it's not life that matters but the journey...

woo hoo . . . I finally got out of the house yesterday. I went to Shimizu for my weekly teaching of my friend Noriko and the three boys. One of Noriko's friends came yesterday, so I got a little extra cash, and we just talked and ate sweets! That's one of the perks of teaching adults - its usually just chatting, rather than teaching. I think that her friend, Fumie, will join the lessons twice a month. I still haven't told them that I might be moving... I figure its best to keep it a secret until I know for sure (that is, until I find another apartment and start packing).

After teaching yesterday, I met my former student (and friend) Minako for dinner. We went to Mister Donut and drank coffee for about an hour since we weren't hungry, and just chatted. Then we had some spicy ramen for dinner, and shared an ice cream parfait for dessert. As usual when I go out to eat, I ate too much - but since I do it so rarely, I figure its ok! I haven't exercised for about two days, so I have to get out for a walk today. Plus I am trying to convince Masahiko to go for a road trip tomorrow (Sunday) to get out of the house. We might go to Hakone Lake, which is between Kanagawa-ken (Yokohama) and the Izu Peninsula. Its very pretty there, and if the weather is nice, it will be a great place to go! I'm just getting so restless since I spend way too much time in this cold and stuffy house.

I've really been meaning to write some of my thoughts about life here in Japan: trains, people, this house (although maybe I've exhausted my feelings about this house and how much I hate it). But somehow whenever I get on the computer, its hard for me to express my feelings very well. Maybe I need to write it all down in a notebook first...

I will say this though: this house stinks. I mean it literally stinks. Often I wake up in the morning and have to spray some kind of air freshener because of something M's mom is cooking. Even though we live on the third floor, the smell wafts upstairs often. Japanese people tend to cook everything in a fish base, so it always smells like fish, which I can't stand. And when we came home yesterday, as soon as I walked in the door I was hit by a horrible smell. It was a smell I experienced a couple times when I was living in Chicago (I think from the garbage bins outside in the alley), the smell of rotting garbage (especially rotting food). It honestly smelled like garbage that had been sitting for a week. I truly think its because they eat fish a lot, and after dinner they didn't clean everything up, so the smell remained. But I don't know how they can constantly live with the smell of rotting fish! Its amazing... If it weren't so cold, I would open up the windows to air it out, but its just too cold.

maybe I have to buy some of that cheap incense I find at the novelty stores around here - then at least it would smell like a buddhist temple rather than the back of a restaurant.

oh, and I think I'll go for a walk today - the weather is nice and I haven't exercised in two days!