Old School...

...so, i work at a cutting edge technical university that consistantly churns out some of japan's finest engineers and computer geeks, but in some ways my school charmingly clings to tradition...with this in mind i present you with my monthly time sheet...



...the centerpiece of this picture is that little yellow thing, which is actually a stamp called a 'hanko' that has my name written in katakana, the japanese alphabet that is used for funny foreign words...all japanese people have a hanko, at least all the ones that i have met, and they use it in lieu of a signature...while written signatures are becoming more acceptable, there are still institutions that require a hanko stamp...when i opened my bank account, for example, i had to hanko the contract, not sign it...hankos can be quite elaborate and expensive depending on the material they are made from...mine is made of wood, but more expensive hankos are made of stone or other natural materials, but if i went into that i would be purely talking out of my ass since i've pretty much told you everything i know about hankos already...so, the main point here is that rather than enter my working hours into a computer or punch a time clock, i have to hanko each day that i worked at the end of the month...interesing???
...romantic sidenote: chieko gave me my hanko (that sounds perverse) as a birthday present back in vermont, before our romance had blossomed...and i used this very hanko to stamp our wedding certificate (see the june archives for more sordid hanko action)...how's that for history!?!
...in more relevant news, not much remains of the school term here...i have one more session with each of my classes in which i will hand out grades, provide a motivational speech in which i encourage my students to keep studying their english, and then have them fill out a course evaluation in which they will hopefully rate me as the best teacher they've ever had...on saturday i have to administer a school-wide english test for a few hours, and then i'm free free free, for about three weeks...
...i have a few things planned for those three weeks: i'll be heading to tokyo for a few days to visit some friends, and i'll also be heading to the local department of motor vehicles to innitiate what promises to be a long, frustrating, nonsensical and very japanese (read excessive paperwork) process of getting my driver's license...you can bet my hanko will be flying! chieko and i are also considering a trip to her parent's house in niigata, and perhaps a short jaunt up to hokkaido, which would be supremely cool...
...and now, i must eat...so sayonara, and happy halloween....BOO!!