Brian’s Japan Adventure

October 22nd, 2007

A Catch-up Day

I’m not saying the past week has been especially exciting or eventful, but today was an “unwind” day. I woke up early, planning to sneak out before “the boys” woke up, but Marc had beaten me to it; he was already up, dressed, and watching TV when I woke up. I’m guessing a little bird told him today would not a be a good day to screw up any worse.

Mom called me early today, letting me know she tried Saturday and Sunday to call me, but my phone was off. Yes, I turn the phone off when I go to the library. I go to the library on Saturday and Sundays from around 9:30 to 2:30 or so. Yes, I do play on the Internet for three straight hours; that’s quite an impressive drop from “real life,” but I am learning to adapt.  Actually, it’s not so much playing, there’s quite a bit of lesson planning research going on too.  Probably the best time to phone is around 8:30 my time, either am or pm. I just about never am doing anything at those times, although I am awake.

Mom didn’t have much to say to repeat here. She’s been babysitting the kids a lot recently.  She adamantly states that she will NOT be babysitting when the snow falls.  This year they can’t use me as a fallback sitter (not that they ever did often enough!), so that might be a problem for some.  They sent another box Friday, this time with my winter coat, gloves and supplies in it. Shipping was a bunch; it’s almost like buying that coat twice.  Argh!

But on the bright side, as soon as I hung up the phone from Mom, Mrs. Y called. She called on the apartment phone and Marc answered. She said there was an “invitation” to a children’s Halloween party on Saturday. It’ll be from 10:30 to Noon and then another one from 2:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon. They want an American who knows Halloween to go, and they’re paying 10,000Y for it. Marc didn’t sound interested, which surprised me; it sounds easy.  I can always use another 10,000Y ($120 bucks for 2-1/2 hours!), so I said I’d do it. I sure can’t argue about the pay, and it’ll probably be fun too. She didn’t know the ages of the “children” though, so I have to make some assumptions and plan for a variety.  So now I have plans for Saturday. At least I know I have Friday off this week.  I have already found a few good children’s Halloween ghost stories, and maybe I can find some kind of activity or game that doesn’t require much in the way of materials. I don’t really know this, but I’m kind of assuming I’m going to be like the clown that performs at the kids’ birthday parties. At least I don’t have to dress up.

Chilly Morning Mountain March

All that happened before nine am. So I walked up the mountain, and it was a crisp, breezy morning. If I remember correctly, it was around 57 degrees Fahrenheit; I bought a thermometer that has both scales on it. So today was a no-sweat mountain march. Once up there, I picked up a paper with information about the Halloween party from Mrs. Y and printed off a whole bunch of materials for this week’s classes. There’s probably enough for some of the classes next week too. I found a lot of things this past weekend, and even then I usually look for things I can use in multiple classes. I was pretty organized gong in, so that really didn’t take very long. I still had about a half an hour to kill before my first class, so did a little more useless online research on dictionaries.

Then it was time for N-Sensei’s class. This is the class were I was in full “interactive mode” last week and only three students would participate. I caught N-Sensei before class and asked for advice. He smiled; he liked that I was asking. He said I did fine last time, but that I could still stand to slow down a bit. That surprised me, as I thought I was almost talking too slow last week.  He also asked if he could take my picture while teaching. He’s going to Taiwan next month, and wants to do a presentation about our class. Fine with me; now I’m an “International Teaching Sensation ™.”  This reminds me, I want to get pictures with all my teacher-people sometime soon.

The class goes well enough this time. I know what to expect, so I’m not as flustered when no one answers. I repeat and repeat slower, rewording things as I go and writing a LOT on the board. Eventually we got through it, and my part was done. I’m not completely thrilled with the way it turned out, but happier than last time. Last week when I was done, N-Sensei sent me off to go home after the class, this time he brought me one of the books he uses for his part of the class. So I sat in and listened to him teach. Wow. All I can say is that I highly overestimated their ability both this time and last time. I really did think university-level students would be better than that. Hearing them read sounded just like a bunch of first or second graders in America. Now I see why they didn’t participate much for me. I wish they had spoken more last time (or that I could have stayed last time) so that I could see how limited they are; I could have done better this time. Regardless, I know exactly what to do and how to do it next time.  I suspect that K-Sensei’s class this Thursday will benefit as well, as they are probably less able than I thought as well, although they are a little higher.

Since I stayed for N-Sensei’s whole class, I only had an hour before Japanese class, so I ran to the University’s convenience store, right there in the basement of one of the buildings, which is very ah…convenient.  I had a little Halloween pie that I think was made with pumpkin filling and was had a jack-o-lantern face in it as well as a crunchy chocolate donut and a Coke Zero. Not exactly health food, but better than going without. So then I found a quiet place and reviewed my Japanese stuff. We are starting on various verbs now, and these are fairly complex, all with different endings and types of endings and rules that apply to some and not others. Still, This stuff was assigned for last Thursday, so this was more review than serious studying. I wondered if Marc would show up.  He’d be crazy not to, but it really wouldn’t surprise me one way or the other.

Japanese Class: The Smackdown

But he did show up. Woo!  Y-Sensei was as polite as possible (at least in the beginning), but must have sad fifty times that Marc needed to study the Hiragana and Katakana and that we couldn’t keep waiting for him to do that. But we did wait. Marc and I went back and forth making up sentences and answering questions. I snapped off the answers and Marc struggled just to read the letters. To make it worse, I worked ahead a little bit and even on the sentences that took me time to think through, I had them ready to go before he finished reading the question. This probably made me look even more advanced (to Marc) than I really am. Y-Sensei saw me working out the answers in advance and didn’t way a word; I suspect she wanted Marc to get a little nervous. Marc must have said, “I’m sorry” more in that hour-and-a-half than I have ever heard anyone utter anywhere. She didn’t let up on him either, reminding him over and over to study more. At one point she actually said she “didn’t think he was trying hard enough,” which was as close to actually being rude that I have ever heard anyone get in Japan.  I do think he got the point. Will it make a difference? We’ll see.  On the way down the mountain he said that he had too much to worry about to care about keeping the Japanese teachers happy. Sigh.

I spent a big portion of the class looking out the window and waiting for Marc to struggle working out the answers.  Yawn.  The view from the 4th floor of the University is pretty neat; not picturesque, but very busy. Yawn.  I did not get a chance to bring up the subject of splitting us up, but after today, she won’t be surprised when I suggest it Thursday.  She probably couldn’t have made any arrangements at the University if I had discussed it today; Thursday she’ll be at the actual language school and can do whatever she wants.

Now What?

Oops. I was so busy yesterday preparing for classes this week that I didn’t have any plans for what to do after classes. When I got home from Japanese class at 3:30, I had nothing to do.  I finished Zen Keys on Sunday, but have not started anything new yet. I wasn’t uch in the mood to start one today either, so opted for a nap instead. Boom. Next thing I know, it’s 6:00pm and dark out.

I am not a big fan of riding the bicycle at night, so I decide to walk somewhere for dinner. Where? I could go to the corner convenient store, but they mostly have snack-type foods; their obento (meal-in-a-box) are usually pretty scary. The carryout by the little train station?  I could, but I’m not really n the mood for that tonight. McDonald’s yet again?  Sigh. Not really knowing what I wanted, I started walking. It’s neat how different things are at night. All the little shops that you walk right by in the daytime are lit up and open at night. You can see right in. Most of them turn out to be bars, but still, I learn what a few of those shops are. I pass one option after another, and yes, before long I stand before the center of the universe; Happy Town. The bad news is that I am indeed eating at McDonald’s again; the good news is that I can read the katakana lettering on the sign: “Me-ga-ma-ku ba-ku” or, “MegaMac is Back” WooHoo! Even without reading it, the picture is clear enough, but since I can read the sign, I do.  I always at least try to read every sign I see. I don’t know enough verbs to understand most full sentences, but with signs I usually can make out a good portion of the meaning.

It’s in the upper 60’s in the quiet Okayama evening, as I walk back home, extra full of my MegaMac, and smiling at the pure evilness of eating a huge double Big Mac. Oink Oink.  Upon returning, I started writing the blog, and here I am now at 8:00. I’m going to get organized for tomorrow’s class in a few minutes, and then start reading one of my books. I only have two left; Buddha Mind, Buddha Body, and Best Buddhist Writings 2006. I’ve finished everything else.  It’ll take me at least two weeks to get through these two, so I’m still in good shape book-wise.

Which will I begin this evening? I don’t know, so I’ll leave you in suspense.

October 18th, 2007

My Phone Gets a Workout

This morning went well enough. I slept in a bit since my first class was up on the hill adjust a little before eleven. At least I thought I’d sleep in, but Mom called me at 9:00 (actually my alarm went off during the call, so she didn’t wake me up by much).  She had a few questions about my next package. She had a bunch of kindergarten supplies that I told her not to send. I can get crayons and construction paper here, there’s no point in paying postage on that stuff. Even so, there are nearly 80 kindergarteners, so they couldn’t send enough stuff anyway. Teacher books with ideas and things are fine, but I’m going to make do with the supplies I can get over here. But we discussed more important items like winter coats and gloves and such, and that stuff I need, probably sooner rather than later.  I am 7000 miles form home, and I still managed to get my little brother into trouble; Mom didn’t know about my niece’s report card until she read it in my blog.

I figured I could catch up on the Internet after class. Just before walking out the door, I got a call from Mrs. Y telling me what was going to be happening from now on with my Fridays. The elementary school finally got their act together and decided that Marc and I could come on every other alternate Fridays. What that means is that I go on the third Friday of the month and Marc goes on the first Friday of the month. Yes, that’s right, I work one Friday a month. Yeesh, why bother at all?  Oh that’s right, they were told they have to do it. Still, I’m not going to complain too much about having mostly three-day weekends for the rest of my stay. I’ll just cry and moan all day over that decision.

But since I was thinking about the phone call, I got halfway up the mountain before I remembered that I had forgotten to bring my USB stick with me. Oops; no Internet today after all. That’s OK, I was current as of yesterday anyway.

So I went on to K-Sensei’s class and explained all about an article on DNA. I thought the article was pretty short, but managed to talk about British understatement, the structure of  a long paragraph: “they once thought…however…they now realize.”  I even got to throw in another old saying. The article describes the shape of DNA. I managed to squeeze in “A picture is worth a thousand words” at which, K-Sensei’s eyes lit up. When finished, he asked me a few questions about the article, which I had no problems with, and he sent me one my way, telling the class that “another good presentation, again from Brian-sensei”; OK, now I know he’s happy!

I then zip down the mountain (since walking slowly down a mountain isn’t as easy as it sounds) and do my laundry. While it’s drying, I read over my Japanese vocabulary, which I haven’t had much time to study since Monday. Before I know it, it’s once again time for Japanese class. After Monday’s Bandit-free class, today couldn’t possibly be any more dramatic, could it?

“Mr. Bandit, meet Mr. Smoky”

Class starts at 3:30, and I’m there. Y-Sensei is there. That’s it. There’s a piece missing out of this puzzle. Will anyone notice? Oh, yes. Y-Sensei is fully able to count to two in either language. No Marc; no bandit; no study partner; no big orange hat. She doesn’t wait; she has me call him immediately. I dial him and the phone rings; then I am suddenly disconnected. At this point, it’s obvious that he’s not just late. She asks me what do I know about it, and I answer honestly, “not a thing.”  He was fine this morning and went to his own class (as far as I know) and didn’t say a thing about skipping class. I’m not surprised that he did it again, but I wasn’t expecting it either.

She says at least six times in the next ten minutes that nothing like this has ever happened before. OK, at least Marc is going to be memorable and a unique case. We talk for around five minutes about Kanji letters, and she gets up out of her chair and asks me if I can wait for five minutes.  Japanese people don’t turn red and stomp about like Americans do, but you can tell when it happens. This was one of those times. She was gone a while, and when she came back, the language school principal was with her.

Mr. Principal wasn’t looking too happy either.  They both asked me about Marc’s health, “I said fine.” Was he homesick? “Not that I have really noticed.”  There were some other questions that I didn’t really understand and said so. They spoke Japanese back and forth really fast, and they knew I couldn’t follow. When the principal put his hand to his mouth and moved his head back in a “gulp-gulp” motion THAT I caught. Meanwhile, I can see that this is going to be a big deal, and I’m really trying to minimize my involvement in the whole thing, giving as noncommittal answers as I can. There are some things I can’t play ignorant on without looking like I’m lying for him. I am NOT going to lie for him, but then again, I have to live with the guy for five more months.  I don’t like doing this.

Eventually, someone calls Mrs. Y. Mrs. Y likes a well-organized group that does what it’s supposed to. Y-Sensei asked me if I had suggestions to help Marc. The thing is, he doesn’t need help; he needs an ass-kicking by someone important.  Y-Sensei knows this; the principal knows this too, but I guess it’s just a cultural thing where they have to assume there is a problem other than Marc just doesn’t care about Japanese class. This is just something they have never dealt with before. That really does surprise me a little; it’s never been a problem before? Wow.  This is a full-scale professional school to teach foreigners Japanese. They have LOTS of students. It’s hard to believe that Marc is the first Slackass in Japan.

Nothing came of this today, but something will. After the principal left to call Mrs. Y, we got on with out lesson.  Toward the end, she asked me if I wanted to split the class. We can continue to have two classes a week with Marc, or split the class so we each have one individual lesson once a week. I don’t know that I like either option. Sticking with Marc means things are going to slow way down until he gets caught up, if that’s even possible. Splitting the class means I get to go once a week, which will result in fewer sessions and less to learn. I told her it was up to her, but I’m not thrilled with either option right at the moment.

When class was done, I rode over to Happy Town for groceries and when I got back, no one was home. I have no idea where he is or what’s up.  I wonder if anyone’s called him about any of this or if he thinks everything is fine and dandy right now?

[update] Marc claimed to have just fallen asleep again. I don’t see why this should make any difference in anything.  He’s going to have to learn that this is NOT the USA. They take schooling very seriously here. Mrs. Y did call him tonight, and he apologized profusely. Is this  over? I don’t know. He thinks it is, but after seeing how upset they were at the school, I’m not so sure. I guess we’ll see.

Also, after a little more consideration, I think I will take her up on the offer to split the class if she suggests it again. Better to have half the number of classes but work at the level I want rather than be dragged down time and time again by an uninterested partner.

October 12th, 2007

Marc’s Library Adventure: It’s Easy With a Guide

Got up early and did all my laundry. It seems I can do a load of dark and a load of light every five days and stay on top of it. That’s not too bad. If I wait any longer than that, the washer would be over-stuffed and I’d have to do two loads. That wouldn’t be so bad in itself, but I only have ten clothespins. OK, that’s a pretty lame excuse, I admit it, but it’s the only excuse I have. After getting all that started, I fit in another 25 pages or so of history before Marc got up. He mentioned yesterday that he wanted to go and get set up there, so I volunteered to go along as guide.

I showed him which form to fill out, and he got his library card without any trouble. The person he handed his application to spoke much better English than the person I had a few weeks back. Getting the Internet working was not so simple. We fought with his computer for fifteen minutes to find the right place to put in the necessary DNS and Proxy addresses. It’s been so long since I’ve used Windows that I’ve pretty much forgotten where they hide stuff. I have used Linux on my PC at home for several years now, and this laptop is an Apple running OS X (No Windows), so I just have no reason to know that stuff anymore. My older laptop runs Windows XP, but I use it mostly for business and don’t like messing with settings for fear I’ll lose something important. Let’s just say I am not a Microsoft fan. We could have asked for instructions, but I knew from the instructions that I had for the Apple, what the DNS and Proxy settings were, so their information would not have been any additional help. We did eventually get it going, so he should be set up for easy Internet now. I wonder if he’ll ever stop in here? I bet not!

While he was playing with his computer, I updated the blog, checked and answered a few emails, checked the weather report for next week, and peeked in briefly at the message board, but didn’t really have time to do much. I’ll have to go back tomorrow or Sunday to grab a few things for classes next week. I don’t know WHAT just yet, so I’ll have to get myself organized this evening to plan for next week. Marc’s computer then overheated and shut down, and it was time to move on. There’s nothing more useful than a Windows XP computer that overheats and shuts itself down after 40 minutes. Wow. I bet Apple wishes they could get a computer to do that trick! Or maybe not!

Overbooked

He wanted to look at books, so we went to the English section and wandered around for a while. I picked up two more today. The Dhammapada: A New Translation by Glenn Wallis and Zen and Japanese Culture by D. T. Suzuki. So between these two, the three from the mail yesterday, and the halfway finished history, I am now officially “overbooked.” Hah! Where to go next? I think the Zen and Japanese Culture would be the best follow-up to the history book. The others consist of many short chapters and quickly read material that will work well during train rides, so I will make them last a bit.

The More You Sweat, The Better It Tastes

On the way back, we stopped at a place Marc recommended called Co Co Ichiban, a curry restaurant. Curry on rice is really big here, and this is supposed to be one of the better places to get it. Mine was 900Y and was a big plate half-filled with rice and half-filled with chicken-spinach curry. It wasn’t bad, and they had lots of other kinds to choose from as well. Marc got a regular beef curry, but upgraded the spiciness to #4 (Mine was #2, “normal”). He sweat and snuffed throughout the meal and needed a couple of water refills before he was done. I’m gonna try THAT next time!

We then rode the bus back to the little station where we had parked our bikes. Rather than come home, we then went to a nearby video store and looked around. Last week he bought the first and second Lord of the Rings movies and we’re hoping to find the third one soon, but no luck today. They had a lot of movies, but it was strictly rental, and neither of us wanted the hassle of trying to apply for a card.

So here it is, 4pm on Friday and I think I’m about done for the day. I went to Happy Town last night, so I have all the basics in the fridge. Maybe I’ll go back tonight for extras, or maybe not; it depends on if I get bored. I probably will. We’ve got the air conditioners turned off and all the windows open today. The breeze is great, but it’s stirring up dust in the house. I guess the previous tenants were as lax about dusting as the current ones. Oh well, the dust will settle eventually. You should see what’s under the bed, and it’s not centipedes; I seriously think something is working on evolving down there.

[Netx Day Addendum]

A Walk In The Woods

OK, I did get bored, but didn’t go to Happy Town. Instead I explored the neighborhood behind the Kendo School. I went up the hill and visited that little cemetery that you can see in this shot way up the hill:

It was tough to find the entrance, but I saw on Google Earth the other day that there was a path back there that crossed the whole mountain and I wanted to find it. It turned out the “path” was some kind of access road that was chained off, so I guess I’ll skip it. There are signs, and I don’t know what they say, so I’ll assume it’s something on the order of “Keep Out.”

I did find a narrow path that led to the cemetery, and it was pretty hard to actually get there. The cemetery itself looks mostly unmaintained and forgotten. How do you “forget” a cemetery that is in plain site of half the city?

A Refined Rant.

I have expanded and refined my previous rant about the Japanese language class. I think the problem is larger than what I said. The textbook would be fine for teaching Japanese in America. People in that situation can take their time and learn the basics and progress to more advanced topics slowly; that’s fine for them. For people living right here, right now, it’s essentially useless. I want to know how to read street signs and menus, not the proper way to write the word “eraser.” I don’t want or need an academic Japanese language course; I need real-word “life” language.

I could lay some of the frustration on Marc, but I won’t. He’s not studying very hard, and he does slow things down; we can’t progress if “half the class” isn’t learning. But I don’t think that really is making much difference. By looking ahead in the textbook, I really don’t see where much of anything useful is going to be covered. It’s all about international students doing home-stays and stuff like that. If I get invited to stay at someone’s house during my trip I will be amazed, but even more than that, it’ll probably only be once. It’s not worth the subject of a whole book.

So I’ve decided to “move on” and take responsibility for learning Japanese myself. I finally unwrapped my Kanji Flashcards that I brought along. I hadn’t wanted to open the box or start with them until the teacher had at least explained how Kanji are used. That could be another month for all I know, so I decided to do it myself. Surprisingly, out of the first 20 flashcards, I already knew about half of them. I see them around town all the time and had basically figured out their meanings on my own already. Up, Down, East, West, Exit, Entrance, and so forth. These are easy words, I can’t debate that, but it shows me that these cards are ordered on how common the words are. If they are important, I’ll get them right away. That’s far more useful to me than learning the word for “chalkboard.”

There are two sets of cards in the box. There are 103 Level 4 cards, which are the easy ones. I at least looked at all of them, and most are very useful words. There are also about 200 or so level 3 cards, which I haven’t really perused yet. Supposedly if I learn all level 3 and 4 cards, I could pass the level 3 Japanese Language Proficiency Test for second graders. That sounds pretty low-level, but that’s going to be my goal for the rest of 2007. I want to have these 300 or so cards mastered by the end of December. After that? We’ll see. There are additional boxes of cards I can get for level 2 and 1, but there are bout two thousand cards to get to that level, so I’ll never make that in this trip.

September 29th, 2007

A Cool Day!

OK, so much for the plan to go back to the beach. It’s 66 degrees and completely overcast outside, and they are forecasting a high of 72. That’s a pretty drastic change from yesterday! Still, it’s not supposed to rain, so I can get some things done around town at least.

First thing this morning, I do a load of laundry and hang it out to dry. I figured with it being this cloudy and cool, it might take while to dry out hanging there, and I was right. I brought the stuff in at 5pm, and one pair of pants was still a little moist. Fortunately, I can hang a few items in my room.

A Little Library Action

In the meantime, around 10:00 I rode my bicycle to the library. The last time I went there I took the bus, but this time I wanted to see how long it would take on the bicycle. When I got there, I forgot to check what time it was, so I’m still not sure how long it takes. I’m going to guess around 20 minutes. So in the future, I can choose to either bike for 20 minutes each way or pay around $4.00 in train and/or bus fares to get there. Normally, it’d kill me to pay for something like that, but I really don’t have much else to spend money on here, so why not make life easy when you can? Still, I like to be frugal, so it’s going to be an ongoing internal debate with me. I guess the weather will usually be the deciding factor. I can easily see myself spending at least one afternoon per week there preparing for classes, so I guess I’d better get organized about it.

Arriving at the library, more or less dry for once due to the cool weather, I went in and asked if anyone spoke English. I can figure out how to ask for lots of things in Japanese, but I didn’t even want to attempt this, as I figured it would be complicated. They asked around, and eventually found a man who understood that I wanted to apply for a library card. He asked me if I had an ID, and I showed it to him. Pleased that I was prepared, he smiled and handed me a form. It was basic name and address stuff, so I could figure out the form without any problem. I handed the form back and the clerk typed a few things into her computer, scanned the barcode on a plastic card, and made me sign it. She then handed me an instruction sheet for the library and I thanked her and left with my shiny new library card, which for some reason is pink with flowers all over it. The whole process is really no different than applying for a card in the USA, except that I couldn’t identify the form to fill out on my own.

I have a few unread books at home, so I was really more interested in getting on the Internet than actually checking out books. So my next project was to get my computer hooked up and working with their Internet connection. The library has public computers, but they all use those funky Japanese keyboards, and I don’t seem to get along with them very well. I once used the keyboard at the Hiroshima culture center to send four or five emails, all of which were unreadable by the recipients. I still have no idea why that happened, so I want to avoid those keyboards if I can. In addition, all my blog reports and Youtube videos and photos and things are on my laptop already, so it’s just easier to use my own system. Yet another factor is that I know my computer doesn’t have any kind of key logging software to steal my passwords; you just never know with public computers.

I Broke The Internet!

So I picked out an empty desk and set up the computer. They have many desks scattered throughout the library, and each one has an electrical outlet as well as a plug for a network cable. I had all the cables and everything I needed this time. Remember, I went last week, but didn’t have a card so I couldn’t get help. Once again, the Internet diagnostic software said I was connected to the net, but I couldn’t really do anything. I fought with it for about a half an hour and decided to break down and ask for help.

I then went to the audio-visual counter and the girl spoke no English at all. I said “Internet?” and pointed to a line in my (English) library instruction that said to ask at the desk for details. She handed me a clipboard with a computer number on it. She thought I wanted to reserve one of their computers. I looked confused for a moment, so she came out to lead me to the computer. I shook my head and pointed the other way, toward my computer. She had no idea what I was talking about or what I wanted, but at least she followed me. I opened up my computer, started the browser, and when she saw the “Cannot Access” message, she gave the hoped-for “Ah soo!” and ran off to get instructions for me. She came back with instructions, and they were even specific to the Mac operating system, which surprised me. They were in Japanese, but the DNS number and required PROXY were written in English, and there were even a few pictures, so I eventually figured out how to make it all work. Whew!

So then I spent the next two hours updating blog, checking and answering email, message board, uploading Youtube and Photo files and so forth. It was fun not having a time limit or anyone watching over my shoulder. I forgot my headphones, so there were some Youtube videos that I wanted to see but couldn’t, but that’s OK. Unless something else comes up, I’ll probably be going back tomorrow. Tonight I’m going to make a list of all the things I want to download and information to look up for next week’s classes. I’ll have to print out my work Monday at the office, but I can get it all ready ahead of time. More hungry than bored, I decided to look for lunch and left the library in search of something new.

Another New Place To Eat

At first, I figured I’d go to the McDonalds at the Tenmaya Arcade, but it was crowded and since I’m getting more than a little tired of the same old McSlop, I decided that as long as I had my bicycle with me, to go a little out of the way and find something new. I eventually wound up way south of where I usually go, near where we had breakfast yesterday. I went to a place called Mos Burger, which Marc had said was good. I went in and it looks like a cross between a traditional Japanese restaurant and a Burger King. It’s hard to describe how that works exactly, but it was a weird mix. They have a picture menu, just like McDonalds or Freshness Burger, so I order a hamburger (300Y) as well as a hot dog (270Y). They don’t seem to have fries or anything, so I went with two sandwiches. I went to a table and sat down. A few minutes later, someone brought the food out to me.

It was great! The hot dog and bun were just slightly crunchy, which was good. They had ketchup, onions, and a bit of some kind of unusual mustard on it. It was far larger than the hotdogs Marc and I had at the place near the train station a week or so ago (was it called Po-Po’s?), cheaper as well. The hamburger was interesting as well. Nowhere near as greasy as Freshness Burger, but with so much special sauce on it that it dripped all over the place. I’m tempted to say the sauce tasted like that on a Big Mac, but it was spicier somehow. It was all very good stuff and, at under $6 for both, pretty affordable as well. Too bad it’s so far out of my usual vicinity. Finishing off the sandwiches, I hop back on the bike and ride home, laughing evilly as I pass by Happy Town without slowing down.

Time and Seasons

When I got home, I took the laundry inside and sat down to practice some vocabulary; I have Japanese class twice this week, since Monday is not a holiday this time. Five minutes later I am asleep on the couch. Not too long afterwards, I hear Marc leave for the evening. He’s been decidedly grumpy yesterday and today; I wonder if he’s mad at me about something or if he has some problem of his own. I guess I’ll find out eventually or he’ll get over it. As I wake up, I find that I had left the air conditioner on all day and it was absolutely freezing in the room. Right now I am drink hot coffee, the first hot drink I have had since the first or second day here. Between the morning orange juice and iced coffee, I have barely missed the hot stuff, but I guess when the weather changes, it’ll be making a big comeback. Tea is also very big here, but I’ve never been a big fan of hot tea. Much like the iced coffee, I may have to learn to like it!

It’s currently not quite 6pm yet, and it’s fully dark outside. It may be the first cool day since I arrived, but there are signs that winter is coming. I noticed quite a few fallen leaves last Tuesday in the mountains of Bitchu-Takahashi. It’s been getting dark earlier and earlier. I wonder if they do Daylight Savings Time here? I doubt it. If they do, I hope somebody tells me about it when it happens! On that subject, my watch stopped a few days ago, and it’s driving me crazy. I have to keep pulling out my cell phone to see what time it is, and I am a habitual clock-watcher, even when I don’t have anything to do.

I have a new watch at home in my desk drawer, a Christmas gift last year, so I called home to have Mom send it in my next shipment. How many hours till it arrives? I don’t know, but I’ll be wishing for a watch every 15 minutes until it gets here. Of course I could buy a new watch here, but they are very expensive, and the one from home is basically free if I can just wait for it. I have no idea where to go to get the battery replaced in the old one; I’m pretty sure I can’t even get the thing opened without special tools. I’m doing more and more every day, and learning more and more in the process, yet it’s silly little stuff like a bad watch battery that make me realize just how limited I still am here.

And that’s pretty much it for today. I’m going to sit here drinking coffee and reading my Haiku book until bedtime. I noticed at the library they have a whole section on Japanese literature translated into English. It looks like “The Tale of Genji” is one of their classics, so I’ll have to put that high on my future reading list. They also have several other books on haiku; I could come home an expert on that if I wanted. Weather permitting, tomorrow I’ll be back to the library with a list of topics to research for next week’s classes. When I came home tonight, it didn’t feel like I had done very much, yet here I am, two thousand words later, still rambling about my day in what might be my longest blog report to date. I guess there is something to be said even for the boring days without an adventure!
…

[Sunday morning addition]

No, that wasn’t all. I spent another hour and a half learning to use iMovie, the movie-making software that came installed on my computer.

Yes, it’s short and stupid, but don’t those titles and transitions look nice? It’ll give me something to do with my photos once it starts getting too cold to run all over town. Maybe I can even make some kind of presentations for classes with it. I don’t know yet, but it was fun.

Monday September 10^th, 2007

It’s early as I write this. I have been fairly busy this morning. I woke up around 7am, which is a good regular time for my future schedule, so I hope I can keep it up. I have been sleeping well the past few nights, so I think the time-zone problems are a thing of the past. I’m still getting to bed earlier than I would like, but with all the exercise, that’s probably natural. Mom called last night at 10:30, and I had been asleep an hour already. Ah well, better than no call at all.

              So anyway, I did a little laundry since I have time today. It’s only been a few days since the last bunch, but I don’t have a hamper or anything, so dirty laundry is kinda laying all over the place. That’s probably not a bad thing, since it forces me to keep up with it. I do need to try a little harder to find bleach at the store next time I go.  When I came in from filling the washer, Marc was up and told me that a centipede in bed bit him last night. Oh yay, now there’s something new to worry about; being eaten in my sleep.  The bite looks nasty, but he’ll live. I guess I need to start watching for critters in my room.

              After breakfast (scrambled eggs & toast), I headed up the mountain to check the Internet. I had a few pages of stuff to print out for my Wednesday class too, so I got that out of the way first. I had quite a bit of email waiting this morning. One was from my sister-in-law telling me about the kids’ first week at their new school, and another was from Ptuny, containing a list of Internet cafes in Hiroshima and Okayama. I’ll look for the two in Okayama, but my schedule in Hiroshima isn’t going to be flexible enough for that kind of thing.  The bad news is that I checked the website for that pool in town, and they are actually a club, with memberships and all that. I think I may just have to forget about it.  Wah! 

4:00pm.  I mentioned in the previous paragraph that my niece and nephew both just finished their first week at new schools. Yeah, well, now I can say “me too!” to both of them. I just finished my first day at Japanese school. I wasn’t totally sure how to get there on my bicycle, but I made it on time. Marc was already there since he was teaching this morning and went directly there afterwards. The two of us were the only ones in the class other than the teacher.  She introduced herself and we briefly looked at what she wanted to use for a textbook, which she will order and give to us during the next class session. We’ll be going there twice a week starting today, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, there are several Monday holidays coming up, so it’s going to be an off-an-on schedule for Mondays, but it looks like Thursdays will be a regular thing.

We discussed greetings and very common interpersonal phrases like “konichi-wa” and stuff like that which I already knew. We then moved into various types of food and names of vegetables, meats, and types of fish.  Other than the ones that were clearly derived from English, I knew very few of these. For homework, we are supposed to memorize these words. That was no big deal.

Then we went over the entire Hiragana. She showed us the stroke order of the characters and we had to write them in little boxes. For more than an hour we traced and copied letters into little boxes. For additional homework we need to memorize all of them and write out a few short sentences. By Thursday. This is why I mentioned the kids first week of school. I remember writing letters like this during my first days in school.  I wonder if the kids realize that if they play their cards right, they can be doing the same stuff more than 30 years from now?  Somehow I don’t remember having to memorize the entire alphabet in two days though.  I just know she’s going to do the same thing with Hiragana for next time.  That’s more than a hundred characters all together. Oh well, it’s work, but this is really what I came here for I guess.