SQUEEKY SHOES

Shoes, or more to the point my shoes, and even more to the point my inside shoes, or even MORE to the point the fact that they squeak.

Yup, my damn super dooper Kodachi Japanese volleyball shoes are a pain in the butt. I mean sure i love them and all, they are so totally awesome, for those who have yet to have the Japanese volleyball shoes experience, allow me to enlighten you!

My shoes, my beautiful shoes, are white, in a kind of Dunlop Volley style but heaps better, they have three orange and silver strips up the side, almost like the Adidas ones and they have an orange bit at the back that says 'Kodachi' and then a silver stripe that says 'international'. On the tongue there is a little picture of a volleyball and a net, on the inner sole is written some Japanese stuff and then Kodachi volleyball. So you see, they are proper volleyball shoes! and the best bit, i didnt even buy them in Japan! Now, they arnt the height of shoe fashion, in fact they are probably pretty low, but they are cool in a slightly daggy kind of way, like bowling shoes. But i love them and thats all that matters.

Well....i did love them, but now, this once unconditional feeling has declined a little, because THEY SQUEAK.

Big deal i hear you all grumble, and yes my dear friends it is a big deal, for me anyway, because you seem here in Japan you have the inside/outside shoe system ande while the barriersa may not be clearly defined they are to some extent, so everyday i actually wear two pairs of shoes, my black school girl shoes which look hell wicked with my LONG knee high socks and then my volleyball shoes. and then on somedays when we have sport i wear my sport shoes, but the majority of my school life is spent in my volleyball shoes. See im not supposed to wear them, the rest of the people here wear slippers that either have a green, blue or red bit on the sepending on whether one is 3rd, 2nd or 1st year. This is great for me coz i can tell with one glance at the shoes the rough age of whoever i am talking too, yes i should be wearing them too but as i am just this giant mutant freak with elephant size feet, im wearing my volleyball shoes.

Now, i dont mind about me having different shoes, i did at first and then i just got over it, the thing i DO mind is that the sqeauk, because this whole school is lino. Lino lino lino everywear, and well, the rubber and super grip on my shoes just makes them squeak squeak squeak. See i could handle it if it werent for the fact that sometimes i have free lessons and so will walk around while other people are in class, and i mean as if being a giant fair haired gaijin wasnt enough, my bloody shoes squeak which causes MORE people to stare. And walking into a filled and deathly silent library, dont even go there!

The thing is they dont squeak all the time, just at the real inconvenient times, like when im in a bad mood and if i have to smile to one more person i dont know i will shoot someone, or when i am sneaking out of a class, or when i am trying to creep into the library to the computer unnoticed.

AND i have a theory on why this is, its got something to do with the floors. I have been conducting a little research in my many free periods and have so far concluded its the floors and how clean they are, becaue my shoes have heaps and heaps of grip see, and when the floors are sparkling clean, well, they grip, and therefore squeak, but if the floors have a little dust or muck or whatever, they dont, because instead of gripping the floor they pick up the dirt. Of course this isnt 100 per cent accurate, sometimes they squeak for the pure pleasure of embarrassing me, but all i can say is bring on the dirty floors!!!!

adios amigos!