Control, control, control
Mood:  irritated
I've just made it through the two toughest weeks of my stay in Japan so far. It didn't help that i had a terrible cold. Sinus, fever, cough, congested lungs and just run-down-drug-out tired.

Thanks to my wonderful ALT friends here and some wonderful email friends from back home, they pulled me through. I had a carnation on my door one evening, some very uplifting and encouraging emails, and David and Connie invited me for a relaxing bring-your-own-dinner-downstairs-and-have-a-few-beers attitude adjustment.

Here are a few of the "straws" that almost sent me over the edge....
Bike Friday
After spending over $2,000 and waiting anxiously for this custom made bike to arrive, it finally came. I was so excited but took my time watching the video and reading the written directions for unpacking it. After spending a slow, quiet evening putting it together, i discovered to my dismay that the $60 Terry saddle that i'd paid for wasn't in the package. Well, it's hard to ride a new bike without a saddle so my new baby sat in my tatami room for over a week until they sent me one. That cost me one long distance call. Also, i discover that somehow the chain must have gotten packed up against the frame and the links of the chain have dug into the new paint job right over the big Bike Friday label on the side of the frame. It's taken off the paint down to the metal. Good grief. Also the chain has gouged the brake cable so that the rubber coating is cut down to the metal. Then, after I finally put the saddle on the bike and waited for a day without rain, the final maiden voyage was imminent. I toted the oh-so-light bike downstairs and took off down the street. Trying the shifters i went first through the lower gears...a-ok, mid-range gears...a-ok, so here we go into high gear....screech-to-a-halt surprise, surprise. I get off the bike that has come to an abrupt stop and, much to my chagrin, discover that the front derailleur is positioned BETWEEN the two outer gears. THERE IS NO WAY THIS DERAILLEUR COULD HAVE EVER WORKED THIS WAY. Another long distance call to Bike Friday and all he can say is that he'll email me a website that will explain how to set up my derailleur. He apologizes about not answering any of my emails, they are swamped. I guess so if all the bikes are being sent out like mine.

Of course, if i was in the states and wasn't planning to bring this bike to Africa in a few short months, i'd pack the whole thing up and send it back. Frustration was at the max and so I decided to roll this thing down to my favorite Japanese bike shop. They know very little English but understood my frustration when i showed them the problems. In 20 minutes they adjusted the derailleurs till they worked perfectly, adjusted the brakes that were a bit sloppy and did a whole safety inspection. THEY REFUSED TO CHARGE ME ANYTHING. Can you believe that? Only in Japan! The bike is riding well now but then i received a bill in the mail from FedEx for $145. I wasn't expecting that because i'd already paid over $200 for the shipping. I found out later that this is import tax. Ah, well. I guess every government deserves a chunk of my money.

Frustration #2
Control
I seem to be having problems with management's level of control over our lives here in Japan. Maybe i'm just not flexible enough but i don't really think that's the problem. I think the problem is that the management is more into filling out boxes and dotting i's and crossing t's than being effective. We are required to teach everyday from 8:20-4:30pm no matter what. Even if there are NO classes all day long we are required to sit at our desks and vegitate. It is so very weird. Even if we come to school early and stay late and teach extra night classes for them, it makes no difference. If we want to take off an hour early to do some banking, it's forbidden. We all cheat because there is no way to get things done any other way. I hate cheating and lying but i don't know how else to get around it. For example, to purchase a money order to send to the states you have to go to the post office. They only do money orders from 8:30 am till 3pm Monday thru Friday. We all need to send money home once in awhile to pay our bills back home. There have been a few other minor issues of control...i don't want to get too whiny so i'll skip these here.

The next big issue of control surfaced a few weeks ago. Our agreement says that if we stay a second year that we will receive the price of a round trip ticket back home. I was really counting on this money (about $2,000) There's a catch - if you don't go home during the August break - you don't get the money. We have to apply for "Study Leave" time during August when there are no scheduled classes and we have nothing to do. Our study leave has to be "approved" based on our using it for educational purposes. We can't just go home to see our family. I am going to Africa and travelling by bike around the country, learning the language, studying the culture and attempting a climb of Kilimanjaro. But in order to take advantage of the trip home, I have to cut my Africa trip short and spend an inordinately large amount of money and time going to the states in August because they won't let me use that money to go home at Christmas when my family would really like to see me. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE TO THEM WHEN I GO HOME? WHO KNOWS. I am so mad I could spit bullets.

Also, management told us two weeks ago that they trust us so much that they don't see any reason to give us a contract this coming year so we are working without a contract. That gives me such fuzzy feelings that they trust us that much!

So enough whining. I'm feeling much better physically. I've decided to just take my summer vacation and enjoy the adventure of it all and STAY POSITIVE!
thanks for listening to me whine. luckily i don't do it often :-)