Sunday, April 27, 2008

"We cook a little something to eat / then a sip of something sweet."

I'm having money problems of the sort I didn't foresee. It's not that I don't have enough - I'll definitely have to last me until I get paid at the end of May. It's that all of it is in 10000 yen notes (about $100) - I've used up all the smaller notes the money exchange place gave me. Now that I'm settled in and have bought a futon, etc. I don't really have the sort of expenses that warrant using a bill that large. Mostly it's just grocery shopping - which is usually closer to 1000. I always feel a bit embarrassed making them give me that much change. To combat this worry, I freely bought as much food as I could carry. Most of it can be frozen for later, and now I have some smaller change. Though I don't know if I can do this with all the bills - it makes my arms hurt.

I passed a field today that was covered with water - though it hasn't been raining that much - and while there were dirt furrows sticking up when I went one way, by the time I came back there was a tractor-thing smoothing them out. I suppose this is how rice is grown?

I am usually quite tired by the time I get home - I eat dinner, barely stay awake for two hours to digest or take a bath, and then crash. It's not that it's hard work - I think the Japanese teachers really take the brunt (though they usually teach for three periods, and us for up to six which is all day). It's just long work. I wake up by 6:30 to get to work by 7:45. Classes go from 8:45 to 3:30, then until 5:00 it's cleaning the school, correcting papers, and planning lessons for the next day. It's 45 minutes walk home, and if I swing by the grocery store I walk through the door and say, "Tadaima" by 6:00.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds good---excercise and hard work. Hey emily, i might try and visit you with mom. Can you ask around and see what the Japanese think of bangkokhospital and bumrungrad hospital in Thailand?


http://www.bangkokhospital.com/
http://www.bumrungrad.com/overseas-medical-care/FAQ-s.aspx

Beeniac said...

dear Emily, I take pen in hand to say I think of you continually, I see your lovely face in my imagination. Thank God for imagination, it is truly a rest stop in a weary world. When I am away from you, I long to see you, when i see you I do not know what to say. Love your father.