I fight authority.

Today I was supposed to go to Nobeoka for a counseling session. It's a little twenty minute sitdown where a veteran JET asks you about your job situation, your day to day, and any problems you might have therein. Problem is, Nobeoka is a good two hour drive for yours truly, and it seemed a little silly to drive two hours to talk for twenty minutes, then drive two hours back. So I decided not to go.

So, my school gets a call from these counseling folks, asking if they know where I am. Of course, I'm sitting right here. So, these counseling folks inform the principal that I'm supposed to be in Nobeoka for a mandatory counseling session. I very politely tell him, "No thank you. I'm not going." This is difficult for him to understand. Not that he doesn't understand the words. It's very simple English, and he can handle it. But since what I've said is so insane, he tracks down my English teacher to make sure he heard it right.

And he has. I'm not going. So, my teacher asks me why. Fair question. I explain that it is so very far away, and that I'm not really interested in discussing my life with a stranger who can't possibly do anything about anything anyway. If this was some sort of licensed psychiatrist, maybe I'd have done it. I've always been curious about what really goes on in a shrink's office, but this is just another JET, some guy a year older than me who probably knows a lot less. I explained this. My teacher called the people back and told them not to expect me. I guess at this point, they must have explained to her that it was a "mandatory session for first-year JETs". Well, you know how I feel about mandatory, so I said to her, "Mandatory is a funny word. I mean, what are they going to do to me?"

So she answered, "Well, they want to talk to you about life in Shiiba and --"

I cut her off. "I meant, what are they going to do if I don't go?"

This is what confused the principal so much, and it blind-sided my teacher too. She looked at me, and explained again how it was required that I attend. I asked the obvious question, "Required by who?" and she said it was the prefectural board of education or something like that. Which was great. I said, "I don't work for them. No problem." This really confused her. The prefectural board of education is a body of superior authority. My casual dismissal of their wishes obviously blew a fuse somewhere in her brain because she moved back a step to explain to me how it was required. Well, I was out of new reasons to explain why I wasn't going, and I had no intention of changing my mind, so I told her, "Don't worry about it," and turned back to my computer. It was rude, but it ended the conversation.

So, then there's a conference. I'm not party to this exchange, but about half the school's faculty is. I guess they have to decide what to do by committee. I can hear my name bounced about a few times, so I know what they're talking about. They keep looking at me like I've grown a second head, but I've really just grown used to people looking at me weird. Apparently this kind of disobedience is very confusing, since at the end of the conference, both the principal and the vice-principal and my teacher come over to explain one more time, "The counseling in Nobeoka is required of all first-year ALTs."

But I'm not interested, "I really don't care. It's a waste of my time."

"Yes, but--"

More forcefully, "I'm not going."

I don't know what they did then, but I think my ability to say no, not only to some distant, nebulous authority, but to my direct superiors, intimidated them. About twenty minutes worth of phone calls later, my teach comes back to tell me that because of the long distance, the prefecture has given me permission not to attend.

She couldn't understand why I was laughing.