Back In Kochi

So, I've been quiet for a bit; for two weeks I was in Idaho, and now I'm back in Kochi. I've only just now gotten a break in the action and had enough energy to make an update. I had a great time back home. I got to be part of Emily's wedding, saw many of my closest friends from junior high and high school, went swing dancing twice, had two birthday parties (woohoo!), got to see my family, and ate or bought a lot of things I can't find in Japan. The time went by so quickly, but I enjoyed it a ton.

My flights back to Japan got all messed up, so instead of flying from Boise to San Francisco to Osaka to Kochi, I had to fly from Boise to L.A. to Tokyo to Osaka to Kochi. It also meant that instead of leaving Friday morning and arriving Saturday night, I left Friday evening and arrived Sunday evening. It was pretty miserable, but I didn't have any trouble with connecting flights or getting from airport to airport. So I shouldn't complain too much. Needless to say, I was very tired. However, I haven't experienced too much jet lag, other than that I've been waking up a few hours earlier than intended. I don't have trouble falling back asleep, though.

Work this week has been fine, and fun events are starting back up as well. The Yosakoi team has started practices, and this year Jamie and Philip will also be joining us. It should be a lot of fun. It's great to see the team members again; they're all so friendly. Things may get challenging in that practices sometimes conflict with other weekly events, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem to miss some practices.

On a less fun note, there has been some drama lately with a lady who volunteered with the Genki musical. She was a little strange to begin with, but seemed harmless enough. She seems to be a very lonely person with rather poor social skills, and has been trying very hard to make friends with foreigners. However, some of her behavior has been rather aggressive and inappropriate, and after being (politely) confronted by one of the Genki leaders about it, she exploded. Since then she has sent a barrage of angry text messages to many of us, and has even called a few people at work to berate them. She also delivered angry letters (hate mail, more or less) to some of our work places. At this point, our supervisors have been notified and are working with the Prefectural Advisors to take appropriate action. I was rather pleased to see that our supervisor at the BOE is taking it seriously and seems to have our best interests in mind. I'm not worried for myself, but I really hope that this woman is going to get some help, because something is very wrong in her life.

Back to more pleasant things: tomorrow I'll be going with Julie and Sasha to a Canada Day celebration organized by Marc. It should be a lot of fun. Coming up soon are surf camp and Devin and Tynan's visit to Japan (among other places in Asia). I'm really excited to do some traveling in Japan with them. On a fun note, I've also been asked by my teacher at TJHS to dance the Gaga dance with my students, and a solo dance, for culture day. I'm trying to work out what I'll do for the solo dance. I'm thinking I'll try to learn the dance that goes with a song by Girls Generation, a Korean pop group that is famous in Japan. It's very fast and not too easy, though, so we'll see how long it takes me to learn it. Here's the dance I'm trying to learn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfUrnMCLXAc&feature=fvwrel

All in all, things are going pretty well since I've gotten back. I feel better for having gone back home for a while, and I've got plenty of things to look forward to in the immediate future.