Survival of the Fittest

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Which, by all accounts, should not be me.  I am the most out of shape I've ever been in my whole life.  But I'm working on it. 

I survived my first week at my new job and I love it~!  I've tried to keep myself as busy as I can, and so far I've reserached the origin of my surname, how maple syrup is made and the governmental system of Canada on Wikipedia.  That was actually all done in one day.  The teachers and the staff are all really friendly and it makes things easier.  I'm usually left to my own devices if I have a free period (I usually co-teach 2-3 lessons a day) so I've tried to make myself busy by learning random crap on Wikipedia or reading my fat grammar textbook from ENGL302 that I lugged with me.  Imai-sensei, the 3rd year (grade 9) teacher, has asked me to help her to some marking, which is really fun for me. :D  I love wielding the red pen.  She also asked me to think of a game to teach relative pronouns (which I had to go look up in my grammar tomb) but the internet at school as a block on it so it doesn't show up blogs.  Also Facebook is blocked, so I can't fill up my time with that either.  Although, its not as fun as it used to be, to be honest.  I rarely use it anymore.

Anyway, now that I'm home, I can get to those sites that came up on my search but I couldn't view.  I think Jeopardy is the way to go.  Anyway, I won't get into that.  It's the weekend!  No need to think.

Anyway, I'm fitting in nicely.  Whether it was Nakamura-sensei's own initiative, or the vice-principal or a collective thing, I got officially invited to the Bounen Kai (忘年会, literally "Forget the Year Party) on the 21st.  I've got Keigo's lesson that afternoon but I'll go right after, it'll be fun.  I won't be able to talk with many people, but I will ganbaru and try my best.  I think that means I've been accepted into the school community (at least by the English teachers) and the rest of the year will go well. 

But I feel like a bit of a loser sitting at home alone on a Friday night...  I spent the day cleaning house.  My bathroom was getting really disgusting.  I finally got some tension rods to hang a shower curtain and a little curtain in the kitchen from the dollar store, as well as cleaning supplies.  I aired out my futons and found mold growing on the bottom foam pad.  Fuck!  I guess its not just a summer problem but a winter one as well.  At least I don't have to worry about tatami mats, which are impossible to clean.  I googled "how to clean mold from futons" and found that if you wipe it down with vinegar water and hang it out to dry out for a few days, it should take care of the mold.  I wiped it down, and now am drying it in front of the space heater.  I hope it works.  I sent a frantic email to Yvonne but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. 

Yvonne is probably coming out for Christmas.  The 3 of us, Yvonne, Andrew and I, will probably do a little presenty thing but that's it.  I'm too broke to send presents home to Canada and I wouldn't know what to buy.  Obviously tacky omiyage (souvenirs) type things, like an Engrish t-shirt for Sean and some pretty Japanese fabric for mom, but the postage is going to kill.  Those things will just have to wait.  I got some blank nengajou (年賀状, New Year's cards) so I can send a few of those off but that will be all I can afford.  But Yvonne and Andrew, I should get something for them since they've been so helpful to me over the last 4 months.  ESPECIALLY Andrew for taking me to see Koda Kumi last week.  I had no idea.  He said, "Keep Saturday free, I have a suprise" and we met in Ginza since we can't afford to buy anything there anyway, even if we weren't strapped for cash.  Then we took 4 different trains to get to Suidobashi where Tokyo Dome (a.k.a. The Big Egg, really) is.  I thought we might be going to the theme park there or something, but we were going to the concert at Tokyo Dome!  There were vendors set up at the station entrances selling Koda Kumi stuff, but I didn't piece two and two together.  It was a great performance, she really put on a great show but the audience was kind of... lame.  There no energy.  I wonder if that's usual, because there was no energy at the school assembly I went to on Monday either.  Maybe its just the Japanese way to clap in an orderly fashion, even if it's your best friend or idol.  In any case, it was so fun.