Hustle

There's an expression that I have heard serveral times over the last few days; hurry up and wait. The first time I heard it it was asserted to be an army term and the second time I heard it it was used to describe working life in Japan. And the more I think about it the more true it is. I watch the office ladies work and that is exactly what they do. They sit around for hours staring at their computer screen and then if a visitor comes they literally run to the kitchen and run back with coffee or tea. Or if the principal asks them to do something they run, which is funny because they are not fit ladies. They kind of shuffle along with a busy busy face on and make little noises under their breath which means "I am really busy, get out of my way, I have an important job to do, look how important it is, I am RUNNING". But the stupid thing is that the things they run about are not even important. And usually the running isn't helping them get things done faster, it's just a show they put on to make people think they are doing something important. Why don't they stop pretending to be busy and actually do some real work? And why do they think that running through the office is going to make it look like they are doing work? The teachers are teh same though. If the principal or vice principal calls them to come and talk to them they run to his desk as though it's a national emergency or something. And then he will just say to them "So Hiroki went home early today? What's the story there?" or something equally so not hurry worthy. When I get called to someone's desk I walk there. I know that they expect me to run but I refuse to be sucked into their stupid game. I am not in a hurry to hear their comments on my shirt, or my hair style, or my shoes, so I don't run. It's kind of enjoyable to walk slowly across the office with them all watching me, knowing that they are all thinking "hurry UP" but are unable to say it because a) there's no real reason for me to hurry and b) it would be rude. You can feel their irritation bubbling just below the politely smiling surface.

On Saturday I taught 2 private English classes for a fellow foreginer who is off to India for a few weeks. The classes consist of mostly elderly ladies, a couple of men. THey sit around and talk and eat snacks and drink tea and talk and talk and talk. It is not really an English lesson so much as a gossip fest. What do you expect though really? I did not prepare anything and just ended up talking about Thailand and Vietnam for about 45 minutes straight and they asked me questions about it and discussed it amongst themselves (in Jap). When they were talking I would pick up a grammar error they made and try and explain it on the board but they weren't interested in being corrected. They just wanted to talk in English, not improve. It was a tad annoying because the whole point of me being there was to help them with stuff like that, otherwise they might as well just get together with each other and chat in English and save a heaps of money. Conversation classes are dodgy like that because while it is important to practice speaking, if you continue to speak without correcting yourself you will compound grammar and pronunciation errors making it harder to correct later on. But whatever, what would I know about it?

So because of these classes I was late to my mate's BBQ for her birthday. But I still had plenty of time to polish off a fair portion of the vino I brought with me before we headed to a restaurant. There were heaps of foreigners there - maybe about 18 or 20. Huge show. Nice food and lots of beer. We headed to a bar afterwards and talked about Steve Irwin for about half an hour. It was like a wake or something. Or how imagine one might be. In Okayama on the way home I bought fruit scones from the bakery and indulged myself in some for desert after tea last night. I fell asleep as soon as I got home so I had tea at about 9pm when I woke up breifly. Then I went straight back to sleep again. Feeling a little out of it today but not too bad. I got some Weetbix at the import shop yesterday but I didn't have any milk in the fridge so I had to have fried eggs for brekkie. Not a good option, they don't fill you up much! But all I have in my fridge now is margarine and 3 eggs! Better get shopping before I just start eating dry Weetbix for tea tonight...