As I fall down...

And the adventures continue! Whew, I am wiped, but what an amazing time. Where to begin?...
THURSDAY
The rest of my week went pretty well. Joe came to school on Thursday, which I was worried about (having a male visit could be risky - fuel for the boyfriend gossip and potentially indecent... esp after my school talked to me about having male visitors when someone at my apartment called them to tell them Mike was at my apartment last fall!). He didn't come to any classes, but we played Apples-To-Apples with the English club. It was a blast! We just made a circle on the floor (with American candy in the middle - shhh) and Joe was the judge while I helped look up English words the kids didn't know. Joe teaches community courses at home, so he has some experience with language and teaching, but I was really impressed. Both the kids and we had a fabulous time. The game went pretty late (we didn't leave school until after 6), so we secretly fixed the end so that the two kids winning would be in the final round and we could call it a day. It was still really funny. That night, Joe joined Lena, Kelly, Heather and I for our "girl's lime" (girl's night out) at the Indian restaraunt in Akashi. Joe really hit it off with Taj, the really ecclectic Indian guy who owns the place (he has lived everywhere... even speaks a little norsk and has a son in Norway!), really loved the food (he wanted to go back), and liked the Bollywood music videos. It was fun to hear what the girls had been up to for Golden Week, too.
FRIDAY
Friday was a busy day at school, but we had a fun Eigo Hyogen (English Expressions) class with music videos from some of the songs we have been learning. We are teaching the class about public speaking at the moment, so I gave a short (1 min) presentation on Korea to demonstrate the basics of giving a speech, while the students had to take notes and score me. Well, I happened to mention the temple stay and Sunmudo martial arts, so Nozaki Sensei asked me to demonstrate a move. I sort of reluctantly kicked off my shoes, ran to the middle, and did a mid-air scissor kick. Everyone was pretty shocked (including Nozaki), and they made me do it again, but it was funny to see the looks on their faces. Nozaki said she was just shocked I could kick that high. Hey, not a bad prop, though!? Anyways, when I got the notes and comments back, pretty much every student focused on how cool the kick was (not the eye contact, volume, etc)... you can't win 'em all, but maybe I'll pull out some other Sunmudo moves next time I need to get the students' attention. Good times.
After school, I was too tired to run, so I relaxed for a bit before heading into Osaka with Kelly to meet up with Torbjorn (still can't believe he's here!!!) and Joe. We tried to go to El Pancho, a Mexican place, but it was packed, so we ended up just getting dinner at a little Japanese izikaia (sp? - it's like a pub) and chatting over some beers until last train. I was dozing off on the train back, but sneaky Kelly and Joe spent the ride plotting the rest of the night (again - this was last train) . We cabbed it back from the station and I went to bed, but they ended up biking to karaoke. I love their spirit and am so excited that Joe is such a hardcore Japanese karaoke fan. He took a pretty bad spill on his bike on the way to Befu, but they kept going and did a few hours of singing before heading home. If I had been up, I would have gone... sounded like a good time! I guess if there aren't enough hours in the day (for karaoke, at least), that's the way to go.
SATURDAY
Group gardening at 8am again. I was back at cutting the grass with my little knife, but I talked to Miwa (my neighbor whom I like more and more) and met the young teacher from Kelly's school that just moved in. I hope we do a girl's night soon with the new ladies in the building... they seem really sweet! Joe - not exactly a morning person - wasn't keen on getting up when I finished gardening, so I laid down, too, and ended up dozing off. Well, we both woke up again around 2 and had to get ready in a hurry to get to Nara and meet Torbjorn. The poor guy waited a long time for us, but we ran through Todaiji (world's largest wooden building, huge Buddha), went through the forest, saw the 5-story pagoda and strolled around town. It was a little surreal being with my boys from Norway again (seriously a flashback to my 19th birthday in Oslo - minus the dinner part, Torbjorn's little wooden flute, and my friend Siw-Tove), but it was kind of like old times and fun to catch up (and use Norwegian... in Japan). It seems Torbjorn is here with his French girlfriend. He met her when he lived in Paris two years ago (he's lived in Kenya & Sri Lanka, too... guy gets around, so not a shocker he'd be the one person who is coincidentally living around the corner). She's here working on a textbook for Nova. Torbjorn had to leave Nara around 8 to meet his girlfriend and get to a birthday party in Osaka, so we made plans to meet up later that evening. Well, things sort of fell through and we didn't get to see Torbjorn again, but we went ahead with the Osaka plans anyways. We met up with my friend Adrienne and a Japanese friend at a cocktail bar in Nagahori (Osaka) and hung out there for a while before going to Sam & Dave's (a club). It was alright (gets to be a long night), but I thought it was funny that I got TWO "Scully" comments from random guys. People used to tell me I look like Scully from the X-files, but I haven't heard it in ages. My hair has a reddish tint to it (didn't discover it until I stopped dying my hair after college... so random), but my hair is now in a short bob, which I guess is sort of like Scully's hair on the X-files. I sort of see it, but the comparison gave me a chuckle.
SUNDAY - TODAY....
We didn't get to see Brianne again and didn't make it to the onsen/public bath (Miwa even gave us tickets since I did her laundry while she was waiting for her machine to be delivered) or to the festival in Kobe, but we did decide to spend today getting Joe 'clothing tsunami' Grodahl packed (and resting up after last night). I completely slept through my alarm and missed a meeting for the charity gig in the afternoon (crap), but it's better to miss that and a learn a lesson there than sleeping through my alarm and being late for school. I know it's a sign that it's time to settle down a bit, though. I made a big brunch with a lot of differnet Japanese foods for Joe, went to Ito Yokado (which now has a 100 Yen store - rock on!), and did one last round of purikura (photo stickers) before making sure Joe didn't lose anything else (ie getting packed) and leaving for the bus. The poor kid has a long trip back to America ahead of him, but he gets to stop in Hawaii for about 8 hours, so I think he's going to check out Pearl Harbor on the way home. Sort of ironic on the way back from a trip to Japan. As usual, Joe and I had an awesome time and, once again, it's a little strange coming back to a quiet apartment after having a roomie for two weeks. It looks funny without his futon on the floor! I am doing alright with the homesickness now, though (my bro went to prom today, which I wish I could see, but otherwise... none!), and right now am just excited to get to bed tonight.

Before I forget... there is one last thing. BIG NEWS! Miwa went to a sort of 'town hall' meeting at the apartment building last night... and I think there is a chance they will install REAL SHOWERS in our apartments. With HOT WATER! You have no idea how happy this makes me. If you are wondering what the heck I am using if I don't have a shower, let's just say it's a traditional Japanese thingamajig. Now I kind of like it, but I cried when I saw it for the first time (once my coworkers had left). It's sort of like a big teacup, with a hose, and I light a furnace to heat the water once it's full. Then use a bucket to pour the water on me. I am about to fall over I am so tired right now, but this is like a big shot of 'genki'. Fabulous.