Herusu Chekku!

Yesterday I was forced to get my first physical since I was like 8 years old, literally. Well, I guess I got a half-assed one before coming here, but still. Anyway, Japanese people are crazy about check-ups and teachers are forced to get one every year, which is good in theory, but I don’t like doctors!

Now in the States if we had to get a physical, we’d have to make an appointment with our doctor, wait for an hour in the waiting room, then wait for another half hour in the whatsit…um. What do you call the little room in the doctor’s office? Anyway, in that room! And you’d have to pay for it, too.

However, thanks to Japanese efficiency (I had forgotten it existed!) and socialized medicine, it took about 5 times longer to bike to the health center and back than the actual physical! It was seriously over in 10 minutes, and it was free! Clazy!

The Nitta Health Center had 2 days set aside for teachers getting physicals, so I biked down there (sweating my ass off, mmm!) and mentally prepared myself to sit and be bored. Man, was I surprised!

First I turned in my paperwork and they immediately directed me to the X-Ray wagon outside?! Um, wtf! It was like a blood drive trailer thing, but for X-Rays. Oh, Japanese people are obsessed with TB because we are in ghetto Asia, so we have to get cancer-causing pointless X-Rays every year. Not only this, but THEY DON’T GIVE YOU ANY LEAD SHIT TO COVER YOU UP. Good thing I don’t want kids ‘cause Jeff is officially sterile now! Also, the lady who takes the X-Ray wasn’t covered in any way either?! Um, NOT SAFE!

After changing my genetic code and turning into a mutant from no lead protection, I was immediately directed to the scale that weighed me and, without my knowledge, had this robotic thing that hit my head to measure me. I totally wasn’t standing up straight AND it freaked the shit out of me when it hit my head! Oh, well. Next they tested my eyes, then directed me to the next booth (these were all at tables with various people in charge of each thing, with NO WAITS at any of them! It was like a health check carnival!) where I was mysteriously given a paper cup and told something in Japanese. I wasn’t sure what he said (believe it or not, I hadn’t learned the word for “urine analysis”), but figured I knew where he was going….but why a paper cup?! That is rather ghetto. Anyway, he was like, “Er, go to the toilet.” Haha. Gross!!! Everyone came out of the bathrooms with paper cups full of urine in their hands! Nastay!

God knows what they did to my pee, then I was directed to the hearing booth and then I was done! I never had to wait for ANYTHING and I didn’t even have to get naked! My kind of physical, yo. Although really not very thorough, now that I think about it, as they didn’t check me at all. Like, shouldn’t they check my ears and throat and stuff? Eh, I don’t care!

Bellybuttons, Matsuris, and Goodbyes

This weekend was matsuri-filled, as Cindy and I met up with other ALTs at the Shibukawa’s Heso Matsuri on Saturday. Shibukawa claims to be the “bellybutton of Japan,” as it thinks it is the center of Japan, geographically. However, it is not the only city that claims this. *shrug* Anyway, because of this, they have the bellybutton festival every year, which is much more fun than normal matsuris! Everyone involved in the parade goes around shirtless (well, the guys) with painted faces on their chests, showing off their bellybuttons. It was really funny….I will have to post pics once I steal them from Shinders.

Cindy and I are already sick of matsuri food (they are ALL the same), so we were American rebels and had our semi-annual McDonald’s fix, which was sadly quite yummy.

At the end of the night, we had to say goodbye to Anna and Jocelyn, as they are leaving this week. EVERYONE is leaving this week! I hate JET, it is not nice to make all of one’s friends leave in the same week! Hrmph!!!

On Sunday I went to the Ota matsuri with Cindy, which was HUGE (for Ota) and ghetto! It was like a normal matsuri, but then they had to trash it up to show Ota culture. There was a random bicycle trick thingy? Like, people on bikes going over bumps and thinking they’re cool. I don’t remember what you call it in English. And there was also some AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL improv rap going on. Oy. And these weird ‘50’s greaser-wannabes “dancing” in the streets? It was too strange to describe. I guess that’s what happens when your matsuri is on the hostess bar strip!

It was fun to go to the matsuri, tho, as I saw 2 3nensei couples holding hands (!!!) that I didn’t know were couples! Ooooo, yay gossip! Cindy has also apparently changed from being my girlfriend to my fiancée, according to my 2nensei! I wasn’t aware of this, were you, Cindy? Does this mean we get presents?

That night we went to Gen to have a goodbye dinner for some of the ALTs….meh!

On Monday we had to say goodbye to Jenny, which was not fun at all!!!! It didn’t really feel like goodbye, but it was sad anyway. I think it will hit me later! I also said goodbye to Sean, but he is touring Southeast Asia and coming back for a couple days at the end of August, so I’ll be able to see him again. Still, it won’t be the same! Mehhhhhhhhhhhh!

So yes, many goodbyes going on right now…..then soon enough we’ll all be meeting the new JETs! I’m excited for that, but I’d rather have my friends NOT LEAVE!

Pointless Pointless Pointless!

While I am glad that it is summer vacation, the days of being a pointless ALT have begun! Friday I biked my ass through an hour of rain to the BOE to waste time until the mysterious shougakkou ALT meeting in the afternoon. It was only me, Cindy, Tom and Robert there, and we were bored out of our minds within minutes! Never a good sign. The meeting was at 3, so we went for a 2 1/2 hour lunch to waste time, when all of a sudden Cindy got a call from our advisor on her keitai. Um, that’s never good! Mr. Goino was like, “Where are you? Didn’t you hear that the time changed? PLEASE HURRY!” We then sort-of quickly walked (hehe) to the BOE, only to find that we weren’t having an orientation that afternoon, but we were teaching shougakkou teachers English for no apparent reason?! Sooooooooooooooo pointless! Cindy and I threw together a half-assed lesson very quickly and then taught it. It went okay. Thank god for back-up games!!!

On Monday we did the same thing (tho I was lazy and trained and taxi-ed to the BOE this time, muahahaha) and it went even better. It was obvious that no one wanted to be there, so we pretty much just wasted time with games. As if shougakkou teachers have a burning desire to learn English for no reason during the summer! At least we were able to escape an hour early and “go back to school.”

Tuesday was the best day of the summer so far, as we attended a 90-minute meeting at Ota City Hall about our upcoming UNESCO English Camp. After that we “went back to school”….which is code for going to AEON and going shopping all day long! Hahahaha. We shopped at AEON for a while, then Genki Sushi-ed it up (sushi lunch for 5 bucks, yeeea!), then I spent far too much money on clothes at Uniqlo. However, it has been forever since I bought new clothes, so that is kind of justifiable….sorta. Yes, a very busy and difficult day being an ALT!

Today is my first day at school with no one to talk to, so there may be a significant increasing in blogging during these days! Stupid fake summer vacation!