I’ve been pretty busy lately with no time to be blogging, emailing, or other social activities to let people outside of JCMU know that I’m still alive. So, since I should be studying right now for tomorrow’s test, and packing for my trip to Hokkaido, here’s a quick rundown:

-After getting my test back on Monday (which I did horrible on), I went to talk to Melville-sensei to make sure she knew why I did so horrible and that it wasn’t just because I had slacked off on studying. To my surprise, she told me that she already knew about it, and that the teachers (and I guess, everyone else on the staff) had been talking about it, and that if roommate #3 ever said anything to me again, that I should tell her about it, so that then she’d have a little ‘talk’ with her and become “scared of her” (which she emphasized with making a fist)! Maybe Melville is a lot cooler than I first though……

-Sent two packages home, one by boat and one SAL (surface air lift, which basically means it sits and waits until there’s a plane that has some extra space). The one sent by boat was all of 5.5kg, and cost me 4500yen. The one sent by plane was even worse, 4.57kg and 7300yen. Ugh. When I came to Japan I sent a 59lb box (27kg) by boat for $86. So when I come back, I can see that I’ll probably just pay the $130 or whatever it is to send an extra piece of luggage, since it can be up to 50lbs, otherwise I’ll be completely broke just trying to get back to the US…

-On Friday I helped out with a group of elementary kids, and on Monday someone from the office handed me a copied article from a local newspaper of which my picture with the kids appeared in! Yippie!

-Tim and I sat down the other day to figure out where we were going to ski in Hokkaido. Right now its going to be either Kiroro Snow World, which boasts 21 courses and 9 lifts, or Teine Highlands, with 13 courses and 14 lifts. The biggest difference is Kiroro is 46 minutes away and Teine is 16 minutes away from where we’ll be staying. When we get to Hokkaido, we’re going to inquire about discount tickets and then make our decision based on which one is cheaper.