Homework for the Overactive Brain

Today's Quote--"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me..."

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

 

Hmmm, well, how to explain...Short on time, kinda, so we'll do a progress report on my long weekend and save the good Japanese culture stuff for later (yup, been keeping that list).

Saturday went to Otaru...really cool, had fun, lots of music boxes and glass...yeah. Um, Sunday went to tea ceremony (always nifty) and Bunraku (puppet theater). Bunraku was really cool, I liked it a lot and the time seemed to fly by...even though there were some boring points. Let's see, it started at 5:30 and got over around 9:15...Yeah, long. But the story was kinda cool and well, I just went into it planning on enjoying it, I guess. Afterwards went out for Yakiniku (similar to yakitori, except many different kinds of meat instead of just chicken...and you cook it yourself...and there aren't any sticks...hmm, I'll get to that later). Came home late and met my host father again (2 times now! and only 1 week after the first)...actually locked him out...Oops. But I was still around and was able to open the door for him. Oy.

Monday was a national holiday and I spent most of it with SGI members. Got up early and went to a daimoku toso with young women's division members and the one girl that is a friend of a friend kind of deal. Then had lunch (burned my tounge badly) and met my district leaders. Small world...thier son played baseball with my host family's son...wow. Anyway, have a meeting Friday night. Joy! Yesterday didn't do a whole lot. Wrote some letters and sewed a lot. Hmm, yes. So today, I'm waiting for a friend to come back so I can go work out with her...And so begins the interesting facts of Japanese life...I mentioned earlier how cold it's been getting...well, here is my major incentive to work out: Showers. I can take a nice long hot shower here at school, but more than that, I don't have to get naked in the basement where there's no heat when it's 5 degrees celsius. Ha! Oy...yes, it's really cold down there and of course, heat rises, so showers are usually quick, cold, and painful affairs of running into the bathroom, turning on the hot water and hopping around waiting for the steam to make the room bearabley warm...at which point I've finished washing and now have to go back outside to get dressed. Oy.

Yakiniku...stuff you would never think you would eat, but find your self gobbling down saying, MMMM Oishii! (tasty). Things like pig cheek, pig intestine, cow intestine, partially digested matter from a cow intestine (lovingly called by my friends as Cow Crap), cow tounge (OOOOooo, love cow tounge...soooo good!), and a variety of other things...like garlic, in Japanese it's ninniku, and of course I took that to be people meat since there was no kanji to tell me other wise (nin being people and niku being meat). Ha, funny funny. Just a hint...if someone hands you something and tells you to eat it, make sure that they've taken a bite first. Doesn't mean it'll taste good, but at least you know it isn't poisoned. ;)

Let's see...what else was I going to jabber about (of course I wrote a list, and then promptly left it somewhere else...oy). Driving! Ah yes, driving. It's like everyone in Japan has a death wish. OY! Every time i get into a car I swear I'm going to die. Driving around with people, I think they have no sense of direction, but really, it's nearly impossible to find your way anywhere. The address system around here is made for postmen, not for real people. In order to find a house, you have to know where it is...looking for the address will do you no good. Why is it so scary to ride with Japanese people? Well, you know, they have this thing where they don't really seem to follow the lines...and they park on the side of the road for just a few seconds, but block a lane of traffic...and they don't really pay attention to where they're going (I was in a car the other day that had a television set up for the driver to watch! HELLOOOOO?!)...and the roads are just strange. I mean, there are these little things called roads that kind of just jut off the main street every once in a while and you're not really sure how to get from one place to another...do i take the road or that kinda alley road or what? Hmmm. Bikes are scary too. I know I can't drive here, but i don't think I could ride a bike either...their just as bad as the cars, but more likely to run into the pedestrains...and cars. Oy. I swear sometimes they aim for me. Hello people, life is not just one big game of chicken! Grrr. As for walking, you would think people would walk on the left, seeing as that's where the cars drive...but not really. I don't think anyone knows which way to walk. the safest bet is to walk in the middle, if there's no crowd, or to follow the crowd. I think no one really knows if they're on the correct side, but at least if you're wrong, you're not alone. Of course I've had people walk into me too...Look right at me, and try to walk through me...of course that doesn't work since I'm a solid human being...but they try.

Senior citizens, now there's an interesting group. In America we just put them away and pull them out for family celebrations. Here they're an organized bunch and you often run into a group doing community service (i.e. cleaning up a park). They do little like litter patrols and things like that. Pretty cool I think. The way people go around visiting, kind of reminds me of Victorian times. I liked that part of the Victorian times, and since they're older and retired, they have the time to do it. Hmm.

Okay...I'll save everything else for a later date. ;) Off again!

GL 11:51 PM