Beer

Just because you get a whole can of alcohol-free beer as a sample from the video rental store, does not make it any more palatable than the stuff that has alcohol and you have to pay for.

100% sparkling grape juice, on the other hand, is incredibly tasty and goes well with popcorn.  Even though you have to pay rather a lot more for it.

Around Town

 As I wander the town, I come across many interesting and intriguing sights.  Here I present a few that I have captured in the past couple weeks.  Make of them what you will.

A life size cutout of some chick who has only a pair of shoes protecting her modesty.  It's an ad for a shoe shop.  I had to stop and stare for awhile.  Twice.

Yup, here we have fresh flowers, outside, in the middle of winter.  I mean, since there's never been much chance of frost, they should be ok, right?

Concidering the obsession people here have fore all things new and hip, I was a bit shocked to find Dr. Quinn, Medicine Women, even in a used bookstore.

Things I want to tell my students

Dear Students,

I love you all very much and I love our little chats outside of class.  However, I must admit that I am a bit bored with repeating the same information about myself over and over.  I have therefore compiled a handy list with responses to the most frequently asked questions that I get from you.  I would greatly appreciate it if you referenced this list every time you want to ask me a question.  If the answer is on the list, you don't have to ask the question, saving us time and allowing us to progress to more interesting topics.

1. Yes, my hair (color and texture) is natural

2. As is my eyecolor

3. No, I don’t really speak Japanese

4. Yes, I’ve eaten (and like) sushi/okonomiyaki/takoyaki/whatever else you can think of

5. No, I don’t like wasabi.  it is evil.  ditto for natto

6. No, I don’t ever eat at McDonald’s at home, and only twice since I’ve been in japan.  There are better burgers around, trust me

7. No, I am not cold in my short sleeved shirt.  why don’t you worry about how you're feeling in your mini skirt before trying to tell me that I should be cold?

8. No, I don’t have a boyfriend- I wear the rings cause I like them

9. Yes, I would be ok with dating a Japanese guy

10. No, I’ve never seen any of my coworkers shirtless

11. OR, yes, actually, we play strip poker together every Saturday night

12. Yes, I do have opinions regarding their cuteness/date-ability

13. No, I will not be sharing those opinions with you

14. Yes, it’s cold and snowy in OH.  why? because we have this wonderful thing called “winter,” where the temperature actually drops below 0 degrees Celsius

15. No, I am not  from “America,” I am from “The United States of America.”  “America” is an entire hemisphere that includes two continents and numerous countries, not all of which speak English! (shocking, I know)  Thus I will continue to refer to my home country as “the States,” and I would appreciate it if you did not call it “America” when you are using English.*

16. Yes, Japan is a bit different from home.  However, I have lived in a city before and am therefore used to crowded quarters, tiny streets, and other things you seem to think should totally wig me out

17.  Yes, I can seriously eat just about any Japanese food you suggest.  I've been here almost 6 months, my stomach has totally had time to adjust (not that there was much it needed adjusting to)

18.  No, I don't know much about current popular TV shows at home, cause I rarely watch TV

19.  Yes, I will only play older music or showtunes while you work on handouts.  This is because I'm mostly not a fan of current pop hits.  You need more exposure to the classics anyway.

20. Yes, I am aware that my home state (Ohio) has the same pronunciation as "good morning" in Japanese.

I hope this little list will facilitate our communications in the future.  Please let me know if you have any questions that aren't already answered.

XOXOXO

Me

*In Japanese, the US is generally referred to as  アメリカ, or Amerika.  I am trying to be culturally aware and go with the flow, but once we start speaking English, I wish more people would use the proper English name.  When my Japanese is better, maybe I’ll go around saying “Japan,” instead of 日本 (nihon)

Things I miss a lot right now

My books

And by "right now" I do literally mean this very minute. We're not talking about me sitting around moping for several days because I miss my books. I was just working on a comprehensive list of things for the father to bring when he comes to visit in less than two months, and there are one or two books that I'd like hard copies for (although otherwise I love my kindle), when I suddenly had this strong urge to sit down and read ALL the books I have at home.

In case you didn't know this about me, I'm what you might call an avid reader. At home I've a rather large collection of books, largely thanks to The Book Thing, in B-more, and The Green Valley Book Fair, near Harrisonburg, VA (at both of these places one can obtain books for cheap/free). So I like to sit in the "library" section of my room and browse through my shelves and various boxes full of books, skimming the shorter ones, reading bits and pieces of the longer ones, with three or four candles burning, music on...this is my definition of an afternoon well spent.

So I'm working on this list for the father, when I bought to myself "you know, ideally he could just bring ALL my books..." then I could sit in my apartment with the incense going, the music on and do nothing but read all day. It would be heaven.

But I don't think it would work so well. See, what I really want is to capture the feeling of being home, with my family, in the place I feel safest. And, while there are many places, situations, and people in Japan that I associate various good feelings with, it would be impossible to recreate the same exact feeling of being at home, and any such attempts will most likely result in disappointment, followed by an evening of chocolate and Disney movies.

I think the root of the problem is me feeling stressed at work for various reasons. Also, like 9 of my friends are moving home in the next several months, leaving me all alone and bored out of my skull.

Also, I just typed all of this on my phone, so sorry if it looks funny

Snow, snow, beautiful, beautiful snow!!!!

Well, I was pretty much convinced that I wouldn't see any snow at all this year.  However, I was proven wrong on Thursday.

Early afternoon, as I was sitting at my desk, wrapped in a blanket a appreciating the fact that the heater is right next to me, one of the other teachers comes in and tells me that it's snowing!  So I hurry outside w/ my camera and my blanket and stand and enjoy the few flakes that were floating down.

you can't see it, but it's totally there!

On the roof!  Woot!

It had tapered off by the time school was over, but low and behold, when I got off the train in Kobe, there was more snow in the air!  It was almost enough to even be classified as a flurry  :)  So I got to bike home through the snow and giggle madly at at the people with umbrellas to keep the snow off.

Of course, it didn't stick, except on out of the way places, like roofs and the sidewalk in front of my house, but it looked positively Christmas-y while it was coming down  :)