Goodbye, L-San!

It is hot here. 37 degrees Celsius. Which is around 100 Fahrenheit. Needless to say that the bikeride here left me one soggy American. I now realize why it is totally socially acceptable to have a towel tied around your neck/head out here (often with kawaii cartoon characters all over them). Because, without a `sweatmop` (as I have dubbed it), you look like a `tard when you arrive anywhere. I had sweated through the knees of my jeans. ...It sounds gross, doesn`t it? That`s because it is very gross.
On a related note, allow me to tell you about my sweet ride. It`s called a `mama-cherri`- An old woman`s bike. Everybody has them here, and there`s a standard model and everything, parked outside of every grocery store. Not...quite like my road bike back home (that spruced up Murray!), but it seems extremely dependable. And...scoff if you will, but the front basket, while making you look like a fool, can carry some groceries. ...Which brings me back to point 1 - the heat. It`s nice to keep all that junk off your back, while you`re pedaling around rural Japan.

My sole bane in Japan now is a certain woman. I will call her, for the sake of anonymity, L-San. L-San is not related to my position here at all. Her English is not very good (not that I`m saying everyone`s must be! This is Japan afterall, not London...but it would be nice if my `translator` could tell me what was going on), but she insists on becoming my `host mother`. She actually told me, on the first day that I`d met her, that I should call her `mom`. ...I politely refused.
Anyway...she keeps telling me that I need to go to her workplace, rather than my workplace, and spend the day with her. Only...I don`t like hanging out with L-San at all, and she treats me like a child. When I was paying for something in a shop yesterday, L-San reached into my hand and took my money to pay the cashier. She is in no way related to my job, or my time here in Japan, but she keeps making plans for me without asking, which is very frustrating. On top of that, she forces me to parrot out japanese in front of people so that she can boast about how good of a teacher she is. My predecessor had warned me against her, and I`ve heard some horrifying stories that I won`t repeat here.
I almost feel bad about it, but I`ve told her that I`m not going to spend more time with her. I was brought here to teach kids, not to entertain L-San. And, as far as my time in Japan is concerned, I can get to Tokyo on my own. I`m not a child, and I don`t appreciate being treated like one.
(Also, the horrors of my first day here in town were compounded [possibly caused] by L-San. She was the one that picked me up and brought me to the mayor`s office and things. And, if it had been someone else, like the other ALT in town, there would never have been any cause for alarm. My entire negative first experience was directly impacted by L-San`s insistence to be in control of my situation.)

Geez, that was a little bit of a rant. Or, as we call it in the blogosphere, an `update`...