AaaaCHOOO!

Man. I have the sneezes goodstyle today. I thank Dave for that. He was sniffing and sneezing all over the place this weekend, and I think his allergies (for that's what it is, not a cold) have rubbed off on me. Or maybe, just maybe, it's because he sneezed all over me in the middle of the night on Saturday. Forgot I was lying beside his bed, and sneezed in my general direction. Nice.

It's cold here today. Nothing like the cold at home, I gather, but cold enough for me to wish the kerosene stoves were on at school. I spent the weekend being quite productive: was in the city on Saturday to try to finish my Chrsitmas shopping (HA! What DOES one buy one's grandfather?!), and then spent the evening at Dave's doing AJET work, while Dave went out to an enkai.

On Sunday, we were up early doors to go and play touch rugby on nearby Awaji Island. I have to admit, rugby was the last thing I felt like doing on Sunday. No real reason, I just didn't have much 'get up and go'. The day, it seemed, was fine enough, and I spent a nice lazy first hour rolling around on the grassy (albeit DEAD grass) field in the sun. Then we had a nice thunderstorm and some freezing rain to remind us that it was indeed late Novemeber, and we were indeed right beside the sea. Brr. All in all, though, I really enjoyed the running around. Didn't score, but I got a couple of decent runs in.

After a good dinner at Masala's in the city (about the closest you'll get to a decent Indian in Tokushima) with Dave and GEOS manager Angela, it was time to board the train home.

This morning I spoke to Alice on messenger. It was so nice to 'speak' to her. I got a lot off my chest, and, as expected, Alice gave me bucketloads of support. Of course, it would have been better to do it in person, but that'll come in about three weeks. I can't believe how much I'm looking forward to going home. Not because it's home, but because of the people I'm going to see. I haven't seen Alice in a year, I saw Jil-sty for only a few hours in June, and I'm going to get to see Jane again. Sadly, I won't see my babies, Jo and Pernilla. That reunion will come in the summer.

On Thursday, the postie came to school with a parcel for me: turns out it was Jill's birthday present, sent to her in August, which I assumed was languishing in some Edinburgh-based Lost Post storage room. But no! The parcel travelled all the way to Tranent, floated around there for a while, looking for Stumpy, and then, when it couldn't find her, it came ALL the way back over here, in perfect condition! I am impressed. Now Jill will get a birthday present.

It's a beautiful day today: I don't think I've ever seen my mountains quite so aflame with autumnal colour. We've had a dry year this year, so it makes the colour that much more vivid. My house is a mess, it needs tidied. My head is a mess, that also needs tidied.

Gobble, gobble

I am feeling about 10 times better than I was at the start of the week. Not quite HAPPY yet, but certainly not as bleak as Monday.

Yesterday was another one of those weird Japanese events... a mid-week holiday. Not that I'm complaining! I went out to Kawashima on the train with Julie and Smitha for a Thanksgiving dinner. Wish I was American, there's something terribly civilised and friendly about a day devoted to eating, and playing parlour games, and watching American football (the latter was sadly lacking). I suppose also, there's something terribly privileged about it as well.

Kelly has the largest house of any ALT in the ken, and yesterday it was pretty full with about 25 fellow JETs, who had all come with various food and drink, to sit, eat, talk, laugh and play charades. What fun! The turkeys had been bought specially from a company that specialises in importing foreign food (yeah, whole frozen turkeys don't exist in this country), as had the stuffing and gravy. There were mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, cranberry sauce, El's yummy cream vegetable pasta thing, a few pasta salads, bread, cheese, wine, apple crumble (no custard! for shame!) a brave attempt at Yorkshire pudding, and lots of red wine. My poor tummy's tied in knots today over such rich food, it's used to gentle Japanese cuisine! We played charades, which was a lot of fun, and at about 9.40, it was time to jump on the train back west. Sadly there were no taxis, to I buttined up my coat, pulled on my hat, and started the 30 minute walk home.

It was a beautiful clear crisp night, and the stars were gorgeous. At one point, I lay down in the middle of the road to look at them better, and had to laugh at the thought of one of the locals walking by, and seeing this foreign girl lying in the middle of a dark road for no apparent reason. It didn't happen.

Back at school today, and my one class is cancelled. So time for study. Have also made the decision to go to Belfast over New Year to see Jane. Good stuff.

The picture is me, along with Kiwi Amber, and Canadian Julia, both first year ALTs, and both very lovely. The other one is Beej chewing over life's little idisyncrasies with what's left of the turkey he so expertly carved. :)

Seven Years Bad Luck

Look what I did. I broke a mirror on Saturday morning. The last thing I need right now is seven years bad luck. This term has had too much that is bad. Sadly, the weekend had a fair share of bad luck, which I attribute to my poor mirror:

1) Intending to go to the city to shop on Saturday, I woke up at 8am, broke the mirror, and then discovered that the roadies who are currently digging up my street had turned my water off. So my plans for the day were scuppered. I stayed in and did some work and felt cold.

2) Something else happened last night, which I can't write about here, in case it's read. Suffice it to say that things are not as they seemed. But although I am unhappy at the piece of news, the person giving it to me seemed very happy indeed, and that is more important. After I heard what this person said, I went and listened to Nine Inch Nails, turned up very loud, and felt like I was 16 again.

I feel quite blue and alone today. Need some love. And need to reign my imagination back in. Tonight, I am going to run the broken mirror under cold water, and bury it in the soil. Apparently that reverses the bad luck. I don't want anymore bad luck. Things need to start going right, soon.

"It's mine!"

I just had a couple of really good first year classes, using phrases like "Is this yours?" and all they associated answers that come with it.

Firstly, me and Tame-chan did a demonstration skit, where we had been shopping, we were on our separate ways home, and we bumped into eachother. Our shopping spilled all over the floor, and we had to sort it out asking the above question. At one point, we had a pulling match over my Cadbury's Advent calendar than mum just sent me. She was really pulling hard!

We handed the floor over to the kids, and they just bowled us over with their skits. We expected them to be really dry, using only the target grammar. Instead, we had fights, romance, murder "I kill you! Give me! I kill you!", and pets "My animal, follow me". It was wonderful. Times like this, I just love my job. It should happen more often!

Cold days now. Snow will come early this year. Means a good long boarding season. I have a lot of work to do. I must get going.

So looking forward to seeing everyone at Chrsitmas, and just TALKING with people that know me. This term has been such a rollercoaster, and I'm mentally drained.

Iceland Airwaves

This last couple of months, as I've already commented on, I have been in this sort of musical dreamland. The music I've ripped from people (mainly Nate) has enlarge my collection something ridiculous, and I haven't listened to half the stuff I have yet.

The JETs in Tokkers are a musical bunch, we have a whole spectrum of taste represented here, everything from Classical to gangsta rap and all the stuff in between. From time to time, you get a musical tip-off from a fellow JET about a music website, and you're done for: download orgy, and things like JLPTs and AJET report writing get thrown out the window. The last time this happened was when Mat posted about epitonic.com and I spent many a happy hour browsing the amazing collection of free MP3s they have there.

Today's tip came from Beej, who I will admit, isn't really on my wavelength when it comes to music. But he is serious about it, and any musical tip from Beej should be followed up on. He recommended tofuhut.blogspot.com which is more of a links site to MP3 blogs. And my, what a resource. It's amazing what and who you can find on the net by following link after link.

One of the best finds today was a playlist of some acts at this year's Iceland Airwaves festival. I think Scandinavia has some of the most innovative music around, and I always like to hear more. So I was pretty psyched when I found this playlist just waiting to be downloaded. Haven't taken all of it, but if I like the stuff I have taken, I'll go back for more.

I also found a really great photographer, who turns out to be this 18 year old kid somewhere in the US. His work is really edgy, and beautiful without being sentimental. Check him out here. When I go home, I'm going to do the courses at Stills and get back into it.

Too many kaki

I had a quiet weekend for the first time in well over a month, probably nearer two months. Predictably, by the end of it, I was feeling lonely and bored, but I reckon the down time has done me a world of good. Here is my weekend in bullet form, as there is nothing hugely interesting to write prose about:

1) Sat in on Friday with beer and the films 'Volcano'- a literally steaming pile of Hollywood cak, perfect for mindless Friday entertainment-, and 'Carlito's Way'- one of my favourite films, but I saw it not so long ago, so it wasn't quite as breathtaking as usual.

2) Woke up at noon on Saturday. Did some chores, studied a very little, go bored.

3) Spent Saturday night with more films: 'Devil's Advocate' (going through an Al Pacino phase) and 'Death to Smoochy' which is superb, can't understand why it failed at the cinema.

4) Woke up at 7.30am on Sunday to go and spend 3.5 hours in my freezing gym, watching the PTA playing volleyball. As anyone who knows me already knows, I loathe PTAs. So I was not overly happy to have to spend time on Sunday pretending to want to be there. God, was it cold.

5) Went to the onsen to warm up after this, followed by a steaming bowl of udon. Then went home and slept for a good long time. Was woken up by Kocho-sensei's wife, summoning me to their house in order to give me kaki (persimmon) from their tree. I have so many of these damn things now, all sat in my kitchen, and not a single idea of what to do with them. Maybe kaki-shoyu, or kaki salsa, or kaki pie? Hmm, no oven with which to make said pie.

6) Had a quiet Sunday evening, did some AJET work, and by this time, was ready to start the new week, and see people again.

Today, I've had no classes, no-one is really online to talk to, so I'm still feeling somewhat lonely, but that's ok. Monday is busy for most people apart from me! I did have my ass slapped by a third year girl. She's a shocker. I ran away from her clutching my backside, feeling violated.

Tomorrow, we have the big demonstration class for the people from the prefectural board of education. Not overly worried, but would still prefer not to have to do it!

100MpH

PHEW! What an absolutely MAD week. It's been good though. It's not often that I feel totally worn out at week's end through hard work, so I am enjoying this sleepy Friday feeling (instead of the usual Friday feeling, which is euphoric at the prospect of two days away from my desk).

Today, I had no idea what I wanted to do in any of my three classes, but they all came together swimmingly well at the last minute, which is always a great feeling. The teachers seemed happy with what I did, the kids seemed interested, so all in all they were good lessons.

Tonight, I plan on being alone for the first Friday in.... a long time. Not so long ago, I was moaning because I always seemed to be at home on a Friday, but then things took off, and I found that my house was always full of guests. Which was great, I love having people over. But this weekend, I am bowing out of the social scene, and having a weekend in on my own to get some sleep, watch some films, and do some.... JAPANESE STUDY!

Yes, the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is but a scant three weeks on Sunday, and I am woefully unprepared. I don't expect to pass (not being a martyr, I simply don't know enough to pass), but I can try my best. And I also have a bet with Stu that if I pass, he has to stop drinking for a week, or a month's worth of weekends, or something like that. If I fail, I have to send (yes, SEND) him a crate of beer. So there's an incentive if ever there was one.

Studying comes tomorrow, though. Tonight, it's me, some beer, my blankets, the rain outside, and some films. Bliss.

Love to you all, see you soon!

Elbow to the Eye

The Japanese can be an odd bunch sometimes: like putting a National Holiday in the middle of the week. It just strikes me as odd. It was well received, of course, and I spent the day vegging out with Julie and watching videos, then playing tennis (badly) at night. Just wish it had been a Friday rather than a Thursday.

On Friday, my friend Mat came to stay over. He brought a film called 'Kikojo no Natsu', which means 'Kikojo's Summer'. I think that was the name used... I forget the exact name of the character. Anyway, it stars Beat Takeshi, one of the most famous Japanese actors, and a young boy (who was just beautiful really), and they go in search of this boy's mum. The story is about the unlikely friendship that grows between them, and about some of the characters they meet on their journey. It's quite a melancholic wee film, but nice too.

On Saturday, Mat and I loaded up his car with futons and food, and made our way to the Iya Valley for the annual camping JET camping trip. This was the first time I had been, as in previous years I had been busy with dancing. The drive up to the valley was amazing: we caught the leaves at a perfect time. Unfortunately, I discovered that I had brought my camera without its battery, which was still languishing in the charger at home. So I didn't snap any of the foliage. Nutter than I am.

The trip was good; it's always nice to see people away from Akita Machi, the drinking area of Tokushima. Of course, there was drinking going on, but there seems to be more of a social edge to it when it's done outside. Spoke to a lot of people, snuggled with a few others, and ate some really good BBQ tortilla/quesidilla type things. And drank, maybe just a little more than was necessary.

On Sunday, me, Mat, Joe and Jordan headed to Joe's place nearby, and spent a few hours chatting, playing this odd game called 'Settlers of Catan' (which borders dangerously on the the 'geek' side of things, but however...), and then having a crazy, four-way thumb war which ended abruptly when Jordan's elbow invaded my eye socket. Ouch. Small shiner today, but nothing too noticeable.

Had a wonderful early night last night, after watching 'Heat' (great film), eating Japanese deli food from the local supermarket (wanted to cook curry, but decided that I simply couldn't be bothered), and actually talking to Stu on the phone. He phoned me, and it was really good to hear his voice.

Going down the tubes!

My football team, the Heart of Midlothian (or Hearts, or Jambos) have had a great run of late. Since the start of the season, they have scaled the heights of the Scottish Premier league to sit on top, and lord it over the likes of the Weegie teams, and the ever-so-nasty Hibees. No longer. First of all, our manager departs. Then we draw with.. someone, I forget who. Then we LOSE to the HIBEES, thus allowing Celtic to claim the throne AGAIN. THEN both our chariman AND our chief exec leave at the same time. Crumbs! I blame the majority shareholder, some millionaire from Lithuania, or some such place, who was quick to appoint his son as executive. Something is amiss, and unless this idiot starts respecting the people who actually work at the team winning (ie. not him!), he's going to find that his club slip steadily down the league.

In other news... I'm off home at Christmas. This last few months has had a lot of highs and lows that have left me reeling somewhat, and in need of some TLC in the shape of Mum's chocolate trifle. I was looking forward to spending this winter break doing some travelling in SE Asia, but the plans simply haven't come together. Maybe it's for the best. When I made the decision for sure (last night), I felt quite happy at the prospect of home. Not that I am counting down the days til the end of my Japanese life. It's just been a mad time of it, and I feel the need to go home and chill out.

Still emailing Stu, which is still nice.