Ever get the feeling you aren't wanted?

I walked into school this morning to discover that my desk had been thrown out. Last time I saw it was Monday, when I sat at it, put things on the shelves, moved things around, and actually used it.

Today, all that is there in its place is my swivel chair and three cardboard boxes.

The boxes are of a height sufficient that I can lean paper on top of them and write, but sadly the tops arent smooth. Inside the boxes sits all the items that had been stuffed into the drawers of the desk, the shelves on top, and even the couple of bits of paper and photos I had on the desktop itself. Most of the stuff that was on or in the desk I had never looked at, and a lot of it was junk, to be sure, but Im left wondering, DID I have anything important there? I guess I timed things well bringing my ATPL books home last week, else who knows where they'd have ended up by now?

Not much longer to go.. yesterday was my last day at Seaside School, and tomorrow my last day at Hiratsuka.

A busy weekend, again. For some reason, weekends are always busier than school days.

This weekend was busier than most, though. Saturday afternoon I had to deliver a speech on "My Impressions on Coming to Japan", to a group of old fogeys at some community centre up the road.
What I think they wanted to hear was me rabbit on about how wonderful and unique Japan was and how much better it is than the land of Gaikoku. Instead, I told them how I saw it, which is part good and part bad. I think a few of them squirmed uncomfortably in their seats for a good part of my speech, but I think in the end they thought I had a couple of good points.
I managed to convince them I was a Japanese citizen, too, mainly for my own amusement.

Still, it was easy money. About a hundred dollars for an hour and a half of talking, and they even gave me coffee. OK, so the coffee had gone cold, but it was coffee.

Then onto the train, and over to Kashiwa to find Jun. Having not seen her since that memorable day when she paged me over the public address at Ueno station, and not having met her family at all, this was exciting. The family are fantastic; they fed me very very well, and even the pooch took a liking to me in the end. Too much of a liking - he decided that licking my fingers wasnt enough, and attempted to lick my face too. No thanks...

Sunday, after a brief run of volleyball with Jun, she drops me back to the station where I meet Robin and her mum on the platform.
In to Tokyo sightseeing we go, seeing such interesting sights as the multicoloured dancers in Harajuku, that really annoying girl from training in August, (but we hid- safe!), and the view from the top of the Metropolitan Government Building - the Rhialto of Japan, the tallest building in the country, and on a clear day, a fine view.
Luckily, we had an amazingly clear day and could even see Fuji in the distance, peeking up over the hills. Sadly, Fuji was due west and it was nearing sunset, so no decent photos of the mountain worked out.

Dinner at the Daikonman, the bestest okonomiyaki restaurant in all of Japan, then home to bed before another busy day at work.

Monday I indeed went to work, but in this line of work a sharp distinction must be drawn between being at work, and doing work. I didnt have a great deal of work to do, and as expected they sent me home at lunchtime. So, I scoot onto the train and head off to Yokohama and meet Robin and her mum again, where we wander the Minato Mirai, ride on the roller coaster (see photo above), and contemplated Foot Onsens.

After dinner, I head up to Tokyo, where Rumi has managed to get herself and me onto the VIP list to meet the two blokes from the TV show Little Britain. A little anticlimactic, given that they were there for all of five minutes, but enough time for a photo or two, a quick Hello and shake hands, and - pouf, bye bye.

Actually getting home from Tokyo became and adventure, but that itself is another long story, so I'll leave that till next time.