Sunday, May 27, 2012

Pass and Fail

hey all,

Well, work-wise this week has gone pretty well. Morning classes are going pretty smooth again. But that probably has something to do with one of those mentally unstable students being gone again.

In terms of bureaucracy, I think this week's score is 1-0, them. If you look at the diagram, you can see that the Tokyo Immigration Bureau includes offices in Niigata, Utsunomiya, and other places pretty far from Tokyo itself. Since I work in Yokohama,I thought it would be more convenient for me to go to the Yokohama branch office, instead of the one in Tokyo-to Minato-ku.

Apparently this is not allowable. Why, don't ask me. So I have to go back to the Immigration office, this time I have to go to the one in Tokyo. At the time they told me I was really pissed. As in I folded my 100 ¥ umbrella into fourths on my way out of the building. I had waited for two hours before I even got to present my papers and application, and then I had to wait another 30 minutes while they consulted with various people about how to inform this gaijin without making him go Spartan on their Persian butts.

Anyway, I went back to work, having already called them on the way back and made plans for Monday to go in again. The only good news is that my new passport has arrived, so at least on Monday I can give them all the paperwork they need.

In health news, the temperature is still climbing here, and last weekend I started going swimming at a local pool. It is a little on the pricey side, about 4 or 5 dollars each time, and I'm only swimming for about 20 or 30 minutes (about 500 to 700 meters), since I don't want to mess up one of my shoulders again.

Cheers,