Hayfever and Alcohol...
always a fun combination...

Although I missed out on Hanami (flower gazing), I was fortunate enough to get back to Japan in time to get assaulted with hayfever. Just after getting over the jet-lag, I was sprawled out on my bed for a week with all the joy of the nasal-numbing, eyeball-engorging, migraine-inducing thrills that accompanies hayfever. I now inhabit my pollen-free room, and I refuse to leave until Spring has gone.

I was looking through my photos of Guatemala, and this one reminded me of something. This was the table I studied at with my teacher at the language school.

-------------- I'd like a pina colada with my verb conjugations please----------

My seat was the one on the right. Yes, the one that either through the curvature of the earth, or varying leg heights, is tilting over backwards and seems to be held together by a joint effort of rusty nails and its own sheer force of will not to be turned into fire wood. It was on this seat that I took my afternoon lessons - most notably the one that involved my teacher telling me the verbs for "stand up" and "sit down" in Spanish. But with his level of English hovering just above "utterly non-existent", it was up to me to try and comprehend his machine gun-speed Spanish describing the respective motions of standing up and sitting down in confused, metaphysical terms.

Having cottoned onto what he was getting at, I decided I'd check to make sure I understood the words, and proceeded to demonstrate with body language. I stand up, repeat the word, he nods his head enthusiastically, and then I go to sit down... and I suddenly find myself on my arse, on the ground, staring up at his pudgy, laughing face staring down at me. When I stood up, the aforementioned curvature of the earth, devilishly-designed chair legs, gravity and force of the cosmos colluded and toppled the chair over, thus allowing me to fall on my arse and look spectacularly stupid in the process. I've since forgotten the words for "stand up" and "sit down", and frankly, I don't care.

With this one, at the Mayan pyramids in Tikal, I was going to do the whole Rocky "run-up-to- the-top-of- the-stairs-and- wave-my-arms-in- the-air-like- I-just-don't-care" bit, but I got bored halfway up, and decided to sit down.