It’s
summer. Strange to think that this is my third summer here. The first
was busy as anything, being full of orientation and whatnot, things
like getting phones and arranging bank accounts. Last year was a lot
quieter. I remember sitting around in the staffroom in a t-shirt and
shorts (‘cos in summer, you can pretty much wear what you want most
of the time) with very little to do. This year’s a funny sort of
mix. I’m busy, but maybe not THAT busy.
Let’s
see. Steph and I fly home on Saturday, a prospect I’m not looking
forward to. Not the being home bit, I can’t wait for that. But the
going home, that’s not gonna be a good time. Still, Wheel of Time’s
picked up from the thick treacle that was books nine and ten, so
maybe I can just marathon it for twelve hours. Wonder what kind of
films they’ll have? Being home will be great, it’s always much
easier to relax and unwind in Leicester than Kobe, but it won’t be
just two weeks of sitting around. No, we’ve got a wedding to plan!
The first week will be spent meeting photographers, visiting
reception halls and having a long, serious talk with the minister at
church. Then it’s off to London to get Steph authorized for British
matrimony or whatever kind of bureaucratic nonsense they name it, and
back again for wedding suits and stuff. Still need to pick a best man
for that.
Oh,
yeah. Then there’s the save the date video. Nearly done, but it’s
been a real uphill struggle. Some of our UK time will be spent
filming for that, I reckon. Which leaves me exceedingly little time,
I reckon, to chill. I suppose that’s fine. I suppose knowing
there’s going to be a wedding at the end of it helps. But it sure
is starting to feel like my peaceful days are over. After this
there’ll only be something else. Honeymoons or mortgages or
something. Urgh.
I
guess the heat doesn’t help. Kobe is so humid it’s easy to feel
like you’re drowning. Every morning it’s a huge struggle to just
clamber out the front door, and the only air conditioning I get in a
working day is on the bus. Very unpleasant. I hear that Japanese
meteorologists are saying that this year’s rainy season was too
short, so we’re gonna get a really nasty hot streak until late
October. Compared to that, any amount of time in Britain, even if
it’s all spent on my feet arranging this one event, is welcome.
Lots
of goodbyes this month. Kobe JET is getting a bit slaughtered this
year, with some real amazing folk returning home or just moving
elsewhere in the country. Lots of parties, I suppose is the upside to
that. This year’s farewell event was excellent, a fitting sending
off to all the JETs leaving this year. I guess the upshot of that is
that we’ll be receiving a whole bunch of newcomers to make up the
numbers. That’ll be interesting. Rumour has it that JET is hiring
more experienced Japanese speakers than before, including some who
speak it at a near-native level. The times they are a-changing, I
guess. I can understand, based off the sort of reception I got when
it became apparent I spoke Japanese. The teachers here make no
attempt to hide the fact that their lives are made considerably
easier by my language ability. I wonder how many of them have
teaching experience? I’m told by some of the ex-teachers on JET
that English teaching here is incomparable to elsewhere, so maybe
they won’t be aiming for people with experience. Or maybe I’m
wrong about that.
There’s
not a great deal to talk about, to be quite honest with you. Life
goes on, and the end of the first semester isn’t a really big deal.
Been having a lot of meetings about Summer School, which is gearing
up to be really great. A friend and I will be running one of the
activities for the kids, which isn’t a massive job but still
requires pre-planning and whatnot. Also I’ll be giving a
presentation at the preceding Job Training event, which is pretty
much the same. Lots of meetings, then. Also had what they call a
‘delivery service’ yesterday, where some of us went off to an
elementary school up in Sanda City to help the teachers there plan
English classes. It was a good day, I thought, and the staff there
were ace. Also managed to meet a couple of my old ES teachers there,
too, which was great.
I
do love games. This week I’ve been playing Civilization 5, picked
up in the Steam sale, which is really great. I had a lot of issues
with 4, but they’re all gone in 5. I like being Celtic. All that
faith! Also there’s Torchlight, which was free to buy about a month
ago. Bought Torchlight 2 recently, so I really have to press on and
finish the first one so I can get around to starting the second. Fun
game. A little repetitive, but certainly exciting in a sort of
Diablo-y, Borderlands-y, loot-y way. Looking forward to trying 2 out
in multiplayer, maybe over the summer. And then there’s Cube World,
which is in alpha and not really a deep game yet, but is still a lot
of fun. I’m an undead warrior who rides an alpaca. What more can I
say?
There’s
still a ton of talk about Pokémon, though. Just a few more months
until X and Y, and it’s becoming a real struggle to avoid news
about new features so I’ll be surprised on release. And I DO want
to be surprised. It’s probably a good thing that I won’t be able
to make it to the Pokémon convention in Tokyo near the end of
summer. It’s all I can do to stop myself immediately planning out
my teams.
Steph
and I are thinking of getting new phones this summer. Our iPhone
contracts end at the end of next month, if I remember right, and
we’re both thinking like maybe it’s time to move on from
Softbank. The deal was great, and the phones were immensely useful,
especially for our opening few weeks. But the phones are getting old
now, and it’s looking like it’ll almost be cheaper to get
something else than have to constantly get our old relics repaired. A
friend of ours recommended a full reset before making any big
decisions, which is a fine idea, but I would so like an Android. And
a phone company that isn’t often a bit iffy with foreigners,
despite having a foreigner as one of their store mascots. Have an
excuse to visit au as well, what with my overseas landline debts to
pay off. That’s what you get for picking an airline that’s based
in another country, and sees fit to change your itinerary once a
month and demand that you call them (not email, never email) to
confirm the changes. Doesn’t help that the bills got sandwiched
between some ignored junk mail for several weeks, meaning I now have
to pay some late fees as well. Regrettable, but not the worst thing
to happen. One of the good things about watching Game of Thrones is
being able to say, ‘at least we won’t be having THAT wedding’.
Think
I’m about done. Short one today, eh! Took me thirty minutes to
write, apparently. Still gives me time to advance Polynesia to the
Medieval era before dinner, if I play my cards right.
Thanks
for reading.
