CS Party around HaPpy

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7

A Kogyo morning, and I was running late. It's the unfortuante story of my life, as Alan loves to point out. He'll tell some great anecdote about how I always ran late and Lonn always ran late and how when we started dating, the sum of lateness was bigger than the parts. Don't, for the record, believe everything Alan says.

I did, however, make it before the bell, so take that Alan!

Because of exams that week, there were no lessons at Kogyo. It was actually a really, really great day. I had a huge stack of all seven classes (with 35 students or so each) stacked on my desk. I then went through and graded them all. Most students did quite well. Some even got perfect scores. There were a few that scored really, really low, and for those I blame the students. I made this really, really easy for the most part. I told them exactly what to study and several questions were directly off the pracice exam. But, as I said, most scores were good.

I graded them all, and the score was out of 28. I realised that I had obviously miscounted the total points when making the exams, as it was supposed to be out of 30. I ran it past Sheila, my JTE, and she said to make the last question worth an extra 2 points. So, that made it out of 30, which was good, but it also meant that I had to go through and re-grade them ALL, then go through and RE-enter them into the computer. Took ages.

Then I had to frantically get to lesson planning my “What's the Matter?” lesson for Kogyo. As Monday will be a National Holiday, I wouldn't be at school again until the day I'd be DOING this lesson, which makes me very unhappy, but I'd been so overwealmed with work that I just hadn't had the time. This ended up being a hard lesson to plan, partly because inspiration was slow coming and partly because there was so much to potentially cover. Sheila asked if I'd be ready to share the lesson with her at 3pm and I had to honestly answer that I wouldn't be ready. She had to run off to a meeting and I thought she'd be back. She never was.

I had to print something, so I grabbed my flashdrive, saved the file, then went to the school computer at the end of my row. Someone else was logged on, however. So, once they were logged off, I got on and I, with the help of the Kogyo Kyoto-sensei and another older male teacher, managed to print. They then asked if I had my laptop hooked up to the network to just print from my desk, but it wasn't. Low and behold, 10 minutes later, a guy from tech support shows up to do that.

Now, let's pause a moment and remember what happened the last time Nishi computer guys messed with my computer. It took me 45 minutes of panic before I managed to Skype Lonn and have him remote access my computer and reverse a few things so I could access the internet at HOME again. I was NOT a happy little Magda.

So, I watched very carefully as they clicked around (thrown completely off by the English language) trying to figure it out. Nothing happened. I tried interjecting when possible some likely link through actually speaking the language, but it didn't turn out. I eventually said that it was fine and no worry. I had my USB, after all, and wanted to keep poor HaPpy working. The support guy eventually apologized and gave up.

By this point, however, HaPpy's adventure had become the talk of the staff room, and I had about six or so male coworkers all crowded around poor HaPpy trying to sort out how to connect it to the printer. They did something and got it working. And there seem to have been no bad side-effects, so I can only be grateful. My queries as to what they did went unanswered. I don't think they recognize that I have a bit of CS in my background and want to actually know how to work my own computer.

I continued to work, printing and making out a basic lesson plan. Eventually, I got a call from Heidi, which I gladly answered and we chatted for about 15 minutes (with me in the hall) going over the schedule for this weekend. It was good to finally get things sorted out and finalized. I promised to look through my Lonely Planet book and get an idea of places I wanted to go to. It was also good that she called me, as my phone ran out of time today, and I'd need to buy another $30 in credit for the next two months to text again. But, in the meantime, I could still GET calls.

I finally wrapped up my lesson, printed off two copies and stuck them in Sheila's mailbox. Attached to them I also had my e-mail address and phone number, should she have any comments. I heard none.

As I was getting ready to head out, a male English teacher whom I don't work with, stood up and announced that he'd walk me out to my bike. Honestly, it wasn't THAT dark, but it was generous of him. We walked downstairs, I changed my shoes, then he guided me, with a weak flashlight over to my bicycle. From there, I took off for home.

I then swung to the store, and bought a SoftBank prepaid card of credit from the discount store. It saved me about $3.50. I passed through the station to do that, and bumped into the JET Martain waiting on May and Alara. We chatted briefly about the Biwa bike ride, then I headed off. I also swung into the grocery store to look for more mochi and red bean paste desserts, as I tore through the ones I bought with Elizabeth and Dusty. But, alas, none! I was devastated. So devastated that I bought two pizzas.

On the way back, I bumped into Jamie. Turns out he was also supposed to met Martin and company, so I directed him to where I'd previously seen Martin. As it turns out, we bumped into Martin, Alara, and May just outside the store. We chatted briefly, then Jamie turned and headed up to the station to go home, which was odd. I made come comment and I get the idea that there was more going on than they were willing to tell me. I chatted a lot with everyone, made an embarrassing comment to Martin that I hope he'll forgive me for, and was invited out to drink with them, but said I must first go home and eat dinner. As it was, I had a lot of work and packing to do, and I'm not a heavy drinker, as May is. She can drink anyone under the table.

I went home and made pizza for dinner. Quick, easy, and has CHEESE! It was quite tasty. My microwave has an oven setting, but I zap it with the toast setting as well to get the top better done. Then, I started packing for my trip. It's quite a nerve-wracking experience as this will be my biggest adventure yet, but, at the same time, I hear there are stores in Tokyo should I have forgotten something.