Things to do when a typhoon treatens to ruin your day off...
Ordinarily, I would simply have stayed home to clean and study Japanese. Not that it would have lasted long, given that the 'Tropical Storm' ended up missing us completely, though not without at least influencing the intermittent downpour that was at its worse just when I was walking down to catch the bus.
An hour's bus ride later, I was Naha for a few errands. Thanks again to my aunt for my farewell present - I finally managed to make it down to a main bank to get it converted into yen, and was entertained by the machines that the main branch had for changing bills (e.g. from 2x1000yen to 1x2000yen). I'm always amused by the simplest things, though it provides a nice talking point - I think some of the staff were also bemused at my curiosity...
Chatting with the lady at the bank counter also brought up something I'd never thought about before. The fact that ALTs are typically considered cool (kakkoi) by students came up during the conversation - though I mentioned that non-Asian ALTs are even more so, because they're just so different. She, however, felt that there is one major plus to having a "Nipponjin-poi" but native English speaker: a number of students won't feel so intimidated about speaking English because they sense more of a common ground.
An interesting point - left me wondering just how true it is. But it brings to mind what some of my homeroom students wrote during their "first-impressions" introduction activity at the start of the year (their homeroom teacher included me in the activity). At least some of them must have thought I was Japanese, because one comment was 「英悟ペラペラってかっこい」 ("she's fluent in English...cool...")... Study incentive has increased 2-fold.
After shopping around a bit as well, I lost my bearings in trying to find a BOOK-OFF, and nearly panicked when I realised what I should have remembered - that I didn't know the buses I could catch to get back home (or rather, to meet friends at a meeting-point close to home) from that road... It wasn't a huge problem in the end, but I definitely refreshed my memory of Naha. Not that I need to go there any more often than I do.
Searching for dinner was an entertaining affair (our first option was booked out) - the American customers at the restaurant we chose must have been amused to see a car full of obvious gaijin stop suddenly in the middle of the road, as its occupants pointed in glee at the kebab place they were dining at.
But what made a typhoon-ruined day-off really worthwhile (incredibly bad photo aside) is something that certain other people are probably going to curse me for... I arrived at the Naha Licensing Center around 10 past 9, a little disgruntled about a 1km trek in the rain, and walked out just over two hours later with a Japanese driver's license. All without taking even one hour of leave.
(To those who still have to get it done: がんばって!!)
ah, and my mini-Rubik's cube is solved once again...just don't ask me to do it in front of you, at least not yet.
An hour's bus ride later, I was Naha for a few errands. Thanks again to my aunt for my farewell present - I finally managed to make it down to a main bank to get it converted into yen, and was entertained by the machines that the main branch had for changing bills (e.g. from 2x1000yen to 1x2000yen). I'm always amused by the simplest things, though it provides a nice talking point - I think some of the staff were also bemused at my curiosity...
Chatting with the lady at the bank counter also brought up something I'd never thought about before. The fact that ALTs are typically considered cool (kakkoi) by students came up during the conversation - though I mentioned that non-Asian ALTs are even more so, because they're just so different. She, however, felt that there is one major plus to having a "Nipponjin-poi" but native English speaker: a number of students won't feel so intimidated about speaking English because they sense more of a common ground.
An interesting point - left me wondering just how true it is. But it brings to mind what some of my homeroom students wrote during their "first-impressions" introduction activity at the start of the year (their homeroom teacher included me in the activity). At least some of them must have thought I was Japanese, because one comment was 「英悟ペラペラってかっこい」 ("she's fluent in English...cool...")... Study incentive has increased 2-fold.
After shopping around a bit as well, I lost my bearings in trying to find a BOOK-OFF, and nearly panicked when I realised what I should have remembered - that I didn't know the buses I could catch to get back home (or rather, to meet friends at a meeting-point close to home) from that road... It wasn't a huge problem in the end, but I definitely refreshed my memory of Naha. Not that I need to go there any more often than I do.
Searching for dinner was an entertaining affair (our first option was booked out) - the American customers at the restaurant we chose must have been amused to see a car full of obvious gaijin stop suddenly in the middle of the road, as its occupants pointed in glee at the kebab place they were dining at.
But what made a typhoon-ruined day-off really worthwhile (incredibly bad photo aside) is something that certain other people are probably going to curse me for... I arrived at the Naha Licensing Center around 10 past 9, a little disgruntled about a 1km trek in the rain, and walked out just over two hours later with a Japanese driver's license. All without taking even one hour of leave.
(To those who still have to get it done: がんばって!!)
ah, and my mini-Rubik's cube is solved once again...just don't ask me to do it in front of you, at least not yet.