Tuesday Heatwave

It’s Tuesday morning. I am literally sweating as I sit here at my desk. The humidity hasn’t been as bad in recent days, but the sun is scorching hot (and the shade doesn’t provide much relief). I’ve resorted to wearing dresses and skirts everyday because it’s jut too hot for pants. At least one coworker has commented on the dress trend (I guess I really don’t wear them that often... looks like I'm dressed up), but it makes a difference.

I saw Mori Sensei and Hayashi Sensei, who had both only just returned from the study trip to Australia, at school yesterday afternoon. I won’t get into the details or politics, but neither of them seemed too pleased with the other (with regard to how the trip went), but both had a good time. I had a long talk with Mori Sensei yesterday when she gave me my omiyage (or presents from her trip), and a very long and candid discussion with Hayashi Sensei this morning. Among other topics in the conversation, I found out more school politics and gossip than I want or needed to know, that we are going to be getting some visits from some foreign dignitaries (which I get to help with – should be interesting), and that Hayashi Sensei has produced a couple of documentaries, sold through a museum in Australia. Randomness!

So not much is too new here on the J – front, other than my weekend escapades. I had Japanese class, as usual, last night. I am signing up to take a Japanese proficiency test in December, so I need to take the studying up a few notches. I can sort of communicate now, but my level is still really elementary and my kanji count is way too low.
I’ve also been spending more time alone recently, too, partially because I need to relax and mostly because I'm trying to recover my health. I’ve been sick on-and-off-again for about a month now. I went back to the doctor and got more antibiotics two weeks ago. I was actually better, but the coughing resumed shortly after the Fuji hike. I debated Hiroshima this weekend, too, because I have gotten the message that I need to let my body heal (and I didn’t know if Tobs and Trygve would be free to hang out or if I would be able to get into the conference), but I think I did the right thing in going... and that I am actually feeling a lot better.
I am not sure I have spent all of this “personal time” well, but it has been nice. I spent one day just writing at the beach last week, sitting in my sundress in the breeze and listening to the waves flow in-and-out and children shriek with laughter as they splashed around. I generally don’t watch TV at all, either (with the exception of maybe one show - it was Greys Anatomy before I came to Japan and Friends before that), but I somehow managed to watch the entire first season of Heroes last week and a season of Arrested Development the week before. I was going at a pace of about 6 or 7 episodes a day... and believe me, that’s a lot. At least they use a good amount of Japanese in the Heroes series, although I am not sure I liked it enough to be hooked for the next season. Entertaining enough, though.
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It’s Tuesday evening. Quiet day, but nice day. At lunch, I went to the “ma & pa shop” around the corner (ぐるぺ). The special today was salmon and the cold milk tea tasted especially refreshing with the heat. I brought my book and finally finished it. I was glad there weren’t any other teachers at the place (nicknamed “the second cafeteria” by our staff). Had to make sure you couldn’t tell I had been crying before I went back to school...emotional ending to the novel.
After lunch, Kelly came to Takasago (the town I work in) to go shopping for presents since she is going home on Friday. I met her at the station and brought her to school with me. She met my principal, vice principal and about half the staff. We hung out with some of the 2nd-year girls for a while, and she was impressed by their English. Before leaving, we watched kendo practice before spending some time chatting with the calligraphy teacher, who used to work at Kelly's school and, therefore, knows both of us. He was in the middle of going through potential textbooks when we came in, but found chairs for us in his office (more like a workshop or studio) and gave us apple juice from Aomori Prefecture. It was a pleasant conversation, and he offered to teach me Japanese calligraphy (I think I am going to start going to art club). I also brought Kelly to meet Bjarne Hansen (or "Hansen-san"), the Danish guy that runs the hotdog stand in the middle of town. I think Kelly was a little worried about trying the Danish hotdogs (they're Scandinavian, really: big with lots of strange toppings!), but my favorite (#5, the Anderson Dog) was a hit. I think I finally made it home around 7:30 pm.

At night, I started running again for the first time in probably a month (since I fell ill). I met Vaughn, an engineering student from California who is doing an internship here, and we ran along the Kisegawa river to the JR station. He lives pretty close to me, so we are probably going to meet and run to the big temple on the water tomorrow, too (only about 7km total – it’s on the way to Akashi). My new neighbor (Jane's successor) gets here tomorrow, too. All I really know about the guy is that he is Maori (the indigenous group of New Zealand), that he worked for the Bank of NZ for this past year, and that he seems really fun. I’m looking forward to it!

Miwa is coming over in a minute to upload some pictures, so I should go. Hiroshima details to follow...I had a spectacular time!