February 1998 - email7
This is a BIG one.... lotttts of stuf... enjoy. There's actually a list of what I wrote about in the email, how about that.

From: Gary Ploski                            2/13/98 0:23
Subject: Fwd:Recent Events....
To: Kim Paoletto Gary Ploski wrote:

will be of interest to those of you who are A: bored or B: very bored.
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A. The headache and the hospital
B. Violence in school
C. Important to some and not to others
D. Surprised
E. 4 costumes
F. Classes
G. Anything else I think about that I forgot

(A)     The other day I was in pain with a ounding headache but thought nothing of it. It happens, it's really no big deal. As I was about to cross the road to meet up with Liz to go pick up some pictures I was greeted by someone from City Hall.
         I told her what was going on with school and then got to tell her about my headache. She said something like 'ohhh... Are you going to the hospitl?' with a very VERY serious look on her face. My facial expression was that of a person being told that they couldn't speak during a debate. "HUH?!! What are you talking about?! Why would you go to the hosiptal for a headache?" was my reaction. I told her that I was going home eat and to take some bufferin or some ibuprofen. After doing that I was going to relax for a little while. She was amazed by my idea. Telling me I 'really  sould go to the hospital.' I suggested to go to Seiyu (local grocery store) to buy some bufferin and then go home and relax. "Bufferin is bad for you though." was her reply.
         Okay -- If I pop two, three or more tablets into my mouth everyday I can underestand it being bad for me, but 2 tablets when I have a headache?!? uhh?! It's not tylenol, that stuff needs to be kept in check, but BUFFERIN!? The conversation didn't go anywhere from there, she told me she was going to the hospital and suggested me to go as well. She walked on and I crossed the road in complete amazement of what had just transpired. I WAS AMAZED!
         SO remember, next time you have a headache --- get to the hospital and ask the doctor what you need. My only guess is that you have to pray and hope he doesn't prescribe any of the following -- bufferin, tylenol, ibuprofen or asprin because they're all (apparently) bad for you. How about that.

(B)     This is very very sad. About a week ago, maybe more, I think it was the 28th of Jan, there was a horrible event that happened in a junior high school here in Japan. A student and a teacher will never be the same, unfortunately one of them wil never live again.
         The student, feeling sick, decided to go to the nurses office. He left a few minutes later and went to the lavatory. He was in there for a few minutes, this would make him late to class -- not good. He took his time going back to class and upon arrival was spoken to by the teacher about his tardiness. They stepped out of the class room and began to talk.
         The class was English, the (she)teacher 26 years old, the (he)student 12 or 13. The teacher told the him that it was not good to be late to class and asked why he was late. He didn't want to hear anything she had to say, so he pulled out a 10 cm butterfly knife. Yes indeed here's wher I've got both your eye's glued to the screen. She watched him pull out the knife and didn't say or do anything apparently. It would seen that her readtion isn't what he wanted.
         He grew even more angry, and decided there was more to be done - with the knife. Within moments he was stabbing her with this 10 cm butterfly knife. She fell. He straddled her as she lie on her back, like a person to a horse. He stabbed her a total of 7 times from one shoulder across the body to the other shoulder.
         He was arrested and the teacher was taken to the hosipital. I don't know what's happened to the student but I do know that the teacher did not survive the incident. One hour after the stabbing occured, she died.
         To those of you unfamiliar with Japanese school systems -- This event DOES NOT happen. This was the first time something like this happened IN school. Outside of school things happen, in all countries, but this has never happened IN a school in Japan before. In N.Y. guns and knifes are all over the place, schools included. Here, in JPN, it is not true.
         People here in JPN, in Asaka, were absoluely blown away by this event. It was spoken of and questioned for the bext week. This was a tragic event that will hopefully never happen again. Let's hope that people all over realize what a tragedy it is for children to own knifes and guns. It affects more people than we think. If you pray -- think abut the families of those mourning the loss of loved ones. If you don't pray - at least think about those who mourn the loss of loved ones. Such a sad event.........

(C)     Food. Drinks. Food and drinks. Should they be put together? A student thought it would be not big deal to pour some of his fruit drink into the food bin in his class. After doing so he left his glass container in the bin. What happened? The food wasn't served for some reason - i don't know why. Some students didn't care, teachers on the other hand were SOOOOOOOO worried that they had a meeting for about an hour or two. ???????? When the situation was resolved teachers were amaszed at how little the students cared. The teachers thought it was a HUGE problem, but the students....... 'ahh whatever' was their reaction to the problem.
         I guess it goes to show you never know who gets concerned over some things and who couldn't care less. It's kinda though to determine that though -- ain't it? I know that it's true for me. Well enough of that one....

(D)     The term is almost over for moi. I'll be at the half way mark at the end of this week. I'm pretty excited about that. It means that a visit from some fam peoples will happen soon. Yipppeee. haha. ....next...

(E)     For those of you interested in comics -- FYI - Spidey (Spider-Man) will be doning four (4), count 'em, 4 different costumes soon. Each costume will create a new character. ???? He's going to use different weapons and different powers to throw people off. FYI - He's wanted for a murder and there is a $5 million dollar reward out for him. Sooooooo, if you wanna see what's goin on in the world of Spidey, now is the time to check it out. Tid bit of info.... His marriage is goin through some interesting changes soon as well. Will he be single again? Will he just be in the seperated state? hmmmmmmmmm.. next....

(F)     As of this week I have an offical Japanese language course to attend twice a week. The first class was pretty cool, I got to practice and mess up without having to worry about anything like ordering 5 pizzas and not knowing what I had done. Ahhh! 5 pizzas? I didn't want 5 pizzas, I wasnted 2. Ahhhh man! Fun and fun and fun. Here's to the fun. Yokata! or  Yoshi!    next....

(G)     Don't think there is anything else to tell you about. I'm doing well, enjoying the weather, and whatever else I can enjoy. Actually here's something...
         A teacher at ich-chu (#1 J.H.) is very helpful at his home. This is not normal for a man in Japan. I asked him about it and he told me that Women view him as .... from older to younger.
         Older women, in general, are very confused by his desire to help the woman of the household. Bringing his dishes into the kitchen, doing laundry, cleaning, ironing, etc... They just don't understand why he does it. He's married, why does he do it?
         Women his age like to see it and wish that their husband would do that type of thing. They know what it's like to do everything by themselves all day while their husband is working. Any help would be great, but there is very little help from the men's part.
         Younger women think it's a great idea, but this isn't the large consensus. It's probably a 50/50 split. The half that think it's a good idea are the women that say to the older men that clean, cook, etc.. "I hope I find someone like you." An interesting thing, no. The other half don't want him to cook, clean, etc... they'll do it for him. They want to do it for him. KEEP IN MIND THIS IS ALL GENERALIZATIONS FROM ONE DISCUSSION I HAD WITH A MALE TEACHER WHO IS IN HIS MID TO LATE 40's.
         From the male point of view. Older men think they have no need to help. Why should they? They're wife has done it for all these years and never expected it, so why should he or any other husband do those chores?
         Men his age his age are in the 50/50 zone. They think, after doing it for a while -- if they do it for a while, that it's an alright thing to do. The other half will eventually fall into the same catagory as the older men.
         The younger men are also in the 50/50 zone. It appears that if the woman gets the man to do stuff from the beginning he'll be more accepting later on in life.
         Soooo ladies, when you get a him in your life -- get him to do some stuff now, or you'll never get him to do it later. At least in Japan that works.
         This is enough of a read. Hope I kept you intereted for at least half of it... Have a crazy day in the land of the obsessed and the land of the flowers that look like quarks(don't know what it is? look it up). There's gotta be one.  ciao cito
- posted by garyploski @ 2/13/1998 02:26:00 AM