long time no blog

Well, Fall is here.
Students are going crazy. One student came into the teachers room (during forbidden entrance time because of test preparations) and pushed a teacher beacuse he was very angry. I don:t really know the full explanation because it wasn:t really an appropriate time to ask. [Such an action is VERY unusual for a Japanese student]. Then yesterday another student, who is my table tennis buddy, had a hyperventillation breakdown. All the teachers rushed to surround her. She was in the hallway or bathroom. I didn:t go, but I did ask for an explanation this time. The teacher told me it was probably because of friends fighting. What is going on in my school?! All of the teachers know the students on this intimate level. But I only get a few glimpese into whats happening from stuff that occurs in front of me, one of the part time JTEs, and occasionally from the Chinese student who comes to talk to me and tell me how much he hates the school and wants to go to America! He said to me the other day that he thought Japanese people were cold! I was very surprised but at the same time, I can see where he is coming from as an Asian outsider meant to assimilate their culture. They might not be as accepting of him, whereas with me, they accept me as an outsider who will remain an outsider. No threat from this blonde haired blue eyed camp folks!!
I am at a roadblock with my Japanese. I recently put kerosene fuel in my car and realized it after I had filled it about 5 liters. Luckily, they were able to drain my car with no problems. Because I realized it early and didnt start the engine, the fuel didn:t enter the system, so I saved alot of money. Speaking with the gas attendants, I realized though, that my Japanese is nowhere near where it should be. And with my family coming in a few months, I had better start absorbing faster!
My gas gauge was broken after they emptied the tank, so they told me to go to the car shop and when I suggested it was the gas people that broke it when they emptied the tank they said "no no no, its definately because your car is 20 years old....there is no other explanation!" What?!?! This is one of the frustrating things about not being able to speak. I had my Japanese mama with me so she helped out alot, but everything had to go through her and she agreed with the mechanic, so it was useless. Her English isn:t that good so most of the time I only partially understand her. And the English she does speak is just like the Japanese I speak.
Anyways, they didn:t want to fix the gas gauge and so they keep telling me to use the odometer and then they reset it and so now I have no idea how much gas is in my car!
In other news, I went on a cool religious pilgrimage for 4 days at the beginning of September. I will post a blog about some parts of it, but I was sworn for secrecy so I have to be selective with what I write!