A hop and a skip down memory lane...

I don't really have anything of note to report. The last few weekends have been simply delightful; drinking alcohol under the cherry blossom trees, spending time admiring natural beauty with the fine-assed Scot, eating good food, going to a sleepover, making two dolls in one day...nothing newsworthy, but everything special. The workdays have been moving along, some more fun than others, but everything has been worth it because of the kids. I was trying to adapt to a new curriculum thrown at me out of nowhere, but asserted myself and said that I didn't spend over a year making my own curriculum (with all the accompanying games, worksheets, bingo cards, mini cards, flashcards, etc) to have everything changed in my last few months and all my hardwork be for naught. Luckily, the higher powers agreed with me, and I'm going to stick with my own plans and save the new stuff for the next ALT. Thank goodness. I was starting to have dreams about it.

So in this post, I decided to write about me, specifically my hair. If you've been reading over the past year, you know that I cut my hair 13 months ago. Actually "cut" is a misnomer. I had my locks shaved off. Poor David got quite a shock when I came back from Montreal with a haircut that was like something out of an early 90's R&B video. Actually, poor me. I'm not going to lie - it was quite an adjustment (you can go through earlier posts if you want to see what my hair looked like). I went from having to style my hair every morning with a comb, brush, product and a prayer to a quick wash and dash. At certain times, I wonder if it would ever grow.

But grow it did and I started twisting it about 4 months after I cut it. Twisting is a good style for me since I work with small children with curious hands who always try to get into my hair. Plus I could just wake up and go without having to deal with hair drama. Also, twisting my hair keeps me from manipulating it and I believe it makes my hair grow healthier and faster.

I really started falling in love with my hair and grew to accept that it was not straight, or even really curly. It's nappy as hell and I can't really argue with it when refuses to swing to and fro in the soft breeze. But it's unique, like me.

This pic was taken the day I tried to put my thick, kinky hair into a ponytail on top of my head. I was shocked that I actually succeeded and awed by how good it looked. When I tried it out at school, the kids told me I looked like a mushroom. I told them that I didn't care, that I thought I looked good.

So here I am, 13 months later, with hair a few inches shorter than it was before I cut it and a helluva lot more healthy. When I learned how damaging a perm (straightener/relaxer) was, I decided that my health was more important that fashion (though being natural is en vogue these days - go figure).

I'll try to post more Japan-related stuff more often, but to tell the truth, I spend my days soaking up the atmosphere and feelings. Sometimes I see such beautiful things and I want to reach for my camera, but then I stop short because I know pics wouldn't really do them justice. Just like the smells, sounds and tastes - descriptions just don't suffice. But as this advetnure draws to and end, I'll try my best to export my experiences so y'all can learn about Japan through my eyes.

Alright. Golden Week is about to start for me in...1 minute! I'll be off for a week - Tokyo for the first half, and camping in Ishikawa/Nagano for the latter half. Damn, I can't wait. I'll be on the bus tomorrow morning. Big city lights, here I come!