Abunai Ushi (the danger cow)

What a long time it has been since my last entry!
Life is settling down here into a rhythm of teaching and evenings at home watching Meg Ryan boxing movies and crotcheting/knitting/sewing.
The weekend before last I went to the mainland for one of the JET gatherings. I took half a day of leave to get off the island on the Friday night and went to stay with Wellington people on the mainland. It ended up being 7 New Zealanders (4 imported from other regions) and a few other JETs and Japanese supervisors hanging out for the evening. Was just lovely. We played the 'oh so you studied at Vic?' and 'you were in the hostel with twelve of my cousins and lived in three of my flats?' and 'ah so that was you in met at beats and bubbles in old Bodega one ill-fated Tuesday... well then...' game. And we listened to Kora. And others played guitar.
The next day (after bacon, eggs, paua and pineapple) we travelled to the party proper and due to the universal laws of road-trip without actually getting lost we managed to arrive about 5 hours late in a car painted like a cow.
The actual party wasn't terribly exciting, a lot of drinking in dark alleyways between cabins keeping the noise down to avoid waking other campers but it was good to see (squint in dark at) the mainland people again. I even met someone from Paraparaumu.
The next day one of our drivers had lost his keys. This is not good at any time but I think a secluded mountain holiday park in a foreign country has to be one of the worse places to do such a thing. Many hours of search and then waiting to key-man to arrive from the nearest town to charge a ridiculous amount of money ensued.
The Monday was a public holiday and since I had to spend most of it getting home I planned to spend the rest of it shopping and instead spent most of the rest of it sleeping... but! in a super organised speedy shopping mission I bought a sewing machine! (had I been less speedy I might have realised it had no foot-pedal but I am slowly getting used to button control). Then I ran around buying all the ￥100 wool I could find. Now have enough crafty supplies to keep me at home for months.
So that's sort of what I've been up to I guess.
In other news, it looks like I am going to Korea for Christmas. Exciting stuff.
In all the diary writing I neglect to talk about the little things that preoccupy me every day so here are some.
Cool little things:
1- The giant yellow and black spiders outside my house have gotten tiny little mates. I check daily to see if they have eaten them yet.
2- Biking without a helmet makes my hair large and furry, and is quite exhilarating. (I have tried to be good but the only adult-sized helmets on the island are for motorbikes.
3- Eel. it is the best food ever.
4- I have a plush leather armchair with no legs. It makes me feel like an emperor of a nation of tiny people.

Park 'er 'ere

Goodness it's a whole 'nother month. What have I been doing? A more interesting question, what have I been? I have been a park is what at a Halloween gathering/ pub crawl (a frightening (for the locals) combination in a small Japanese town. And I got tonsillitis grrr). I made my costume out of fake grass from the local hardware store. It tested the limits and patience of my new, dear, wee sewing machine that I have tentatively named Lorna. I wanted to be a rugby field but could find no players. I wanted to be a farm (even made fences) but could find no animals. So I was a park with dogs, trees and rabbit. I won most original costume and got grass burn on the inside of my upper arms.
Another something I have been is sick again. Grrr indeed. My own silly fault for park-being but grrr anyway. I went to school after being anti-bioticed to spare my dwindling (and few to start with) sick days only to be told I was to sick to teach and that I should sit in the corner and face the wall. I gave up and went home. I hate tonsils. What are they for anyway? grrr again.
Now that I have thoroughly cleared my throat...
Also I have made some delightful jandals (zorri). The are good for stimulating the nerve endings in one's feet and stuff. Very fetching when made in paisley.
ANOTHER making of mine was cookies for the culture festival. As they were laced with butter and flour I didn't try them and was rather nervous about their sales. I shouldn't have worried. Once a student saw them they sold mighty fast. Yay for giving children sugar (three kinds).
Twas a lovely day despite the gusty rain and wind shaking our little sale tent. I ate a lot of Filipino coconut rice.
Nice.