Power Down Today

Quick update before I head to bed tonight.

I wasn't feeling well last night. I'm wondering if it was something I ate at the cooking class or something after. I guess I didn't feel so hot when I came back to the BOE in the afternoon but I did eat a bowl of raw eggplant and mushrooms for dinner. That may have done me in. The problem is that now I have this sickening feeling in my stomach when I think of mushrooms. I don't know how long that will last. I wasn't feeling so well today either. By now, though, I feel more normal.

I stopped in at the middle school today. I walked over there with the secretary who had come by the BOE to drop some stuff off. She asked if I thought the teacher I work with was young. I said I guess so and come to find out she is MAYBE 48 years old. Ok well I was thinking more in the 30s range so it is quite surprising. This is just tentative hearsay from the secretary though. She wasn't really sure herself.

My teacher is doing well and interesting as ever. Her whole life really revolves around her cats but that is to be assumed. She told me I had to bring a hat to wear when we make katsuo tataki this Sunday at the school. I asked, "What will you do if I don't bring a hat? Will you punish me?" She replied, "My cats and I will bite you." Now I can understand the cats biting me but why on earth did she say herself? She is a bit quirky but I definitely like that fact.

In other news, my supervisor had the head guy come over from the city office to look at the tatami mats in my room. I had told her they were old and kind of dirty. I didn't expect they would come survey the situation. Anyway it is all for the best. The guy came over and looked at them for a bit. I told him I didn't know what qualified as good or okay tatami. He concluded that mine were bad and I should get new ones. Best part is that because my housing is owned by the town office they are going to pay for them. Fresh tatami for the room I sleep in, great. Initially when I took the dirty carpets off the top of the tatami in my room the tatami smelled a little funky in the hot afternoons. But with some time and the windows open it has leveled off. It is still wonderful that I'm getting new tatami. Score.

I've also finally dedicated myself to learning some guitar. I happen to have a struggling guitar that was left many moons ago by some other ALT. It works just fine for learning. I have for too long talked and wished I had learned to play. I'm tired of living that non fulfilling destiny. Welcome to painful finger tips.

The next two days is Kochi orientation for the new JETs. I believe we have a party tomorrow evening. I can only imagine the destruction and carnage that will lie in the wake of the JETs who touch the sacred secretions of asexual organisms.