I will spend my entire first paycheck on airfare and hotels

I think that pretty much sums up my day. I have been at this computer for HOURS after having my camping trip canceled for the trifling reason of "severe storms" or whatever. The time has been well spent. I Skyped my family (which I am AWFUL at doing. I just do not put any effort into staying in touch. On the other hand, I have a blog and a Facebook. You know I am alive.), talked to a friend in Japan, and booked my summer holiday! Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Sydney, Taipei, Vientiane, and Siem Reap!I had both of my credit cards stopped due to suspicious activity today. If, by any chance, you know someone in any of these cities, hook me up! While I am a bit awkward and socially clumsy, I think I can fake Pleasant for at least a day or so.

What kind of slob just leaves her clothes
hanging for three days?

Side story! Why do airports have NAMES? Should airports just be named after the city they mostly server? McCarren Airport in Las Vegas should just be named Las Vegas Airport. New Chitose should be Sapporo! If this was the case, maybe people like me wouldn't end up buying a plane ticket to the wrong place when, apparently, they somehow have gotten click-happy and end up getting a ticket to Laos when the meant to go to Cambodia. Oops. (This has happened to me before. I once bought a ticket to New Chitose, Sapporo when I wanted to buy one for Naha, Okinawa. This was quite literally a case of being packed to go to Hawaii but you have a ticket for a ski resort. Had to fix that AFTER I already checked in. Because I am awesome.) The solution to my problem, since I bought a cheap ticket with no insurance or exchanges possible, was simply to add another country and another week of travel to my plan. Well, I went over budget, but to Hell with it. Money comes and money goes. For the rest of my life I can honestly say, "so, by mistake, I ended up in Laos once."

Head massage time!

The past two weeks have been eventful enough for me but nothing to write home about. Been sick with a chest cold since I got here (coughing up just the loveliest colors) and have been fighting a couple of ear infections. I say fighting. I have been putting energy and effort into this. Doing hydrogen peroxide dumps in my ears a couple times a day (I was. Not now.). Read that warm/hot water with salt helps. Did that for a bit. All rather exciting. While a Z-pack might have knocked all this stuff out in five days, I think I am finally on the upswing.
Children's Day has come and gone. I spent the day at West School (North School, West School, and Main Campus. There. Everyone has a name now.) playing games with the kids, but mostly just securing my free breakfast and lunch. Had a lesson go not as well as I would have liked, but still was better than anything I threw at the kids when I was a first year teacher. Yawn.

All this talk of sports and stuff...

In the tradition of going the wrong way or getting on the wrong train... so I wanted to check out some market street and a temple. Took the 10 the wrong way for a long time. Rather than backtracking, I changed destinations and ended up at Olympic Park. Neat! I wanted to see the Bird's Nest stadium anyway, and I do love when you just happen to be somewhere you wanted to end up eventually. More than that, Olympic Park is attached to a lovely forest park. Even though it was a lovely Sunday with PERFECT weather in late May, the park is large enough you can find your own space and be completely alone. Perfect place to lie out, study a bit, and listen to Mumford and Sons.

....makes me want to lie about.

This is how to spend a Sunday.

Okay, not a beautiful pic, but SHIRTS! Yay!

After work on Wednesday I hoped on the 992 bus and went to check out a rather large shopping mall I saw passing by the other week. I can't describe this place. Okay, yeah, five stories and a basement. Okay, so what? Okay. Picture a Super Walmart? One of those took up maybe a quarter of the basement. It was like four American malls all stacked together with NO REPEATING SHOPS!!! None of that Mall of America crap where there are three Old Navy's for whatever reason. There was a movie theater in there. There were too many restaurants to count. There were a few English schools, a music school, a children's gym, an adult gym, a crap-ton of stores, a book shop, and an entire section the size of an American mall (one of the larger ones) devoted to home furnishings. Just keep in mind, no repeats! It was insane. I ended up walking a couple of miles and didn't finish the mall. I did, however, secure THREE new shirts from UNI QLO.

Looks like dinner to me.

And on a final note this week, I found two nice things this week. First, I found a nice little trail next to the river I can jog to get a nice two miles in before work. Second, I have some trash left behind by the former tenant chilling in my kitchen window box. A death plant, some scraps of wood... I barely use my kitchen anyway, so I haven't really paid the window clutter any attention. Well, I happened to check it out today, and look what I found! Took it in the shower with me, probably not good for the wood, to wash all the crap off. It needs new strings and isn't probably a good one, but it has real snake skin on the drum!

Picture dump!