Oddments

Life goes on, and most of it is the same old same old. After Golden Week, it's been back to the familiar drudgery at work, with a few highlights to write home about...

First of all, after doing battle with the forces of bureaucracy at Immigration, and doing a few hours of reading in the pews, I've come through relatively unscathed with a new work visa. This time I got the three year one! Woohoo! I may not need three years, but it gives me a lot more freedom regarding working arrangements, and it means I won't have to go through this again next year. From everything I've heard, there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why anyone in particular gets one or three years - it could be an infinitesimally calculated process reached by weighing up all the variables they know of (ie. how good your employer is, if you can fill in the form in Japanese, whether or not you're wearing a tie when you hand in your papers, etc.), it could be decided on a coin toss, or it could just depend on whether the guy shuffling the papers is in a good mood that day or not. I have no idea, but it feels a bit like winning the lottery, so I'll say it again. Woohoo!

I'm sure you're getting used to the pics by now, so I don't want to disappoint. Before I get to it, I'd just like to say that I've been sorely disappointed by the lack of crazy English around. Of course, I get to hear it everyday - that's the life of an English teacher - but I don't see nearly as much of it printed as the website "engrish.com" led me to believe. Some of them are so ubiquitous, that they're just not funny anymore, like the sports drink "Pocari Sweat", or the coffee whitener "Creap" (is it supposed to be creepy or crappy?). There are the occasional t-shirts or company slogans or shopping bags that stand out, not so much for funny mistakes, as for being more or less grammatically accurate, but having absolutely no meaning whatsoever. I need to find myself some of those t-shirts eventually, but so far I haven't found a place to buy them. Anyway, at long last I found a good example of the kind of thing I've been looking for - just prepare to be underwhelmed.



I have no idea what this was for - it looked like a photo booth to me - and I can't imagine what they use those "glittering lame pens" for, either.

Last Sunday was a good day out - it was the annual Nagoya Thai Festival. It was refreshing to pig out on decent Thai food - I've yet to find a decent Thai restaurant here - and enjoy Thai beer, which comes in more interesting flavours than Singha, it seems. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was the demonstration of Muay Thai on the front stage. And here's a picture...







...or three. Exciting stuff!

Speaking of exciting stuff, my latest saga involves finding a new fridge, since my old one (not so old really, but probably older than anyone in this country ever intended it for use) packed it in and I've had to throw out half my food. But that story's not resolved yet...