crystal's capers

...a long week

Well, here we are at the new blog. It's taken me some time, but I figured out the picture thing, and will try, in the future, to make some sense of the pics I include BEFORE posting them!

This week has been crazy. Started out well, with back-to-school for the kids; not that they ever really get a break, poor guys. But they're troopers. Wednesday we had a long-awaited second meeting with Ninomiya-Dave. I met Dave at the Tochigi Prefecture JET Welcome Party last month. He was shocked to hear that two other ALTs worked in his little town (which closely borders our Prefecture, Ibaraki). We had been planning to hang out in Shimodate, just 20 minutes from Ninomiya, for some time, but with all the summer plans and (unexpected) company, it had been postponed.

At any rate, eight of us met up at an Udon/Soba place called Bando Taro (I think); including Tressa, Daichi (Japanese friend, Shimodate), Trav (Aussie, private ALT, Shimodate), Jody (California, private ALT, Yachiyo - 20 mins from Shimo), Nori (Japanese friend and go-to-gal, Oyama - 35 mins from Shimo) and another newbie to our social engagements, George (American/Asian private ALT, Yuki - 15 mins from Shimo), and of course, Dave (English, JET, Ninomiya - 25 mins from Shimo). Good Times. Later we went to kareoke for a couple hours. Thursday was a long day...

Thursday I got home from school (i.e. work) and checked my email first thing, as usual. Horrible news: a friend from Kamloops died suddenly on Wednesday night when she suffocated in her pillow during a seizure. Ashlee Joly was 22 and will be greatly missed. In the weird psychic way that mothers seem to have, my phone rang about 90 seconds after learning about Ashlee; she is always there when I need her. Although not a super-close friend of mine, Ashlee was close to many of my loved ones; my heart goes out to you Cameron, Jessica, Tannis...

I spent about two days just having some alone-time. Canceled some plans with the so-called "Unit" on Friday ("Unit" = Shimodate crew: Tress, Trav, Daichi and myself); they had a fireworks party in the park near Trav's place. Talked to my friends and family a lot; tried to do what I could to help from 8000 kms away... Finally, my mom convinced me to attend the Tochigi JET BBQ I had committed to attending earlier in the week; it was scheduled for 1pm Saturday.

Saturday morning I found myself actually looking forward to getting out and seeing other human beings. I checked my email shortly after getting up only to find, Horrible news: a friend from Victoria died suddenly on Wednesday night of heart failure. Serious. Brandy Wright was a very close friend of my sister, Rebecca's, and I had the pleasure of spending time with her on numerous occassions during my visits to Victoria. I recall her showing us how to prepare the world's best turkey stuffing when we spent Thanksgiving at her home two Novembers ago. Brandy, also, will be greatly missed; my condolensces to Rebecca, Adam (Brandy's brother), Brian (Brandy's boyfriend), Kevin, Mike, Erin...

I don't know how I was able to pull myself together, but I put on a happy face and made it to the BBQ. It was actually really good for me to get out and meet people, have some laughs and some drinks... I feel a lot less down today, even if my heart is still breaking for my loved ones who aren't in a positition to so quickly recover from these losses. To add a couple more to the count for this horrific week: condolenses to my high-school grad date Jim, and his friends and family for the loss of Connor Maher (Jim's younger brother) in a car accident; and condolenses to Jessica Parkes and family for the loss of her Granny. I can't believe this!

Well, hopefully I didn't depress you all too much; I assure you that I am okay. I am now off to the grocery for some eggplant and mushrooms to add to my wonderful tofu stew. I promise that future entries will be more cheery. Hope all is well.