This city girl is having a nervous breakdown

I am done! I can't stand this anymore. I want to go home. I am tired of all the slugs making their way into our home. I put poison almost everywhere around the house and I thought we were no longer going to see any slugs in the house and today we saw another one this time it was in the kitchen. I can't imagine where it came from, maybe the kitchen window. I've had it. I am tired of not sleeping because of these buggers. I feel itchy all over and I have visions of them crawling all over the house while we are sleeping. Okay I do have a phobia but they are simply gross and I don't want them inside the house. People keep telling me winter is coming soon and they will be gone... I don't care I don't want them here now. I HATE THEM. UGH!

SLUGS

Back home we had the ant problem in the summer. Joe didn't like them but I could deal with it. On Saturday alone we had about 20 slugs in our home. Joe took out 10 and the rest committed suicide by slithering onto the salt I placed on the floor. I hate slugs. I think hate is an understatement. I fear and LOATHE them. Ever since I was 8 years old I've had a slug-phobia. I have nightmares of fields of slugs and having to cover myself in salt so they won’t even come close to me. I could not sleep knowing that the slugs were coming into our home, even though we had covered most of our entrance with salt, I still had thoughts of slugs creeping into our home. We didn’t go to bed until we had exhausted ourselves around 5am Sunday morning. After breakfast Sunday morning Joe and I rode to our nearby hardware store and bought some slug poison. Two bottles to be exact and some talcum powder (it kills them) to spread all over our shoes (our front entrance is where we keep our shoes).
When we arrived home Joe cleaned our entrance thoroughly (he found some slug eggs under our shoe rack). After cleaning it and inspecting our shoes he spread the poison all over the entrance and I put the powder in our shoes. Our entrance is slug proof. I HOPE. This morning when I was leaving for work, what do I see? A dead slug in our entrance. One made its way inside but didn't survive. I do feel bad having to kill them but there is no reasoning with them. I don't want them inside because they are icky and give me nightmares. I can't say I ever had this problem back home... I am so upset about it I am going to talk to my contracting organization. I have a strong suspicion that they might be in the apartment next door. It currently is unoccupied and if they easily made their way in ours they've made their way in that apartment too.
I can deal with Japan not having spicy food, I can deal with not understanding the writing, and I can even deal with not knowing how to order food at restaurants, I just can’t deal with the slugs. Well hopefully they won’t make their way inside anymore, otherwise I might have to pull out the big guns and get some sawdust, copper wire, sandpaper and lots and lots of salt.

Our first trip to Kyoto.

This picture was taken on our way to Kyoto. Kanako was giving us the popular double peace sign.

Rice fields on the road to Kyoto.

We decided to stop at Shigaraki to visit Mr. Tanuki


Joe found the Tanuki ki (Tree).

This little creature is responsible for that buzzing sound.

Ujigawa bridge.

The inspiration of the 10 yen.

I told Joe no more veggies unless he finished his ice cream.

Fushimi Inari




Dinner at Gion.

Joe and I next to a Geisha in training.


The view from Kiyomizu

There is no crying in.... English.

Today while I was at work I was looking through the English texts to prepare some lessons for the upcoming school year. I came across a story that made me teary. Please enjoy.

A Mother's Lullaby
A big, old tree stands by the road near the city of Hiroshima. Through the years, it has seen many things.
One summer night the tree heard a lullaby. A mother was singing to her little girl under the tree. They looked happy, and the song sounded sweet. But the tree remembered something sad.
"Yes it was some sixty years ago. I heard a lullaby that night, too"
On the morning of that day, a bomb fell on the city of Hiroshima. Many people lost their lives, and many others were injured. They had burns all over their bodies. I was very sad when I saw those people.
It was a very hot day. Some of the people fell down near me. I said to them, "come and rest in my shade. You'll be all right soon."
Night came. Some people were already dead. I heard a weak voice. It was a lullaby a young girl was singing to a little boy.
"Mommy! Mommy!" the little boy cried.
"Don't cry," the little girl said. "Mommy is right here."
Then she began to sing again.
She was very weak, but she tried to be a mother to the poor little boy. She held him in her arms like a real mother.
"Mommy," the boy was still crying.
"Be a good boy," said the girl. "You'll be all right." She held the boy more tightly and began to sing again.
After a while the boy stopped crying and quietly died. But the littl emother did not stop singing. It was a sad lullaby. The girls voice became weaker and weaker.
Morning came and the sun rose, but the girl never moved again.

Our Home

Our Kitchen


Our bedroom minus the bed (we sleep on futons :) )
Our Living Area
Sink and Washing Machine.
Our Bathroom notice our bathroom shoes on the floor... I put them on when I get in, but always forget and take them off like an hour later in my kitchen.

The Shower/Bath

One door closes...

For the past month before leaving the United States I was very depressed. This would be the first time living away from my parents. Even though I can go weeks without seeing them. I at least took comfort in knowing that they were there if I needed to see a friendly face or if I needed someone to talk to. The past month I began feeling lethargic and I would get teary for any little thing. I was not really excited about the move, I was sad more than anything else. I didn't know what to expect. Saying goodbye to my friends was not easy either. Although I didn't full on cry, I was sad to leave all of them. I am not sure If my parents wanted to get rid of me or if they were just excited for me. My parents didn't really get emotional but I am sure they were a little sad to see me leave (and maybe a little happy too). My last day to spend quality time with my family was on Thursday the 24Th. My mother, Joe and my nephews went to Raging Waters that day. On the way to Raging Waters my mother and I were listening to a Spanish singer and jokingly my mother said "I dedicate you this song". It was about a man who was leaving his loved one behind and didn't know when he would return. My mom and I began laughing and crying at the same time. We thought the whole situation was silly but we couldn't help getting emotional.

The next day on Friday I had to go to a mandatory reception for most of the day. I was really upset about this because I wanted to spend some more time with my family. We didn't even have a goodbye meal or anything. Sadly I did not get to hug my nephews’ goodbye either. I did talk to them on the phone and Diego made me cry. All he said was “Tia I love you with my whole heart”. UGH! That killed me. I miss those little buggers a lot.

The day of my flight I was sad and focused mainly on what I was leaving behind. Once I got on the plane it began to sink in, I was about to embark on a new adventure and I should be happy about this opportunity. The flight was surprisingly short (bare in mind that I went to India and that took 24 hours to get to my final destination). I received special treatment on the plane it so happens that If you request vegetarian food, you get served before anyone else. I LOVED THAT! I didn't really sleep much the day before the flight, and I didn't sleep much on the plane either. The only time I slept was when Fools Gold was on, my body wouldn't let me stay awake through what I assume was a bad movie.
Upon arrival to Japan we were greeted very kindly. They took us from the Narita airport to a beautiful hotel in Tokyo. We were spoiled. The food was really good and the workshops were very helpful. They kept on reassuring us that they are here to make us feel at home and that if we need anything to make our stay in Japan more pleasant, not to hesitate to ask. Too bad we spent most of our time in the workshops the three days we were in Tokyo. Even so, I got to see a little bit around the hotel. I slept on average 3 hours per night. Some people blame it on Jet lag. I think I was just too excited to sleep. After the Tokyo seminar we were taken to our prefectures, Shiga is mine. We went to Otsu, the capital of Shiga. There we gave a brief introduction in Japanese and our "hosts" gave one in English. Our hosts consisted of a member of the Board of Education and an English teacher we will be working with. They were both very kind and after the introduction ceremony they took me to my hometown of Tsuchiyama in Koka city. There I visited the Jr. High that I will be teaching at. There I met a few teachers and two students. The students were really cute; they introduced themselves to me in English. I can’t wait to begin teaching. Classes begin in September, this time will mostly be spent adjusting to my new hometown and planning lessons. I will write about my school and town in detail at a later time.