Forms, and more forms

Today was quite the learning experience.

I had it planned since last week that I would go to the bank during work today to pay my rent.  Since classes aren't in session, doing that wasn't a problem.  The bank closes at 3, and I don't get out until 4.  So I left school at 10, expecting to be back at 11:30 or so at the latest.

I got to the bank and had to ask what ticket to take.  You have to take a ticket with a number on it to wait on line (in line), but you have to also specify what you need when you're taking the ticket.  I was called to the counter and tried to tell her what I wanted to do.  I told her that I wanted to pay one month's rent, and then set up automatic payments starting next month.  She pulled out an application form and went over all of the different places to fill things in since I couldn't read most of it.  (Imagine all of a sudden being illiterate.  Everything you see written around you, visualize suddenly being in symbols you didn't understand... yeah.) So when she got to the part about who I was paying and the number code for that person, I realized that I had just assumed all of that information was on file.  I asked her if I could take the form and come back.  I called my supervisor and asked him, but he said I should have that sheet at home, or he could help me out after lunch-time because he was out running errands for the BOE when I called.  I said fine, and decided to move on to my next task- going to the post-office.  (I couldn't do the one time payment either since I didn't know the payment number.)  The bank helper assisted me in using the ATM to withdrawal some money, and I rode my bike to the post-office.  There I bought stamps pretty painlessly, and took another number ticket to be helped.  It took a minute to explain that I was trying to send money over seas, because apparently I was using the wrong word for "money transfer," but eventually the teller got it and gave me a form that was half in Japanese and half in JapaneseEnglish. JapaneseEnglish is the language that is somewhere between Japanese and English, and can sometimes be as hard to understand as Greek.  If you don't speak Greek, that can be a problem.

So I filled out the form, but had started writing my name in the Japanese alphabet, crossed it out and wrote it again with roman letters, because that is what the form asked for.  I figured out what went where, and waited to be helped again.  At the counter they looked over the form briefly, and told me that I couldn't hand it in with my name crossed out and fixed, so they gave me a new one to fill in.

I went back to the counter with the new form, and he told me that the address had to be written in English letters as well, so he gave me a new form to fill it in again.

I went back to the counter with the newer form, and they said that my name had to be written in the exact order that it was on my foreigner identification hard.  The female teller that was helping me, and had probably never worked with one of these forms before, had started to cross out the names that they told her to fix.  She accidentally crossed out one of the ones that should have been left alone, and after doing so made it so that the name couldn't fit anymore.  Her supervisor started yelling at her, and I started getting really frustrated with this whole process and started to tear up.  They told me I would have to fill in another form due to the woman's error.  I felt bad that she got yelled at, and at this time had already been in the post office for about an hour.  I held myself together though, and regained emotional stability before anything serious and/or embarrassing happened.

We had used all of the forms in the drawer, so a few people went running all around looking for a new form.  They found one, and I filled it in again.

I went back to the counter, and most of the information on this form was ok, except that I accidentally wrote two letters too close together at the very end, so we just stamped the correction (since it was really small) and wrote the two letters more legibly.  I waited a little while longer for them to do the paperwork and process the form, and finally everything seemed to be well and I left.  Let's hope the money actually appears in my bank account in a few days...

Since I hadn't heard back from my supervisor yet, I went all the way back to my apartment to pick up the housing form, and took it back to the bank to try to set up the payment schedule.  There weren't many people there so I was helped right away, and during this my supervisor called me to give me the information.  He said the number I had was only for the very FIRST payment, so he told the bank teller the new corrected information over the phone.  We had already started to fill out the sheet, so she handed me a new sheet to fill out.  (Sound familiar?)  After all was said and done, I only had to fill out 1 1/2 this time, and she said the payments would start next month.  I then took the corrected routing number, and paid THIS month's rent at the ATM.  The same lady who had helped me previously withdraw, helped me again now with the rent.  I'm glad I didn't try to do it on my own because there were a lot of buttons to press and no English.  It's strange how I can get around pretty well by using oral communication, but I'm totally helpless when it comes to reading.

So after all of this, I finally rode my bike back to the school and arrived a few minutes before 1:00 PM.  I ate lunch, cooled off in the AC, and worked on some projects for the start of the school year.  I met a fellow teacher today, who I knew of but had not spoken to yet.  For privacy, I'll call her Ms. A.  She is one of the school nurses out of two, and she is turning 23 this year.  She graduated from University in April, so she and I are in very similar situations, and obviously also very close in age.  We talked for a little bit, and she helped me plan out a few things on my English Board.  I hope we can become closer friends as the year progresses!

I still have had no luck finding where the "mixed paper and mixed plastic" garbage place is, but my supervisor faxed a map to the school today to remind me where it was.  I swear I was looking in the right place, and there was no garbage there.  If I have the same problem next time I go, I think I'm going to do like everyone else in the building and say never mind.  The place we put our normal trash is right outside the building, and they come to pick it up twice a week.  Also, I take all of my bottles and cans down to the grocery store and leave them in the public bins there.  Those things are only picked up from the street once a month, and probably at the same mystery place as the paper and plastic.  The store is about as far away as the place is anyway, and it doesn't have to accumulate in my small apartment, so bringing it there is no problem for me.

Wednesday I do a speech in front of the whole school, and then a personal introduction in every new class I visit.  After a week those should be done, so I'll let you know how they go later.

Also, I signed up for Japanese lessons finally!  In this area they have what's called "Nihongo Volunteers."  It is only 500 yen an hour, but the tutors aren't real teachers, they are just volunteers.  The 500 yen probably only covers their transportation.  I'm meeting with a teacher this Thursday in Kofu, and we'll discuss what I want to learn.  I don't know if going to Kofu every Thursday night is going to be good for me, so we are doing a one month trial.  After the month is up, we'll re-discuss the lessons.  I think that doing them would be most beneficial for me, despite having to go to Kofu.  With a tutor you can ask questions about what you're learning, they can explain more difficult concepts, and they can actually push you to study since you know you are going to have to meet with them.  I chose Thursday since Mon-Wed is the English club, and Friday is the weekend!  I think just meeting her is beneficial too though, because that's one more person I know in Yamanashi.

Think that's all for now.  I hope you don't go to the bank or post-office anytime soon.

Lana

PS. 二千十年八月二十七日♥♥♥♥