True Blood and Booze

So this last week has been... a roller coaster. I got so sad Friday. It could have been a combination of many things but regardless of the cause I was lonely and depressed and just one of those days. I had some very emo feelings and have just been kind of swinging in and out of it all week. I keep getting mixed signals from my loved ones too which hasn't really helped. I keep trying to pull it together and today was awesome! But there are certainly some days when I just want to sit around and cry. This is the adjusting period. I know I can do it, but it just takes a little time. Don't mind my emo posts for a while until then I hope - of course there will really always be positive ones like tonight. Of course, you don't always have to read them if they get too emo :-P

So yeah, this weekend. Besides yesterday the weekend has been pretty nice. I'll go into Friday some other time but Saturday I spent in the company of B. We went for a nice long walk and took some great pictures and pretty walked around the entirety of Kitsuki. We also ate Italian food!!! I had pizza with salami and olives and onions and it was amazing (probably mostly because it was the first real American food I had eaten in a while). B also helped me finish building a cabinet set that I purchased online to hold my microwave oven since I have absolutely NO cabinet space. I actually couldn't use it properly until Saturday so yay! We drank a lot, relaxed a lot, giggled a lot and I got to just let loose with someone else's shoulder to cry on which was.. therapeutic to say the least. Hearing my Mom talk about Grandma's surgery going well and then knowing my Dad was going to come home soon was also a plus. Hopefully my bad karma is negated. :-)

Sunday hung out a little more with B until she left around 11 and then I spent most of the afternoon a little hungover until around 6 when I met up with Mr. O and his family. Sunday my town celebrated Bon odori - a dance to honor the memory of deceased loved ones and the time when their spirits can return to their homes. Mr. O's mother dressed me up in a yukata - summer kimono and we went out to celebrate and dance for a few hours. Before we left, however, we ate. I don't even know how I can describe the contradiction inherent in Japanese culture when it comes to food. Everyone is so small and petite but they eat SO MUCH! I just don't get it and people keep asking me if I am dieting since I never finish my food and I'm like 'hells no I just don't have room for twins in my belly!' (I only say this in my head). The dancing was a lot of fun and so many people took my picture I felt like a movie star. Good and bad news I suppose because I probably looked a dumb fool trying to do this strange mix of Hawaiian and step in a circle of people.

Today turned out pretty good too. I finally got to go to my junior high school (Yamagachugakkou) where I met the two English teachers, the art teacher, one of the gym teachers, the tea lady, the office helper, the vice principal and the principle. All the other teachers were on vacation so hopefully later this week they will trickle in and I will get to meet them. So to alleviate the boredom of sitting on my butt behind a desk with no internet I spent the better half of the day playing table tennis with a few of the students during their club practice time. This was no easy feat in a suit and I ended up sweating through my clothing quite thoroughly. Turns out there is a shower and Ms. T (the English teacher who also does the table tennis club) loaned me some shower stuff and a spare polo to wear. The rest of the day I spent reading and catching up on email. Speaking of which, if you want to write me a nice long email (or a short one) then send it to me and I will download it on outlook whenever I have internet and I can write back to it during the day.

Shortly after I went home for the day I got a call that R was in town and I decided to meet up with her, S and K (the fifth year ALT here in Kitsuki who works for the High school) to do a meet and greet and to just chat about this and that. Found out there's an onsen (hot spring) here so woot to that! Around 7:30 I met with Ms. T to go and watch the fireworks show which was quite amazing. I would say it rivaled Disney's! There were a good 20,000 people there and they played Japanese pop artist renditions of some of my favorite Disney songs which made me so happy. Overall, great week so far and tomorrow I get to try Judo!

Love!