COFFEE has no leader bean!!

As if to make us for yesterdays various awful and horrific misunderstandings today at work has been superb. My classes all went well, I had meeting with the teachers to discuss the content of their classes and they all thought my ideas were fine, and I just helped Sadou sensei print out some massive words announcing the sports day in RAINBOW colours using word art (something he would have spent most of his overtime tonight trying to do). It seems as though I am the most computer literate person in this office, a scary thought.

I do have to go over yesterday's events though because they highlight some key problems westerners in general find when they work in Japan. Every Monday morning we have a CIR meeting which we organise the location and time of on the day. So the trouble started at 8am when Iishi sensei asked me when and where the meeting was and I couldn't tell her. So I got a lecture about deciding the place and etc permanently. Then she started telling me that 7 people were coming when I was only expecting the CIRs from Kamogata and Konko. So at 2m this guy from Yoroshima rocks up and I am expected to get him coffee (which he thankfully didn't want). Then she asked me who the leader of the CIRs was. We don't have one, we are all minions the same as each other and puppets for the board of education to play with. Iishi sensei couldn't handle that. You must have a leader, who runs the meeting? Who tells you when to meet? Who tells you what to teach and when? Who decides when you start drinking the coffee? Who craps on about nothing for hours before deciding when others can crap on about nothing for hours? Who decides when the meeting is over??? Panic stations!! The foreigners are conducting meetings without a leader bean!!

It was almost amusing how freaked out she was by the concept of no leader. At least I found it terrribly amusing when I was telling the other CIRs about how we have to elect a leader. We decided to elect not only a leader, but a secretary, a deputy, a treasurer and a social co-ordinator. We would like to have elected an international dignatory but we ran out of people. Anyway, as the newly formed Committee Of Foreigners For Every Event (COFFEE) we have decided we are poorly lacking in funding for such items as stationery, stamps, gavels and snacks so will petition the school board for said funding. If they want us to form a committee they can't expect it to be done properly out of our own pockets.

In all seriousness it was decided that if they pursue this issue I will be the "leader" because I have enough Japanese to deal with any correspondance and bullshit that may involve. Again... why did I bother studying this language? It just seems to make more work for me.