Everybody needs good neighbours

I am very pleased to say that I do not have any classes on Mondays. Rather, I sit here and freak out about tomorrow's classes all morning and in the afternoon I go to the CIR meeting which unfortunately is being held at my school today thus preventing me from going home early when the meeting is over. BOO. So far this morning I have made 2 crocodile hats to terrorise the grade 1s with and made some flashcards. Oh and it is only 9:18! My weekend was quite jam-packed with events and I feel like I was just here...

Yesterday I caught up with the family I stayed with for a weekend on my very first trip to Japan. When I first met them I couldn't speak much Jap at all but I thought they were a heaps lovely bunch of people, kind of relaxed and liked a laugh. So it was good to actually be able to converse with them finally and discover that they actually are quite fun! THe dad thinks he is a it of a comedian and kept cracking jokes all the time, some of which i got, some I didn't. Their daughter is coming back from Tokyo at the end of the month and they invited me over for dinner to see her and their eldest daughter too who is coming back from Osaka. Quite the family reunion! I am looking forward to it.

Friday night I spent at R's house in the next town, a good hour and a half walk from mine. It is afair slog up the hill but for some reason I decided this was a good location for my Friday night drinks. His house is heaps nice, newer than mine and with a fridge about the size of a small cars and with as many functions. Apartment envy; common over here among English teachers since we don't get to choose our own living arrangements. We had a few beers and ended up at his local convenience store which just opened a few weeks ago. It turns out to be the hotspot of the area (how small do you reckon this town is?) and we ran into some drunk and disorderly students from the local high school who were fanging around on a scooter. They had a quick chat to us and made sure we knew which school they went to and what year they were which goes to show how acceptable it must be for kids to be driving without a license and pissed as farts. Next morning I dragged myself out of bed with the cold that had been threatening me all week finally rearing it's head and trekked back over the hill in the hot morning sun to do my washing before heading in to Okayama. I posted a few items, did a tad of shopping and read half a book in the bookshop where I got my application form for the JLPT (I can so pass this year...). Evening brought on a drinking session at the Aussie Bar with some of my coutnrymen, it was more than lovely to be drinking from a bottle with that familiar green label... We ran into a whole bunch of people and ended up eating quite late at some Japanese place and then everyone was making goinghome noises so we all ended up on the last train. Probably a good thing since I had to be up quite early to talk to M about some school stuff before meeting my host family.

I did get to speak to my brother last night for his birthday which was great. Found out the family gossip which seems to get more and more bizarre and like someone elses family every time. All we need now is a car accident, a coma and for one of us to join a cult and we could be any of the Aussie soaps.

Well, I am off to laminate stuff now - it doesn't get much more exciting than that around here!