Don't do drugs

So my boss dropped by the junior high where I work today (he normally spends his days at the board of education, which is across the street, and next to the only castle in this prefecture), and tried to tell me something while the students were practicing a song they have to sing for their culture festival tomorrow. I am required to go to this (it's on a Saturday) but the school's closed on Monday instead. The whole school sings the same song together, and has been practicing it for maybe a month now. The music teacher still, however, finds reasons to flip out on the kids, as I think he takes the whole thing pretty seriously. I get the impression that the kids don't like him too much, as an abnormally large percentage of them answered "[teacher's name] is a music teacher that I don't like" as a response to a 4-point jeopardy question in class.

I digress; after a few minutes of failed communication (the students singing didn't help), my boss decided it would be easier to get the head English teacher (who just happened to be standing next to me) to translate. Turns out he wanted me to "drop by the office in the next three days when I have a chance". Great.

So, since I generally don't work very hard (see previous post), I had time to go that afternoon. I dropped by, and tried to have a conversation with him. Surprisingly, my Japanese has gotten a little better, and we didn't have to use Soga-san (whose English is the best in the office, but we still have trouble communicating) as a go-between. Turns out that I have to drop by the office at least once a week in case they have paperwork for me to read (and use brackets at least 6 more times in this post). This week, my boss wanted me to fill out a form for, get this, "teachers interested in becoming Japanese language teachers". As a prerequisite, your Japanese proficiency must be at or above level 2 (level one being the highest). My level, IF I study my ass off, MIGHT be level 4 by the time the December test rolls around (which my colleagues at work have been dissuading me to take, since they think that I'll fail). But it's really important that I read and submit the application form on time. I swear, sometimes I think that at some point in history, trees must have attacked a Japanese village or something; these people then swore revenge on all trees, and instilled in all Japanese people a love of pointless, repetitive, and unecessarily excruciating paperwork, so as to require the felling of innumerable trees. You'd be surprised how anal people are about paperwork. If anything is even remotely out of place (and I do mean ANYTHING), they'll chuck the form and make you fill out a new one.

Back to my story. Another thing the boss gave me was a news letter. At this point, his demeanour became very serious, and he circled one section of the newsletter entitled "Drugs". Apparently, a few people here have gotten busted for smoking weed, which means you lose your job, and face serious legal repercussions (I'm talking up to a half-year's wages, as well as a few months in jail) before you get deported. I told him that I understood that drugs were illegal in Japan. Then I told him that marijuana had been decriminalized in Canada. You should've seen his face; he nearly shat his pants!!! I think he was genuinely worried that I'd light up a joint in class or something. After letting him sweat for a while (while listening to him explain again that drugs are illegal in Japan), I told him not to worry.

Good thing I got my offer to re-contract right before that. Was that the longest, most drawn-out story to get to the punch line, or what? Also, if anyone has suggestions as to how to limit my bracket usage (or any other comments in general) please post them as a comment. Comments make me feel special! I'm more likely to respond to anything you say in person (by which I mean via email or phone) rather than posting a reply here for everyone to read.

Anyhow, that's enough for now. I'll try to write about fun stuff I've been doing on weekends and such (with pictures!) at some point soon.

ps. In case I forgot to mention it (which I didn't), comments are good. They make me feel like I have friends beyond the two people in this city that I can have a conversation with. Also, they give me something to read at work besides the news.