A Busy Week

This week I've been a bit all over the place. I started my week working at Ishimine. I had a great time there and again stayed late to hang out in chorus club. They have a concert next Saturday that I'm really excited to see! I barely finished making the other two English boards for the students, but they seemed to be interested in at least the Pokemon board. When I go back to that school in June I will have to clean it up a little, I ran out of decorating time and it looks a little thrown together. I'm just glad I could get everything up there before leaving.

The rest of the week I was working at Shinozaki. It's nice to be back in a familiar school. I had a great time meeting everyone in Ishimine and I think I will have a great time working there, but meeting a whole new set of teachers and students and the new school layout and atmosphere can be a bit overwhelming. Coming back to Shinozaki and saying hello to my vice principal and sitting next to the teachers I've been working with since August is a kind of relief.

I've also started a very ambitious project this week. I'm applying or a Japanese credit card. I've heard many horror stories for foreigners trying to apply for credit cards in Japan only to be turned away for not capitalizing every letter in his or her name (they're not kidding when they ask you to print exactly the name on your passport) and other such complications. My friend Leah initially got rejected by an internet service provider when we first arrived because the address printed on the back of her 在留カード (zairyu kaado, residence card) was too messy. They told her she would have to get another card printed in order to receive internet in her apartment. (She ended up going with a different internet provider that didn't have the same complaint.) Even buying a cell phone when I arrived required my residence card and passport and it still took about three hours. I've heard positive stories as well, but so far my experience with Japanese bureaucracy has not been a pleasant one.

Thankfully one of the teachers at my school has been a big help. I was supposed to apply online for the card, but because my name isn't in Japanese characters the website would not accept it. I also had to write my full name as it appears on my passport, but since I have two middle names there wasn't enough space allotted to the "Given Names" section. My teacher ended up calling the company four times. They are sending a paper application to my apartment so I can fill it out and send them back. Hopefully it will be accepted and I will have a credit card in about a month. I could not be more thankful to my friend at Shinozaki who helped me talk to the company and will help me fill out the forms when they come. This process would be a lot harder if it wasn't for her.

The whole reason I want a credit card is for miles. The card I'm applying for is a JAL (Japan Airlines) card. It stores miles and between my trip home in July and Phuket in August I'll have enough miles to pay for a domestic flight in Japan. I can also use it to pay for future trips and hotels. I'm now paying for everything by using my American credit card and paying it off with the money I left back home. Since my income is now depositing to my Japanese bank account, using my American account doesn't make much sense. My bank also only lets a person put a trip on file for a month at a time. So although I spoke to them and explained the situation before coming to Japan, my card is still sometimes reported as stolen when I try to use it here. I can usually fix this problem online in a half hour or so, but it's quite annoying. A Japanese credit card will make everything much easier.

Another exciting thing this week was an opportunity offered to me by my supervisor. The chorus teacher at Ishimine told the Board of Education good things about me staying after school to help the chorus club. A school supervisor at the Board of Education heard about it and she is also a conductor for the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra in Kitakyushu. They will be singing an English song (not sure what) and want me to come in and work with them and teach them how to sing in English. I'm really excited! I will only go for about 20 minutes once a month, but it's still such a great opportunity! My first meeting is next Saturday, so I'll have more information next week. I hope it goes well! I have plans to go out after I finish the practice to karaoke with my friends. So my Saturday will be the chorus concert at Ishimine in the early afternoon, symphony orchestra English practice in the evening, and karaoke at night. It's going to be a very musical Saturday!

I've also seen a ton of people this week. I went out to dinner with my friend Leah on Wednesday, cooked dinner for Patrick on Sunday, went out Friday night with a lot of people I don't usually get to see, went shopping in Tenjin on Saturday, and had people over for an Easter brunch on Sunday. I didn't get too many things, but I had a lot of fun shopping in Fukuoka city. I don't go very often, but I love it there! It has the best shops (and a Pokemon Center). We had lunch at a great burger place, shopped in the afternoon, and had dinner in Canal City. We even splurged a little and took the shinkansen. Usually on an express train it takes about forty minutes to go from Kokura to Fukuoka. On the shinkansen it only take ten to fifteen minutes! It is a little more expensive, but I think it was worth it, especially since we had a lot of shopping bags between all of us.

At the end of the week on Sunday night my friend Kikumi come over for dinner. We ordered a pizza and watched Frozen. Mike sent me a box full of Easter goodies and included was the DVD and soundtrack. アナと雪の女王 (ana to yuki no jyoou, Anna and the Snow Queen) just came out here a little less than a month ago, so Kikumi was really excited that I already had a DVD for it. It was a really nice end to a pretty hectic, but very fun, week.