WC Rugby Fever

Everyone's got it...

England! The Rugby World Cup Chumps!

Got up at 4am to watch the SA vs England rugby world cup match! I was expecting a Battle Royale... instead the Boks wiped them out 36-0!! And to be honest, it should have been a higher score for SA! Glad I'm South African and NOT English today!

Hier kommie Bokke!!

The Crossing - Osiyeza (for Dudu)

One of my all time favourite SA songs.

Home

Found this lovely little montage on youtube. The photographer is pretty talented! Oh and Rondebosch is her/his home. I'm a Cape Flats girl m'self! The University of Cape Town is my Alma Mater though.
Anyway I got so homesick watching this... I miss the Cape!

Am gonna try to book my flight home for Christmas today!

SPCA Commercial

Great message. I miss my doggy... but I know he's getting heaps of attention back home!

Shudder

They're everywhere in summer... and I have SERIOUS fear of them (ask anyone!) - but when I see one this big and situated low enough for me to get a decent photo, I couldn't let the opportunity slip by! It was about the size of a mouse and I risked life and limb to get this pic - but here it is... *cringe*

Sob...

The girls are all gone and I miss them already!! Thanks for a fabulous year, ladies. I'll never forget you!

Till we meet again...

Sweet...

It's my last day at this school (and if you know how I feel about Tuesdays, then you can probably all guess how I feel about not having to come back here)... and one of my English Club girls (I DO love my EC here) just gave me a letter, because she can't come to EC this afternoon!

Here's an excerpt from the letter:

"Your smile is like sunflowers. Your words are like bright water. Because you are a very nice person!"

Now I feel all weepy.

Stupid rain is pissing me off!

*See title ^...

Jishin

Yes. Another one... bloody earthquake jerked me out of a nice, sound sleep this morning (it was 10:13, maybe too late to be lounging around in bed! But it's a public holiday, I'll lounge if I want to). Scared the bejesus out of me, cos it felt bigger than the last one! It wasn't bigger, I was just closer to the epicentre this time! So things went flying from my walls, lamps fell over, my wind chimes finally got to jingle a bit, while I stood braced in my bathroom doorway, clutching my duvet to my chest and trying not to scream!

The epicentre was in Kashiwazaki... trust God, or Mother Nature - whichever one is in charge of earthquakes - to place the epicentre right under the biggest frikken Nuclear Power Plant in Japan! Betcha They're both laughing their asses off at us right now! Naturally to add to the drama a small fire broke out at the plant! Sheesh... at least I was at home this time and not stranded in the city with no way of getting home!

In a fit of nostalgia I read up on some of my 2004 earthquake reportbacks! Hilarious... I don't feel half as shaky as I did back then! Even though this one felt so much bigger (that one was 6.8, this one 6.6), I'm just kinda "Meh" about it! Last time I sent a massive email home about being stuck in Niigata, there were no trains, we didn't know how to get home, 3 of the other gals were stranded at Nuria's place for two weeks! Of course that one felt more catastrophic because of the drama surrounding cancelled trains and derailed shinks! Not quite that much excitement in being at home when it happens! Although I'm much happier to be home... that last time was way too stressful!

Footnote: they had a couple of 50 cm tsunamis in Kashi! How the hell do you know a 50 cm wave is a tsunami anyway!? It's just a frikken ripple, isn't it?! Weird that!

Anyway, cheers! If you're in Niigata... stay safe... remember to turn off your gas and watch for falling debris when you leave your home!

Canyoning...

Okay, so I'm not blogging in chronological order! I'm just going with the flow and adding whatever suits my mood! Today, I feel like touching on the canyoning adventure we all (that's Johanna, Kristen, Kristen's "boys" Jimmy and Jeffrey, Pamela, Rosalind, Paul, Martin, Keiko, Kirsten and Sunny) went on a couple of weeks ago! Now, anything I will say would be redundant, because both Pamela and Kristen have already blogged about it! I urge you to have a read through their posts, because they were much more entertaining about it than I am likely to be.

We went canyoning in Minakami, it was the adventure of a lifetime and I promised myself that I would definitely do it again. We had a few minor injuries (Martin hit his head after leaping from a waterfall - talk about drama! His forehead bled for, like, AGES after that!), a few near brushes with disaster... (both Keiko and I had rather unfortunate luck when it came to jumping from a ledge into a churning mass of water below us - I try not to watch the video too many times because it makes me feel all queasy) and we all overcame a few personal fears. With Johanna it was a fear of heights... with me, it was a fear of exercise. I think Kristen is fearless (although she did scream like a girl on a few of those jumps) - Rosalind makes these cute, girly, squealy "oh dear" sounds when she's alarmed and Pamela tends to say "Oh Jaysus Christ" a whole lot more than usualwhen she's nervous!

All in all, it was great fun and definitely worth doing again!

Oh... and by the way... the most difficult part of the day for me was definitely getting into and out of those fecking wetsuits!!!

The "Safety" speech

Before

That's me, bringing up the rear as always

The first waterfall (20 m)

Getting ready to take the 20 m plunge (that nose plug wasn't effective at all)Pam - looking a bit nervous

Martin and Keiko - just after he banged his head

After

Water fight!

The molehill that turned into a mountain!!!

Today I want to tell you a tale of turmoil, strife, personal triumph and the age old clash between good and evil (okay, maybe the last bit was slightly exaggerated). The names in this story have been changed to protect the identities of the people involved. Everything else is strictly true. (*pictures posed by re-enactment models).

Our story begins with a young woman named Natalia, who believed that it would be fun to go on a leisurely bike ride with her friends in order to check out the little-explored countryside surrounding their homes. Just recently, Natalia and one of her friends, Rosalie, finally acted on this dream – when for the first time in absolute ages, they both found themselves with a free Sunday. The weather was pretty good and they were both up for it...

*They agreed to meet halfway between Kamo and Sanjo on Route 403 – a plan which was flawlessly executed when they met up almost exactly halfway down the 403. They stopped at conbenie to get some lunch and then headed to Honai Botanical Gardens to have a picnic. The Botanical Garden was Rosalie’s idea (of course), she always seems to know about random plant places in the middle of nowhere and despite the uphill trek to the picnic spot (during which Natalia quite heroically kept the complaints down to a minimum. She really did. Seriously) it was all very pretty. After lunch, Natalia could see the yearning in Rosalie’s eyes to explore the gardens further, but she (Natalia) nipped that right in the bud by reminding Rosalie that they were on a biking trip, not an uphill hike (Natalia isn’t too fond of hiking). So they left and when they got back to their bikes Rosalie (rather snarkily – in this author’s opinion) invited Natalia to lead the way because she seemed to have “firm ideas of how the trip was to go”! Now Natalia had no firm ideas, no map in her mind of how the little excursion was to go, her main aim was to keep the very idea of “hiking” out of Rosalie’s head! In Natalia’s opinion, Rosalie is WAY too keen on stuff like that.

So off they went! It was all quite pretty – they “discovered” previously unknown shrines (well unknown to them), explored the bucolic countryside with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts (they’re just those kind of girls). They stopped and took pictures of farmers working their fields, graveyards, dilapidated houses – anything that caught their fancy. All in all it was rather pleasant. Good weather and great company. Like the eager Rosalie so memorably commented, “What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon!”

After exhausting one side road they tried another and then another, happily chatting and snapping pics at every available opportunity. Every time they came across a fork or junction in the road – whichever one of them happened to be leading at the time would call out “Left or right” to the other and off they would go in the chosen direction. They were rather proud of themselves and all the ground they were covering – until they encountered a farmer they’d seen nearly an hour before – he was on foot! They were both shocked to realize that they hadn’t gone as far as they’d thought! That, or the farmer was some kind of teleporter who could conveniently zip between places at the speed of light. Sheesh…

Natalia – disgruntled by this power-walking farmer – suggested they check out a river that she knew of and Rosalie, ever eager, agreed to that. So they made their leisurely way toward the river. En-route, they discovered another road, one bordered by rice fields and heading toward some trees and they decided to explore it for a little while.

(could somebody please tell us what these gross foamy things are?!)

It was really beautiful, the road was very quiet, they encountered only two cars in the first ten minutes. The rice fields soon fell behind them and they were bordered by only trees. All they could hear were insects droning away in the green leaves and relaxing bird song. They were both eager to see where this road would lead and even when it started gently inclining Natalia (whom you would expect to protest at this point), said nothing about turning back. The two women chatted happily, stopped to take the occasional picture, remarked on how quiet the road was and kept cycling on their merry way. Now this was just one straight road, no turns off it and both ladies were eager to see where it led. Soon the sounds of civilization faded entirely, there were only birds, bugs and the sound of female laughter. They made off-colour jokes about how if they had been in a movie some psycho in a truck would pass them, before circling back to hunt them and torture them in all kinds of imaginative ways.

The incline gradually grew steeper... and Natalia got off her bike and started pushing it... they were both hot and sweaty by this time, but after nearly 40 minutes on this road neither of them were willing to give up on it! So they pushed forward – knowing (because they had encountered a road sign earlier) that this road would lead straight to Kamo – which meant that they were familiar with the destination and really, Kamo isn’t that far from Sanjo at all! After more than an hour, both were grimly determined to see it through! Their “leisurely” Sunday afternoon bike ride had become the UNTHINKABLE – an exercise in endurance and worse (for Natalia at least) an uphill frikken HIKE! Both women were pushing their bikes by this time as the road kept heading up – they still managed to keep their flagging spirits up by valiantly joking that “SURELY the road would decline after the next corner. SURELY”! They couldn’t see further than 100 metres up the road at any given moment because it twisted and turned so much, but one look over the side would show them how high up they were. Still, not one word of surrender... oh no, not these two stubborn women. They would bloody well get to Kamo or die trying! Besides, it wasn’t THAT bad... they could do this! They knew they could!

The road was steep but it was sneaky in that it always FELT manageable! Every time they rounded another corner they would groan inwardly when they realized that it wasn’t heading downhill yet! They hadn’t seen a car in over an hour... the pretty birdsong started to sound mocking, the butterflies seemed to taunt them and the trees loomed ominously above them! Nothing about this was pleasant anymore...FINALLY, after what seemed (and were) hours, they realized that the road ahead of them had started to dip... they were both ecstatic! There was a lookout point at the apex of the road (they were horrified - and feeling more than a little triumphant - when they saw how high up they actually were) and they stopped there to take a few "jumping with joy" pics from the top and to celebrate their “victory”. After congratulating themselves for a while, they jumped on their bikes and eagerly freewheeled down the mountain... it was bliss... the wind felt cool on their overheated, sweaty bodies and they were both laughing and happy to finally be done with this nightmare...


Then... disaster struck... the fucken bastarding RAT of a road (do excuse the profanity) kicked UP again!!! Both women were appalled! Now they were truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. Before they’d always had the option to turn back... but now, after coming down that steep road, they were faced with two unpalatable possibilities – to go back they would have to go uphill – to go forward they would have to go uphill! The terrible thing was not knowing what lie ahead of them! How long would this road keep going on for?! They’d been walking for nearly 2 hours... how much further would they have to walk to get off that damned road?! Going back didn’t seem viable and would make the whole afternoon seem like a waste of time... the only option was to (stubbornly) keep going forward! So once again, their shoulders drooping with exhaustion and resignation, they trudged uphill, pushing their burdensome bikes all the way.
This time there was no laughter, there was no stopping for pictures and gasping at the surrounding beauty... this time there was mostly silence, accompanied by heavy breathing, the occasional groan and rare comment. The birds cackled in glee, the bugs chirruped in laughter and the trees shook with mirth... The whole world seemed out to get them.

This time the uphill journey seemed longer and steeper – they never knew for sure... the sky was clouding over and they prayed that it would not rain! They were both hungry, in need of the bathroom and exhausted! Finally... after forever... their epic journey uphill ended and they were both so relieved they could have wept with joy! Still their odyssey wasn’t over yet... the rest of the way may have been downhill, but they weren’t sure how long it would last, weren’t sure if it would start going uphill again... weren’t sure of anything except that they were very, very tired!

They were challenged one more time when they encountered a fork in the road and an uninformative sign! Their decision this time was based purely on which road looked easier! One headed uphill again and the other downhill! No prizes for guessing which one they chose!

They chose well because the easier road led to Gejo Dam (close to Kamo) – there were a few more twists and turns a few more baby hills and suddenly they were there, at the dam! There were toilets, vending machines and EVERYTHING! It was Paradise, Utopia and Shangri-la all rolled into one! They could have wept with joy. They had been cycling and walking for nearly 4 hours (5 and a half in total if you add the ideal beginning).

They left Gejo dam after resting for a while and headed for the 403 (they were never happier than when they saw the sign leading back to the 403). They were never so happy to see cars, people and smell pollution in their lives before! Life had finally gone back to making sense...

The End

Happy birthday, bru!!

Today is Nathan's birthday!! When we were both in our teens I made a bet with him that he would be balding by the time he hit 30 (because a few of our uncles were unfortunate enough to be hit by the balding bug at a fairly young age!). Today he's 30 and I'm out 50 bucks cos he hasn't lost any hair that he hasn't wanted to! Damn it - I should have looked to our dad - that dude's still got a full head of hair... that was one (MAJOR) point in Nathan's favour!

Oh well, que sera sera...

Happy birthday, Natey boy!!

Lotsa love

Tessa

My ABCs!

Somebody sent me these questions! A lot of them are incredibly pointless, but I had fun filling them out anyway!

A
* Are you available?: To do what?!
* What is your age?: 28
* What annoys you?: When I have PMS: everything. Any other time: insects
B
* Do you know anyone named Billy?: Nope
* When is your birthday?: 27 April
C
* What's your favorite candy?: Chocolate (DUH)
* When was the last time you cried? Hmmm... what a challenging question. Sunday. For no particular reason other than I felt like it.
D
* Do you daydream?: Who doesn't?!
* What do you daydream about? Sex mostly... but sometimes fame and fortune and sex with a rich and famous guy!
* What's your favorite kind of dog? There's only one kind of dog and that's A Fidel!
* What day of the week is it? Wednesday (YAYYYYYYYYY!)
E
* How do you like your eggs? Scrambled
* Have you ever been in the emergency room?: YEP! In March, making sure a friend didn't DIE of alcohol poisoning!
* Ever pet an elephant?: Nope
F
* Do you use fly swatters: do you really care about the answer to this question?!
* Have you ever used a foghorn?: yet another dumb and pointless question.
* Is there a fan in your room?: What kind of fan? I have three electric ones (all on full blast at the moment), two handheld battery operated ones and a few million of the decorative Japanese one (comes with the territory)
G
* Do you chew gum?: All the time
* Do you like gummy candies?: The only candy I ever think of and eat is chocolate.
* Do you like gory movies?: of course
H
* How are you?: "I'mfinethankyouandyou?"
* What's your height?: 161 cm
* What color is your hair?: depends on my mood! But when I was born it was nearly black
* Whats your favorite ice cream?: C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E
* Have you ever been ice skating?: Of course
I
* Ever been in an igloo?: Nope
J
* What's your favorite Jelly Bean? Chocolate
* Have you ever heard a really hilarious joke?: Uh huh
* Do you wear jewelry?: I love bracelets and pendants
K
* Who do you want to kill?: Nobody - I love the world (cept when I have PMS - Then I just feel the need to kill everybody)!
* Have you ever flown a kite?: In Sanjo we have KITE BATTLES with huge kites the size of small cars! Cool!
* Do you think kangaroos are cute?: They're okay
L
* Are you laidback?: Most of the time.
* Lions or tigers?: Gotta say lions, cos I'm African.
* Do you like black lace?: I have no opinion on it.
M
* Favorite movie as a kid?: Aliens/Dirty Dancing/Back to the Future (so frikken MANY to choose from)
* Ever shopped at Moosejaw?: Irrelevant question! No Moosejaws in SA! And if there were, I SO wouldn't shop there! It sounds atrocious! We have The Cape Union Mart!! Hmm... why do these camping shops have such stupid names?! Kinda arb...
* Favorite store at the mall?: Edgars
N
* Do you have a nickname?: Several! Tessa, Satan, Satyne, Nat-chan (in Japan), Nat, Tash
* Whats your favorite number?: 713 and 3/4
* Do you prefer night or day?: Night! Cos all the coolest things happen at night! Day just means work!
O
* What's your one wish?: I wish for world peace and an extra slice of chocolate cake (that's one wish)!
* Are you an only child?: No... there's the OTHER one too! But I'm the interesting one!
* Do you like the color orange?: It's okay.
P
* What are you most paranoid about?: I'm paranoid about that dude who keeps talking to me through my computer!!!! He says the most PERSONAL things! I don't like him! I wish he'd stop...
* Have any piercings?: My ears are pierced
* Do you know anyone named Penelope?: I choose not to know people named Penelope. If I knew a Penelope, I'd totally give her a nickname!
Q
* Are you quick to judge people?: Don't think so!
* Do you like Quaker Oats?: I have a thing against it in Japan! Cos the pic on the box shows the oats with tiny mushrooms in it!! I mean EWWWWWWWW Oats and mushrooms?! How entirely gross and how completely Japanese!
* Know anyone that makes quilts?: I know a lot of people! A few of them may actually make quilts! Who knows?!
R
* Do you think you're always right? I don't THINK I'm always right. I frikken KNOW it!
* Do you watch reality TV?: Yup
* Do you prefer sun or rain?: Sun! SUN! SUNNNNN!!! Too much rain in Niigata!
S
* Do you like snow?: God NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOO! Too much snow in Niigata too!
* Whats your favorite season?: In Japan: Spring. In SA: Summer
T
* What time is it?: 10:23 pm
* What time did you wake up?: 8 am (although my alarm went off at 7:30)
* Do you have a tattoo?: I do indeed
U
* Can you ride a unicycle?: Nope! Why would I?!
* Do you know anyone with a unibrow? I won't name names!
* How many uncles do you have? : 4
V
* What's the worst vegetable?: Pumpkin
* Did you ever watch Veggie Tales?: No... I'm South African see!? We don't have dumb ass programmes like Veggie Tales! And if we DID it would be called Takalani Veggie Tales!!!
* Ever considered being vegan?: After living with m'best bud Annabelle the Monster Vegan for a year and a half... I'd have to say... NO!
W
* What's your worst habit?: Talking too loudly when I get excited!
* Do you like water rides?: Fun fun fun!!
* Ever been inside a windmill?: Nope
X
* Have you ever had an x-ray?: Uh huh!
* Ever used a Xerox machine?: Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Y
* Do you like the color yellow?: That would be an unequivocal NO.
* What year were you born in?: Let's see... if I say I'm 28... I'd guess I would have to say: 1979!!!
* Do you yell when you're angry? No I seethe!
Z
* Do you believe in the zodiac?: Who's that?! Is that like God?! Or Buddha?! What religion or deity is the ZODIAC?! If you mean... do I believe in ASTROLOGY... I'd have to say, only when it suits me!
What's your zodiac sign?: Taurus

Pending...

News about the Nagano football tournament, the weekend in Tokyo and Johanna's Southern Belle dinner (yummy!) to follow soon.

Update...

Right... am hectically p-d off right now!! I wrote a nice, long update earlier on but the EFFING thing simply disappeared into thin air! That put me in an unbelievably bad mood... but I shall endeavour to recapture the wit, humour and sparkliness of the earlier post! And if I don't then too bloody bad, at least I tried!

Anyway, so my good friend Johanna, has recently pointed out that my blog is in serious need of an update. I thank her for her interest and am here to tell her that I was not really neglecting the blog because of my excessive facebooking... I am too aware of family and friends who are not on Facebook back home, so the blog'll always be here for them (and you of course, Hanna-chan x). No, instead I had nothing of import to report (hah - rhymes!)... and also because I've been in such a crappy frame of mind for so long, I felt it best to stay away from my blog! Two negative posts in the space of a month are, in fact, two too many. So I was waiting until I felt chirpier before coming back on here!

Also... my camera has given up the ghost! So I have no cool pics to post (boo hoo)... the poor camera somehow leapt from my hands in a desperate bid for freedom at my birthday party and went flying acoss the dance floor! This was not the camera's first violent clash with the ground (it was actually its third) - so when it landed, it let out a soft sigh and, quite understandably, simply died. I mourn its loss but eagerly anticipate the purchase of its replacement... a newer, sleeker, sexier model! Yay...

But the new camera will have to wait because I have a month full of weekend engagements up ahead. Footie in Nagano with the girls (yes I'll be playing! Try to contain your amusement at the thought! I know I'm the least athletic person on the face of the earth), Tokyo with Joycie and others, canyoning with Paul and others (I hope to have a camera for the canyoning weekend! But if the new camera is anything like its predecessor, I totally anticipate it jumping from my hands, bouncing off of rocks and straight into the rapids)!

In other news, Rosalind has decided to give me a belated birthday gift. A nude watercolour portrait of... uh... me! So how does she know what I look like nude? I hear you wondering. Well, she hasn't been checking out my nekkid body at onsens or anything like that! That would just be creepy. Instead she's been inviting herself around to my aparto and very politely asking me to strip. As a good host, I find myself quite unable to refuse... so this has led to some rather bizarre afternoons with me sitting around with no (hardly any) clothes on, while Ros sketches away furiously and we chat about prosaic things like the weather, what to have for dinner and movies. I promise not to upload any pics of the completed nude onto this blog. I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone clawing their own eyes out in horror, or anything like that!

So what else is new? Well... uh... nothing much actually! Life has been a tad boring for me lately! What did I do for Golden Week?! Well, I stayed home! But my FRIENDS all travelled and I got some KEWL omiyage!! Why travel when you can get omiyage from the people who go away on vacations!?? Getting omiyage is JUST LIKE being there yourself really! Only BETTER! Yes, I do love living vicariously through others! It kicks BUTT!

Let's see...
News snippets:
1. Kris, Ros and I went to Pam's housewarming last week! 'Twas nice... great food! It was a potluck so there was a HUGE variety of... pasta. I got a bit drunk, we (well Ros, Deccy, Joel n I)went to karaoke, that was nice! But the Saturday was the best! The girls and I did some half-hearted sight-seeing in Murakami (it was COLD! Which explains the half-hearted bit), took some print club and then headed back to Pamela's to crawl under blankies and watch a movie (well the rest of them did! I slept through it! And, allegedly, snored a bit). Lovely day...

2. Been hanging out with the ladies a fair bit! Am going to miss them all like crazy when they leave!

3. Went to watch Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 at the cinema... Spidey 3 was my personal favourite! Less twisty, more interesting, less grim, more exciting... then again I've always been a Spidey fan (since I was but a wee one), so that movie would always have come out tops with me! Unless it completely sucked balls (like X-Men 3) - then no amount of money or ice-cream would have induced me to praise it at all!

4. Been going to the gym regularly-ish, with Kristen and Ros. It's been torture, because Kristen has devised all these diabolical Natasha-killing exercises which are obviously meant to demoralise me! So while I flop around trying to lift my entire body weight onto my elbows and toes, she and Ros stand around and mock me (picture them ominously looming above me, hands on their hips, casting shadows over my prostrate, weakened little self . Not a pretty picture is it? This is my life...sighhhh)! It's been fun all around (for them)!

Hah... Rosalind has been told off by TPTB at the gym on 3 separate occasions! The first time they reprimanded her for talking on her (well technically it was mine) cellphone... then a few weeks later, it was for resting on one of the benches in the weights area and just recently they nailed her for talking (TALKING!!! FGS)... now they've put up these "manner check" signs (in English) in the area we usually train in and the girls are convinced the signs are aimed at us (what with it being in English and all)... personally, I'm convinced it's just aimed at Rosalind, whose pic is probably up in the gym staffroom, with the word "troublemaker" emblazoned over it in red katakana! Anyway... for more on this topic, have a look at the very entertaining posts by Kristen and/or Ros. Funny stuff.

5. I don't think there's a number five...

I'll update this post when I think of something new to add to it! Now, I'll try to publish it without it disappearing on me again!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

Jack Bauer in South Africa

Oh dear...

Exams suck for ALTs as well as students!!

Wow. Today is painfully boring. I hate exam time.

On a positive note (I've decided that from now on I will counteract all negative thoughts with positive ones - that way the negativity won't poison my emotional well-being. Profound, huh?!), uh... hmm, this is kind of difficult! Positive thought, positive thought, okay... weather (rainy and grey. Ick), friends (quiet as church mice today), appearance (meh). Okay wait, I think I have it... a positive thought... just FOUR MORE HOURS before I get to go home.

Gee, that sounded a lot better in my head than it looks written down! Siiiiiighhhhhhhh...

Rollercoaster

Lately I've been in an emotional Nowhere Land. I've been kind of depressed and really negative about stuff (not my usual thing) and crying for nothing at the drop of a hat and I don't know why! So I decided to make a list of the good stuff and bad stuff going on in my life right now in order to evaluate my recent weirdness.

Some of the bad stuff:
1) The weather has been sucky it can't decide between warm or cold and it's annoying as hell.
2) I have to move schools AGAIN soon which means that:
a) I can't feel comfortable or settled in my current schools.
b) I have to say a whole bunch of farewells soon.
c) I have to get to know new teachers and students and prove myself worthy of their respect once more.
d) It feels like my first year ALL over again.
3) I will have to say goodbye to some really good friends in the very near future.
4) I've been feeling exhausted and unwell a lot lately.
5) I'm homesick, I miss my mum, bro, dog, friends, etc.
6) I can't sleep and am anxious for no reason.
7) Squat toilets (j/k).

Some of the good stuff:
1) Even though the weather is crap, it's still SPRING and the sound of the frogs croaking happily in the rice fields makes me smile. The cute bats and the pretty flowers make me smile too.
2) I still have TWO of the Baskin Robbins gift vouchers that Kristen gave me for my birthday (yummy!!!).
3) Even though they're leaving in less than 2 months, I have some pretty fantastic friends over here (y'all know who you are - mwah!).
4) Students always make me laugh, so I'm guaranteed at least one genuine laugh a day Monday through to Friday.
5) I've been going to the gym regularly-ish - so I feel like I'm doing something positive re: fitness and health.
6) I DON'T HAVE TO MOVE APARTMENTS AGAIN!
7) The Jusco has Cadbury chocolates!! YAYYYY!
8) Even though good friends are leaving, new people are coming.
9) Joycie's coming back!

Siiiighhhhhhh... so the good stuff outnumber the bad. I still feel like frikking crying, though!!! Grrrrr...

PS. Sorry bout the bitch fest!

Thanks

To Mommy, Auntie V, Dianne, Wandile and Chevon for the phonecalls from home (I know how much it costs, so I REALLY appreciate it)! Thanks everyone for the cards, presents, emails and wishes. Thanks especially to my ladies, Johanna and Rosalind for the lovely surprise meal they cooked for me on my actual birthday! You ladies made the best lasagne and dessert (hehehe) I've had in ages! Jeez, this reads like an Oscar acceptance speech! So... and finally I'd like to thank the Big Guy upstairs... oh wait... there's no third floor in my building! Nevermind...

No seriously, thanks to all... I felt honto loved!

Mwah!!

Edit: And thank you to Roberto for calling the wrong number and leaving a message (undoubtedly filled to the brim with all kinds of kinky language) on the wrong answering machine! It's the thought that counts (and the thought of some poor Japanese person hearing to a message laden with words like sl*t, bitch, wh@re, and whatever other imaginative moniker you used to refer to me, is highly entertaining). Also thanks for pointing out my horrendous oversight in NOT mentioning you in the aforementioned "thank you's".