So a week ago I opened a bank account at the post office.  As in Japan, the postal service also serves as a sort of national bank.  The people were really really nice about helping me with the account and they spoke really slowly so I could understand their French.

The man who opened my account was especially nice probably because he had just opened an account before for another English assistant.  Actually, I thought I knew about all the other assistants in my town but apparently this one slipped through my highly attuned “assistant radar.”  He is the assistant for the postal worker’s wife who is a teacher at one of the high schools here.  When I told the man at the post office that I did not know the other assistant, this is what he said:

“Oh, really?  Do you want his phone number?  I have it here, let me give it to you.”  Then he ruffled through his drawer of files (confidential, I thought?!?) and pulled out the assistants’ account information, plopped it in front of me and pointed to his phone number.  “There”  he said.  I can only hope that he is not as forthcoming with my personal information…twas a little strange I thought.

It was partly due to this display that when I came back the next time with a request for some “RIBs” (official slips that prove my name and account number) and realized that I had forgotten my passport (my only official piece of identity) I went ahead and waited in line until I was called.  When the woman at the counter asked for my passport I put on my best “lost puppy” face and said “I don’t have my passport, but I have my California driver’s license…and here, a credit card with my name on it too…” and, only a little surprisingly, she gave me the RIBs (with a little exasperated sigh at least) even though all I had was a state id from a foreign country.  Should I be happy that they are so lax, or really, really worried??

Anyway, later that day I was able to hand in my RIBs to the secretary at school which means I can get paid (yay!) and hopefully, the money will still be in my account when I go to get it… :-/