Random musings

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Yesterday I got bit by mosquitoes....a lot. I have two huge bites on one leg and I have no idea how they bit me! I was wearing pants all day yesterday. I think they got me here at school under my desk. Mosquitoes here are different too, they are bigger I think and look more deadly. I'm trying really hard not to scratch, but it's hard! It is also possible that there is a mosquito in my apartment because I think I got a new bite this morning!

I got a bike over the weekend for only ￥3000 plus I paid ￥600 to register it with the police and ￥1200 to get the back tire fixed. Total, that's not too bad. It is a second hand bike, but it works fine now and has a basket! I went shopping for it with Shery, who is a CIR (Coordinator for International Relations) and is also a JET and she actually knows Japanese so she was able to help me ask about the bike, etc. Amy also came with us. Amy is a second year ALT and we both work for the Tottori-shi BOE. We biked over to the shoe store and the electronics store and also ate at Mos Burger. It's a fast food chain here and it's really good! I just had the regular Mos Burger, but I want to try the other kinds like shrimp.

Later that night we went to Viva Shiva, a curry place that a former JET now runs. The food is actually spicy unlike Japanese style curry. It was a little expensive, but the food was good so it was ok. A bunch of us are actually going there again tonight. My apartment is just two blocks away from it so I don't mind at all when people want to go there to eat cause I have the shortest walk home out of everyone.

More randomness...at school all the teachers brush their teeth after lunch. This took me by surprise yesterday so I went to the ￥100 shop and got myself a toothbrush in a case with a little toothpaste thing cause I didn't want to be the odd one out. It's probably a good idea, now we're all so fresh and so clean after lunch.

Speaking of lunch...school lunch here so far isn't too bad. You get a little square tin of rice, meat (fish or something else), vegetables, soup, and milk. That seems to be the standard. The students and teachers also eat very fast. Of course you have to bring your own set of chopsticks. I use the holder that my predecessor left for me. Lunch always makes me full, but usually by the time I get home which is around 4:30-5pm I'm pretty hungry again. Yesterday I just chugged water because I just felt so dehydrated and that filled me up so I didn't feel like eating a lot for dinner.

That's another difference...people here don't seem to drink very much fluids. I remember at the Student Activities Office how we went through so much water and a lot of people had water bottles. Here that is not the case. There is a lady who comes in everyday around 10:30am and brings drinks that we can buy. I call her the Yakult lady because that is the main brand she sells. It's expensive though cause we're probably paying for her gas to get here and stuff. I mean thank goodness for her because my school is in the ｍiddle of rice fields and small roads. You can't even walk to a convenience store around here. Once my mom sends me a Nalgene though, I will be bringing water everyday.

Some common things I hear people say everyday:
"Atsui des ne?" or just "Atsui!" - the latter is provided by Taguchi-sensei who at one point just sat there saying "Atsui!" every 10 seconds, which means "It's hot!"

"so,so, so" "hai, hai, hai" - something my supervisor says a lot but also some of the teachers do the same thing.

Cleaning time is almost here! There is no recess, but there's cleaning time! Yesterday I swept the hallway...today...I'll sweep another hallway.

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Comments

[Aria]

o.o
eeeeww I hate mosquitoes!!!!!!! >.< But I loved the rest of the entry :D They must have really nice white teeth after all that brushing, and no bad breath! yey! (may be this would not be a such a bad habbit to have here in US too) And thats silly that they drink little fluids while complaining that its "Aitsui" in there. And how dare they make teachers sweep floors D< lol.