There are exactly four more days of Lent (but who’s counting?), and I couldn’t be happier! I tried to give up sweets this year (after a few unsuccessful years) and promised myself that I was going to do it. I’ve done it before, and it’s hard, but I AM CAPABLE of doing it. I was doing really well, too…..up until White Day. March 14th, exactly one month after Valentine’s Day, is White Day, and boys are supposed to give girls chocolates since the girls gave them chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Several male teachers brought chocolates to school that day and gave them to the female teachers, including myself. I sat them on my desk and was going to take them home and put them in my Lenten sweets box. However, they sat out on my desk all day long. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that they grew little eyes to stare me down and were screaming “EEEEAAAAATTTTT ME! EEEEEEEAT ME! EAT ME!” I felt guilty about it, but I broke Lent and ate the three pieces of chocolate sitting on my desk. Then I went home that afternoon and got into my sweets box. I totally chocolate binged. Since the day was already ruined, I asked Ian to stop on his way home and get me a Coke. FAILURE.
Last Saturday we went up to the city for Ian’s boss’ birthday party. It was a traditional Japanese drinking party in which you pay a set price for food and drinks. There were two options: soft drink nomihoudai (all-you-can-drink) for 2,900 yen or alcohol nomihoudai for 3,500 yen. Of course I chose the soft drink option since I don’t drink, and I figured that if I was going to spend that much money, I might as well get my money’s worth. So….I broke Lent and had Coke. Tonight is my school’s end-of-the-year party, and it’s the same thing. 4,000 yen for eating and drinking, and I’ve already resigned to breaking Lent again. Jesus understands money practicality, right?? I mean….if I’m going to pay that much for something, I might as well get it, right? Right?? RIGHT??? Help me justify my sinning!!
I’m really excited for Sunday for more reasons than just guilt-free sugar binge eating. We’re going to Mass in Hitoyoshi that morning, and I’ve already decided that I’m going to get one of my cute summer dresses out of my summer box and wear that. After Mass, we’re going to Mr. Donut to eat ALL THE DONUTS. A couple of friends are meeting us there for breakfast, and I already said that no judgments should be passed on the amount of donuts that are consumed. Then later that afternoon several of the Kuma-gun ALTs are getting together for Easter dinner. Hurray! Ian ordered a ham online for us to cook and enjoy, and everyone else is bringing side dishes and desserts. CAN’T WAIT FOR HAM. Ham is a rarity over here. We have beef, chicken, and fish regularly, but ham is special. Just to give you some sort of idea about how rare ham is over here, Ian paid 17,000 yen ($180) for a 5-7 kilo (11-15 pound) ham. We’re all splitting the price of it, but ham doesn’t come cheap here!!
Another reason that I’m excited for Easter is because it starts my wonderful Spring Break. I took off all next week so that I don’t have to sit around at school and twiddle my thumbs. Ian and I are planning on hiking around our area. There are a few trails close to home that I want to do. Kirishima, where Ian works, is known for good hiking, so we want to hike down there, and we might even make our way up to Aso and hike Nakadake and Takadake, the highest peaks on Kyushu. I asked Ian if he’d be cool with using our tent and camping out instead of getting hotel rooms. He (surprisingly!) said yes, so the nights that we don’t come back home, we’ll just stay in the tent. If it gets too cold to camp, we’ll sleep in the car. Someone asked what we’d do for showers, but a nice thing about Japan is that there are onsens (hot springs) everywhere, so we can stop there for baths. Plus, soaking in the hot water will relax our muscles so that we don’t get sore. Every time that I’ve gone to the onsen after a hike, I’ve never gotten sore. I’m excited for next week! It’s going to be another great adventure!
So….who else is with me? Who else is looking forward to Easter and all of the chocolate bunny goodness it brings?
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