THE WORST (2) WEEK(S) IN JAPAN

Luckily their was a break of joy in this erstwhile dark and dreary period.

No details.

They just sucked ... really ... really bad.

The aches from snowboarding, being observed in class, several children spontaneously throwing worse-than-usual tantrums in class. This week was just absorbed by a case of Type A Influenza, otherwise known as bird flu. Yay. At least, luckily, like anthrax, don't believe the hype. I am now totally fine, slightly headachey, and have bad breath thanks to some "very effective medicine that is very effective" (I swear the doctor actually said that phrase to me, but then again I had a fever of 40 C). Today I tried to travel to a bank to cash some birthday cheques (I had to to go 20min by train to avoid a fee that nullifies the contents), only to find that it closed. Banks in this part of Japan (maybe all of Japan) close at 3. I'm not even awake by 3 some days (when I'm not working). Its useless. And then they make a big fuss about having to do anything like actually transform a cheque into cash, or transfer some money internationally. And charge overabsorbent fees.

The break from this crazy doomsday shit was Danny's going away party. (No that isn't saying I'm happy to see him go). That night ended up with me missing 4/5 layers of clothing at 3am, closing time at karaoke -- maybe there a connection between that and me catching the 'flu.

Nah...