"Don't touch! Don't touch! The bunny!!"!

There is nothing quite as nice as going out with friends to eat. Then, upon returning home, looking forward to a hot shower before crawling, exhausted, into bed. But something lacks when there is no gas in the house. Which means no hot water, and no functioning stovetop. What a curious bepuzzlement ensues when one is staring at the digital wall display that tells the water temperature, and it reads letters that one has never seen before! Maybe it will come back in the morning? But no. To wash my face with warm water this morning required microwaving a plastic bowl of water to desired heat. I slouch into school in a sweatshirt, wishing I had jeans without holes in to continue the unwashed "Saturday" feeling.

In other things, at school, the application I have been doing to teach elementary school come August has entailed my writing a page-long essay in Japanese. Without the help of my truly amazing, dedicated, and wonderful International Department, I sincerely doubt it would have been comprehensible. The head of the department and my supervisor put MANY hours into proofing, reproofing, helping me straighten out my goals, my ideas, and helping me tailor the essay into something that worked for the position. They also put together the evaluation of my performance that went along with the essay and application to the prefectural capital. A colossal amount of work, all told. My supervisor confessed to me this morning that she could hardly sleep last night, because she was thinking about my essay. Then she said, "If you don't get this job, I'll kill you!!" Yes, Ma'am, Kinu-chan!!! I wonder if I had managed to put that on my application, if it would make a difference to the people making the decisions?

I learned so much doing this this week. I get the distinct feeling that if I wrote essays every week for a year, I would be really good at Japanese by the end. We shall see. This thing has been top stress this week, against the constant static of job-hunting. Hopefully things will work out!