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The bugs this year are out of control! Spiders were big last year and going on a hike without feeling the stringy webs across your arms or face at least once was impossible, but the spiders this year aren’t sticking to the woods. Several beastly bugs moved into our apartment stairwell (which isn’t hard as it’s outside) and started to take over the halls with their webs. I started coming in and out of my apartment each day, ducking as low as I could. I even stopped getting the mail for a couple days while one spider build a web across our mailboxes. My upstairs neighbor finally cleaned them all out last Thursday (Thank you so much, Naoko!) and they’ve stayed away, but that’s only half the problem.

Ever since Joelle and Steven left I’ve had a serious ant problem in my living room. They started by the TV, crawling between the small openings between tatami mats. Everyday I came home and killed them with a spray, but they kept coming back. I cleaned and checked for crumbs or anything else that might attract them, but there was nothing that I could see. Despite my mass killings, they always kept coming back.

They eventually became smart enough to leave the TV and east wall and migrated west toward the sliding glass door. I find them other random places like behind my couch or at the kitchen door, but they never actually enter the kitchen. You’d think the kitchen is the best place for food, but they totally avoid that area and hang out around spaces between the tatami mats.

Do ants eat tatami? Is there something under my tatami they are eating?!? Or worse… are they living there?

There are never very many at a time (except my I came back from Okinawa and they were INSIDE my computer!! Gross!!!!) and whenever I see them I spray them and tell them to go away, but for months now it doesn’t work. Masaharu says as they don’t speak English trying to convince them to leave will never work. I’ve vacuumed a billion times for food and wiped the area in case something sticky was spilled, but generally I’m a clean person and I’m confident they are not here for food. They just need somewhere to live too.

Today I practiced yoga for the first time since Joelle gave me the Bikram CD. I’m so happy I finally got around to practicing today because I always feel so energized afterward. It wasn’t as difficult as I was expecting it to be, but I also wasn’t doing it in the hot studio either! I’m certain just being in the studio raises your heart rate. Bikram on the CDs is really tough, but also encouraging and funny, and I laughed even more than I groaned.

This weekend was a three-day weekend and I did absolutely NOTHING! Well, that’s not true, of course, but I didn’t go anywhere or make any plans or get further behind in my long list of things to do! I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned—and it felt soooo good! I really love cleaning and the sense of accomplishment afterward. My windows are clear and my floor… well, on Saturday night it shone, but I can’t say much for it now.

I even cooked again!! Baked whole wheat bread (Thanks for those instructions, Mom, I knew eventually I’d get around to it!), made a weeks worth of chili and ate wonderful weekend breakfasts. Sometimes my only regrets on weekends like these are not working out, but I did some exercise on every day—lifting weights, hiking with Masaharu and finally yoga, today.

It still sounds like a really busy weekend, but it was actually well-balanced with a fair share of relaxing, too. I watched a ton of Friends episodes and two movies and Masaharu and I finally got to our favorite Okonomiyaki restaurant together. We sunbathed atop Komeyama Sunday at noon and in the afternoon he helped me learn a Japanese rap song. Yes, perhaps my proudest accomplishment was learning how to rap in Japanese. I’m not good enough to karaoke yet, but so long as I have my notes I can sing along with the artists pretty well! And I have no idea what I’m saying!!! But it’s fun!

I slept! It was so nice to finally sleep-in in the morning! I haven’t done it for ages, but it felt so good!
Love, Sierra