life, since sec 3 or 4. and sentimental value aside, it's so easy to remember! i was just asking myself, if push came to shove, how far would i go to retain my number? the most extreme thing i could do would probably be flying back to singapore to update my card details. honestly, i did consider it, but with other objectives too, like bringing stuff back and going on a food tour. maybe if it was a year ago, i would have done it. but now that i'm on the home stretch to finishing JET, it seems like a waste of money. more so when you recall that i'd just met my friends in japan a couple of weeks ago! but yes...i'm happy that things worked out and no extreme measures were required.

thing 2: graduation ceremonies. i think i might have mentioned that they're taking place this sunday. to be fair to both secondary schools, i offered to bake the graduating students something. i even did up a little survey to let them choose! one school accepted at first, then changed their mind later. the other school accepted, but told me to just make something (ie. no survey). they then asked that i package everything individually for the students. considering it's the smaller school with a total enrollment of 12, i'm happy to do it. as for what to make...i was originally considering the glutinous rice and pandan custard kueh, but (1) it's hell of a time-consuming and (2) it's sticky and soft, so not the best for kids to carry home. or i might end up doing it anyway; i have until saturday morning to decide. it will mean that i need to get coconut milk, though. or i could just do maple syrup brownies. the staff would have had it before, but it'll be new for the kids, i think.

when telling me that the survey was scrapped, the principal of the school gave this reason: it's something from me, and to show my feelings, it should be something that comes from me, and not a request by the students. fine, i could accept that. he then said "i hope you understand our culture". i felt a little...destabilized by his statement. part of me wanted to ask him to understand my culture; that graduation day is all about the graduating students, so i'd do more than usual for them. but it would lead to unnecessary complications, so i decided to go with his idea. i guess the kids will understand and appreciate it more, being japanese and all.

still related to graduation, my predecessor is coming for this year's graduation ceremonies! i'm abnormally excited about it, and i can't explain why. maybe it's because we never officially met and had a hand/take over. you know, because of COVID and all. i wonder though, how many JETs actually get to meet their predecessors/successors? i know for sure i won't meet mine, because there'll be a 3-4 month gap between when i leave and when they come.

next thing: we had a farewell field trip in the smaller school today. went to kochi city to visit a company and learn more about their products/technology. we probably spent a longer time driving to and fro than actually looking around the company! but well, not going to complain. i got a free ride, some nice merchandise, and learnt some cool things too! like, how they came up with a new, silent method for piling works. silent construction...that's impressive.

part 2 was at a park in the neighbouring city. it was surprisingly large and well-built! spent 750 yen on maple ice cream (500 yen, no maple flavour, not worth it) and a cinnamon churro (250 yen, pretty good, might buy again). also played catching with the kids. and by that, i mean i slow jogged and got caught. this is what i mean when i say the kids in this school are simpler. like, they're perfectly content to play catching and enjoy each other's company. it's not a bad thing, just something that still amazes me. but i'll say, it was fun. the running, not so much. but getting to interact with the kids outside of the classroom, definitely.

still have more thoughts, but this post is long enough as it is. i'll save them for tomorrow or saturday, if i can bring myself to blog. otherwise, the thoughts will be added to the post about graduation.

-random thought of the day: Going to quit the science thing after this assignment!-

Almost became the victim of an amazon scam recently. but before talking about that, i wanted to mention some things about the tokyo trip that i left out during the last post. when asked by the people here, i often say that i don't miss the people in singapore despite not having gone back at all since the start of JET, because i can chat to them online and even video call if necessary. but after meeting my friends in person, i think i'll revise that opinion. while it's possible to keep in contact via virtual means, there's something extra special about doing things together in person. i do kind of miss meeting up with them for outings. and like with scary JC friend, the idea that i can meet them in person anytime is more reassuring than knowing that they're available online. it's weird because the availabilities are basically the same whether it's online or off (it can be argued that they're more available online than off, actually), but that's feelings for you.

one of my cousins used to be hugely into gundam models. i remember his room having quite a few of them when i went over as a kid. the interest never caught on with me, but i ended up getting a model kit when we visited the gundam bay (the official gundam model and merchandise shop). it's black with neon light blue highlights, which i think looks kind of cool. what finally convinced me to take the plunge was that it holds a spear, and my friend said "that's so like you(r character in final fantasy)!". ended up i decided to ask her to bring it back to singapore for me, because it would take up space here. also, packing the completed model for a move to another country when JET ends would be a pain. unintended plus, it gives me something to look forward to!

after the briyani lunch with my JET friends, we went to a couple of shrines. drew a mixed bag of fortunes. in tokyo at least, i really got the sense that the world is opening up again. the crowds were so bad! it made me x-guess my decision to extend my contract past this july, but i know that it wouldn't be fair to the town if i changed my mind now. one alternative i thought of was doing it in december or january, but that would leave the kids JET-less for 2 terms. that wouldn't make me feel guilty at all, if not for the fact that my favourite class is still in school.

went to glance at my countdown timer, and it showed that i have 393 days left. doing some maths tells me that i set it for end-march or early april next year. i think i will most likely exceed it, since i have to factor in clearing my leave and all that as well. assuming i continue taking leave as prudently as i do now, i will have about 30 days left at this time next year. the plan is to take 3 days off per week, and only go to my secondary schools for full-day classes. i can do that for 10 weeks! that's mad! i'll let future me work the details out.

before i forget, let me tell you about the amazon scam. i saw a shop selling something that i wanted for 600 yen, when other shops were charging closer to 1800. so faced with a 66% cost savings and free shipping, i naturally went with the cheaper option, even though it would take 3 weeks longer for the item to arrive. but i was willing to wait since i didn't need it in a hurry. i placed the order on wednesday night, i think. on friday, i got an email saying that my credit card had been refunded for the purchase. then, i came home to a missed delivery notice from the post office. it was from a company that i didn't recognize, and it asked for 16400 yen, cash on delivery. i have not done cash on delivery since i got my japan credit card, so that was definitely suspicious, especially in light of  the refund. good news is that in japan, you can refuse to receive cash-on-delivery items! so the way i see it, i'm not making any loss. i guess the company knows my address, but it's not that huge of a deal, i think.

the assignment from the science side is making me annoyed. the subject head is asking for so many edits and changes! i might be too sensitive, but i don't like it when she uses strikethroughs to indicate that something should be redone. practically, it means that i have to take one extra step to undo the formatting then make the change. on a more personal/irrational level, i feel like she's disregarding/invalidating my work. but i also know that she had to take effort to read through it to decide that it wasn't suitable. lesson here is to not take things personally and work towards the goal. who knows - i may meet a boss in future who corrects me in the same way! i will say though, that i'm finding the work less and less interesting. like with teaching english here, i don't get fulfillment out of repeating the same thing. i think i just might call it quits, depending on what the next assignment is.

graduation season is around the corner. i have 2 ceremonies next sunday, so that counts as a full day of work. i'm also scheduled to work on saturday, to help get the venue ready at one of the schools. go 7-day work week! i'll be getting time off, of course. the primary school decided to hold their graduation ceremony on thursday, which is when i'm not scheduled to be there. i feel neutral about this. not going to go out of my way to attend, because i feel it wouldn't be worth my while to make special effort. maybe that's a sign that i'm not cut out to be a teacher/carer/nurturing figure for kids. 

-random thought of the day: Rest up for next week!-