Kyle's World

What's the deal with Japanese photocopy machines? We'd all agree that, by and large, Japan is far more advanced technologically than North America. Yet Japanese photocopiers seem to be straight out of the stoneage. Let's use the photocopier at ELI as a reference. All you ex-CAs out there will know what I"m taking about. There, at the simple push of a button, you could photocopy stacks upon stacks of papers (like Activity Central), having them stapled and hole-punched, and of course photocopied back to back. Perhaps this is evolving into more of a gripe at the photocopier in my school. The one at school is largely useless. For back to back copying, you have to re-load the one sided papers back into the feeder, then get it just right with te placings that you can have them two-sided. Talk about an ineffient waste of time. Then if you need to make packets, a la Activity Central, you lay all the finished copies in a row on a table, run along and collect them, and hand staple them yourself. What the hell's that about? I've been in the staff room where we've had staple parties, where all available free hands do the assembly line thing. If you're wondering about hole punching, forget about it. Now why can't they set the copier to do like it did in Van.?

Let the rampant updating continue. I saw an interesting article online today that irked me, although it could have just as easily made me think that we were being complimented. Check out the link to follow along with what I'm saying: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/12/07/canada.tshirts.ap/index.html
So apparently an American T-shirt company has made a Canadian kit for American travellers to disguise themselves in. It's useful for when the travel abroad, particularily to Europe, but want to avoid all the hassles of being American. First things first, what happened to American pride/the over-confident feeling of being the "best, most powerful" country in the world? Has that feeling eroded so much that now you have to parade around as Canadians, who obviously live in the real best country in the world? Americans have to realise that they'll never be Canadian, so they may as well not even try, and you know something is wrong when they have to pretend to be Canadian through a kit that costs $24.99. Oh and one more thing, smart Europeans will definitely be able to tell the difference between a real Canadian with a real maple leaf patch sewn on to his or her backpack and someone who buys it online and who practices putting an "eh" on the end of sentences in the airplane.

I was at shogakko today. When I arrived, I saw that my schedule was 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th periods with 2nd period being off. I saw the kanji 行事 and wondered what that was. Well, 2nd period rolled around, and instead of having time to work on my lesson and perfect it, the bell rang...fire drill! That was cool to see a Japanese fire drill. I remember practicing them once in a while at South Park Elementary school and even high school when a badass pulled it. Well all the kids calmly ran outside wearing their inside school shoes (in a real fire, who actually has time to change into their outdoor shoes?) although I had time to change into mine. Oops, some rotten simulation that was. Out on the field my town's firemen were waiting to give a speech. And not just a speech mind you, but a full on demonstration. So we went over how to use a fire extinguisher, and then they lit controlled fires on the field. At the morning meeting I was asked if I wanted to use the fire extinguisher for the demonstration, but I didn't know what they were asking me. After I asked what that was, they said it was a "しゅしゅやつ". I guess I still didn't get it cuz I thought they were asking me to help them wax the floor with some kind of machine (you had to see the gesture they made also). So I volunteered. But then I was called to the front, in front of all the kids, to put out the blaze. Fun times. I've put out a blaze before, in university at Totem Park during advisor training, but I thought it's really cool that they do this kind of stuff in elementary school. Never mind the fact that most kids can't lift the extinguisher. Whenever I go to elementary school, the kids already make me feel like a hero, or celebrity or royalty. But after putting out a fire in front of them, my legions of fans seemed thoroughly impressed. Hahaha, just kidding but I think they got a kick out of it anyway.

A little note before we begin. After being lazy for a good three weeks, hopefully the updates will come fast and furious for the next little while till I go home for the holidays. On with this 'hisashiburi' update...

I think I had a meat weekend these past two days. And none of it intentionally of course. Now I like my meat as far as the next guy, but I have to say I'm meated out. It all started on Saturday. We had an uchiage party for the English Recitation members. We ended up going out for all you can eat sushi and yakiniku (even though they really only deserved Joyfull). So I gourged myself on said sushi and yakiniku. Then today, after I went to Costco with the Okamuras, we went out for a fine steak dinner in the city. We all ordered combos, but for some reason they ordered my steak to be 350g. When it came, it was like an inch thick and the size of a VHS tape. Plus it came with mountains of vegetables. I tried eating everything, but needless to say I'm full, I'm meated out, and I went down a few notches on my belt.