Thank Crunchie it`s Friday

God, I`d love a Crunchie. They do Mars Bars and Snickers, but I`ve never been a big fan. Oh, why haven`t the Japanese embraced the delights of a Toffee Crisp?

Anyway, today, of course, I am massively hung over. After a six-day week, I decided to treat myself to yakiniku again (you grill your own meat, it`s like a toy and a meal all at once - it puts Kinder to shame). It is a dangerous meal as, with any barbeque, it brings the worst out in men and Karen and I had three with us last night. While they were arguing over the tongs, Karen and I sneakily made the most of our only opportunity to cook (warming ramen on a plastic hob can`t count) and took control of everything. We then hit Doma Doma, a `posh` izakaya which I think is unnecessarily expensive and yielded no interesting new friends, before heading on to karaoke. Mike-san and I stayed until 5am with a girl called Eri I had seen in the George, but who had no means of communicating with us beyond enthusiastic grins. We greedily exploited the all-you-can-drink offer and I climbed on the seat and did a pathetic `Wuthering Heights` to nobody`s amusement.

I have either overcome my current bout of homesickness or just been too busy to think about it. I don`t know what happens with my time, but there is far less of it at the moment. I feel like I have only seen my students, which is normally something I really enjoy, but this week they have foisted some fairly uncomfortable topics on me (murder, period pains, sterility and so on). I had to listen to Yukiko holding court with her usual Daily Mailian poison against the Japanese Pincess. From what I could drag out of the rest of the class, the poor woman tried to refuse the Prince`s proposal so she would not have to sacrifice her career as a diplomat, but was eventually forced to concede. She has been suffering heavily from depression and has been housebound for some time (although, much to Japan`s disgust, still sometimes gets to see her mates). She made an attempt to return to her official duties before Christmas, but has had a relapse so now Yukiko and a sizeable chunk of the older Japanese population are demanding the couple divorce. Yukiko tried to put this story across as a scandal, but I managed to get the rest of the class to agree that it is a `modern tragedy`. Both of them seem to love each other very much, but the country won`t let them be. The rest of the class agreed outwardly, but perhaps not genuinely.

To balance this, I had to ask one of my students where her favourite place was and she said it was her toilet. She likes confined spaces. I have some pretty random discussions. Keisuke made me draw ivy on the board yesterday and on Monday a dentist is going to suggest my perfect date.

My Japanese is coming on well now I have the wonderful Yasuda-san on the case. However, there are some Phillipinos in the class who have picked up lots of spoken Japanese, so I am holding everyone back for the most part. They can`t read or write though, so when we do those bits I get to feel a little cocky, which the horrible part of me enjoys.

Today I am being taken for pizza by some students. I was supposed to have fugu - the notoriously fatal puffer fish - but there was standing room only at that restaurant. To the Japanese, pizza is an exotic treat. To me it is a perfect cure for my hangover. Sadly, they will expect me to drink heabiry, but I feel a little too delicate to consider that for the moment. I`m getting my hair done by the fabulous Suzuki-sensei first and hope to invite him to the George tomorrow night. George is after a crimper so has put on a night called `Hair` to entice her out. All the hairdressers of Omiya have been invited just so he can ask this girl along. What lengths some men will go to...

Anyway, got to go and complete the TDA staff survey...