Advice for my successor #3

No, I didn't intent to keep writing these, but they just come to me like an epiphany:

• There's a whole bunch of bulky stuff in the closets that I've never used before, and most likely neither will you. But since it's such a pain to dispose of, it's become a game of hot potato, and the loser will be the ALT who's living here when the school decides to find a new place for its ALTs to live (or stops hiring or housing ALTs).

• If you're like me and have a hard time remembering students names, if any students ask you if you remember their names, jokingly say something like "Oh yeah, it's Mary, isn't it?" They'll laugh.

• The "Oh yeah, it's Mary, isn't it?" trick only works so many times. And if there's a big group and you start giving them all Western names, they will catch on that you're not joking and really don't know if their name is Yuka, Yuki, Yukino, Yukinu, or Yukina.

• None of the teachers take the time to banter much with the lunch ladies, but they're really pretty nice (that one doesn't only apply to Japan).

• There are three main types of noodles in Japan: ramen, udon, and soba. Of course there are others, but these are the big three. You must decide for yourself how you will rank them in terms of goodness.

• Soba sucks.

Correction: You must rank udon and ramen for yourself. Soba has officially been pegged last.