Dartboard

This is the last post I'll make for about five days. I'm going to Yakushima (an island in Kagoshima prefecture in southern Kyushu) with Yasutaka. (Yeah, so my plans changed altogether, but I'll tell you the story when I've got more time!) I'm sending off Christmas presents and New Year cards today. Hopefully you'll get yours soon.

All my love and warm wishes for Christmas!

I’m still too intoxicated to be teaching high school students English, but… ah well.

All kinds of skeletons came out of the closet at yesterday’s enkai, but that’s one of the reasons I love them, getting to talk about all the taboo topics. In attendance were all the karate guys (Twenty-one men aged 24 to 60+), Nagae-san (the other woman) and me. The topic of Koichiro and I came up YET AGAIN but now I think everyone’s pretty clear that whatever happened there ended a long time ago. I kept calling out れきし、れきし　(which means history) and Use-sensei taught me a new word, かこ, which means past.

Danger! I left my kerosene heater on while I was at the party. I had just a tiny bit of kerosene last night before I left and I thought I had turned it off already, but when I came home it was still on. That’s really あぶない。

This morning Hatake and Sasaki are pretty concerned about me. Hatake offered to cancel my classes (He’s so sweet!) and GET THIS—Sasaki asked if I wanted to go to the nurses’ room (i.e. sleep for an hour) during first period. I was basically shocked that she would be so kind to me but surprises are around every corner, ね？

I’ve been writing a lot of Japanese to Yasu recently so I just want to use it all the time. I’m sorry for those of you who don’t understand; I’ll try to include more translations. I just love bi-lingualism (and making up my own words).

I leave my food out in the kitchen. Food that should be kept cold sits on the stove top or the counters. I figure, it’s silly to waste energy putting things in the fridge when it’s cold enough in the house 24 hours a day.

Hatake and I had a great talk yesterday while walking home from Narao. I told them (+Koichiro) that we didn’t need a taxi, it was a short walk home, but really I just wanted to increase the time I got to talk to him. As if I wasn’t having enough trouble deciding already, Hatake recommended I stay here another year. As you know, I’ve pretty much, probably made up my mind to go to Boston next year, maybe, but I’ll straddle the fence until the last possible moment, I can tell. I think I’m just in denial about leaving my wonderful life here, but deep down I want to move on and start a new, wonderful life somewhere else. どうしお〜

Hatake also said he’s so relieved that Sasaki and I are getting along recently. We’ve really been doing well for about two weeks。I even invited her to come to my Tacos Party—whenever I get around to having it. I wondered out loud what had changed between us and Hatake said he thought the first two semesters Sasaki was simply too overwhelmed and too stressed out to be concerned about me. He said all the problems weren’t just her fault, but now we’re both trying so hard and it really shows.

I have another enkai tonight. I'm not drinking!

I’m so very, very drunk now, but I have to say before the urge leaves me... I love enkai. So much “air gets cleared” at these parties, we really should have required enkai at every workplace in America!

One of my favorite sayings is now one of my favorite books, too!

I’ve been reading it since the summer, but I have to share some photos with you. I absolutely love this book! Asagami-sensei would love it, too!

This book is called “Ahhh~ and Eeee~” (The sounds you make at the dentist, when he wants to see your teeth.)

This says to ask your friends to look in your mouth for any “strange things” and then switch and you look in your friend’s mouth.

This little boy is surprised at Dad’s huge teeth. “Will my teeth be big like that?” “They will. They will,” Papa assures.

Add this book to my Christmas Wishlist! I had to return it to library already!!

When Yasu was here we video chatted with my mom. I guess in a way, he had to “meet the parents” before I did.

In case you’re wondering how I’m juggling these two, I did already break up with Masaharu last week. It just wasn’t working out anymore and I think we both knew it for a while. It was a very hard decision for me to make because he’s been such a good friend to me, but I suppose that was part of the problem. I simply no longer saw him as a boyfriend but only as a friend. Everyone, including me, knew this long ago, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. As much as I wished our relationship didn’t have to change, I knew I couldn’t lead him on forever. I didn’t want to hurt him and after a catch-up lunch this afternoon I think we’re both adapting well to the changes. He’s decided to look into taking the volunteer firefighter test in January and that makes me so happy. He has much potential and I want him to be successful in life. He has no idea if he can actually become a firefighter, but just having the motivation to try makes me proud. I’m going to continue teaching him English hope that this skill will help him get a better job in the future. I’m still very confused about the whole situation, but I guess deep down I know I’ve made the right decision.

I’ve eaten more pieces of cake in the last three days than I really care to admit. Now I’m biting my nails over it.

Yasu came out to Kamigoto on Thursday after school and it sort of felt that my weekend began there. It’s now Sunday and I feel like it just had a very full, four-day weekend. School’s been crazy with extra lessons and Christmas parties. I think this is the first time I’ve ever been sincerely busy in both my personal and professional life.

Poor Yasu. Not only did he cook every meal for us while he was here, but he also put up with me when I feel asleep at 10:30 on Friday night. Don’t you hate it when you pretend to be sleeping and then actually fall asleep? He came all the way out here (on a very rough sea) to cook me dinner and watch me sleep.

Saturday was great because we got to spend the day together. After eating a delicious Japanese breakfast (guess who cooked that) we went up north to spend time with Lori and Andy (whom he was anxious to see again after meeting at the Sasebo party). He also got to meet Sanae before he returned to Sasebo for his mom’s birthday party. I wish he could have stayed Saturday night as that’s when the fun really began. But perhaps it’s for the best that he didn’t see me dancing crazily until 1 a.m. in the karaoke bar last night. He may never have called again.

Despite a temporary scare, our plans to go to Korea are full-speed ahead. He’s booking our ferry tickets and we’ll leave next Friday or Saturday after meeting the parents. I’m not sure how I feel about that commotion, but I apparently already made a good first impression by sending Goto udon home for Mom’s birthday.

Now I’m just trying to keep warm in this freezing apartment. We got official snow this weekend, but it was only on the road for a few minutes (the few minutes I had to drive, of course) and now there’s nothing left to show for it. Sometimes you can see a few flakes gathering on the side of the road, but it’s nothing to call home about.

This week I’ve got two “Forget the Year” parties with my karate crew and the high school teachers, a cooking class at the elementary school, four Christmas parties with students, and oodles of New Year cards to buy, write and send. Two late nights of drinking and merry-making in a row are going to wipe me out. Luckily it’s a four day week and then holiday as far as the eye can see.

Thinking of all the things I need to do before Thursday makes my head spin.