Super Mario

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12

I vaguely remember stops in the night, but I really didn't pay them any mind. I woke up at 5am to the lights coming on. We were in Kyoto. Given that I had been told we'd arrive at 6am, I was surprised. We were an hour later. My seatmate also got off at Kyoto and together we wandered to the locked station. The doors, though, were unlocked at 5:20 and we parted ways. I rushed in, and started toward the JR line. As I was standing next to the ticket machines, I Japanese woman approached me, and instructed me in how to get my ticket. Though I'm fully comfortable doing that at this point, I appreciated her kind gesture and how she actually told me what platform to go to (and that my train left in 5 minutes) which saved me from having to think too much at that early hour.

On the train, I set my cell phone alarm to make sure that I didn't sleep too long, then settled in. I don't think I actually fell back asleep. I watched sunrise from the train window over the mountains and thought about how lovely it was and how much I hate being awake for sunrise.

Finally back at home, I stumbled off the train, walked back to home, set my alarm, and collapsed onto my futon. The bus' early arrival had meant that I now had one hour to nap before I had to get ready for school.

I woke up blissfully happy one hour later, feeling quite well rested. I let friends back home know that I'd arrived safely back in Shiga and then sped off to school. There were no classes today because of exams, so it was a lot like summer break again, sitting at my desk doing preparation work. I rather loved it.

I spent the morning adapting a Koko lesson for Kogyo, and feel pretty good about it. I decorated the English classroom more in the afternoon. My home university had send me a calendar, a pennant, and various other goods and I put them up as a bright new bulletin board. It looks good. I have every intention of taking that pennant when I leave.

I also started putting up print outs of the US State Quarters in a narrow space over the windows. See, right now, the walls are just peeling paint and it looks unwelcoming. While I'd prefer color, the printers only do grayscale, and luckily the quarters are greyscale. I figure if nothing else the students may be interested in finding states they know, and it's easy for me to just print them off. And, each quarter design does give a bit of an idea about the state. I printed the first five states off as at test round and went to the classroom to start putting them up. I'm a bit short, but if I stand on a desk, I can just stretch and reach the bottom. Someone had left an umbrella in the room, so I used that to poke the top up. It's not the BEST decorating job, but its' better than nothing, at least moderately interesting, and with how high up they are, they'll probably still be there in 20 years. My task for Friday will be to put up the other 45.

I also need to ask about tacks. I've completely run out of tacks.

I spent the afternoon making and coloring, then laminating a giant Mario for Kogyo. See, my lesson there is about injuries. In one section, when students list off injuries, I will then tape those injuries (casts, burns, blood splatters) onto my Mario. I ended up making little casts for him, and it was lots of fun. I did have a bit of trouble with the laminator, however. At one point, I was trying to laminate blisters and they went in but didn't come out. I tried again, this time with a longer strip, and they still vanished. I put through my big Mario to straighten him out (his plastic was slightly warped) and he got jammed in the middle. Some frantic tugging got him and the second set of blisters free (the first, I think, are just lost into the depths of the machine, which does NOT come apart.) Poor Mario was now quite crumpled and I ran him through twice more to flatten him out better.

My original plan had been to use magnets to stick the injuries onto him, but now that he's laminated, I don't think the magnets are strong enough to stay. So, tape it will probably be.

He looks AWESOME.

Even though I had no classes, with all of my laminator problems, I ended up working until about 5pm. A coworker invited me out for pizza, so I had my first taste of Pizza Little Party's pizza. It's ungodly expensive! Oh lordy! A medium pizza (which we would think of as somewhere between small and personal size costs 2,500! That's about $30! I gulped and paid my part. It was vegetarian, obviously, as I don't think they do half-pizzas like we do in America.

Overall impressions: it was tasty, although it had mushrooms on it. And potatoes, which went okay, actually. Stuffed crust was good (Oh cheese! How I love you!) But, as it stands, I feel no major need to rush back there, when I can get the little ones for 300 yen from the grocery store.

I had promised to meet Elizabeth out for “sticks,” so we did that. Sticks is what we call the restaurant that my Nishi coworkers brought me and Parker to for his going away party. We both got plum wine, which, I think it's time to admit, is my favorite alcohol. Oh, Bailey's I love you, but you're really just not as good for drinking over a long period of time or in larger quantities. This stuff is flat (I can't stand carbonation) and tasty. I'm not sure what the alcohol content is, but it's not enough to buzz me after one drink.

We each ordered a bunch of sticks. I got a few of the cheese ones, a cheese and mochi one, a cheese and herb one, a mochi, a sweet potato, my bamboo, which is always small and overpriced although oddly tasty. (It's BAMBOO! It's GRASS!) Elizabeth ventured into the meats, obviously. It was a nice, relaxing way to catch up with her and unwind after my busy day. Elizabeth's boyfriend, Christian, has now arrived and has been here since last Thursday. I met him briefly, Friday morning, poking his hand between the trees to say hello before I frantically pedaled off to work. Christian was in Kyoto for the evening, so it was just a girls' night, and it was quite nice. I like Elizabeth; she's a good person to talk to.

After drinks we walked back home, and went our separate ways. I started in on cleaning and unpacking. My apartment is an utter chaotic mess. I need a maid. I also started my catch-up on this blog. Which, my god, has taken ages.

I crawled into my jammies, which smell of that second Tokyo hotel. I don't think that was a non-smoking room.

The next morning is a Nishi morning, so I carefully set my alarm for 6:50 and settled off to sleep.