I haven’t been at work in a long while and I am finally back at my desk. And low and behold there is nothing to do! I thought the kids would have already written their exams but they haven’t. They are doing a prep day today and the exam tomorrow. I haven’t brought exam work with me today so I am going to have to make some work for myself. This blog update will be part of that work. I have been at work 4 days in 10 these past two weeks. I was off three days for the hospital and two days for a conference and one day was a holiday. The swelling on my face is almost completely gone which is nice. I can sleep on my side now which is nice. I am pretty much eating and talking normally too. I had my stitches out a few days ago and the dressings changed which wasn’t too pleasant but they said it won’t hurt as much next time. I have to get the bandage stuff changed once a week for the next six weeks. Hopefully sooner though as I am still going to Thailand after all.
The conference I went to was fun. The actually material we were there to listen to was pretty weak but they usually are at these types of things. It was a two day presentation on “Better Team Teaching Through Workplace Relations”. I was a moderator which means I didn’t have to do much of anything. Even though the event was held in Shiojiri, it was a fair ways up the mountain so we all got to stay at The Asty Ryoken which is a rather nice little resort hotel in traditional Japanese style. We had an ensen (like a hot spring), karaoke, big meals, ping pong and traditional futon rooms to sleep in. That hotel was for all Junior High school and elementary teachers, the high school people had to stay in dorm rooms for some reason. Their big excitement for the night was getting drunk and making a large pyramid of wine bottles in the cafeteria. It eventually smashed though. They had a curfew of 10:00 PM as well and hall monitors to enforce it. I think they still had a good time though.
A few people stayed in Shio for the weekend and we all went out for a night on the town. Much comedy ensued and we all slept it off on Saturday. I then went shopping on Sunday with a friend to Minami Matsumoto. I bought a charcoal coloured lamb’s wool sweater which I know Matt will appreciate and a fleece toque which I now wear to sleep in. I moved furniture around in the house and it still looks like a bomb went off in there. Hopefully I will get that cleaned up tonight.
In upcoming events, I will be going on a trip with my co-workers to Yokohama for the weekend and after that I am going to Nagano City to participate in a Culture Night and Kimono Fashion show. Apparently there is a group of people in Nagano city with a big interest in dressing up foreigners in Kimono. We still haven’t had snow on the ground yet, only in the mountains. It is getting colder daily though so I wouldn’t be surprised if it came soon. It’s time to buy a car! Congrats to Mandie on her sweet new job! A friend sent me a sample of a Japanese medical questionairre and it is shockingly similar to the ones I filled out. Take a look, you might have a laugh. Talk to you all soon.