I almost walked straight into some glass doors at the entrance of アテーナ or Athena, (a home goods store in town) when the sensor refused to recognize me. In fact, this seems to happen almost every time I enter an automatic door --did I sell my soul when I came to Japan? (*simpsons reference*) Geez.

It was pouring rain, actually it still is pouring rain --I can hear the knock of disturbingly large rain drops hitting my window. I took a long walk and remembered despite the rain, why I like walking better than biking, bought a pastel blue umbrella for 210 yen. Realized how much I love the idea of going into a 7-11 and buying a warm drink. Tea or coffee- you can get both in the can and the bottle, totally warm.

The temperature has dropped immensely or at least it feels that way with no central heating anywhere -I'll repeat NO CENTRAL HEATING. My junior highs tend to keep the windows and doors open in the teachers lounge, and my body has really started to notice this annoying facet of my job. I think my body is in shock from the temperature change. We had a national holiday on Tuesday to celebrate and "observe" Fall Equinox and BAM! all of a sudden it was FALL. I can't believe I've had to break out an electric blanket already, but I'm freezing. It's this weird uncomfortable kind of chill that will no doubt get even more uncomfortable in the coming months. I hope my system adjusts properly.

Now I understand why Japanese people are so weird about wearing slippers constantly--the floor is damned cold and what's more that's where I spend all of my time. My chairs sit directly on the floor (no legs, I'll explain with pictures later) and I sleep on a futon... on the floor. I do, whole-heartedly agree with this "warm toilet seat" concept. I definitely have a "warmlet" attachment on my toilet. I used it for the first time today and it was heavenly.

[Insert picture of toilet here, later]

Now sleep!