Day to day stuff...

Well! We are finally starting to really settle in. Many thank yous to David and Nola for organising a shipment of cadbury chocolate and cold and flu tablets. We eagerly await the next one! Having -cold and flu tablets makes getting sick here that little bit less of a worry and they're also kinda like currency here. I'm pretty sure we could use them amongst our western friends to barter for haircuts and possibly obtain Reese's peanut butter cups. Ross was sick about a month ago with a hideous bout of cold and flu which really knocked him out. I have told him not to touch ANYTHING on the trains, any people, any buttons on escalators, etc...(mine and Hillary Clinton's solution for keeping well) but he feels it is necessary to hold the handles on trains so he doesn't fall over when trains come to an abrupt stop. I hear him - certainly I have been embarassed by almost falling into Japanese salarymen laps on the train, but I'm not sick, am I? Last week i puchased these handy little spray bottles of disinfectant stuff for our hands so we have now taken to precautionary spraying between lessons, train rides, etc. It's hard to explain, but Japan features very highly this sort of artificial heating and cooling. When it's raining outside it's like some guy rings every train driver and says 'You know what to do' and then whoosh, you can see this lever being cranked and we all suffocate in the trains. On the other hand, it's delightfully breezy on the trains when he makes the call on sunny days! When you're on a train or in a department store, you can really feel the artificial air and with SO MANY PEOPLE around you all the time it's pretty much inescapable, getting sick. We have joined the gym! I was walking each morning along the river and through a couple of neighbouring suburbs and the park where all the old men (around thirty of them) gather to play mahjong each morning and stare at me as I walk past, and that was fine, except that the weather here is very restrictive. Back home, I walked if it rained, if it was hot, whatever but here the rin is so heavy you get dripping wet all the time, the heat is muggy and sticky and starts very earliy in the morning, so it's hard to exercise outside. We joined Gold's Gym, which is in the next street to us (our friends Chris said we really have no excuse, he and Leigh cart themselves a fifteen min train ride to Umeda to squeeze the gym in before work most days) at the Plaza Hotel. It's cool, every time we go to the gym the doorman greets us! The gym is pretty amazing. The one e looked at with a friend of ours was really beautfiul and cosy (but Ross got asked to leave cos of his tattoo) but this one is big and bustling. There's a big pool, two studios for classes, a big weights and workout area, a huge mat for stretching (very big on stretching here) and a running track outside along the roofline of the hotel - very cool! Ross is very excited and loves talking about the gym. Most of the time he talks about the bathrooms. The bathrooms are pretty special - they have massive baths the size of a small pool where you can sit and relax and soak...with everyone else... We haven't had much of a chance for sightseeing recently but i hope to get somewhere soon. We've been planning a trip to Arashiyama to see the monkeys and the mountains, but we're waiting for better weather - it's been really rainy. I think we'll visit the Osaka Aquarium next - I hope, anyway! We applied for and secured jobs with a different part of our company, ECC Junior. ECC Junior does casual style work like kids English parties (seven hours of fun and games), Kinder and primary school cultural fun and games visits (I'm from Australia, we have kangaroos! Can you be a kangaroo with me! Please? Please don't make me be a kangaroo on my own!) We're hoping to get a few visits to kinders and an English party occasionally too. Really looking forward to this new type of experience. I've also been looking at teaching private lessons too. They're a great chace to meet new people, drink coffee and eat bagels with a stranger, speak in English and go home. Nice, We have had some madness in the cat department recently. Kitty (not to be confused with the big , fat fluffy cat we have) got in a big cat fight with another cat (probably big, fat fluffy cat) last week and it was serious. Laura, a friend from our building had to go and buy a cat cage to take him to the vet cos he was so bad. He has cuts and stitches in his arm and ear and face. They were really infected and the poor baby was really sick , but he's been set free this week and seems much better. It's so nice having pets around! We've started to really settle in, get used to our timetable and our students and are both really enjoying ourselves. It's much easier to enjoy your job when you know what train to catch, what your boss' name is and where the toliets are. Once you have those basics down, you can settle in and have a bit of fun in the workplace. Last night Ross and I headed to Koshien school where I teach on Thursdays. Koshien was hosting a 'Pot Luck Party'. We were running late so we didn't get the full spread but the food was amazing! There was homemade sushi and gyoza and all sorts of yummy stuff and big, texas style muffins from Costco (I have been wanting to try them but as Costco is a bulk place you have to buy 24 to get 1) and chocolates and all sorts of yummy stuff. A few of our friends went too so we chatted to them, played some games, marvelled at the excitement that ensued when Ross entered (Allie's huband! Allie's husband! Allies brought her husband!) and ate muffins. I've missed muffins. It was really nice to see my Japanese staff and students relaxing and to be able to chat to them in Englosh in a more casual setting. Next week, we're going bowling with Ross school, Abiko. Should be fun! OK, more later. I'm off to the gym! xoxoxoxoxoxo