Exciting Exciting Wednesday

This morning started with a nice ‘bout of sleeping in. I freaked myself out by thinking I might have class at 10, but I did not. Instead, as I returned to the bedroom, I found a huge water stain on my wall.

It was at most 25cm wide, and at least 12cm wide. As water, the points varied. Oh, yes, it was over an electrical socket. So I called Jackie about it, who had someone come over to look at it. It was determined that it was not a threat (really, guys, but I’ll admit I called you so I wouldn’t have to pay for this damage) and it was caused by poor gutters filled with leaves. They’d call the department to see what could be done, but you know what? Nothing’s changed. I don’t even have a fan to use to air it out. (not like I’d use that outlet right now). (Also, if I die after this post, you all know why now. If a fire starts, it’s sadly at a place where I’ll have difficulties leaving the room. Love you all).

And then, the comforter… it hasn’t been cleaned. I found it, but it has strange stains and it smells like urine, and the person who lived here before me liked to drink a lot, and now I have to wash this comforter. I’m waiting for a sunny day. We won’t have one for a while. And in fact, we haven’t had one for a while.

So there was that in the morning. Then, I had to print off things for my class, and I needed 64 copies of what I thought would be originally 12 pages, front and back. With the formatting, it turned into 20 pages, and the printer would only print on one side. I ended up spending far more than I thought I would, out of my own pocket, and I still have 64 more to go. Maybe next time I can ask the lady at the print shop to help me do front and back, but we didn’t understand each other and she had to grab a student to help translate. That’s always a good sign, you know, not being able to communicate.

However, I went by myself. And I bought it by myself, no group to fall back on. And I knew it would be expensive. I did. Not quite that expensive, but it is done.

I came back with… 1300 pages of paper. I came back with 1300 pages of paper, in the rain. The lady wanted to tie it up, but the stack was too big. Too big. I told her don’t worry about it and stuffed it into my briefcase bag. That bag is magic, Japan. Thank you.

I then went to class, and at the end we watched music videos. I had them ask me questions for about 25 minutes after we watched the movie, but no one really wanted to ask, and no one was comfortable talking. So I kept prompting for questions, and I told them to keep the scripts (in case more questions arise), and I was afraid that if we moved forward the same amount of time would be taken. It was not, but I didn’t know it at the time. So I cut the questions, seemingly dead short and made up for it with music videos. It was not the best choice, but I explained it was just for fun. “Weapon of Choice” was a big hit. (It is also not as horrific as it sounds, it’s a man dancing by himself in a hotel, and that’s all the video is). But still, as I’m supposed to be the teacher, I feel frustrated that I couldn’t have waited longer for them to ask questions. I didn’t know, but it was an err on the side of caution, better to have time left over than to run out of time. I’ll get this down one day. I will.

Then I came back, and I wanted to ask if anyone had a fan. I headed over to Adam’s room (Adam is a different teacher), and he and Ann were playing twenty questions, a game Ann is having her conversation class play. Then we hung out in Adam’s room.

Ann had invited a student to dinner, so Shou Ben and I and Ann went with the student to dinner. It was a long dinner, and the student did not catch a lot we said, but she tried her best. Afterward we went to English corner, where a few teachers showed up afterward (they’d been drinking previously). We introduced ourselves, left, met someone practicing the speech from “The King’s Speech”, another guy looking for an English partner, and finally we retreated to our dorms. Luckily one teacher has been given a key, so we’re no longer locked out at 10:00pm….if we’re with the teacher. They won’t give the rest of us keys, though.

So yeah. Kinda an eventful day.

I am sleep now.