things start looking up

so i had received a message at work that i was going to get a new flatmate called jillian. though no one could seem to tell me when she might arrive.

on the friday after natasha left i had a particularly bad ride to work. the wind was blowing so hard across the rice paddies that i had to get off my bike and walk in order to make any forward progress. by the time i reached work i was in quite a mood, as you might imagine, and it wasn't a good mood for teaching english. i simply got through my classes with as little effort as possible then headed home.

on the ride home i ran into grant, a canadian teacher from a different school i had met out a few times. we stopped and chatted for a while, which lifted my spirits remarkably. there's something about running into someone i know on the streets that makes me so happy. it makes me feel that i have a place, that i know people, that i'm not alone. i made one more stop, at the liquor store for some vodka, before arriving at my apartment.

most homes and apartments in japan have a small area just inside the front door where your shoes are to be removed. my apartment was no different. that night when i opened the door i noticed a new pair of sneakers next to my flip-flops. it seemed that jillian had arrived.

we chatted as i began to make my dinner (a packaged version of an omelet, served with a kind of gravy, that i had bought ready-made from the supermarket the day before). she had taken training with dave from my school, but had been staying in himeji until now. my guess from her accent was irish (i was wrong, she's scottish, but now, over a year later, i can tell the difference between english, irish, scottish, australian, and kiwi accents - not bad, eh?). i tried to give her the rundown on life in marugame, but myself only having been a resident for less than a month, it was general at best.

the next we talked more, about everything, finding that we had much in common and were both quite easily amused. the green mile came on tv - *in english* - which was very exciting. using some christmas colored origami paper left behind by previous tenants we started making paper chains and plans. in my journal that night i wrote:

i think things will be looking up here...