These are the highlights of my week in order:

—>I met the new first year students (that’s seventh grade)…when I walked into the classroom the entire class stopped what they were doing in order to stare at me. One girl said in awe: “Oh, it’s beautiful!”

—>During the other million or so hours of internet browsing this week (and since i was at the school that blocks im, myspace, yahoo, gmail or anything else that i might want to look at) i happened upon some funny ponderings about grimace. For some reason (boredom induced delirium??) these had me giggling so hard it was really really really a chore to keep from laughing out loud. Here is a sampling of the ponderances over what exactly grimace IS:

“what IS grimace supposed to be? This big purple lump of poop?

“personally i thought he was a nugget that went bad. but then again he could be a milkshake, but there isn’t a grape flavor milkshake

“what an odd name for the children to appeal to (sic)…it’s not like he actually ever grimaces. That’d be like if Barney hung out with this giant blob-thing named disgust or something

“i guess grimace was just created to be nothing. Sort of like the nutritional value of McDonalds.

“grimace is a taste bud. i should know, i worked at mcd’s for years (not me! the person who wrote this)

Even the McDonalds spokesperson referred to him only as a “big furry purple fellow” so I guess we’ll never know exactly what grimace is.

However, after some research (yes, I actually was THAT bored) I found out that Grimace was originally called “Evil Grimace” and he stole milkshakes from the children. I guess like the Hamburgler but with milkshakes. Later on, Grimace was reformed (ha, literally, he started off with 6 arms!) and became just a “big furry purple fellow.” hmmmm.

My highest highlight of the week:
Today is my last day of work for a while…we leave for Hong Kong and Boracay Island tomorrow!!!!! yaaaay! i won’t be back until the 8th so sayonara until then!

Almost everything in Japan is bearable.  The lack of heating/cooling, the bugs *shudder*shudder*shudder*, even some of the food is tolerable.

But if there is one thing that makes me want to get on the next flight back home it’s having to bike in the rain.

Words can’t fully describe what it’s like to bike in the pouring rain–one hand holding an umbrella, peddling as fast as you dare, dodging puddles (riding through others in the process, getting your shoes and pants bottoms completely soaked)…meanwhile the tops of your legs are getting wetter and wetter, as if by sitting on the bike they form some sort of welcoming table that every raindrop automatically gravitates to.

Add to this the fact that normally slow and cautious Japanese drivers suddenly turn into four wheeled kamikazis, speeding, making screeching turns and pulling out in intersections (right in front of you, stopping…and then staring).  This causes you to brake hard, swerve and move your umbrella away from your head because you need both hands to keep from flipping your bike over the obstructive car.  At which time the last vestiges of what was dry (one hair on the topmost part of your head) is now completely soaked like the rest of your body and you still end up sitting there, waiting for the car to get the **** out of your way.  Yet they sit there as if to punish you for being a foreigner in their country.  After all, they barely missed running you over its a small satisfaction watching you get soaked to the bone.

I’m too depressed now to describe the scene upon arriving at school: late, soaked and freezing.

Last night I had a midnight visitor.  Well, an 11:35 visitor.

Sleeping soundly in my bed…Something fell on my head.

I jumped up and switched on the light (after batting at my head furiously) and there…on the wall…was…

a frog.

yes. a frog fell on my head last night.

The frog was kind of cute (remember Mr. Frog?  like him, only greener) and his actual presence didn’t freak me out so much as the burning question of HOW he got in my bedroom and if something as big as a frog could get in, who knows what ELSE is coming in!!! *shudder*shudder*shudder*

I couldn’t catch him cause he was on the wall and kept hopping around so I just let him be and tried to go back to sleep.  But I could still *feel* him there and I couldn’t sleep.  Then he hopped on my back.  As much as I like frogs, I really needed to get to sleep so I put the light back on and managed to trap him in a small box.

HOWEVER…when I went to throw him outside, I don’t think anything actually came out of the box.  I went back to bed not knowing if I had actually caught him or not.  Laughable as it may seem though, once I lay back down I could sense that I was alone in the room again.  (Yes, sort of like a *presence* was missing)  Got to sleep, frogless dreams.

Besides illuminating the fact that my house is not as sealed up as I thought it was, this experience has also proven to me that animals–even little ones like frogs–have a palpital being which can be sensed and felt even by big insensitive, unattuned humans.

He was really cute.

p.s.  I now have several “Mr. Frogs” that live on my front stoop.  Perhaps one of them hopped in after me yesterday.  I hope my Mr. Frogs like mosquitos!!

Last Saturday Scott and I went out in the city.  We watched one of his Japanese friends play a “concert.”  At first we thought it was at a park but when we got there we couldn’t find anything going on.  Finally after much texting back and forth we found his concert: in front of the Family Mart.  Apparently a lot of artists show off their talents at randomly appointed places along the street.

So we parked our bums on the sidewalk and enjoyed the free show.  Afterward we hung out with the band!  Since there was no backstage to hang out at we went to a famous ramen shop and waited about an hour outside before there was enough room for all of us inside.

Since it was far too late to catch the train home we headed to our usual late night haunt, Cybac, the internet cafe!  But we weren’t the only ones with that idea.  By the time we got there, there were no more rooms, I mean, computers, available.

So…at 3a.m. cold and tired, with no place to go…we checked ourselves into a karaoke room for the last 3 hours of the night!  We thought at least we would be able to lie on the couch/chairs and possibly get some sleep.  But, it turns out, the lure of karaoke was too much for us.  We ended up singing for the whole three hours, making this the first real all-nighter I’ve had in a really really long time.

However, I hope we don’t have to do that again since we paid dearly for those three hours: about $50!

My sissy left today.  She was here for three whole weeks!  Much fun.

We went to Seoul and took a tour to the DMZ.  It was really scary!  So…technically we can say we’ve been to both South AND North Korea.  (Even if our trip to North Korea was just the other side of a building that straddles the line).  I’ll try to put up some pics of the soldiers and stuff there.  But I’m really lazy about adding stuff to my photobucket site so don’t hold your breath. 

I have been on a break from school for the last couple of weeks but am starting the new school year on Monday!  I will be working with some new teachers so hopefully they will be easy to work with.  I was sad about a lot of the current teachers being transferred (the Board of Education transfers teachers every year at a whim…) but I am hopeful about the one bane-of-my-existence teacher being transferred.  So far it’s looking like she’ll be gone! yeah! Now I just have to cross my fingers that they don’t replace her with someone even more aggravating.

I’ve only got a few weeks to struggle through at school before my next trip!  The last week in April is “Golden Week” here–the equivalent of Spring Break I suppose.  So Scotty and I are planning a trip to Hong Kong with a hop to some island.  Right now it’s lookin’ like we’ll go to Boracay Island in the Philippines.

After that I guess I just gotta hunker down and prepare for a soggy rainy season.  There is nothing like riding your bike to school in the rain/wind/humidity to put you in a baaaaaaaaaad mood!  rrrrrrarrrgh!  Woe to those student’s in my first period classes.

Well…that’s all for now.  Maybe something exciting will happen at school this week and I can post something more amusing.