nenkyuu

"Nenkyuu" is the regular paid time off that we can take throughout the year. I took it today three hours into the morning because apparently all the other teachers decided that this was the day to take off, so the office is empty and dull and my work computer's maddeningly slow.

Also, the windows are all closed and the air conditioners are set at 27 on low speed. It is a dry & breezy 26 C outside. Sorry, office, you fail at life.

There's a nice breeze coming in through my balcony door, and outside a couple of the rice fields are already being harvested. I don't quite trust this mild spell - I KNOW I remember being sweaty and gross well into Septemer last year - but it's pretty nice to not have to run the lung-fungus-inducing aircon all day. Gotta get back to working on essays, but first some observations:

Every old man driving a kei-truck looks like the guy from Waking Ned Divine (sigh...okay Grandpa Joe from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but seriously, you should see David Kelly in other things)

Parasols are useful for defense not only against the sun, but also against oosuzumebachi ("big sparrow bee," the most giantest of Asian giant hornets, which happen to live in the mountains around my town). I know this because on Monday one flew INTO my parasol, got angry with me for being in its way, and was summarily smacked down with said instrument. Then I RAN LIKE HELL.

Dirty dishes are like goombas to my Mario - I just walk away from the sink for a second and when I go back again they've respawned. Unfortunately they don't make little bloopy noises; I would probably clear them more often if they did.

Thyme looks kinda sad when it's in a bit pot all by itself.