Yet another Saturday. In the cafe. I grow tired of not having the internet. I've been here more than a month, now. And it's at least 8 more days (business days?) until I get myself hooked up. My backside sometimes falls asleep by the time I get to the blog on these excursions. I spent a good hour just now, searching and saving news and New Scientist articles to my HD, because I'm itching for some news and something to read in my mother tongue! Got some good stuff on BSE, HIV, Black holes, Teenage brains, etc. Should keep me busy for a few hours.

The weather here is peculiar. Today it's miserable abd raining - go figure, on my day off. (The cafe is playing "Walking in Memphis" by Mark Cohen... blast from the past, it has been AGES since I last heard this song. I've always liked it, though.) Sorry, weather: yesterday was about 28! I couldn't believe it. I never tire of weather talk with my students. "What's winter like in Kansai?" (My area.) "Oh, it's hmmmm 3-7 degrees Celcius." "And do you think winter in Kansai is cold?" They always answer yes. It gives me great delight to describe Toronto's relatively mild temperatures (always a horrified audience) and then delve into the extreme bitter and inhospitable temperatures I've become accustomed to in Ottawa the past four years. -30. Canada has such a dramatic change in temperature between winter and summer.

I swing back and forth between miediocre moods and sadness most days. Teaching is great, though, I enjoy my students and many of them are amazing at English. Some old Japanese ladies just sat down at my little area (4 leather high-backed chair around a small circular table) and started saying something to me, but I didn't catch a single word. Smiling and nodding is SO damn useful!

I don't have a lot to write this week. Headed to Honbu on Thursday for some training. I'm not overly impressed at the moment with them, but I digress. I don't want to be a total stick in the mud about everything. Everyone is flawed. (Mind you, at least individuals don't have the opportunity to make their problems company policy...) Fairly quiet week, especially since it was only four days. Tomorrow, I am headed to Osaka, but for 11:00am this time, to meet with Chris and Ray. I'm not sure what adventures we'll get up to this week, but it might be awhile before I post again, but hopefully there'll be more photos when I do manage to get here again.

Amusingly enough, everytime I'm here, I stay about three hours. i always get a notice, in Japanese, that pops up on my mac, and who knows what it says, but probably, "get your ass out, stop loitering in our stylish smokey cafe, biatch." Also, I'd imagine that they WANT to tell me to go, lol, but I'm a foreigner and nobody really seems to want to speak to me. I don't understand Japanese, so it'd be a hassle to try and convey their thoughts.

ALMOST FORGOT! Yesterday a little Japanese repairman came to my apartment to fix my leak in the washroom. (Haha, that's an amusing turn of phrase.) When I walked by the washroom, he was like "Sumimasen, BRB" (basically, there was a lot of pointing) and then I saw why: he'd ripped my wink right off the wall! Luckily, he went and got another sink to install, and now, TADA, no more annoying leak. Thank goodness. Dripping water makes me want to punch someone.

I've been becoming more and more addicted to the "Music from Scrubs" CD since I finished watching Season One again. I ADORE that show, it's so funny. I'm going to start it again soon I think.
1. Superman - Lazlo Bane
2. All In My Head - Shawn Mullins
3. Fresh Feeling - Eels*
4. Good Time - Leroy
5. Good Life - Francis Dunnery*
6. New Slang - The Shins*
7. Beautiful World - Colin Hay
8. Hold On Hope - Guided By Voices*
9. Fighting For My Love - Nil Lara
10. Dracula From Houston - Butthole Surfers
11. Hooch - Everything
12. Hallelujah - John Cale
13. Have It All - Jeremy Kay*
14. End Credit Score - Jan Stevens
15. Overkill - Colin Hay

*Phenomenal tracks I am now addicted to.

Anyways, that's all she wrote. I'm exhausted and it's probably time to vacate this chair. My butt's definitely hit the snooze (spelling? my alarm clock's says "snooz" that can't be right.) button a few too many times for my own good.