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Published: July 17th 2008
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Me and my fan
Two in one! Practical AND Pretty! I want to give you a general idea of a day in the life of Nikky.
Summer has hit big time, and it is a very different kind of summer than Australians (or Canadians for that matter), are used to. Although temperatures are the same as back home (Ranging from 28-35 degrees Celcius), the humidity level is astounding. Very unexpected too, though if I had paid more attention in Geography I might have realised. Summer hit us in a day too. One day spring, next day summer, you could set your watch by the change. Apparently it's the same for each season change, and spring and autumn are the shortest seasons, with winter and summer taking up more than their alloted time slots in the year. But to get back on track, it's hot and humid and the drops of perspiration are sometimes the only drops that fall from above. Other times they are accompanied by a short deluge or two - yet the humidity level NEVER CHANGES. That is why, a general day in my life includes -
Sweat Patches Thankfully, I have found a way to deal with this. Thanks to the Japanese ability to fill
a niche (think suction cap helmets for the trains or buttersticks - you must have got that e-mail of Japanese inventions), I found these lovely little stick on sweat suckers (I can't remember what they are actually called) which you paste onto the inside of your shirt under your underarms and they absorb that nasty perspiration so you can raise your hand to the chalkboard without fear. No more penguin arms! I was also given a fan as a present. It comes in REALLY handy and you can coordinate your outfit with it too.
Next on the agenda is something that must hit all of you at some point in a working week when you have free time - as in have finished your work or are procrastinating - but it's not so free that you can go for a drive or an early lunch and you need to look productive or seem to be doing something, and that is when the -
Sleepies Begin I find that if I am not fully focused on a task like lesson planning or cutting up activity cards, or am doing a severely repetitive task like, well, lesson planning
or cutting up activity cards...that I start to nod off, which is not really something you want to be seen doing (well not me anyways) so I find I have a need for caffeine periodically to keep me genki. There isn't a Starbucks in my town (and there wasn't one in Perth) but I got a taste for it in Narita (mmm chai latte) and you can buy take-away iced Starbucks coffees at the combini stores!
I always did like coffee, but when I arrived it was tea tea tea or cha cha cha o-cha, houji-cha, oolong-cha.... the only problem is that tea doesn't help
with the sleepies, it just
helps them period. Nothing like a cup of green tea to send you off to laa laa land. Not a good idea when you have to teach a grop of students after lunch who look like they have the sleepies too. It's much harder to teach a quiet class and get them chatting, their lack of energy tends to impact on you as well.
Something that I have been thinking about a lot today, after the experience I will mention below, is my new found-
Sock Socks!
Now why would you laugh at socks like these? They're adorable! Penchant
In a society where taking off your shoes is common practice, wearing holey, dirty, smelly socks is not the way to ingratiate yourself into someone's life. Actually, it's more likely that they will ban you from their doorway when you near it, preferring that to the contamination of their tatami mats. (Probably an exaggeration, but i'm not going to risk it!).
Since socks and feet are often on display, toenails are painted and socks are just downright darling (or at the very least, clean and not odorous). There are many different types of socks; half socks, lace socks, ankle socks, toe and heel covering socks, sling socks, condusive to thong* wearing socks, tabi socks... and the list goes on. I have amassed a small collection myself and have included a picture of my favourite pair for your viewing pleasure or puzzlement. Basically Japan is sock heaven -and socks under sandals are not sniggered at here, so be nice. (Just imagine....a country where you can wear your Jandals** all day long!)
I usually wear pantyhose or beige over the knee stockings (company orders), but it's getting too hot for even those, so I decided, for the first
Black and White headshot
Not sure why I included this one here - I have been playing with the camera settings and decided I like black and white because it changes you with shadows -bizzaro! time, to just wear normal socks with my skirt. Of course, how could I know when choosing my socks, that today would be the day that we have a class in the conference room - no shoes allowed. THANKFULLY (and I mean that with great fervour) I had clipped the toeclaws - uh, nails - the night before, but I had indeed decided to wear my funky little split toe stripey socks (pictured above). It took a little while for students to notice, but while trying to focus on teaching, I could hear whispers of
'misete'***, 'Nikky sensei'****, 'Kawaii'*****, 'High pitched giggle'******.
I'm already a bit self conscious of my feet - they're usually on display in thongs (see footnote '*'), but not usually the focus of so much attention (real or imagined, I may just be paranoid). I don't have hobbit feet, but I don't have Japanese feet either, and then there's the case of my acquired deformity...what was it again Lauren? Shazz? hammer toes? (Damn you ballet! ^_^)
Well that's all for now, I should probably go do something useful, like organize my desk drawers or somesuch, and then it will be off home for whatever I feel like cooking up, perhaps a brief nap with the fan on, and then to tidy my abode so I can blog about living in a real life
furnished apartment! With pictures!
*flip flops -for James and the other Brits who might get confused.
** NZ reference to thongs* -Jesus' sandals = jandals
***I've probably got the word wrong, but they were saying 'look!'.
**** Teacher Nikky.
*****Cute.
******Doesn't really need a footnote explaining it, but it would have been lonely.
EDIT: of-off, tonenails-toenails, subject verb agreement. (See dad? I do spellcheck -
occassionally (can't for the life of me tell if that's the way to spell it...ever since i had it on a grammar/spelling test and looked at it for about 5 minutes - so begins the not so slow decline into illiteracy).
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