Urgh.

Apologies for not updating this sooner, but I've been waiting for something exciting to happen. And I've decided I should just give up waiting and fill this in anyway. This is the low point of the school year- the change of the year, and spring break- the point where everything can change but nothing is actually happening. For example at my Junior High school 5 teachers are leaving. Officially I am unaware, but due to in-depth questioning/ interrogating of the part-time English teacher I found out who they all are. Cue this week which starts with Monday off in bed (no sleep on Sunday night due to very bad probably mochi and toast induced indigestion) only to return to school to find that random people are constantly walking around the staff room. Couple this with the fact that no-else is doing anything other than idly chatting and it all looks weird. For my part I have brought in my laptop and am watching episodes of "the History of Britain" and "Desperate Housewives" flinching and reducing the picture size whenever a) a key individual is killed in a tragic accident, or b) someone is poisoned or betrayed by a trusted other (in many ways it is difficult to tell these two shows apart) . I do not like watching TV at school, but I feel it necessary to ram home the point that I presently have NOTHING TO DO! And without Nickname Pending it's not even like I have a date for JoyFull either.

In reality this week has been a lot easier than the build up to it. The equivalent 7 days last year ended up with me getting rather melodramatic and feeling useless and unneeded (as opposed to the 51 other weeks of the year here), so I was dreading it coming again. But last week was quite a bit more social than I imagined it would be- JoyFull and (!!) bowling on Monday where I demonstrated that I wasn't really crap (I also demonstrated that I wasn't really good at bowling either, but you can't have it all eh? NP was wicked in the 80's sense of the word) and then on Tuesday (national holiday) tidying the apartment got put off in favour of lunch with Nao chan at a sushi restaurant in Kuse. The evening was spent in Takebe with Bob, his parents, Adam and NP, going to an onsen and having dinner. I think I'm starting to get used to onsens, although I don't think I'll get used to old men talking to me in them. Wednesday night saw a trip to Kibichuo to get a final fix of NP before she left for China and then things started to slow down. Saturday was a quiet one although Nao chan and I ended up in cheapy JoyFull where I demonstrated my complete knowledge of the menu "this is new, this is new, you get the set with this, this set comes with bread or rice..." Clearly I am a committed cheapskate.

Sunday was another big day as I swanned down to the city to meet Amy and do a spot of shopping before meeting everyone for dinner. It was big meet the parents day, with Bob and his parents, D-ran and his Ma and sister and Danielle and her parents all in attendance, so all shopped out and with both of us smelling of Paris Hilton (parfum and pour homme respectively) Amy and I headed to meet the others for a dining sensation in the izakaya above Hong Kong pachinko opposite the station. Sounds auspicious does it not? Well, the food is always good and everyone was adventurous and willing to try things and it was with this attitude that we ended up in karaoke- a mildly bizarre experience, singing stupidly in front of parents and only 4 other people you've been to karaoke with before and with no-one really drinking, but with classics like Total Eclipse of the Heart how can you fail to have a good time?

So that's been it. Apart from a phone call last night where I found out that half (yes, HALF) of the staff are leaving one of the schools I work at there's been no real event. This weekend I am off to a Japanese wedding, the first one I've been to, so hopefully I'll have something more to talk about come Monday. Au revoir and all that business.

P.S. I forgot. It is still snowing. Not right now, but last night, all yesterday, the night before and the night before. Fingers crossed that horrible humid hot summer doesn't come. I said FINGERS CROSSED!