And Another Week Passes Me By...

I can't believe it is already the middle of September. I never thought having a real job would be like this. I assumed the days would drag on and I would come home and pass out and have no life. Instead I find I am working with awesome kids and playing games all day while "teaching" English only to come home and face the choice of pleasant, quiet night at home or going to a local restaurant and meeting people. On the weekends I find myself a little restless and spend most of the time out in surrounding cities which has proved most entertaining - especially with my travel buddy B.

This week was pretty uneventful as far as school was concerned. I don't think a day by day replay is necessary except to say I really like my schools in the village of Ota. They are super small and relatively close and isolated on the top of two different mountains which I find incredible. The kids are also super smart and really happy.

Friday I went out with K and S for our regional get together with some of the other nearby JETs. It turned out to be a... complicated... evening and I don't know how much more I will say about that.

Saturday I met up with B and after a relaxing lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant we went into the big city to spend a day window shopping and hanging out. We went to Uniglo (my favorite Japanese clothing store) and I took her to Jusco (a Target equivalent). I was suppose to run with K in the evening and then we would onsen but both B and I were surprisingly pooped and instead went home and after making mac and cheese fell soundly asleep. Sunday I woke up super early to make up for my lost run and then a Japanese friend met up with us to drive to Costco. Long story short I was going to drive but the toll on the weekend is dramatically reduced for cars equipped with the sun pass equivalent here and I don't have one of these yet. Thus, in a show of generosity and curiosity he offered to drive us the 2 plus hours to Fukuoka in exchange for gas money and some toll money.

We made it to Costco but it was like a theme park! There were lines just to get through the door and then we were packed and shuffled through like cattle to go through the store. We managed to find a lot of stuff but I was a little disappointed about a few things. Namely I went there to buy peanut butter, syrup and a blow up  mattress - none of which I found to my satisfaction. There weren't any mattresses as far as I could see, the syrup was WAY overpriced and the only peanut butter they had was Skippy (I am a JIF girl all the way). Managed to get a fair amount of other stuff though including a memory foam pillow which I haven't gotten off of practically since I opened the box. Almost managed to bring it with me in the car this morning.

After Costco we started to drive back and coincidentally the most famous shrine in Kyushu was on the way home and we stopped there. It was awesome! So big and there was even a quaint little shopping district right nearby that reminded me of Kyoto. After the shrine it was only 4PM so, after being informed that there is an outlet mall nearby, we decided to stop off there. Finally got some new running shoes so maybe there will be some relief for my poor toes after all. I also learned a ton of Japanese and my friend learned a ton of English which is worthwhile in and of itself.

Work today was fun too and I found the first class of rambunctious and naughty Japanese children! They spent most of the morning trying to get me to say bad words, which I didn't realize until I had said a few of them, at which time they giggled and ran around in circles then said the next one. In class they were no better and their timid and kind teacher only seemed to encourage further bad behavior. She told me later she thinks they will calm down the next time they see me since I am still a novelty now. I hope so!

I did get a haiku from one of the teachers today which was really sweet though she might be the only teacher who gives a damn about me since all the other teachers were really distant (the exact opposite of the other schools). Hopefully I didn't make a bad impression or anything... :-(

Well, I think I am going to head back to bed since I am pooped! Love!!