siberian lifestyles of the cold and caffeinated

Ugh. It's cold and rainy today, and I'm sitting in the teacher's room feeling useless and bored. I only have one class this afternoon, and it's been planned since Tuesday.

Not that I don't have plenty I could be doing -- studying for the JLPT 3 (won't someone please tell me why I signed up for that?), finishing up the new HAJET Elementary Teaching Guide so I can start printing it, improving my teaching methods, yadda, yadda, yadda... But it's cold, I've been doing very little aside from drinking coffee since I got to school this morning, and I haven't updated the old blog-ness in almost two weeks! What's up with that?

I'm sure it's all part and parcel with acclimatization to living in middle-of-nowhere Japan, and the imminent onset of the snowy season. I've been here over a year, so every day no longer brings interesting surprises. It's all settled into routine -- even more exciting things like fighting with my post office about being able to send packages via COD is not such a big deal. It's still a challenge making myself understood, and frustrating being misunderstood. Or not understanding the way things work in the system.

Okay, okay, you caught me. A day in the staff room with nothing to do but shiver and drink more coffee has brought out the "grr, this job sucks" side of things in me. I'm sure when I go home I'll lament the loss of hours on end of free time, a job where I can do whatever I want at my desk including posting to my blog, heavily subsidised rent, the opportunity to get paid for doing next to nothing and the experience of living in another culture where I get to try things I wouldn't get a chance to try otherwise. Not to mention 20 paid days of holiday time every year. Speaking of which, plans for my trip home this Christmas are almost finalized. I arrive in Edmonton December 23rd, assuming I can get a flight from inaka to Tokyo to catch my international flight -- domestic flights in Japan don't open until two months ahead of the departure date. Why? I don't know. That's just the way things work in Japan. It's best not to ask too many questions. Your head could explode (and it would probably be a very rude thing to do).

This weekend, plans include studying for the above mentioned JLPT -- Japanese Language Proficiency Test, finishing editing that never-ending book, and treating myself to a weekend at home. Read: indulging in sleeping in and spending the day in my pajamas. Hooray for self-indulgence!