sukiyaki and snow flurries.

So, today I am on sick leave. (>_<) I called in early this morning when I woke up. I have been sick since Friday, and I just needed to rest a bit and fully heal up. I think I was pushing myself a little too hard. Yesterday I taught 5 elementary school classes, and those kids take a lot of energy to keep up with. I should have called in sick, but I thought I could just do it and it would be fine. It was, however, quite exhausting. My nose was so stuffed up that the kids could hardly understand what I was saying!! I was trying to say "salmon" and they kept repeating back "Seven??" Hahaha. (^_^) After school, I was invited to go to my friend Akemi's house to have dinner with her family. It was sooo nice! Her little sister is taking English in high school and was really good, even though she was really shy at first. I took a look at her English homework and saw that it was super intense. They were reading an essay about Westward Expansion in the States (so, naturally, I threw in a bit of info about Lewis and Clark and St. Louis!!) and Native Americans. The vocab was insane. It wasn't just some article written for ESL courses, it was a full-on essay. I couldn't believe what a high level of English they teach at her school. I think she goes to really nice school, though. My friend John K. teaches there, and I have gone to his English Speaking Society meetings there a couple times. I was impressed by his students' English skills, and now I see that they have to work really hard. Anyway, we had sukiyaki for dinner which was unbelievably delicious. Sukiyaki is like a hot pot dish. You spread a little fat over the surface of the hot pot and cook meat and veggies on it. My friend's family used soy sauce, cooking sake, and brown sugar to add flavor. We each had our own bowl of raw egg that we dipped the food into before eating (apparently raw eggs are safe to eat in Japan---something about how they raise the chickens). Akemi's family owns a rice shop, so the rice we had with dinner was truly excellent. Waaaay better than the rice during school lunch. I regret that I didn't take any pictures of dinner, but here is a pic I found on the internet that comes close to what I had last night:


This morning, after I called in sick, Jamie called to say she was sick, too, and that we could go to the doctor's office together. The doctor said I have a regular cold, but if I develop a fever, then actually it's the Flu and I should go see him again. But only if I get a fever....weird, huh? Jamie, on the other hand, definitely has the flu. She had to be put on an IV for an hour. I waited in her room with her, laying on the opposite bed, and we both fell asleep in the end. Luckily the pharmacy is right next door so we were able to fill our prescriptions in like 10 minutes, and the doctors office called the taxi for us.

I plan to spend the rest of the day resting/sleeping/maybe playing a little Sims 3/watching Gilmore Girls. For some reason, the doctor ordered that I cannot take a shower today....I don't really understand, but maybe it has something to do with it being freezing outside and having wet hair while it's cold is awful? Who knows, but I guess I'll do as he says.

Yesterday it snowed, and the little flurries were very cute. I tried to take a picture but you just cannot see the snow at all. I know little flurries are nothing compared to the madness back home, but it was pretty all the same.