I'm still amazed over the fact that Apple Computer Japan was able to get my computer back to me over the space of three days -- and on a weekend, no less. I wonder if leaving the OS switched to Japanese helped any? Heck, they even cleaned it up for me, and vacuumed most of the accumulated cruft out of the keyboard.

Today is my first day back at school after spring vacation. I don't have a lot to do as of yet, because this week is mainly testing and orientation for the new school year. I've been told that the schedule is still in flux, so I don't know when I'll have English classes to help out with. (Neither does anyone else, yet.)

When I got to school today, I was pleased to see that my desk was in the same spot that it was last term. It was really messy, but it wasn't my fault for a change. (Hey, since I wasn't here at all during spring break, who can blame them for using my desk as an extra storage area?) Also, it took a bit of work to find out where my chair went.

Somehow, that kind of depressed me.

So, anyways, I'm sitting here in the teacher's room, typing up another weblog entry for your edification. (yes, I'm hauling out the hifalutin' vocabulary. I don't get to use it anywhere else.) When doing nothing, it's preferable to do nothing here at school, where at least a few people are able to converse with me.

Monday was the entrance ceremony for the schools, and I attended the one at Higashiichiki Junior High School. When the time came to introduce the staff, the principal couldn't remember my last name. It didn't really matter, I guess, because nobody ever uses it anyways. Besides, all of the new students knew me from when I visited their elementary schools last year. And, now all of their parents know who I am, too.

Four of my friends were planning a trip to Shanghai for our next long vacation (Golden Week, at the end of the month). Of course, thanks to SARS, those plans were shot. Plan two was to go to Korea, but it's too late to make those plans -- the ferry sold out, and plane tickets are too expensive. So, they had to go to Plan three -- but there wasn't a plan three. So, they (and I) paid a visit to the travel agency (now somewhat annoyed with us due to the cancellation of a few trips) to see if there was any chance of getting the hell out of Kagoshima Prefecture for a few days.

Somehow we got an amazing deal for a trip to Hiroshima. The last time we asked about Hiroshima, they quoted us a price of over $500 just for round-trip airfare. The train was similarly priced. This time, the price was under $400 for round-trip airfare and three nights of hotel stay. Sounds good to me. Now where did I put my camera?

I've been averaging about four hours of sleep a night lately, so usually by now (1:00 PM) my brain starts to shut down. I'll have to wrap this up for now.

Later,