Short Week

I can say with certainty that this week has been the shortest school week ever. It was supposed to be a three day week, with Monday and Friday being national holidays. (Respect for the Aged Day and the Autumnal Equinox, respectively) But, see, the typhoon had other ideas. It has rained off and on since last Friday, and through the weekend, but I woke up on Wednesday to a torrential downpour and high winds. There was a storm warning, which meant school was cancelled.

Kansai's policy when it comes to severe storms (and train strikes, which is odd, but helpful for all of us homestays) is that if the storm/strike is not resolved before 10am, classes won't start until 1pm, and if it's not resolved by noon, all classes are cancelled. So I woke up on Wednesday morning, ate breakfast, then went back to bed for a couple of hours. I got up at 10 to see if I would have my afternoon class, and stayed downstairs till noon, when Okaasan informed me the storm warning was still in effect, giving me a free day or yasumi (休み、やすみ).

She had to go into work that morning, but stayed home after lunch. She brought McDonald's for us. She had a chicken thing, but brought Kayoko and I tsukimi burgers (つきみ). Tsukimi burgers have a patty of some sort (I'm not sure if it's hamburger or vegetable or what and I don't really care). On top of the patty is a fried egg, then a slice of bacon, and for a condiment there is this gingery mayonnaise stuff. All together it's pretty good. A bit of breakfast for lunch sort of thing. And of course there were fries, which I like even if I shouldn't.

It has cooled down here these past few days. I haven't turned on the air conditioner in my room since sometime on Sunday. And I've had the best sleep! I put it down to it being cool enough for me to cuddle under the blanket and the rain. Two things guaranteed to make me sleep well! The clouds spit at me on my walk to school this morning, but the sun has come out of the clouds now. So much for the cool down! It's not too bad yet, today, but I'm expecting the temperatures to go back up soon.

I don't really have any plans for this 2nd long weekend. My speaking partner wants to show me around Kyoto sometime, but I haven't heard from her in a week now. Hopefully she'll respond soon, and I can get out of the house this weekend and take advantage of the extra time!

Until next time, my friends!