It is snowing today. And I don’t mean just a light bit. It is really coming down out there. And it’s sticking too. Strange because lately it’s been getting warmer and I thought spring was on the way. It’s still not really cold out there, but I guess it’s cold enough.

For the last month or so there has been work going on around here. Apparently my building is getting some kind of electrical overhaul. A couple weeks ago I got a notice in Japanese, which one of the guys here translated, that informed me that I had to be in my apartment on the morning of March 4th. Today.
So about fifteen minutes ago some guy came and buzzed my and Ben’s (my neighbor from England) doors to tell us that the electricity would be going off soon and that he’d be back at the designated times to do something inside our apartments. He was, of course, speaking Japanese but I know what he said because a friend on the other side of the building has already gone through this earlier in the week and told me about it and because Ben speaks Japanese and filled me in on the details.
So now here I sit on a Friday morning, no electricity (which means no heat), no internet, and no tv, BUT….no work today either. I am writing this on a Word document and will later copy and paste it to the blog. I just hope my computer battery holds for the duration of the dark age.

This weekend we have a pub quiz for us JETs. We’ve done this twice before and it was good fun both times. It takes place in some little restaurant/bar over in a town called Otsuki which is about a 40 minutes train ride from here. The owner of the place has been hosting the event for years and always seems happy to have us there. And as a business man, who can blame him? We JETs are known to eat a fair bit and then spend the next several hours drinking anything and everything we can get our hands on. Quite a lucrative evening for the man, I am sure. Last time I went the guy asked me my name when I went downstairs to buy my first beer and then promptly welcomed me back by name, “Ah, hello Marcus, another beer?” every time thereafter (his English is fairly good, too). He really is a nice guy.
So anyway, we have this quiz thing tomorrow night and although I can usually hold my own in your typical game of Trivia Pursuit, these quizzes are much more difficult. Probably because you don’t get the American slant that you do from the board game. The question writers, as far as I know, are a group of girls who are from England, New Zealand, and last year we had a gal from Scotland. So while I can answer various questions on geography, a few on history and a couple on sports, getting the answers right to such questions as “Who led the 2003 Cricket World Cup in runs scored?” or “What famous sitcom was invented in England and then remade in countries all over the world but never made it in America?” proves quite difficult. I think the girls try to give us a few “American” questions but last time my team, which was made up of about five Americans and one guy from New Zealand lost big time. But hell, it was still fun and I don’t get competitive enough to care. Tomorrow, though, I hope to have a few more countries represented on my team.

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve had a few schedule changes. Well, last time I went to Tokai high school I ended up going to two new classes with this young female teacher I’ve been with a number of times. She is a nice lady but a little strange in some areas which I won’t elaborate on. I like her, though.
So we were heading to a class I’ve never been to before when she asked/told me (I say it like that because it is sometimes quite difficult to tell whether you are being asked or told something over here—gets real confusing sometimes), anyway she said to me, “Ah, today will you shake hands with students?”
So I said, “What?”
“Will you shake hands with students? It is good chance for students to practice American. Maybe this will be first time and last time for them to meet foreigner.”
I hope you people are rightfully as shocked by this as I was. Just what the heck does she mean that these 16 year olds will never get to meet someone from another country again in their entire lives? Then again, this is Japan.
Thinking about cleanliness, I then asked how many students there were in the class to which I was told “about 30.” So under the assumption that it would be quite an awkward and strange thing to do, I agreed. But I did tell her, “You know, teachers in America don’t go around and shake the hands of all the students.”
“Oh, really?!” she said. And then went on, “If you don’t want…”
“No, no, I can do it,” I said, “It’s just a bit strange.”
“Oh.”
And that was that. A few minutes later I was going up and down the rows shaking hands with a lot of teenagers. The boys thought it was funny, the girls all giggled when our hands touched, and Miss teacher-lady seemed pleased to be exposing her students to this strange and wonderful practice from lands afar.

Ok, it’s getting downright chilly in this apartment. It’s normally this cold when I first wake up, but as I set my alarm about a half hour before I intend to actually get out of bed and then hit the heaters on for that half hour, by the time I actually do get up it’s a good temperature. I have strategically placed the kerosene heater within arm’s reach of my futon and my electric wall unit has a remote control which I place next to me every night. So I just tap those two buttons and go back to sleep. And when the second alarm goes off I can no longer see my breath.
It is 12 degrees C in here (about 53 F, I think) right now. Not a bad temp when you are out and moving around but not very warm when you are sitting still (and no, I am not allowed to leave the apartment just yet). Time for the electricity to come back on, I’d say. I just resorted to putting on another layer and wearing a hat. But my hands are quite cold and I can’t type with gloves on.

Ok, I'm getting hungry. Time to raid the fridge. Might write more later, might not.