Last Tuesday was my last visit to a kindergarten that I visited for ECC Junior. I only went there for about 2 months, once a week, but the kids and teachers were so lovely that it was quite sad to finish.
Here are the 3-year-old classes I teach as one group.
Here are the 4-year-old class and the 5-year-old class.
Each of the three classes gave me a present - some drawings they had done (mostly of themselves with me) made into a poster or a booklet.
Hello everyone,
apologies for the lack of posts, we've been a bit busy as of late, not to mention sick. After high fiving one too many little germ factories (or children if you prefer) I was struck down with a particularly persistent snotty nose, which meant that breathing was no longer a boring automatic chore, but now an exciting game of life or death. Throw in a squiz of food poisoning, courtesy of our ever faithful red haired yellow tracksuited corporate food mascot, and you have the makings of a fun month or so.
It has now been over a year since Sally and I first came to Japan, and for those who haven't heard, we plan to stay for another, in an attempt to commit the wiggly serpent that is the Japanese language to memory. So if you were planning some kind of super awesome happy surprise party for me, then it will have to wait for a year or so.
In teaching related news, March brings with it the end of the Japanese school year, and so soon I'll be saying goodbye to some of my students for the last time (Although I'll still be teaching most of my favourite students next year, hurrah!) . As such, some of the kids have decided that discipline no longer applies to them, and even a MILLION POINT! super happy fun bonus shot won't persuade them to put down the cushion and stop trying to stab each other in the groin. I am now dangerously low on peppy morale boosters, but thankfully the level of sarcastic rejoinders in a language they don't understand is at an all time high.
I will, however, be tempted to shed a tear for one class that I won't be teaching next year, a near perfect mix of super genki/dorky boys and impeccably behaved girls, whose worst offence in the past year was to hug cookie monster well past the alloted time. They're a studious bunch as well: Why, one little chap, not happy with the standard chin chin! (dick!) insult, took it upon himself to learn the english word (rhymes with venus). Our penultimately lesson ended thusly: Satisfied parents talking about how happy they were with the class, only for the mischievous little scamp to blurt out THERE ARE ONE MILLION PENIS! as loud as possible (I had foolishly taught them the number one million). Thankfully his pronunciation needs a bit of work, and so he what he actually said rhymed with tennis. Crisis averted.
Today I went to a Japanese doctor for the first time. I'm not really one for seeing the doctor every time I have a cold. I guess in Australia the doctor usually just told me to take some aspirin and rest. But in Japan the doctors seem to love their medicines - including cold medicines delivered by drip. Anyway, I've managed to stick to the Australian way and just wait my colds out so far.,
But I had another need for the doctor and that was to get more contraceptive pill. I asked a friend if she knew any English speaking doctors, but the best she could recommend to me had "average" English ability, so I thought I'd get some advice from the Nagoya International Centre. The woman there wanted to know what kind of doctor I needed to see. I said a GP (general practitioner), so she looked in her folder of information and asked "internal medicine?". At this point I realised that the systems in Japan and Australia might be quite different, so I told her that I needed to get the contraceptive pill (she didn't know this word, so I explained by saying I needed something to stop me having babies). She assured me that I needed to see a gynecologist, not a GP. So she gave me the details of a woman gyno, who worked in the same building as the International Centre and who spoke English.
So, yesterday I called the receptionist and said in my best Japanese that I couldn't speak Japanese and could I please speak to Dr. Ito. But I gathered that she was busy (or something) and I should call back. So I called back but then I was told lots of things that I didn't understand at all (one guess was that Dr. Ito doesn't even work there anymore). But after a while I managed to work out that I could go in and see a doctor today between 2 and 4pm today.
So I went to the medical centre, where there was a sign: to the right it said 'Medical Check' and to the left it said 'Innoculation'. So I went to the right. Wrong! I entered a huge reception area with about 20 receptionists/nurses (but no patients). I talked to one nurse, but I didn't really know what to say other than the doctor's name. In the end, she asked what I needed the doctor for and I found the word for' contraceptives' in my phrase book. She then directed me to the 'Innoculation' side, where I changed into slippers and went to a smaller reception desk. By this point, the reason for my visit was known, so I didn't really have to do any more talking, other than filling in my name etc. on a form. I'm not sure if I was at a gynecologist or not, because there were a few men patients there. I think there were 2 doctors' rooms. I spent about 30 seconds in total in the doctors presence. She could indeed speak English (not super well, but well enough), but basically she didn't want to speak to me anyway. I showed her my current medication, she asked if everything was fine with it, told me she would give me 12 months of the same kind of medication, and that was it. I was then taken into another room to have my blood pressure checked by a nurse. And my blood pressure was normal.
So it was almost over, but when I was called to the reception desk to pay and get my medication I was up for a surprise. The cost of the medication was higher than I expected, and getting 12 months at once meant I was to pay more than A$200. I didn't have that much cash on me, and of course they didn't accept credit cards. So I paid for 3 months worth and organised to come back to get the rest. (I felt so pov.!) Even organising to come back for the medication was difficult, because the nurses/receptionists didn't speak any English. I felt like maybe it would have been good of the doctor to explain it to me, since she could speak English, but of course she was probably powering on through her next consultation.
So I was still feeling kind of bewildered and confused. I didn't even know if I had seen this so-called Dr. Ito until I asked at the reception desk as I was leaving. And I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do if I ever want to make an appointment again. Oh well, at least I wont have babies for another 3 months.
