Diez Cosas

A few things I'm against this week:

1. The past 5 days of rainy, muggy, cloudy, and languorous weather. Ugh.
2. Being required to obtain a Japanese Driver's License, after being permitted to use an International License for the past year. (This is only required of folks from America and a few other countries, most foreigners can use IDLs indefinitely). Its expensive, a hassle, lots of red tape, and completely unneccessary.
3. One of my co-teachers, who yesterday, 5 minutes before my English Elective class, informs me I am to sing Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" acapella and solo. First, I only sing in three places: alone in my apartment, alone in my car, or (after a couple beers) in the karaoke box. Second, I never ever sing Stevie Wonder. Red-faced, I choked out about a half a verse to the students' horrified faces, then made my co-teacher sing the rest. She should have known better.
4. The National League lost, again.
5. Bombs and missiles in the Middle East and Asia. Of course, I am always against these things, but the news has been especially depressing the past few days.


A few things I'm for this week:

1. The student who gave me a "teraterabozu" doll/tissue puppet, which supposedly will make the rainy season abate.
2. The other student, who gave me a four-leaf clover she found outside the school.
3. No more earthquake wake-up calls.
4. Riding clean, Japanese trains without fear of being blown to bits.
5. My 10 days-away-and-counting trip to the Philippines.