shady's back

ahoy hoy! what have we here? riri's burogu (blog) is BACK IN BIZZNAZZ! release the hounds! --i mean...confetti!

my darlings, it has been over a month since my last update, and i should apologize! i've been traversing the globe, whizzing back and forth between nihon and amerika. and what a lovely time it was...i spent time with family, showed mattsy all around california, ate pizza and hamburglars more times than i could count, and was surrounded with english---glorious, glorious english!

however, i've been back in j-land for a few weeks now, so i suppose i should tell you about its happenings. here goes! a calendarific bird's-eye view of ma life.

jan 8: arrive in tokyo, hungry&cold&tired. singapore airlines has lost my baggage, whoopsies. (they were kind enough to deliver it to my door a few days later, which was great since i didn't have to lug it myself!)

jan 9: fly back to miyazaki. burst into my dusty little apartment, which had been neglected for two weeks. it did and did not feel like home.

jan 10: back 2 skool. no classes, which meant i was plopped at my desk with eff-all to do. began looking at jobs, and subscribed to several websites that send me career email updates. soul crushing.

jan 14: miyakonojo world festa, aka a smattering of ALTs' respective countries' booths, some fabulous performances, and lots of "internationalization," a word which, for me, lost all meaning a long time ago.

after, jordy and a kagoshima/los angeles ALT named justin and i went to get miyakonojo's famous tomato ramen. i would marry tomato ramen if i could, it is culinary perfection. also, like a total fruit, justin was going to study at the liberry that affo, but we completely wrecked his plans (purposefully).

that night, we and many others hit up "old earth," a hotspot for foreign faces (aka a bar). it was nomihoudai, but usually with "all you can drink," there's a catch. for example, at some places, beer is not included. however, for this nomihoudai, all the available alcohol was simply on a table outside (it was so cold that the drinks were nicly cooled). i had two asahi beers. buck wild.

jan 17: went for a run. the usual...flocks of junior high kids biking home, gawping at me. usually when i say "konnichiwa" they all politely respond, then once they've biked a safe distance, i hear a lone, warbling, "haaaddddooooo," and lots of giggling.

jan 19: i write an email containing the words "all i want is to crawl back into bed like a worm." pretty much sums it up. the cold is demotivating, to say the least! ...but i perked back up when my english teachers invited me to their fukuoka trip in late february. we're gonna see cirque du soleil! and we're staying in the hilton?! LOL these ain't like the teachers from murica, i know that much.

came home and ate a loose percy pig that i had found among my pillows.

jan 20: ramen dinner at tatsuya's shop with trots. blissssss. both of us are always bursting with the oily broth after, but it's too good!

jan 21: reserved flights to korea with my one and only matthew! march 31-april 7! bi bim bap me. oh yes, also went shopping with tracey to help pick out her zombie costume for this week's zombie prom. ultimate success! now we just have to figure out how to make fake blood...

jan 23: played badminton at the gym with a group of japanese people + tracey. fun! it was all very organized and polite, and of course i was terrible. HA, and i got a stray birdie right to the eyeball! after i let out a strangled scream of pain/shock, i gingerly opened my bungled eye to see tracey on the ground, laughing at me till she cried. bloppa. (australian word we made up(?) meaning "idiot")

and today: i showed my kiddos "the fresh prince of bel-air" theme song. beforehand, i explained the title, prompting a girl to shriek, "MASHUU?" LOL, he wishes he was the fresh prince! anyway, the kids were clearly bamboozled by the video, and gave me a roomful of blank stares, standard.

and i signed my contract papers. i'm going home in july.

not thinking about it,
riri