Today is the second day of my Golden Week vacation. I feel lucky because most people I know only had Tuesday free but I have a whole week. At the same time, today is the second day of my vacation and I am already bored to tears.

Yesterday was nice. I got to play in a doubles tennis tournament with the Kyushu University International Tennis Club. Although my partner and I didn't come out on top, I played pretty well and was pleased with myself. Of course, that's just what I've been trying to convince myself of. I am actually a really competitive person and it's eating me up inside.

Perhaps losing was the last straw for me. My stomach has been acting up again ever since I came back from America. All last night it was so bad that I couldn't even really enjoy the barbeque we had afterwards. I guess the food was OK but I had to watch sullenly from the sidelines with my tea while everyone else toasted each other and celebrated the holiday. Of course they would look my way every so often, pass the sake cup and say, 'It's Kelly's turn!' but I'd politely decline and they'd move on.

So, today, the second day of my vacation, I decided I had better take a trip to the hospital. Well, just as in my previous doctor's visit a month ago, this doctor asked just a few questions and came to a conclusion...sort of. He says it's either an ulser or gastritis. So, he loaded me up again with drugs and told me to come back if I have more problems. I have also made a promise to myself and Jin that I will not touch alcohol for one whole month. Oh, what a world! What a world!

Anyways, that leads me up to now...the night of the second day of my vacation. Looking ahead to the next 5 days I have no idea what to do with myself. As for tomorrow, the only thing I can think of is to grab some books and head down to the nearest park because I can't stay in my dark apartment all day, but then again, I can never get anything accomplished around other people. Maybe something exciting will present itself.

Spring has finally come to Fukuoka. It's a really nice season to be here since all the flowers are blooming and the trees are coming alive again...and that's not all. Kamma, Jin's pet turtle has suddenly and miraculously revived himself.

Last summer, I gave Jin 2 tiny turtles, Kamma and Naughta. They were fun to watch and play with but soon Naughta came down with a mysterious skin disease that made us reluctant to touch them more than neccessary. Finally, Naughta died leaving Kamma all alone. I thought about trying to replace Naughta but then Kamma showed signs of being sick as well and we figured that he would probably go before long and then we'd have another turtle to find yet another mate for. So, we decided to keep him alive as best we could but he soon stopped eating or moving. That was around October of last year.

Since that time, Jin's kept feeding him (though he never seemed to eat). Other than that, we'd forgotten about him aside from the occasional poke to see if he was still alive.

Suddenly, last weekend Kamma awoke. I walked into the room to find him jumping off rocks, swimming around as if he'd never been away. Since then he's regained his appitite. His skin is a healthy green again. It's amazing and I can't help but note that his 'resurection' happens to coincide with Easter. Hmmmmm.

Oh dear. I've been home from America for a week now. Since that time, I've been on a new schedule at work. Under this new schedule I am going into work around 4pm every day. I thought that would be good. I thought I could get a lot done with that extra time. Foolish me.

So far I've sat in my apartment playing on the internet, reading books, and watching TV. I'm hesitant to leave my apartment because out there I know there are so many temptations and I am so weak. So many delicious foods to try. So many cool gadgets to buy. I stopped at the 100yen shop yesterday to buy a screwdriver so I could install my new wash machine (a gift from Jin and his roomate) I ended up leaving the store with 500yen worth of things I didn't need--and that's after I forced myself to put another 500yen worth back on the shelves. It's bad. Everytime I go into a store I have to take stock before I leave and ask myself 'do I really need this?' 99% of the time the answer is 'no'.

In any case, I've decided it's time to get on the ball. So, today I'm making up a schedule for myself. On days when I don't have pottery or tutoring, I will wake no later than 10am (actually, I'm usually up by 9 so that's not too bad). Then I will study Korean for 1 hour. Then I can use the internet for 1 hour. My favorite TV show, The Practice, comes on at noon so I am allowed to watch that plus one cycle of CNN. After TV, I will read or run errands until it is time for work. I have a stack of books piling up that I have vowed to finish before I leave for Sweden in August (If I leave for Sweden).

Oh, I've also decided to join the nearby gym...as long as it's not too expensive.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you all this. I realize you don't care. Well, because I suffer from a lack of motivation, I find that it is easier to share my ideas with others. That way, I feel a responsibility to everyone to follow through. So, in order to keep myself on the straight and narrow path to self-improvement, I'll make occasional updates on my progress. Please, bear with me. Don't worry, though, this won't affect my usual stimulating, spine-tingling blogs too much.

I was pretty bummed when I woke up on Saturday to see that it was raining hard. I guess I should have know, though. After all, I had really been looking forward to playing tennis with my brand new racket and there just happened to be a tennis tournament with theKyushu University Korean tennis club that I often play with. Not to mention the fact that for the past 5 months or so, it has rained every Sunday (my only day off). As of this week, I will have both Saturday and Sunday free...so naturally it rained both Saturday and Sunday.

But, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I really needed excercise since I'd spent the last 2 weeks eating pizza, drinking beer, and sitting on my butt back in in Michigan. (And the fact that I walked into my Friday class and the students all said, 'You got FAT!') So, after my hour bike ride to Jin's house, we decided to walk to the game center where we played ping pong for over an hour. Wow! What a workout! I know, you're probably saying 'What a loser...she must really be out of shape if ping pong is a workout!' But really, because we play very competitively and because it was pretty warm in the game center, I worked up quite a sweat.

What's better after some good excercise than some beer and barbecue? So, we headed to the nearby Korean barbecue restaurant and had a fantastic meal on my mom and dad. Thanks, mom and dad! It was wonderful. There was mixed salad, roasted garlic cloves (my favorite), vegitables, and, of course, meat. I'm not really a big meat-eater but occasionally I really crave barbecue. So was the case, I was in heaven.

What could make the day better? Well, after dinner Jin suggested we go dancing. Since the nearest dance club was quite a ways away and I'm not really a big, crowded dance club kinda girl anyways, we settled for karaoke. It was fun except I had hiccups from the moment we walked in until the moment we left. Then as we were leaving, we realized that we never even danced! Oh well, it was fun anyways.

On Sunday, as I'd mentioned before, it was raining again. That's ok though because I was completely exhausted from Saturday. I was tired and sore from head to toe from playing ping pong...but I SWEAR my clothes where at least an inch bigger on me! I've decided that when I go to Sweden I will buy a ping-pong table and work out everyday. I would do it now but my whole apartment is about the size of a ping pong table so that would be inconvenient.

Anyways, so that brings me to today. I woke up early and headed to pottery. It was really heartbreaking. Before I went on vacation I had made this really great box. Well, it turns out that it was unsalvagable. So, stiffling my sobs, I broke my perfectly formed box (except the cracks) and returned it to clay. It will never be forgotten.

So, on my trip home I finally managed to get my application to grad school in the mail. It took a little more work than I anticipated and a few last minute adjustments thanks to some U of M registrar office workers who didn't know what they were talking about.

The strange thing is that I had thought that as soon as I got it in the mail I'd feel this huge sense of relief. And, I guess I did but today I opened my inbox and there was an email from Lund University. They just let me know that they had gotten my application and would let me know at the beginning of May 'whether I am accepted or not.' As soon as I read that the butterflies started flittering. It's the 'or not' part that got me. It's not that I don't have confidence. I feel good about the application I put together and I feel good about my chances but still...It's going to be a rough 2-3 weeks I think. I'll keep you updated.

Well, I know I havn't written for quite a long time but that's because I was on vacation back in Michigan for 2 weeks. Boy, am I tired! I guess I wasn't too busy. I mean, I just shopped for the first couple days, loading up on clothes, shoes, souvaniers, etc. I'll do my best to condense my 2 weeks into a couple paragraphs so as not to bore you too much. If you want more details about a specific event, feel free to comment or email.

I got to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Chicago for a couple days and that was fun. I got to eat lots of pizza and burritoes (somethings I'd really been craving) and they were good. We didn't do the normal Chicago tourist things like go to museums or 'The Miracle Mile'. Instead we went off the beaten path and visited the 'Oops...I did it again' exhibition. It was...interesting. To be honest, I think that I am not really artistic enough to understand the depth of some of the exhibits. But some of them were pretty good. Over all, a very good time.

Then on to Indianappolis to meet my friend, Sarah. Unfortunatly, I had too good of a time in Chicago the night before so I was not in party mood. Sorry Sarah. It was a good time though. Had some good pizza. Good conversation.

Then the final leg of my journey took me to East Lansing. It was a Japan Adventure reunion. More good fun and catching up.

By the time I got back to Bay City I was ready for a rest but unfortunatly, when you've not been around for a year or so, there is too much to do and too many people to see. So, on Thursday I went to the Bay City Hash. It was fun but not as fun as I remember. In the old days, I was a regular. Every week I was there, on the off-days I was usually hanging out with the Hashers. Well, most of those old hashers have since drifted off. So, on Thursday, it was a good time but I really felt a bit awkward.

Friday-one of my best friend, Ingrid's, wedding. I was really looking forward to the wedding. It's the first wedding of one of my friends that I've had the chance to attend so it was exciting. Well, it was a beautiful ceremony. Ingrid's father is the pastor at the church so it was extra emotional. Nate, the groom, is a graphic designer and he pretty much did the decorating and designed the bulletins and everything and it was unbelievable. The reception was another reunion. Although I didn't get to talk to Ingrid much, there were so many people who I havn't seen for years...some since high school. It was great to catch up. More catching up on Saturday.

Sunday-went to a baseball game with my mother and father. The Tigers lost...of course. But, exciting none the less.

Monday-the ride back to Japan. It was a long and annoying flight. First, I pretty much got strip searched when I got to the airport. Then they unpacked all of my carry-ons. Now, I have no problem with this except for the fact that the woman who was unpacking my backpack was moving like a snail. she'd take out a book, browse through, sloooooly set it down and move on to the next. During all this, they called my name over the loud speaker for a last call before my flight. Well, I made my flight ok. The flight from Detroit to Osaka was not too bad but i had the feeling that I was the only person on the plane who wasn't part of a big group. Everyone around me knew eachother and new people kept coming from the front of the plane to chat. There were little parties all over the place, people drinking, eating, talking. But, i suppose the important thing is that I made it. Here I am safe and sound...too bad I have to go to work.