ohimesama

I remember feeling really down, lonely and super cold. I remember wanting to go home so badly. I remember staying in my kotatsu the entire day other than when I was at school. I remember I slept a lot. I especially remember not wanting to go out and see anyone. If this is you this year, it may be a problem. I think I was super depressed last winter and although it didn't feel like it at the time, I do see it now in retrospect.

This year, I'm feeling pretty darn good. I don't need to force myself out of bed or be afraid of the cold. I actually tell people how warm I think it is still, even if it's 5 degrees. I hardly use my kotatsu or stay home. I think the major differences between last year and this year is really that I've found a sense of belonging. And to be fair, last winter was much colder. I was told last night that last winter was the coldest winter in Yamaguchi since 40 years ago.

Don't even know where the week had gone. The JET Mid-year seminar was held Tuesday and Wednesday so that's always a nice change to the repetitive schedule. I remember thinking it was boring and long last year but I guess as a presenter this year, it was much more interesting to be a part of the doing rather than the listening. The weekend that followed was a relaxing one. Hannah had organized a small, but wonderful dinner at her place. otsukare-chan ne! Made me realize how $%'# I am at cooking. We were forced to leave her place and out in the cold though because Hannah was too respectful of her neighbors. Keith, Brett, Junko, Danny and I ended up going to Nells and later Keith, Danny and I went to Noise bar to visit my young J-friend, Haruki. There I met a Japanese man who tried to recruit me to his Juku school to teach English. As I'm not a fan of the Japanese style of beating around the bush, I just said "okane wa?" He told me 1800 en for 90 min... I couldn't help but looked unimpressed. I explained that I get paid a lot more in my English conversation classes and he didn't even bother trying anymore.

FYI
I quit smoking... YAY!!! Well, it's only been 10 days and I did cheat a little bit but it's still good considering I've smoked since I was 17, so you have to give me that much. Although I've tried quitting a few times and have been unsuccessful, I feel pretty good about this time. I figured I'd better quit now because there's no way I can quit back home when my best friend and mom both smoke. I even got my sister to send over a book on quitting smoking just for a foolproof method. Pray for me.