Today I was going to get on Facebook and update my status to complain about something stupid. I can’t even remember what it was. Instead the top thing on my home timeline was that the father of one of my best friends from high school had died. It really made me stop dead in my tracks and think. She’s twenty-six. I’m twenty-six. She just lost her father. I couldn’t imagine losing a parent now at this stage in my life. That’s just not supposed to happen until you’re older! I just couldn’t imagine having that happen to me now. To think that I wanted to complain to the entire world via Facebook about something so petty and stupid that now I can’t even remember what it was about when people out there have actual problems makes me hate myself. I shouldn’t complain about the stupid and insignificant things in life! I should embrace the things that make me happy and just enjoy my life! My mom has a saying that is hanging on her refrigerator: Live every day to the fullest. Be the best that you can be.
On to happier thoughts…..I didn’t tell this in the blog that I posted last Friday since I ran out of time. Last Friday afternoon I was sitting in the teacher’s room minding my own business when out of no where, the teachers who didn’t have any classes at that time asked me to go with them. I asked where to, and they said the ES. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “OK!” About five of us went to the ES and helped the office lady and groundskeeper lift a heavy gate into the back of a Kei truck. (A Kei truck is a little white Japanese baby truck that one day wants to grow up and become a Ford 150 or something.) The groundskeeper drove the truck over to the JHS multi-purpose field, and we unloaded it there. I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of this gate was, and everyone was talking so quickly that I couldn’t understand any of it, but there was one other little bit that I found funny. For whatever reason, they were wanting to drag the gate behind the truck, but since Kei trucks don’t have sturdy hitches, they couldn’t. They were going to try to tie the gate to the cab of the truck, but I think they were afraid that the weight of the gate would rip the cab off and/or damage the truck. 
That really made me laugh because it’s absolutely no big deal to attach heavy things to truck hitches at home. Japan needs Ford trucks!! 
I want to write about this past weekend and how we went to the annual Ashikita beach party, but I think that will be its own blog. Today was my ES day, and I have a couple of funny stories from that to tell. First, I think I’ve mentioned it before how Japan is absolutely xenophobic. A lot of Japanese think that Japan is the best country, the Japanese are the best people, and that foreigners shouldn’t be allowed to work here. I’ve seen varying degrees of xenophobia: some are just bred into the culture to the point that they don’t even realize they’re being xenophobic, and some people just absolutely and positively HATE foreigners living here.
Anyway, in my 6th grade class, the kids are learning the English names for countries in the world. When it comes to China, JAPAN HATES CHINA (and visa versa). I told several of you at home that I’ve seen little Japanese kids slant their eyes and say random combinations of Chinese sounding syllables like “shing shong bing bong” to make fun of the Chinese. (I know it shouldn’t, but it makes me giggle that they do this since as elementary children, we do the same things to make fun of ALL Asians! I find irony here….) Anyway, when we were practicing saying “China” in class today, some of the kids were wrinkling their noses, slanting their eyes, and making horrible faces. I even had one kid tell me “China yucky.” 
These kids are only in 6th grade, and yet they’re already little racists! How sad is that? They don’t even know WHY they hate China, but they know that they do. It’s just plain sad!
In my 5th grade today, I had a very random experience. I was circling around the room collecting trash because they had to cut out flashcards from the back of their books. One of the more quiet kids from the back of class said my name, so I asked him what. He said, “Melissa-sensei….cute….” 
Wow, buddy, you really know how to make a girl blush! It was precious.
At lunch today I ate with the 2nd graders. I’m not sure what the lunch was, but it looked like some sort of stuffed bread that had been fried with sauce on the top. I asked the girl next to me if it was delicious, and she blatantly shook her head. I love the honesty! Normally if I asked that question I wouldn’t get a clear yes or no answer. I can always tell if they don’t like it, but they don’t normally give such straightforward and innocent answers.
In my 3rd grade we learned colors today. The last game that I had slotted to play was fruits basket. (Fruits basket is a typical vocab learning game that can be switched to any vocab selection. Today was colors. Everyone sits around in a circle and is assigned a vocabulary word, ie: pink, black, purple, etc. One person is assigned to be “it” and stands in the middle. He or she says one of the vocabulary words, ie: purple, and the kids with that word have to stand up and run to a free spot. The last kid still standing becomes “it” and has to call the next vocab word.) I should have known better than to play with such a large group! There are about forty kids in my 3rd grade class, and it was just really too many kids to successfully play fruits basket. It took way too long to organize it, and by the time we started the game, it was time to end it. Plus, we played in the English room, and there are these horrible square blue mats in there that connect to one another that the kids sit on. The kids tried to arrange them in a circle, but it was too many kids, so we had to play with an inner circle and outer circle. It was a little chaotic! Once class was over a few kids, the 3rd teacher, two helpers, and myself stayed behind to put the mats back together. I hate those blue mats more than anything because my OCD kicks into overdrive with them. It’s really only a one person job to put them back together…..especially when kids “help.” Each piece locks into the other one precisely, and the kids halfway do it by smacking them together. UUUGGGHHH!! It took all of us about ten minutes to put the mats back together, making me late for my next class. 
And…….to wrap things up here’s a fun factoid for you. Since we know that we’re moving back to Paducah in August, I did a little preliminary job search and asked my old boss at WKCTC if it would be possible for me to come back to work there. I told her I’d teach any classes on any days and would take as many as possible. I received an email back from her tonight saying that she’d gladly have me back! (The only downside is that I can teach a maximum of three classes thanks to new rules. ) I at least know that I’ll have some sort of income when I come back! The only downside is that going back is going to be a SIGNIFICANT pay cut for me. 
Just humor me and do the math with me now, please. I currently make about $45,000 tax free (Heck yeah I said tax free! No taxes on foreign earned income, baby! Plus, Americans working in Japan don’t have to pay Japanese taxes. Sweet!) Each class that I teach at WKCTC is $1,500. $1,500 X 3 = $4,500. Assuming that I can get either all MWF or TTH classes, that means that I can also pick up some classes at Mid-Continent or Murray. Assume I pick up another three. That’s another $4,500. $4,500 X 2 = $9,000. Now multiple that by two for two semesters. $18,000. Assume that I also teach two summer classes at WKCTC. That’s $3,000. We’re up to $21,000. Assume also that I go back to the Parlor and work my usual Friday and Saturday night shifts and make AT LEAST $100 between those two shifts. $100 X 4 (number of weekends in a month) X 12 (months in a year) = $4,800. Add that to $21,000 for a GRAND TOTAL of $25,800. AND THAT’S BEFORE TAXES. 
Not only would I take such a drastic pay cut, but my work load would double if not triple. Teaching six sections of ENG 101 and 102 is A LOT. There’s lesson planning, textbook reading, quiz grading, essay reading, revision reading, grade book keeping, and office hours in addition to picking up a few spare waitressing shifts. Sunday would be my only real day off, and I’d probably spend it doing something for school. With teaching in the States, I’m constantly packing around a set of papers to grade and mentally keeping a “to do” list.
So what’s the hurry? Why move back? I’ve got a pretty easy life here, right? When Ian and I moved here, we knew it was just temporary. We’re ready to move onto the next chapter of our lives…….wherever that might be! If we have to scrape pennies for a while while in Paducah, then so be it. It’ll just be temporary until we move onto the next great adventure!
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