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

I can't remember when I've had a virus that hung on as desperately as this one is. I've now been sick for 8 days, and though I'm able to get up and walk around, and I still don't have a fever, I feel like death warmed over. I went to work Thursday even though my body was telling me to stay home and rest - and as a result, I ended up feeling much worse that night. So I called my supervisor asking him if I could just teach my classes Friday morning and go home before lunch. He suggested I just stay home for the whole day - so I stayed home all day Friday and rested. Saturday morning I thought I was starting to feel better, but I think it was just an illusion. Still I stayed home all day yesterday and all day today, with the exception of going out to the grocery store for about 30 minutes this morning. I've done nothing but sleep and watch movies (I finally watched that adorable movie Up ) and episodes of Supernatural (from Season 3) and True Blood (I re-watched the first two episodes from season 1)... Yet, even with all that resting, this nasty cold virus won't relent. Thankfully my nose congestion has cleared up a bit - so that I can actually breathe through my nose. But now the virus has moved into my lungs, and I've got that heavy feeling in my chest. And every once in awhile, I get a tickle in my throat, which starts me on a coughing spasm that won't let up for about 3 minutes. Then that causes me to have a headache - from all the coughing! Can someone please tell this virus I don't want to play anymore? I'm not having fun!

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to teach this week unless I start to feel a whole lot better by tomorrow morning. I've been taking vitamins, and a handful of medications given to me by the doctor I saw Wednesday. But this thing seems determined NOT to let go! Still I felt bad enough missing work Friday - so I'm planning to go tomorrow and see how things go. Sadly I still have lessons to plan for this week, so I can't really relax much tonight. But I'll try to get to bed early...

so, sadly that's all that's been going on in my life for the last week. Hopefully, once I feel better, I can get out and about again. Though with this consistent rain, there's not much to do anyway. Today was at least a bit cooler, and there was a mist covering the whole area this morning that made everything look quite mysterious - and that kind of mist causes such a stillness. It's eerily quiet during this kind of weather. But who's complaining about quiet? certainly not me...

here's a couple of pics of the mist we had a couple weeks ago - today's mist was even heavier than this,







But before I bore you to tears with weather reports and more thoughts on my love/hate relationship with Japan... I'll leave you with some pictures that I took two weeks ago at the local Gion Matsuri in Yoshiwara, very near my home. It's a street festival - they close off the street to traffic and have floats and food and other stuff. Here's a little description I found on a Shizuoka guide online: Yoshiwara Gion Matsuri (Fuji City) Early June
Yoshiwara Gion Matsuri -- "Gion Matsuri is an event originated in Gion, Kyoto to quieten down evil spirits that cause disease and disaster and it spread out all over the country. The gorgeous and dynamic festival features a parade of Mikoshi (portable shrine) carried by children and youngsters and 21 decorated floats pulled around the area."































Here’s some of the food I thought was worth photographing (but not all worth eating!):


Some pretty candy:


Fish on a stick!


The soba and tempura I ate in a little restaurant – we waited more than 3o minutes for them to make it. It was so yummy! Sorry the pic’s a little blurry:


Yakisoba!



We went into a famous fruit shop on the main street – and I was amazed at the prices on the fruit – it’s so expensive here! 3,500 yen (about $40) for a watermelon! Outrageous!:








They were also selling yadokari (hermit crabs) and turtles!











So that's it for now. I'm off to finish a few things for my lessons. Wish me luck getting through a week of classes... luck and a little hand sanitizer is what I need!