----Wednesday Evening Update----

I just found a second internet cafe in my neighbourhood and I'm happy there's competition for Popeye's Media Cafe. It's called Bb Cafe and as I happened upon it accidentally I decided to try it out. This one is a little more intense than the others, as things tend to be here. They made me go through a whole registration process, but they have better drinks and nicer little offices. Yeah, this place is much better.

And it's right across the street from Mos Burger so I'm eating a Mos Cheeseburger right now. A Mos Cheeseburger is kind of like a regular cheeseburger but with a thick tomato and more salsa. Actually, a lot more salsa. Or maybe you'd call this chili. Anyway, I'm going to shut up about this and move along with all my exciting updates.

I bought contacts today!! Finally, you're thinking. You haven't heard much of the past couple of days, but getting contacts has been pure hell. I had decided not to stock up on them before leaving Canada, because I remembered how liberal Hong Kong was in their contact sales and assumed that Japan would be the same way. But I was dead wrong.

I first tried to buy some a couple of weeks ago. I found an information agent in Whitey's Underground Mall and she sent me vaguely in the direction of K's Contacts. They somehow go the idea across that I would need to first get my eyes tested for 5,000 yen by them before I could purchase anything. I think I laughed in her face and left. In Hong Kong they used to test my eyes for free.

Next, when I had met Megumi for our language exchange, I got her to take me to a couple of contact places to check up on prices. They all said the same thing, though their test prices alone were 6,000 and 7,000 yen. I said I knew somewhere that would do it for 5,000 yen, so we left. This past weekend I was getting desperate and went back to K's. Steve was with me and he can speak Japanese. They told him that I would now have to pay a 70,000 yen fee to get my eyes tested. Did they just up the price over the past week??

So I found a fourth place selling contacts on Sunday. As usual, the girls at the front desk couldn't speak any English whatsoever and I got the idea across that I wanted contacts. They shouted out the usual "Aaaaa????" that they always do whenever they don't understand anything, then remembered there was an employee out back who could speak some. She came back and said that they would do the eye test for 30,000 (definitely acceptable), however, I would have to come back on Tuesday because they were booked up for the rest of the day.

Tuesday I came back an spent about half an hour there as she asked me the types of medical questions that would make you think I was undergoing some kind of surgery. At then end of the interview session, she gave me a medical card (only for that particular contact shop) and took me aside and quietly explained that I'd probably be better off going to a cheaper contact shop. She said that although their check-up price is technically cheap, they would charge more than double the going-rate for contacts. I said that I could just get the prescription from them and buy my contacts elsewhere, but she said if I actually wanted them to write up a prescription, they'd have to up the price to 7,000.... what?

Meanwhile, this week I've been getting annoying headaches from my old contacts and I was even sometimes having trouble concentrating at work because of it. I decided that I would, no matter what, get contacts Wednesday.

I returned to the second shop that Megumi took me to last week since they had rock-bottom contact prices (1700 yen/box). They could speak no English, but I got through to them and they told me to come back after 3:00pm to get my eyes tested in the clinic. I came back, though I didn't think I'd have enough time since I had to leave for work soon.

They showed me to the clinic. It was really funny. This is strictly a contact lens shop and they seemed to have the facilities of a modern hospital. There were about a dozen people in lab coats rushing around and a dark room where I saw other patients enter and exit. I tried explaining to them that I needed to leave for work in twenty minutes. They didn't understand, so I remembered someone had told me that if you write things down they will usually get the gyst of it. I wrote it all out and they understood and said that it could be done.

Anyway, I came in and they whisked me over to have some tests done on my eyes. I showed them that I was already wearing contacts and a woman rushed over, reached her fingers into my eyes, pulled them both out and ran away with them. I don't think I've ever had someone purposely touch my eyes before.

I don't know if you know how bad my eyes are... They're -8.00 and -9.00, if that means anything to you. It's really bad. All I can see are just blurs of colour and definitely can't see people's faces or basically can't read anything that's not touching my face, so I'm kind of like a blind person without them. They were then trying to communicate with me by gestures and I had no idea of what to do. Someone would have to put their hand in my face and point up for me to look up.

Anyway, they put me through all kinds of different gadget tests... the one where the machine automatically makes you focus on a road by altering its intensity and watching your eyes... the one that shoots gusts of air into your eyes... this funny one where I had to point which way the gap in the circle was facing... The workers were constantly jogging around, I can't imagine that ever happening in Canada. They sent me into the dark room I saw earlier and there was a doctor in their who also did a couple of tests on my eyes... in the dark. In the end, they put my new contacts on my eyeballs for me and I was happy to pay them the 7,000 yen. Actually, I thought I was getting away without having to pay for the contacts (I wasn't going to ask any questions) but they had a second cash register on the way out to charge me the rest. I'm a member of this eye clinic now (another membership card) so hopefully that means I won't have to go through all the tests next time. That means really cheap contacts from now on, which sounds nice.

Well I'm glad that subplot is not stretched out any further.

Yesterday I met up with an Italian guy I had met who claimed to know the location of the best Mexican restaurant in Japan. I think he was right, it was really, really delicious, probably the best Mexican I've eaten in a restaurant (and that includes the time I bought 5 tacos for 5 dollars at Taco Bell). I took the last train back to Shinosaka and met up with Zoe and Graham at Fly Over (the local bar where Shinosaka Nova teachers go on Tuesday nights) for a couple of beers. It was alright, maybe a little small and crowded for my tastes. But at least it's in the neighbourhood. Francesca, who's working temporarily at my school on Mondays and Tuesdays, was also there. She said she has a roommate from Halifax who wants to meet me. I guess I'm not the only one here.

This morning I felt sick and remembered that Mexican food is never really a good idea. People in Mexico must feel sick all the time. I slept off the morning and was happy to make it down to the contact place in time. I did, however, not get a chance to eat, so I went to the convenience store at the train station on my way to work and bought what looked to be the most stomachable snack. It was a small loaf of really soft-looking bread filled with whipped cream and strawberries and was not so bad.

Today at work, I had two voice lessons again (the one where I get to just sit around and talk to the students). How fun these are really depends upon the students, but I've been happy to have been able to bring in Coke or juice with me, which really eases things. However, today I was caught leaving with Coke and was scolded by Dani, who said I'm not allowed to drink anything while at work because it's unprofessional. Dani, you may recall, is the big Australian woman who takes her job way too seriously. Luckily, she's only there two or three days a week that I'm there. I was thrilled to hear today that she's now pregnant and moving back to Australia in January. I'm sure there will be a massive farewell party after she's gone.

I mailed a package of gifts back home on Tuesday, though unless you're in my immediate family, you didn't get anything. Sorry. The post office was full of foreigners, which was an odd sight, I guess everyone doing the exact same thing. There was a Jamaican man next to me yelling at the workers in English and he was making a huge scene. It was really humiliating. I hate when people do things like that because this type of behaviour reinforces the anti-foreigner attitude here. I tried to act over-the-top in pleasantness to balance things out and repeated as many thank yous and little bows as I could fit in. I overheard a little bit of what the Jamaican guy was saying and he was complaining about having to pay for the box. I don't get it, it only cost me $3.

Anyway, it's my birthday on Friday and I've managed to slip it into every lesson I've taught today and yesterday, I've heard some students are known to bring presents.

Ryan