Gloomy in Marugame

I woke feeling dehydrated this morning, but not puking into a bucket. This is a good way to start the day after a heavy night of shouting with Japanese students, and is something to be thankful for.

However, I haven't figured out the air conditioning in the hotel room (or how to open the window) so the fetid, sauna-like conditions continue. Lucky I'm here on my own, though I feel sorry for the poor maid who has to come in and make my bed.

Tomorrow we leave Marugame, and I won't be sorry to see it go; it's not really been the most enjoyable week I've ever spent. Perhaps that's all the exercise my body's not used to, or the shambolic diet that I've been reduced to, or perhaps because the only entertainment in Marugame seem to be (a) the railway station and (b) the floodlight motorboat arena, where small powerboats go round and round in circles before a crowd of spectators.

Perhaps I'm missing something there. Every night there are coachloads of people disgorged outside the hotel to see these boats do lap after lap, so it must appeal to somebody. Just not me.

I wish I'd had some time to explore the rest of Shikoku; I see pictures that make it look beautiful (although since there's been rain every day, venturing up into the hills without waterproofs is a risky endeavour). Perhaps if I wasn't so exhausted every night from training and I'd been able to go out and do something it would be better, but as it is I feel I'm in a gloomy little hole, feeling very lonely.

At least there's Skype, and at least for once my laptop can connect to the internet in a hotel. That's one first that Marugame can claim as a destination - that doesn't come as a high enough recommendation.

Oh well. After tomorrow, no more being hit in the face or having my ego dented for a few days. That will be a nice rest.