There was also a cicada in my apartment last night. It was huge! Unfortunately, I did not think to take a picture.
A good friend, Scott, was only here for a couple of months and just left last week. I miss him already :-( He was a lot of fun.
Let's see, on Sunday, July 17th our district left for Fukuoka to do temple work. We left at 10:50 pm and arrived at around 5:30 am. I did endowments at 6:40 and then initiatories at 10:40. We started for home at around 2:00 pm and arrived at around 9:00 pm. I was able to talk with Alejandro in Spanish for about an hour and a half on the way there and most of the way home. Although, I feel like my vocabulary and grammar is getting bad, I was able to understand him about 95% of the time and communicate what I wanted to about the same.
Believe it or not, there's a typhoon on it's way when these pictures were taken.
Tuesday, schools were canceled due to the typhoon. Schools had never been canceled before due to a typhoon so I was surprised. It didn't seem too bad so Scott, Tamara, Kristin, and I went to karaoke at Round One in Takamatsu. Unlimited free drinks were included. I was able to sing some songs that I've been wanting to sing karaoke. I think my favorite one/best one I sang was "Only Hope" from A Walk to Remember. Dedicated to a friend of mine who will remain anonymous. It is something I should have sang for him a long time ago.
Wednesday of the same week I had a meeting with my boss, her husband, her son, and Troy-whom was my translator. It lasted almost 2 hours and was basically a list of why Fumi didn't like me. We had not been getting a long from the beginning. I admit some of it was my fault, but a lot was hers also. Long story short, they wanted me to quit but stay as long as they wanted me to. They gave me the option of quitting immediately or in 3 months but refused to fire me even though they wanted me gone. A few days later they told me I had to move out of my apartment and could live with Fumi. Ummm....no. Troy gave me my options, as my translator, and was so stressed over it all that he literally cried on my shoulder. Fumi wanted me to sign a ridiculous contract saying I would not leave MIA earlier than 3 months (so she could find my replacement) and I refused to sign it. On Sunday I asked friends about jobs in the area and they gave me information about Gem School. I spoke with the owner and decided to go work for her when things fell apart. Which, turned out to be very quickly. I told Fumi she would have to fire me if she wanted me out of the apartment since it wasn't fair to kick me out with only one week's notice. She did fire me but within 12 hours took it back. How do you take back firing someone??! Anyway, I had already made plans to got to Gem, although I had not signed a contract yet, so I had to leave by the end of the week anyway. I told Fumi I quit but I would stay until the end of the week. Then she decided to try to make me feel guilty and manipulate me. I told her I didn't come to argue with her, but to quit and told her goodbye and walked out. The next morning I signed the contract with Gem School and was working for them. Yes, Jesus loves me! Not only that, but Miyuki, my new boss, told me she would prorate a bonus for me since my visa will expire in 8 months. So I will be getting 76% of a one year contract bonus as well as 76% of my return flight paid for! She seems to be very reasonable and thoughtful!
On Friday, I cleaned the apartment in Marugame and organized information to help Ryan (my replacement) in his new position. I spent Saturday night at Kristin's house. Bless her! We went out for pizza (which was actually really good) and then hiked Sanuki Fuji (the miniature version of Mt. Fuji because it looks like it). It started to rain half way down and we were soaked! But it was great fun! Upon returning home Scott called!! Yay! His flight left yesterday afternoon for Portland. I miss Scott-but truthfully, I'll probably never see him face to face again. Sunday afternoon President Jackson and his family were SO amazing as to drive me to Takamatsu to move into my new apartment. Leigh has been a great help in helping me get acquainted with things here.
Like I said, a lot has happened. One day I'm possibly going home, the next I'm fired, the next I'm un-fired, and the next I have a new job and am staying until April!
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| This is Eruni! She is the English teacher at Utazu Kita Elementary that I was a native English speaker aid for. |
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| This is just me walking the railroad tracks...which are very active here. |
