Extra Extra

The tech overlords have removed the 'technical issues' on my photo sharing due to my good behaviour so here is some context for the last bit, which was awfully dreary, plus some extra.

The weather has been humid, between 50-75%, i have lost at least one bodyweight worth of liquid in a state of constant sweating. It finally broke today and the rain is putting a lovely grey pall over everything. Could call it pathetic fallacy considering had to sit inside and listen to explanations of a folder full of paperwork in which I shall record my work hours, confirm with the principal of the schools, post it to the supervisor for approval and have it posted back with a stamp of approval in order to receive payment. A simple clock in/out app on an ipad in the staffroom would suffice and be more reliable one would have thought, a solution rural pubs in ireland have somehow managed to reach. I do not really understand, but i am an ignorant lout so compliance is the only acceptable response.

Ignorance is compounded by the complexity of the written language, kanji/hiragana/katakana, thousands of context dependent characters and symbols. Also the spoken cues, which are actually kind of handy because you can just memorise the greeting and it is essentially the same everytime. A lot of status/respect dependent cues as well based on your position, age and other things i have not found out about yet.

I have walked up and down the town several times already and am intensely bored with the urban area already, trying not to see everything at once but alas will have to start ranging further afield as soon as possible, good oppurtunity with a few days off coming up. There are quite a few hills in the distance >3000m so that will be interesting. Public transport not really servicing the bottom of such hills so i will wait for the car to get at them.

Lads with hand held fireworks getting sparks just rained on them for the entertainment value of quite a crowd. They did this for about three hours which was impressive. Not sure what the cultural significance of it is, it seems to be only about 40 odd years old but sure why not.

Some geezers with the mayor in a social media post. One can imagine the shock of this highly esteemed local when asked whether to smile or not for the photoshoot. He was a nice man, welcomed us very warmly and seemed very happy to have some people to show the city off to, which we all appreciated. Difficult to admit you have never heard of a mans city before arriving there to his face so smile and say it is a beautiful area and excited to be there :D

Beware the bears, hungry fellows with absolutely no culinary preferences apparently. Interesting to see this in a fairly well populated area. Also interesting to consider that one is a piece of flesh that can be consumed entirely by some other piece of flesh with sharper teeth and bigger muscles, seems like an unfair advantage really. Have to get myself a bear bell and a bear stopping rifle, take some western and eastern approaches to it.

Inquisitive fellow spotted running through the city gutters. This is a similar look to how locals peer at you from behind the wheels of their car when one walks around.

Fire engines after the electricity was cut off by a lovely inferno. It seemed to be a house which caught fire which is quite sad, if i had to guess some sort of gas cooker incident, not fully compatible with wooden structures.

A curious drink purchased from a vending machine. Upon opening the can, the contents appeared to be some form of gelatinous grape flavoured blob with chewy chunks embedded within. Further inspection revealed that the drink must be shaken before consumption. After some questionable shaking motions, sip to discover the gelatinous blob has somehow through the magic of chemistry turned into a fizzy liquid and get a mouthful of fizzied gel chunks for your troubles. Estimated life span decreased by 3 months, chemical resistance increases 30%. Found another drink from these people which i will get more information on soon.

Cheers if you made it this far. Stay tuned