2nd dates, religious zealots, and accidental palm-readings all in a weeks work.

I'll start with the religious zealots story, as i tried to post it before, but strangely my blog chose to crash at the moment, and i lost the entire entry...I'm thinking some sort of higher being maybe monitoring this blog.

So my predecessor was a very religious man....he actually started a church in my little rural town, and recruited a couple of townies to be members. Nothing wrong with that...I was very straightforward with him, in that it was not something that I would be maintaining, or for that matter participating in. Besides, I never really thought much about it. That is, until Wednesday, the fateful day when my English teacher and i were discussing holidays. I have had to start teaching the elementary kids about x-mas. I don't really like to push religion on people, so I wasn't planning on making it a whole religious ordeal, but at the same time it is kind of the reason behind the holiday....so I was a bit torn, so i asked my English teacher for advice. She solved the problem by saying that the Japanese were really only interested in Santa and presents...so I guess other than a nod to the holy ones, I'm teaching commercialism all the way. That solved, the teacher then asked me if I had ever heard of a holiday called hanukkah (sorry I know i just misspelled that) and was it a REAL holiday. I guess I must of had a "okay, where are the hidden cameras, you can't be serious look" on my face, because she quickly explained to me that a former JET had mentioned hanukkah to her. But when she asked my predecessor about it, he told her that it wasn't a real holiday, and that it wasn't actually something that was celebrated in America. Now, I wish i could chalk that comment up as a misunderstanding or a miscommunication...but this English teacher, has amazing English speaking skills...She understands the language almost better than me...so no, I don't think that was the case....and when I mentioned it to people who knew him....they concurred and said, "yep, he was the guy who was trying to erradicate all "false" religions from the world, by sharing the word of "his" god to the Japanese people." Now I have to wonder what goes on at that church he started.....oh and by the way, I have made it a point to over inform the people of this town about the ways of Christmas, Hannukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and Christmakah...because really they need to know ALL the different holidays that we Americans celebrate...even the made up ones.

Next, Accidental Palm-readings....okay so crazy woman in my town...she's well meaning, but get wierder and wierder every time I see her...well, she's clairvoyant (or so she claims) with the special ability to read people's past and future in their hands...or simply by touching the person and feeling their aura. (I know, you can sense me rolling my eyes, and you can't see me...you too must be clairvoyant)....So I'm over at her house, working on a project, and she asks to see my hands...now, I wear a lot of rings, so this is not an unusual request. So she takes a quick glance at my hands and starts spouting stuff like..."wow...hmm...err...ohhh...well, it seems you will get married and have kids (like I was worried) but it won't be till later in life." "And it looks like you have had a very long relationship with a man (in my head, i'm wondering if 7 months actually counts as being a long relationship, because I don't consider it to be that way.) at least 5-7 years"...which then I can't help but laugh at...because no, I'm positive I haven't had the relationship....then she says in an ominous tone, "well then obviously you let him go and screwed it up." At which point I was like..okay, i never asked you to read my palms, so i think you need to back off now. Unfortunatly, this latest info had the undesirable effect of my sitting up at night questioning, who she is talking about....The truth is, she is full of shit, there is nobody that falls into that category. All the boys I have ever dated who could have fallen into that category are happily married or engaged, and if I had made it work with any of them, they would never have met that girl, and I wouldn't be here right now...I think even though its a bit wierd here at times...things are the way they should be in the universe...and I am positive she is a quack....but its totally annoying to have this unsolicited reading...because i can't help but have it play in the back of my mind.

Lastly, 2nd dates....I know you have been waiting with baited breath to hear whether or not I would ever go on a 2nd date with the japanese blind date guy....worry no more, i've had the date and boy was it as sucky as the 1st one....You may or may not recall, the crazy woman set me up on a blind date with one of her students...He doesn't speak english, I don't speak Japanese...we have no common interests, and I don't find him attractive...so basically we have nothing. That said, why on earth would i accept a 2nd date? Well that too is a good question...Crazy woman, told her student that I liked him (even though I made it clear that although I was sure he was a nice human being, i had no interest in him) and made a huge point of him contacting me and going to a movie with me. Then told me, "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you might be getting lonely, so you really should go out with him. But if you decide not to, be kind and don't hurt his feelings"....so here I am with a HUGE language barrier...its hard enough to get out of a date if you speak the language, there was no way I could be graceful about this. So...I agreed to the date...with the understanding that it would be a movie and that would be it.

The date...Let me just say, that I was nice, I was kind, I was fun...I can be a really great date...but all wit was completely lost on him...and if he was funny and charming, I so didn't get it. Beyond that, he told me pretty early on that he had diarrhea and had for the past 5 days....he brought to the movie giant bags of chips and began eating them straight out of the bag (by this, i mean he poured the chips straight into his mouth)....and finally he not only fell asleep during the film, he also checked his cell phone like 20 times.....Needless to say, if there HAD NOT been a communication barrier or a pushy middle man...its pretty obvious, neither of us would have gone out a second time. And at least I was polite...because I thought of being really bitchy and sabotaging things, but in the end decided I could handle it like an adult and just say i wasn't interested before moseying to my car. Too bad, i never go to use the speech...our parting was more in the way of....."yep, c-ya."