KONNICHIWHAT!?: Damn the MAN

Most of pay taxes. It's just one of those things that every working man and woman can say they have to deal with whether they like it or not and in most cases, we do not like it. Here's a related fun-fact about paying taxes in Japan: you will be hit hard during your second year. I mean really hard. I'm quite disappointed in my company for not giving me a heads up about this "residence tax", or jumin-zei 住民税 as it's known here in Japan. It comes in an envelope and it's divided into slips, or payments, that are to be made of the next few months. My first payment is due on July 1st, so that's awesome of them to give me a whole 2 weeks before having to pay $400 usd. I won't get into exact amounts, but let's just say that the total I'll be paying back is much more than just $400. I'm not complaining about paying taxes, I'm just complaining (a bit), about having to pay them in this way. These sudden, large, lump-sum payments that my company failed to mention would be coming and would be a significant amount of money. So yeah, I guess I'm disappointed in my company for dropping a rather important ball. On top of that, the rate for my national health insurance coverage has gone up, again significantly. It is what it is, to coin a cliche, but it's putting a real damper on my ability to save and send money home and that, my friends, is the real sadness of this story.

Aside from all that depressing stuff, we had our spring training seminar in Miyazaki last week. I had a really good time and as far as meetings go, it's pretty awesome. It's really just all of the area native teachers getting together, socializing, going over a bit of business and playing games related to different company practices. Rachel and I played as Vanna and Pat, respectively, in a Wheel of Fortune game with the theme of classroom management. It went over really well, as the group seemed to have fun. The big focus of the seminar was the upcoming summer school classes in July. We practiced curriculum by doing demos and giving each other feedback and for me, it definitely helps seeing all the lessons acted out. I feel like I'll be well prepared by the time SS classes roll around next month. Next up, the big combined meeting (CM), on July 1st, where the native teachers get together with the Japanese teachers for more SS prep. Joy!