June 18-24 (Tues-Mon) - Well, I’m Still Alive

Tuesday: I had classes and stressed out about stuff and kids watched my classes in the evening. Arg. But a teacher at Yoshikawa brought in tomatoes and I was given 6 lovely little juicy beauties, and in the eve. my class combined with Hugh’s class for a bottle-cap battle.

Wednesday: I had my first business class, and I didn’t die. It was close, but I survived. There 6 people in my class, and one is a woman (which I hear is very unusual). They were all very nice and a bit hesitant at first, but I think I will be able to get them to speak fairly easily. It’s still bit of a strange environment however — I mean, it’s different from teaching kids at an elementary school. I have to remember to get a badge from the guard at the gate and have this little piece of paper signed by somebody to hand in when I leave. And I have to resist the urge to say ‘sei no’ which is a prompt like 3-2-1 or 1-2-go, which I have to use all the time in my other classes.

The company is Murata Manufacturing (http://www.murata.com) (they make MLCCs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_capacitor) and stuff), the Takefu branch, where I hear there are 3000 employees. The ones in the English classes are studying to improve their scores on the TOEIC (English language) test. 

So I’m sure the class will go fine now that the first one is over with.

That night I had class with Miki. She showed me pictures and told me all about her trip to Austria. She even brought me an omiyage: Hazelnut chocolate. How did she know?!!

I learned a few interesting things. First, if I understood what Miki was saying (and she understood right), the Austrian university system is strange. You can work at the university for 5 years, and pay (or get paid?) 10 euros a week (maybe?), then after that university is free. 

Light research does not yield more information. (Feel free to investigate and post your findings in a comment.)

Second, tapirs eat bad dreams. So if you are allergic to cats, there is another option.

Thursday: Class and stuff. During my private class, the 3 boys were having trouble concentrating, and near the end of class we just played. Well, they took the ball and played keep-away, I ran after them for the next 20 min. It was pretty fun :)

Friday: Kaori came over in the evening so we could practice dance. We didn’t get very far when Hugh invited us a long to go in search of fireflies over by Kawada Elementary. And we found them! Many of them. There used to be fireflies all over, when the entire area was tanbo (rice paddies). Mako said she had never seen fireflies until then. 

After this, we decided to run around the neighboring parking lot. That was fun. We lasted a few minutes before the rain picked up to a steady downpour, and we were forced under cover of the apartment stairs. From there we ran up stairs and jumped over brooms until we declared ourselves tired enough for the night.

Saturday: Class. A new kid watched one of my classes. He seems pretty cute but he’s well behind the others, so I’m not sure how well it would work out if he starts. 

That evening I went with Casey and Nathan to Yuka/Ralph’s restaurant in Fukui. While we waited for food we played Scrabble (yay, a board game!). The food was tasty, Mexican food made by a Philippine  guy who’s from California (this is Ralph). 

By the way, it’s been raining. It’s almost cold :)

Sunday: This day we went to Costco. We met at 7:37 in the morning and packed a van with ice chests and snacks for the 2-hour drive. Hugh drove. I was offering to drive, but I couldn’t, because I’m not covered by the insurance (being under 26). We stopped at Starbucks on the way. 

Arriving at Costco, we had to go through a line to get parking, stand in line to get a membership, then move slowly about the crowded store to do our shopping. We were there about 3 hours. 

Mia asked for pictures. Well, it’s Costco. Main noticeable differences are the racks of wine and stacks of beer, 

and the spice selection.

The drive back we took surface streets, which took quite a bit longer, but I enjoyed the view. 

This might be Mt. Hiei. I saw the sign for it so it’s somewhere around here.

And here’s a torii in Lake Biwa.

This might seem enough adventure for the day, but it was still early in the evening. So we went with Hugh/Mako on a short walk around dandan-batake...

then sat in my apartment and feasted on gouda cheese, green seedless grapes, lasagna, and muffins — all Costco specials. (Did I mention they don’t believe in real cheese in Japan? Or seedless grapes.)

Kaori and I ended the evening with a Nero Wolfe mystery, courtesy of my great dad, and ended rather late. I slept very well, and finally got to sleep in the next day!

Monday: Internet was irritating -- wasting 30 min. trying to get it to work instead of getting to talk to people. But I have found some kind-of fixes while I wait for Apple to release a Mountain Lion update that works.

I spent a rather slow day that woulda been gloomy but after a week of beautiful, cool rain, it was sunny and almost hot. The evening was nicer and I got some stuff done.

Recent Japanese:

hayashi (林) = woods, forest, thicket

nama = raw

bimyou = so-so, questionable (you may note this word in an earlier post. But I finally understand it. Like, can you draw? Saa... bimyou desu.)

kaba (河馬) = hippopotamus — I only use the full term (which is ridiculous to spell) because it stems from the Greek hippo meaning horse and the rest meaning river, and kaba lit. means river horse, so that’s kind of cool.

tsumuji = the whirl of hair on the top/back of your head (they have a word for this, isn’t that great?)

baku = tapir

kawauso (川獺) = river otter

azarashi = seal (animal)

koi (濃い) =  deep (color), strong (flavor)

kanransha (観覧車) = Ferris wheel — lit. the see see wheel/car. Or maybe see and be seen wheel.

sasu = to bite/stab, ka ni sasareta = I was bit (pricked) by a mosquito

kamu = to bite (like a dog)

tsubusu = to crush/squish

funde tsubushita = I stepped on it and squished it

mizu tamari = puddle

dandan-batake = stair-step fields

kokkyou-sen = border (line)

koubashii (香ばしい) = fragrant, aromatic