January 15th through 19th in 2016

Friday night I had tea ceremony. It wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t particularly bad, which is better than it was for a long time. Nothing’s really changed in class. I’ve mostly changed, and it’s nice to see that. It’s easier to relax, it’s easier to sit, and it’s easier to focus. One of the biggest problems is just the difficulties of sitting seiza when you’re fat and not Japanese. Having your legs in pain, then falling asleep, and then your whole core and back goes . . . it wears on one. It’s hard to focus on everything when you’re trying so hard to just sit still. Ish. Finally, you’re struggling to even stay sitting at all. It’s a miserable experience, but bits of the goodness are starting to shine through again, which is lovely.
Writing on this, I’m remembering an interesting experience before the ceremony, my doctor’s visit.
On Friday, after school, I went to see my doctor because of discomfort in my ear which had turned to pain and, finally, had lead to me not really being able to hear out of it very well. At all. Well, I went to Kyoko, and she immediately thought it was sudden onset deafness. I didn’t think so, but she personally drove with me to the local ENT doctor. Turns out my ears were clogged with wax, left moreso than right. So that was a disgusting little trip. Still, I could hear a lot better and my ear hurt a lot less. It’s still on the way to recovery.
Saturday I got up and went to guitar. For the first time ever at a guitar lesson, I felt relatively competent. I was thrilled. It is so inspiring to be making progress at something! It reminds me of why I bother at all. However, the lesson was also interesting for being early. Friday night, Shige-chan, who has now become Shige-papa, invited me out to Kagoshima with him. I wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted, but I love spending time with him. It turns out he was doing a run down to the city to pick up his computer from the repair shop and he just wanted company. Discovering this was so moving and beautiful. He wanted me to go with him. I was just there as company and conversation. It’s so strange and lovely to be wanted. He calls me his fourth son. He introduced me to several people as that later that night.
After we picked up the computer, we went to a ramen shop that he loved in town. He treated, naturally, and it was wonderful. Not that he treated, I felt guilty on account of that, but just to see how much he wanted to spend time with me. Then we went shopping. I found some amazing, and amazing looking, beers in Tenmonkan, and I bought them. I’m hoping to have a tasting next weekend (goal was for this weekend, but no can do because of tea ceremony). Then, after going back to our respective houses, we met up again an hour later to eat at a really good restaurant near to Plasse. He had his number 2 from the station, and said number 2’s wife. We had an amazing time. We laughed and talked and drank. It was lovely. It went on and on for some time, then, I went back to the apartment, mostly drunk, by way of 7-11. Simona wanted to see me drunk, so, I had another can or two (I think one) of those big Japanese cans of beer. While we talked on Skype. Then, time for bed.
I woke up Sunday morning with what I thought may be a hangover, but didn’t intuitively seem like a hangover. I now believe it was the prelude to a migraine. The weather here has been exactly the kind that’s impossible for my body to deal with. However, I did manage to drag myself to what I assumed was a kimono lesson. As it turns out, the lesson had been on Saturday and I’d put the wrong day in my planner. However, sad as I was to miss kimono lesson, I’m glad I spent time with Shige-papa. The only difficulty is that next weekend is a big tea ceremony event, and I’ve been asked to wear a kimono if possible and I wanted to consult with Sensei about it, but I didn’t see her, obviously. After that, Sunday was remarkably lazy and I didn’t get much done or accomplished, largely because I felt terrible. However, what was unacceptable was how much I ate. Operating under the assumption that maybe it was a hangover, I tried to eat my way out of it. Had it been one, that may have worked. Difficult to gauge when the weather is going to go insane around here. Saturday I didn’t get my walking in, but I did get over 10K steps.
Sunday I finally picked up my car. It’s a lot more pink than red now that I look at it. Not that I mind. It’s so much nicer than the old one.
Sunday night I barely slept. Couldn’t get to sleep for whatever reason.
Monday morning I weighed myself and I was right. I was about 3Kg over my pre vacation weight. Frustrating, but not as bad as it could have been. Just a reminder to keep things going.
It was raining and sunny at the same time on Monday. I saw my first Kagoshima rainbow. It wasn’t quite as impressive as the double rainbow over the canals of Hikone, but somehow the quickly fading full single rainbow over 7-11 was wonderful in its own way. Eshin is always a bit rough. I don’t get lesson plans in advance, and I don’t get a lot to go on generally. The kids are the roughest that I teach, and there’s always something. Well, it went the best that it ever has. I was thrilled. Maybe the rainbow was good luck. Maybe it’s just that I’ve changed so much. Regardless, it was Eshin, and I actually had a decent time. Pretty good in some cases. Also, my bowties are becoming quite well known. When next I’m in the US, I need to buy more.
For whatever dumb reason, I always teach Eshin on Mondays, which is a mess because it wrecks my Eikaiwa schedule. We moved it to 3:30, as opposed to 3, but it really could have been 3:15. Eshin always sends the wrong schedule to the BOE, and the BOE is convinced that school there gets out at 3:10. I have never gotten an accurate schedule from Eshin. Anyway, it was fun to see the bachan and baachan again. After that, I grabbed some food at 7-11, fully hoping to make it through my exercise goals, but between lack of sleep and a bad migraine, I was a wreck. Thankfully, I was over 10K steps before leaving Eshin at 3, and I’d been too busy chatting with kids to finish my lunch. I ended up with a massive calorie deficit. I just couldn’t eat. The cigarettes probably contributed to that, but they’re really effective at treating the migraine. However, I think that they may also be making it harder for me to sleep. They seem to have a stimulating impact on me.
Couldn’t really sleep well last night either. My head is killing me today. I would consider calling off school possibly, but Ebihara Sensei is gone today (poor dear, her grandma died) and I may be needed. We’ll see. If anybody asks about me, I’ll say I’ve got a bad migraine. If they suggest that I go home, then I’ll be happy to accept their advice.
Tomorrow I’ve got a demo class at Eshin. This is the first I’ve heard of it. I knew that I was going to be teaching at Eshin, but I didn’t know anything beyond that. Matsumoto was not happy when I told her how uncommunicative Eshin usually is with me. I feel bad that I said anything.
Well, Inori Sensei hasn’t asked me to do anything yet. First period finishes in 18 minutes. Hopefully we’ll consult then. With she and Matsumoto probably divvying up Ebihara’s classes, they’ll either really need me or really not need me. It could go either way.