My Life as a Gaijin

Still Blogging Along....

2009-08-08T19:01:00.003+09:00

This poor blog has really been left by the wayside in the midst of the pregnancy and move back to Australia. I do hope to come back to this blog at some point, but in the meantime, I continue to blog over at Kimono Reincarnate.

The big news in these parts is that two and a half weeks ago, I gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl.

Nine Weeks and One Day

2009-01-17T16:07:00.004+09:00

In nine weeks and one day, I'm leaving Japan.

In nine weeks and two days, I'll no longer be a gaijin. Well not technically at least, I think once a gaijin, there's always a bit of gaijin-ness that stays with us.

In nine weeks and two days, you'll find me on the Cairns waterfront eating fish and chips, possibly following that with a lamington for dessert.

In nine weeks and three days, I'll be picking up the keys for our new townhouse in Brisbane.

I'm not sure when I'll get to Japan next, after those nine weeks and one day. And when I do, I'm not sure for how long it will be. I'm so very sad about leaving Japan, but very happy about moving home. I'm excited and terrified about starting a new life.

Only nine weeks and one day left.

Japanese Ten Month Pregnancies

2009-01-06T11:55:00.002+09:00

The first time I heard about ten month pregnancies, I was shocked and confused. I was talking to a student, incidentally, the same student that I had the "Cowfrog" conversation with. The student was quite heavily pregnant at the time.

"How many months along are you?" I asked.

"Nine months", she replied.

"Oh wow! So you could have the baby anytime now!"

"No, I still have a month to go."

"But you just said you were nine months pregnant....." I said to her with a confused expression.

"Yes, pregnancies are for ten months." She said, now returning my confused look.

"No.... they last for nine....."

"Really?? Japanese women are pregnant for ten months!"

At this point we both just agreed to be confused.

It does all make sense now. It's simply a matter of how you count.

So, in Japan, a pregnancy is considered to start at the beginning of the cycle, rather than from the actual conception date. This is how the English language pregnancy books and doctors count it as well. So that takes the gestation to 40 weeks. Divide that into LUNAR months, rather than calendar months and there you have it! Ten months!

This folks, concludes today's cultural and math lesson.

The Real Reason I Haven't Been Blogging of Late

2008-12-27T22:46:00.001+09:00

Do you want to know the truth? It has a lot to do with feeling very tired and quite sickly... you can find out all about it here.

Spelling Mistakes

2008-12-10T14:41:00.003+09:00

Today was the last lesson with the students attempting to write funny stories. I had one more to share with you, not because it was a good story, but rather for the way it changed with its spelling errors;

.... He was a shy boy. He couldn't say
elotic words like "sox" and "possy"....

Personally, I'm not too sure who'd be turned on by those words, maybe a homie with a foot fetish?

More Student Writing

2008-12-09T08:54:00.002+09:00

It's all starting to wind down for the calendar year here at school. Tests are finished, marked and returned. We know have two weeks of classes before the winter break. So much of the school year is spent teaching for tests, that these two weeks are a great chance to let the students have a bit of fun with the language.

In the junior high classes, we've started doing Christmas activities and we'll continue those into the second week. In the high school class, we're playing a game and then putting the students in pairs to write some stories. They're encouraged to write a piece with some humor. The paper they are given has some pictures that they have to use to inspire them or to tie into the narrative. One picture has a couple kissing. It usually brings out the funniest results.

I thought I'd share a couple with you (both written by boys and I haven't corrected the mistakes)...

Piece one;

There was a man whose name is Hiroshi.
There was a woman whose name is Tetsuko. He loved her and she loved
him. It was hot. It was terrible hot. It was hotter than any
other thing.

But there was a man whose name is
Smith. He was very cool. Here was more cold than cool. He was
getting closer and closer to the couple. The temperature turned
down. It was colder than any other thing.

Piece two;

They are crossing their tongues. A man takes
off his wears.... It was exciting play.

Really, it doesn't take much to excite boys does it?

A list - about me

2008-12-03T12:10:00.003+09:00

A fun little list of things I have and haven't done. If it's in bold, I have, if it's not, I haven't.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited The Great Barrier Reef.
5. Stood under the stars in the outback, the real outback – think Uluru.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to the Gold Coast’s theme parks – anyone, you take your pick.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sung a solo.
11. Bungee jumped, jumped out of plane, been paragliding or hang-gliding, hot air ballooning – you get the idea, you’ve been hundreds of metres about earth in a seemingly flimsy contraption.
12. Visited Melbourne.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Had a child. Raised a child. Worked with children. (only worked with for me so far)
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Been to the Snowy Mountains. (I’d say climbed Uluru, but the Aboriginal custodians would prefer you didn’t.)
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Visited the Brett Whitely studio in Surry Hills, Sydney.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Been backpacking.
23. Taken a mental health day.
24. Been buried in sand with just your head and toes sticking out.
25. Held a possum, kangaroo or koala – or any other native Australian animal.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Been in a fun run.
28. Been on the Blue Mountain cableway.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Played, or watched, summer cricket.
32. Sailed, kayaked or canoed our beautiful waterways.
33. Seen the Daintree.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Visited an Aboriginal settlement or mission.
36. Learned a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Toured the Sydney Opera House.
39. Tried rock climbing (indoor or outdoor), abseiling or just simple bushwalking.
40. Visit Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art.
41. Been to the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
42. Sunbaked at Bondi.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Broome.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone fishing.
49. Seen Tasmania’s old growth forests.
50. Been to the top of Q1, on the Gold Coast.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Driven the Great Ocean Road.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Norfolk Island.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Guide biscuits.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone jet boating.
66. Visited Port Arthur.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Australian War Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Federation Square.
74. Been on the Murray River.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Travelled, or climbed, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (travelled, would love to climb it one day)
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Katoomba.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited St Mary’s Cathedral, in Sydney.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Been to Hermannsburg.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited Parliament House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Saved a pet.
95. Been to the site of the Eureka Stockade.
96. Swum in The Whitsundays.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a mobile phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

This is an Australian version put together my Katie. There's also the original American version going around. Join in, it's fun, quick and easy.

Something to Blog About - by the absent blogger

2008-11-18T16:11:00.003+09:00

I'm so terribly sorry for my blog absence of late, both in writing and visiting other blogs. It's one of those things, every morning I would tell myself that I would blog that day, and then either the day would run away from me or I'd get the chance and found I had nothing to say.

Nothing to worry about, it just seems that my headspace has been elsewhere. Since I blogged last, I've been a little unwell, nothing serious, nothing that won't pass, but it's just been zapping my energy. My focus has also started turning toward the move back to Australia next year.

I have been managing to write on my other blog from time to time.

Again, apologies to everyone and I'm very sorry that some of you were worried.

Anyway - I finally have something to blog about! Today, I ran into a student that I taught last year. She's the author of the very funny Love Triangle story. She had a new piece for me, all decorated with pictures of the animals she associates myself and fellow teachers as; me - a frog (I had a croaky voice for a while), Sam - a dog, my husband (not a teacher here but she met him recently) - a bunny rabbit, Adrianne - a piranha and Sean (the new teacher in town) - a teddy bear.

The message goes like this (please take it with a super-sized grain of salt);

"My teacher is Sean now. He is as good
as you. Do you remember me? Of course you do!! You like
me. Sean is very warm-hearted. We like him very much. But he
is a mystery man. My friend's name is NS. NS really turns Sean
on..... (OK, I have to butt in here - I think that she meant to say that Sean
turns NS on, there's nothing suspicious about Sean's behaviour, now back to the message....)... Sean is a lady-killer. NS is
a knockout. But Sean seems to like Melanie. NS says "I can't handle
a man like Sean". I saw Sean and Sam walking close. Sean is trying
to make a pass at Sam. NS said "Look at me!!" She can't live without
him. Don't tell anyone. That is about all I know. It was a
slip of the tongue. Trust me. Love is blind. I'll never let
you down. You're so sympathetic. I respect you. Are you
impressed me? NS said "I wish I had never met him. He has beautiful
eyes. I want to know all about him. I think of him day and
night. There will never be another him. Smooch!!" But NS isn't
Sean's class. I'm surprised. But NS is a good student. I like
Melanie and your husband."

Ahh.. how I miss teaching her class.

The Sweetest Pocky

2008-10-14T20:49:00.002+09:00

My day hadn't started well. It had me feeling sad and full of regret. I needed a good dose of quiet and calm to know where and how to step next.

I was in Kyoto at the time so headed off for Ohara, in the Kyoto hinterlands. Getting on the bus, I was happy to have gotten the last seat for the hour long ride. After a couple of stops, three sweet old ladies hopped on. I have to confess, I did consider staying in my seat, my feet sore from two days of walking. Instead, I got up and offered my treasured spot to one of the women. After a short protest, she gladly took it.

The bus was crowded but I was lucky enough to have a good view out the window. I watched the landscape change from bustling city centre, to city outskirts, to rural towns to the wooded mountains.

When we finally arrived at our destination, the lovely old lady who had accepted my seat rummaged through her bag. She produced a box of Pocky, a Japanese snack of chocolate coated biscuit sticks. She handed it to me, telling me it was to thank me for the seat. I was so touched and the gesture really made my day. Pocky has never tasted so sweet.

Going Bananas

2008-10-03T11:18:00.003+09:00

For a long time now, I've always eaten a banana with breakfast. While I wouldn't claim it to be my favourite fruit, it's high up there. It's convenient (no washing or cutting); unlike most fruit, it's filling; it's tasty; it's one of the few fruits I'm not allergic to and it's a fruit I can buy cheaply, all year round in Japan. Until now.

A couple of weeks ago, they disappeared from the supermarkets. Why? It all has to do with a fad banana diet. A friend of mine watched the TV show that tested the diet and the ironic thing is, it didn't even work for the woman trying it out. And yet it seems like the nation is eager to get on it.

Last weekend Wayne happened to be at the supermarket at opening time. He went straight for the bananas. He and everyone else. He ended up walking away for a while, surprised at the rush. After picking up the other things we needed, he went back. Then the crowd around the banana shelves had thinned but was still four people deep and he had to fight to get us a bunch.

I wish everyone would get over this latest fad. I want my morning banana again!

Photo by -eko-

Teaching Position Vacant at my School

2008-09-13T10:24:00.003+09:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are looking for a native English speaking teacher for an immediate start at my school. The school is in Aichi, just outside Nagoya.

I've written a bit about my school and the students on this blog, and you can get an idea of the position in this post, scroll down to the paragraph that starts "My second job in Japan..."

If you're interested please email Trevor Wilson at wilsont411(at)hotmail(dot)com. Make sure you put something like "Job application" in the subject line. Please don't send any applications to myself or through this blog.

*** Update - the position has been filled ***

Earthquake Day

2008-09-11T10:30:00.004+09:00

For a while, there has been talk of a large earthquake predicted in the area of Japan where I live, Tokai. My students were very serious when they told me that thousands of people would die and that buildings would be destroyed. It's referred to as the "Tokai Dai Jishin".

Well, some psychic has predicted that it will happen this coming Saturday. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought that people would give much credence to the report.

I was wrong.

I've heard a few people talking about concerns for their plans for that day because "the earthquake will happen." I've even heard of a dance class that was cancelled purely because of the earthquake prediction.

Personally, I don't believe it will happen, but just to be on the safe side, cross your fingers for me.

Once More With Feeling

2008-09-10T14:39:00.002+09:00

Summer holidays just flew by and I'm now back at school. Even though a lifetime of holidays would be wonderful, it is good to be back at school. I love how much the kids make me laugh.

This week in the high school classes, they are learning how to give advice for different health problems. We're really trying to encourage them to put lots of emotion into the conversation they are learning and to ham it up with gestures.

Last year, I taught the same lesson to my Domestic Violence class. In one group, a boy wasn't doing the gestures. His partner decided to help him feel the part. He swiftly, punched him in the head, and then with innocent eyes asked "What's wrong?" As the partner rubbed his forehead, he answered with the phrase on his worksheet "I have a headache."

That's one way to get your partner to do what the teacher asks.

Fine Dining

2008-08-30T20:46:00.004+09:00

By day, a taped up cart. By night, a noodle restaurant complete with milk cart seating. Shot in Tokyo.

Bento Art

2008-08-25T22:29:00.003+09:00

1. goose bento 2, 2. mock lobster, 3. Bento 5506, 4. MomoCon Bento 2, 5. Smiley bento, 6. Hello Kitty Bento Box, 7. my-melo' soboro- bento♥, 8. Detail of Geisha bento, 9. 070828-Bento

And to think, my poor kids will just be getting sent to school with a Vegemite sandwich and a piece of fruit...

Summer Comes To Me

2008-08-13T20:52:00.003+09:00

I have to confess something. I've boycotted summer this year. That's right, I'm not having anything to do with it, I'm pretending it doesn't exist. I do have an excuse though, with the health stuff that's going on at the moment, a few hours in the heat leaves me wiped out and in bed for days. I'm far happier (and healthier) if I stay inside air conditioning.

It does mean however that I'm missing out on all the fun summer festivals. Tonight I would have gone to the Seki Fireworks Display and tomorrow to a Bon Odori dance.

Luckily, I have been to both before, so I don't feel like I'm missing out too much.

Today, in I was on my computer in air conditioned comfort when I heard a funny little noise. A cicada had come to visit and remind me of the summer outside. It serenaded me for a while, before it flew away to partake in the summer fun on my behalf.

The Legend of the Cowfrog

2008-08-11T21:54:00.002+09:00

When I first came to Japan I was teaching in a few different schools for the same company. Every Tuesday, I would catch the train for an hour to get to the head office for classes there. I finished at 9.30pm and would walk home in the dark to the train station.

Just before the station was a small river. Often at night, I would hear a sound like that of a cow moo-ing. I found this quite strange as during the day I never saw any cows or any places a cow might be nearby, but yet the sound was very much like a cow.

That year I had a student who was a special ed. teacher. She was telling me a story of how she'd taken her students out to catch tadpoles. These weren't your normal size tadpoles, but actually rather large. She told me that they were the babies of an "ushi kaeru". Ushi kaeru she told me made a sound much like a cow.

Wow! I thought as I translated the animal name "ushi" = cow "kaeru" = frog. In Japan they have an amphibian called a "cowfrog". That's what I'd been hearing on these dark nights.

For about a year, whenever I heard the sound as I crossed over the river I thought of this mythical like creature, the "cowfrog". I imagined it the size of a cat, with tadpoles the size of mice. What an amazing country this is to have a "cowfrog".

Fast forward to a night much later at a karaoki bar to me singing the Three Dog Night song "Joy to the World".

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog..."

Hang on a second - "ushi" = cow, "ushi" also = bull....

In Japan, they have BULLFROGS!

Ahh... I much preferred my cowfrog image.

No wonder I'm feeling the heat - I forgot to eat eel!

2008-08-11T01:13:00.002+09:00

This year, I missed the Japanese national eel eating day, doyo ushinohi うなぎ土用丑の日. Every year, in the middle of summer, there is a traditional day to eat eel. It is believed to help people who suffer from summer fatigue. This year, doyo ushinohi fell on July 24th.

It's interesting how this tradition came about. An owner of an eel restaurant was complaining to his doctor friend about slow business. The friend suggested that he tell people that eating eel in summer helps you fight the heat. The marketing ploy worked and so the tradition was born.

Eel is one of my favourite Japanese dishes. The city I first lived in when I came to Japan is quite famous for their delicious eel and there it is cooked a little differently I'm told (it seems a little crunchier than other places). The small city has something like seven eel restaurants, and that's all they serve - eel on rice, the same dish but in different sizes.

The dish of eel comes with pickles and a clear soup called o-suimono. This soup is also one of my favourites, lovely and refreshing in summer. One time I was drinking the soup at the eel restaurant and found a mushroom at the bottom. Being a lover of mushrooms, I snatched it up and started chewing. "Mmm... that's a funny tasting mushroom" I remarked to my friend. She laughed and refused to tell me why until I'd finished eating it. It was actually eel liver.

So I missed the official eel eating day this year, but I think this week, I'm going to have to get me some.

Photo by Conveyor Belt Sushi

Another Japanese Sound

2008-08-01T17:56:00.002+09:00

I love the sound of pre-dusk on a sunny day. The sound of futons being beaten. The way the sound bounces off buildings and echoes. The way a number of women will be beating futons at the same time, it sounds like some sort of percussion jamming session.

Sitting at home and hearing that, I know it's been a lovely sunny day.

Teaching In Japan, My Experience

2008-07-30T11:56:00.004+09:00

I regularly get asked about teaching in Japan, so I thought it was about time I wrote a post about it. I won't really go too much into the wheres and hows as there is a fair bit of detailed information out there on that. Some helpful links to start with for that are;

Teaching In Japan

Japan Guide

Secrets On Teaching In Japan

I first came to Japan to teach in 1999. Actually, I first came to Japan in 1999. I had applied for a job from a newspaper advertisement in my local paper for a small conversation school. Before I knew it, I was on a plane heading for a country I knew not a lot about, could hardly speak the language and knew no-one there. Before I left people were telling me how brave I was, but it wasn't until I stepped on that plane that I felt the fear.

For the most part, I loved the teaching side of working in the conversation school. The school I worked in, as long as I used the text book for a large part of the lesson and followed some other curriculum, I had a lot of freedom. I taught students from two years old to those in their seventies. I taught group and company classes and private lessons.

In our school, unlike many others around, we were not only allowed, but actually encouraged to socialise with the students outside of class. I formed many friendships with my students and one of my first students remains one of my closest friends to this day.

Working in the conversation school was hard though. I worked six days a week, each day with a different schedule. Somedays, I would teach six classes (averaging an hour each) back-to-back, not finishing until 9.30pm by which time I was exhausted and starving. At different times of the year, on top of the schedule we were also obligated to work to teach "free lessons", sample lessons for potential students and that was unpaid on our day off. We only got paid for our classroom hours and not our lesson planning time. I was also expected to travel to different schools, sometime between lessons, that time wasn't paid for either. Personally, I found that job useful as an introduction to working in Japan, but wouldn't want to have done it for much more than the three years I was there.

Mind you, the different conversation schools can really vary in style and rules, so it's important that you find out their system before deciding whether to sign up with them or not.

My second job in Japan, the one that I'm in currently, is very different. I work in a private combined junior and senior high school. I found out about this job through word-of-mouth. The other teachers that started at the same time as me, applied for the position from a job advertisement on-line.

Unlike many of the public school jobs, I'm not an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). I have my own classes, plan my own lessons and create the tests. I work with three other native English-speaking teachers. I have to say, I love this job. I'm blessed to be at a high-level academic school, so the students are smart and for the most part, eager to learn. The students are mostly very friendly and will say hello when you see them outside of class, some will even call out "I love you!" In class, I find the junior high students very eager to answer questions, the older students sometimes more reluctant to do so. Right from the first class, we try to instill on the students that our lessons are not going to be like a normal Japanese class so this helps a lot.

Of course, like any job, there are good days, and bad days. The school has a very good reputation (to the point that when people find out I work at this school, they suddenly act like I'm someone important), but with that comes a rather rigid way of thinking and doing things and that can take a little getting used to.

In this job, I work from 8.15am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays. Each day, I teach an average of three classes (65 minutes each) and the rest of the time is spent doing some marking, lesson planning and administration, with admittedly, a nice amount of free time. I get school holidays off, which amounts to quite a lot over the year.

Somethings are quite different in schools in Japan. For example;

At my school, the students are usually there from before 8.30am to 6pm. They have classes every second Saturday and often on holidays.
At Japanese schools, there isn't a cleaner. The students (and many of the teachers) clean the classrooms, hallways, bathrooms and gardens. I believe this practice has roots in Buddhist teachings.
In Japanese schools, the students stay in their classroom and the teachers move around for lessons.
Most Japanese schools are very strict about hair colour. Students are not allowed to lighten or colour their hair.
One reason why the students are at school so late is because they often have "club activities". The clubs can be anything from sports teams (baseball, handball and soccer are very popular at my school and taken very seriously), to creative clubs (photography, art, brass band), to something more academic (like the astronomy and nature science clubs).
All of the students were slippers at school. When they arrive in the morning, they put their "outdoor shoes" into their shoe locker and change into regulation slippers. The teachers also wear "indoor shoes", but this can be anything from slippers to high heels (that's what I wear), just as long as they are deemed for in-school wear only.
Foreign teachers can only work at the school for a maximum of three years.
The Japanese school year starts in April and finishes in March.

Admittedly, jobs like mine are a lot harder to find and may not be offered to first-timers. I should mention that I have a Bachelor degree and post-graduate studies in Applied Linguistics, which I'm sure didn't hurt when applying for the position. I have also taught English to foreign students in a number of private schools in Australia.

My husband works in the public school system and also enjoys his job. It's quite different to mine. He is an ALT and works at three different junior high schools on a rotating schedule in the one city. He doesn't have the same planning to do, but also doesn't get to teach a class on his own often. Somedays, he feels a bit like a walking tape recorder and his schedule will differ each day. This is his first time to Japan and his first job teaching English. Had we decided to stay longer he may have been able to get a job at the school where I work now once I finished my three years.

On my blogroll there are many other people who live in Japan, but not all of them talk about teaching here. Some good ones that do are;

Present Simple writes some hilarious accounts of teaching her university students.

The Monster Flower sometimes talks about teaching private students.

If you have an interest in Japan and Japanese culture, teaching is something that I would recommend, even if teaching isn't your be-all-and-end-all. I have used my time to build a business that I will take back to Australia as well as creative inspiration and travel time. My husband has spent some of his free time learning a martial art, Iaido, that would have been difficult to do in Australia. It is no longer a place that you come to make lots of money, those days are over.

So that's all that I can think about writing for now. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. I'd also love to hear other people's experiences of teaching here, either in the comments or as a blog post that I can add as a link to this.

How to Study Japanese

2008-07-29T13:19:00.001+09:00

Got some spare time over summer holidays? Need to brush up on your Japanese? Well here's a unique way. Personally I love the advice they give you in this video, "It's no use trying to understand their meanings, you just have to memorise them."

Seeing a Doctor in Japan

2008-07-23T20:15:00.002+09:00

In Japan, you don't make an appointment with a doctor. Instead, you turn up during opening hours and wait. On a good day in a small clinic, the wait may be ten to fifteen minutes. On a not so good one, it can be hours.

Today, I went to see a specialist in Tokyo. While it was only a 15 minute consultation, it became a three day trip. There was a particular doctor I really wanted to see. The hospital where she works opens at six am. The doctors don't start seeing patients at six am, that happens at nine. At six am, the line up begins. A bit like camping out for a new iphone or concert tickets.

Being too early in the morning to leave from Nagoya on the day, I came to Tokyo a day early. Not wanting to check out of the hotel in the early hours of the morning, I stayed an extra night. That's how one short doctor's visit became a three day trip.

As I was already here yesterday, I did a trial run at the hospital. I made sure I knew exactly where it was, how to get there and what to do once I was there in the morning. For about ten minutes due to a small language misunderstanding on my part, I was told that I couldn't come when I had planned. I tried really hard to hold back tears until it was sorted out. At the trial run, I was told that I could wait until eight am to come, but luckily I went at seven instead, as I got ahead on the queue. By the time the doctors began at nine, the ticket machine counted over 120 patients.

With that many patients, their system really does need to be highly organised, to the point that you feel like you're on a conveyor belt. The process today was this;

Got a patient number from the ticket machine.
Lined up to get a new patients forms.
Filled in the forms and handed them in.
Waited in a big waiting room to be given my hospital card.
Got my hospital card and was sent to the second floor.
Waited in a another big waiting room until my number was called.
Waited in a smaller waiting room until my number was called again.
Saw the doctor for about 15 minutes, which by Japanese standards is very generous.
Was sent back to wait in the big waiting room.
Was shown to another small waiting room.
Had another quick test.
Went to a different big waiting room until my number came up on the board.
When my number came up, paid at an automatic payment machine, much like one you'd find at a car park.
Went back to the big waiting room for my number to flash on another screen.
When my number came up again, went to a window where I was given my prescription.

Was in at seven, out by ten. Had a lovely understanding doctor who was most helpful. Not too bad.

Guess Who Was Interviewed By The Japan Times...

2008-07-22T21:24:00.002+09:00

Me!

You can read the interview here.

Mmm.. now I really feel like I should do some blogging.

Transration

2008-07-21T16:28:00.001+09:00

Found today on the back of a packet of self-sealing cellophane bags;

"When those where the tip becomes pointed are inserted being to be a possibility of tearing note."

Can anyone explain?

Japanese Sights

2008-07-17T08:29:00.003+09:00

What I saw while riding to school this morning.

A Buddhist priest dressed in all his finery, probably on his way to perform a ceremony, riding a scooter with a wooden box placed on his lap.

You've gotta love some of the things you see in Japan.