just wait and it will comeCopied and pasted from the LJ. If you're not into reading about boring personal/work life stuff, feel free to skip. :)
This past week has felt strange. Coming into the week, I had been having troubles sleeping soundly for the previous few days. I still am not sleeping that soundly, but a bit better, despite having strange/horrible dreams. I even had a dream where I would have been screaming in real life, if the scream had not been trapped in my throat. It felt as if I had been screaming for hours, days. It was strange. Last night I had another strange dream, but it is too gross to describe. It involves snot - lots of it. *makes grossed out face*
I was really busy with teaching and lesson planning this week and each night I had to stay late to finish up the next day's lesson plans. (And I hadn't even used work time to surf the net!) The only day I left on time was Friday (thank goodness!). Amazingly, the classes went mostly ok. I think the kids are finally starting to warm up to me.
Anywho. So not much to report on the week other than working my butt off and then chillaxing in the evenings with lots of Sex and the City watching.
This whole week has been full of shittastic weather. Most days it was near-blizzard conditions, but yesterday it got really bad and then again today. I stayed in last night even though I had originally planned to go to the next town over for some more DVDs and dinner. Good thing I had left over spaghetti and one DVD of Sex and the City to keep me occupied.
I went to bed at a normal time last night and then slept in until almost 11 this morning. I know that I am exhausted when I sleep in that much! I usually can't sleep past 8am on a weekend. When I woke up, it was sunny and beautiful out. Things were melting and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so I made plans to go over the mountains to the other side of the peninsula in order to take some winter pictures in a really pretty valley and spend some time with a fellow JET. I made myself french toast and thus had to turn my back on the big living room window. When I turned back around 5 minutes later, it was snowing heavily. WTH?? But it wasn't windy, so I wasn't too concerned and thought it would pass. By the time I was ready to leave the house, it had turned into another freakin' blizzard. Decided I would skip the mountain pass and just go to the next town over to return and rent DVDs.
Yesterday, I had shoveled off my car in the hopes that I would go somewhere. Today, I had to shovel it off again. So far, we've received about a foot of snow in the last 2 days and it just keeps coming. So anyway. It took me 20 minutes to dig out my car. By the time I got into the car, I was covered in snow. I bought this thick fleece coat (actually pretty warm, but hard to describe) for about $30 back in the first part of winter and have been wearing it for most of this winter so far. It works, but the thing is that snow sticks to it and can't be brushed off and so the snow melts and the coat gets damp/wet. So when I got into my car, my car seat, steering wheel, everything got wet from all of the snow I couldn't brush off of myself. That frustrated me a bit, but I was happy to be getting out of the house, so I felt better.
I stopped at the ATM on the way out of town. I took maybe 2 minutes total and by the time I came back out, I had to brush off one side of my car's windows again because of the blizzard. Frustration was building. It only got worse when I got on the road and visibility at good spots was at less than 50 feet. Some spots were zero visibility and I couldn't see a damn thing. I almost turned around, but my frustration got the best of me and I kept going because I just
did not want to spend another day in my house - especially without anything to watch. It was a long, slow drive, but eventually I made it to the next town over. Visibility there was better.
On the way there, I had decided that I had had enough of my stupid fleece coat and that I was going to buy a ski suit so that I could have a nice, snow-resistant coat to wear during times like these. It felt nice to be in the store and not driving... The first store I went to didn't have any suits that fit me, so I decided to see what the other store in town had to offer. When I left the store, it was sunny and beautiful! It was a nice break and lifted my mood significantly.
I almost decided not to go to the second store for the suit, but I'm glad that I did. I found a cute pink and gray ski suit for almost 1/3 the price of the nearest fitting one at the other shop. The shop assistant didn't think they had anything to fit me, because all they had left were juniors sizes. I picked up the large junior size and asked to try it on. They said ok, but looked doubtful I would fit into it. I tried it on and it fits
perfectly (but I have to be careful not to gain weight otherwise that will be put into jeopardy). When I came out of the fitting room, the shop assistant started saying he was sorry that it didn't fit. I cut him off by saying that it fit perfectly and that I would like to buy it. He seemed shocked. I felt a bit of my favorite feeling: smug.
After that, I drove around the town looking for good spots to take some pictures of the winter seascape. I found a few places and got out to take pictures. Not sure how they turned out because my camera's battery was dieing and wouldn't give me the post-view screen. Guess I'll have to upload them to my laptop and find out, eh?
Anywho. Decided to start on my way out of town. Returned and rented DVDs and then stopped for gyouza at my favorite ramen restaurant. They have great ramen, too, but lately, I just want gyouza! I was the only customer, as it was 3 in the afternoon by that time. When I got back out to my car, I saw that the rear passenger side tire was nearly flat. Tried to think of the nearest service station, but couldn't quite remember, so I got on the road again and decided to stop at the first one I came to. On the way, I stopped at the drugstore to get more femmy supplies. I almost laughed when I scared some poor Japanese guy with my armload of supplies. He looked really embarrassed. It was funny, but I felt oddly slightly embarrassed as well. I've made a mental note to use a basket next time.
Just a block past the drugstore was a service station, so I stopped in and they checked the tire. Luckily, there wasn't really anything wrong with the tire. The little piston-thingy inside of the inflation outlet was stuck in the "in" position, so the air was just steadily leaking out. He fixed it for me and put a new cap on it (from what I could tell, he was saying that the cap had been missing and ice had gotten jammed in there). I asked how much it cost, but he said it was a free service. Rock on!
So now I am home. I have made little messes all over the house so that I have something to do/clean later when I get really bored. I'm currently working on my backlog of laundry, so I figure that is pretty good for now. :D
Guess that is about it. I've been a bit lonely because my best JET friend has been gone all week and might not even make it back tomorrow. She is out on an island that only has one ferry a day and it has been canceled for a few days because of the storms and the waves being too big. Normally, I get to hang out with her at least once in the course of the weekend, but not so this weekend. Feels lonely... She will be gone again for most of next week, albeit to non-island places, so she should be around next weekend. Whenever I think that I feel stranded and stuck in this town, I just think of her on the island. Ick. I hope the weather improves so that she can go home tomorrow.
Well, that really is it. This has been long and surely boring. But it did entertain me for a good 45 minutes. XD
Leave me a comment and let me know what y'all are up to! I'm bored and stuck at home, so I will most definitely respond! :D
Labels: life in japan