Sarah-chan, thanks for the suggestion for refreshment and encouraging words! I had some of the sweet bean dessert last night, but just that by itself.
Hrm, life over here is a learning experience all the time. My brain keeps
trying to figure everything out. Having the reading ability of a 1st grader is quite frustrating: sure, you get some things, but most of it is gobledygook. I can also pick out the occasional spoken phrase or word, which makes things more choppy. Plus, these new keyboards at work are morphed: the old symbols have moved around (like the parens, the @, the ‘, the :, pretty much any non-alpha character).
Buying things is pretty stressful, tho. I can put things in a basket, go up to the cashier and then stare as she (it’s ALWAYS a she) prolly asks me if I found everything ok. I say “sum’masen, wakarimasen”, but even that isn’t understood. Luckily, the register displays the cost of the lot, because she rattles off the numbers too quickly. niman-sansen-rok’hyak’-gojyuu-kyuu. But, I have successfully purchased: simple groceries (juice, sushi bento, fruit, veggies), slippers for work, an umbrella, and other little neccessities (sp).
One good example of baka-gaijin: Friday night, I ate a bag of pasta sauce for dinner. That’s right, the bag had a picture of noodles and meat sauce, I squeezed it, and it felt like there were noodles inside. WRONG. But, I completmented it with a banana, carrot, and a Kittyland biscuit.
So first impressions: everything is CLEAN. No litter anywhere, everything put in its place. Incredibly ordered. It’s pretty humid here, but no worse than Iowa yet. The cicadias are loud. Everyone is pretty friendly so far, too.
I ate dinner with Fukushima-sensei last night. He’s the vice principal and an English teacher here. He made sushi and gohan, and I spoke pidgin Japanese with his wife, daughter, and son. But, it was a sweet time - Fukushima-sensei taught me to make sushi. He also instructs and judges Kendo (the wood sword fencing gig). He showed me his real katana, and the handle plates he had. Some of the plates were 400 years old!
This morning, I went to the port with Fukushima-sensei to see the launch of the fishing training vessel of Yaizu Suisan. The school owns a large ship (80m at least) to train its students in navigation, fishing, engineering (yay!), and other sea things. Today, it went out with one of the first year classes as a sort of ‘camp’. Since school isn’t in, the class went out as cruise for 2 nights! One of the crew took me on board and gave me a tour; I saw the engine room, the bridge, and the mess hall.