Tired . . .

I am feeling so tired at the moment, so I am not sure if I will even be able to remember everything that happened to me over the last week or so.

Last Tuesday I felt unwell. I held out until I had made and eaten dinner, but then at 7 o'clock I fell asleep on top of my bed. I woke up at about midnight to change into my pyjamas and have a cup of tea before going to sleep again. Despite sleeping nearly twelve hours, I had trouble getting up on Wednesday morning. I had a headache, but I had to go teach English at the primary school. I also had my English conversation class that evening.

On Thursday and Friday I was at the prefectural education centre for a conference. It was the same conference as last year and the year before. How boring. On the Thursday evening at the ALT party, the previous weeks photo competition was judged. (Speaking of which, I haven't yet uploaded the photos I took that day . . .) Anyway, there were only four teams competing but I only won two of the fifteen categories. I am bitter about that, but not because I didn't get many prizes. That doesn't bother me. I am bitter because I lost many categories due to my being unpopular. Pictures were judged on the volume of the applause they received, and team members were allowed to cheer for their own pictures. The other teams were made up of 3, 4, or 5 members who all cheered for themselves, and they all had friends who cheered for them. I was there by myself, so often after a thunderous applause for another team's photo, mine would be shown and the only people cheering were myself and a few people who felt sorry for me. It was so harsh.

On Saturday I still felt unwell, so I stayed home. The Sandman graphic novels I ordered from the US (because supplies in Japan ran out indefinately and now even dog-eared copies are going for several hundred dollars on the amazon.co.jp marketplace) finally arrived in the mail. Yay! I now have the whole series. Because the end had already been spoiled for me (by an internet review which lacked a spoiler warning) I risked skipping forward and reading sections of the last volume. The artwork in the last book is absolutely beautiful, and the story so touching. If the story had not been spoilt for me and I had read everything in order I am sure I would have been bawling my eyes out and smiling at the same time.

On Sunday I performed yosakoi (again . . .) at Akita University. In the evening I met with Saya, Miwa and Saya's Canadian boyfriend Gary who is in the country for two weeks. We went to an okonomiyaki restaurant and then to Gusto for cake and the drink bar. I spent most of the time at Gusto translating the instructions for the stone spa at which Miwa works into English, so that she can make an English version for the foreign customers who visit. (Because of the close proximity of TDK, many foreigners visit the stone spa.) Apparently, you have to have a shower after you get home from the stone spa because the far-infrared energy from the rocks remains in your body for five hours. "Heat?" I asked. "Your body remains warm for five hours?"
"No, it's special far-infrared energy that is good for your health."
"But that's just heat, right? Can't we just say heat?"
"No, it's special energy."
"Okay . . ." *translates the misleading pseudo-scientific jargon into English to trick all the foreign TDK employees out of their money*

Today it is Monday and I already want it to be the weekend again so I can rest. But of course, come the weekend I will be doing something that doesn't involve resting, like every week.