Thursday, March 04, 2004

OK, so I came out of hospital today with a bill for 230,000 yen (1200 pounds). And for those of you who are wondering, that's after the hoken sho. If anybody out there knows about the JET insurance policy please tell me about it. If you've already claimed it, how exactly did you do it? Stick any info you know of in the comment box. I know, my supervisor should be able to help me with everything, but I've already depended my tits off on Kudou sensei over the last few days so I want to give him a bit of a break. He's been an absolute champion!! Oh yeah, the head of dept. also came to see me in hospital and he gave me an envelope with 2 man (100 pounds) inside, like it was the least that was expected of him. He's an amazing example of humanity at all times, even though he does grind me when he drinks his soup through his cheeks.

If the hoken sho (Japanese medicare) accounts for 70% of the bill, that means my little three day spell in hospital altogether comes to roughly 77 man, or 770,000 yen (3,830 pounds, or, 7,000 USD). Can you believe it? The insurance company will of course fork out, but the only sure way to avoid nasty medical bills like these is to take my advice and don't snowboard over the cuckoo's nest. Hospital wasn't too bad in retrospect. I got really frustrated with the temperature they keep in there, as I usually do with Japanese public spaces. I tried to explain to the nurse that I get hot headed really easily, and she ran off to get a thermometre. The best thing about my stay was the physio, where I got the chance to exercise my knackered arm. I've got to say that there are some extremely patient women working in there and I regard them as pure salt of the earth.

Back to work on Monday. I'm looking forward to being a part of something again. Actually , I'll never really be a part of anything at work because I'm an ALT, and I'm sure other ALTs reading this weblog will agree that we have a funny old relationship with the working environment in our schools. At least I can kid myself that I'm being useful in the office though.

Also, I've looked into upgrading my blog so that I can upload photos from the internet and such, but the site support group replied saying that they aren't offering upgrades at present. As soon as they do I'll be onto it to try and make this blog a more interesting read.

Jaa ne