More Japanese randomness

The tea lady just came over, and gave me a 'kind of marron glace'. At first, I thought she wanted me to translate something for her, but cleverly hidden underneath the paper she was showing me was a delicious treat.

Written on the paper was:
A recipie:
1. We peel the marron's skin.
2. We boil a nut with the inner skin many times.
3. At last we cook it with sugar.

I think maybe she wrote out the recipe because she was afraid I wouldn't eat it thinking there was meat in it (we had a 'conversation', the other day, when I found out her son was the same age as me). Surprisingly, it was quite sweet (many Japanese people don't like sweet foods), and very delicious. Gotta love random kindness.

Why I should (still) be fired...

So I was sitting at this computer today, when four students came up to me, got my attention, and then showed me a sign they had recently made (the paint was not 100% dry yet). It's a picture of Elmo waving, with a yellow background, and the blue lettering says:

"Don't throw away little".

You'd think they'd ask BEFORE they finished the sign, but I guess that's not how they do things here. I tried to explain that they spelled 'litter' wrong, and what 'little' means, but this only served to make them appear very uncomfortable. So, I told them I thought people would be able to understand what they meant, at which point they immediately smiled, turned tail, and took off.

Also, I think I found a place (yesterday) where I can study a Japanese martial art - kempo. I started doing this language exchange with Hiromi (whose mom cooks me dinner - sweet!), and apparently her sisters used to be all-Japan champions. So, she invited me to the dojo, and the people there seem okay with the idea of me joining in. For those of you who are interested, kempo is a recently new martial art, which basically has a 'no holds barred' philosophy. People train with a helmet, and body armor, and basically beat up on each other for a while until they get tired. Then, they switch partners. The goal is to knock your opponent onto the ground, and then punch them in the face. Should be fun, I'll let you know...

oh, ps. I've decided not to re-contract (for a variety of reasons), and I'll be moving back to Canada sometime late summer.

Better late than never.

Okay, I've decided to start randomly updating my blog. The first picture below was inspired by Greg. It's a picture of me walking through a door sideways next to a statue of Confucius in Bangkok (read the caption to find out why that's funny).

The second one is of a trip Lisa and I took to a museum. You might be able to tell from my clothes that that was a while ago.

I figure random updates are better than none; enjoy.

Confucius says "If you walk through door sideways, you will Bangkok".

This is a picture of me playing some Japanese toy, the name of which I don't know. I was the opposite of good. Basically, it's a top that you wrap a string around; then, you throw the top (as though about to skip a stone on water), and hang on to the string to make it spin. On my first try, I sent it halfway across the parking lot.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Guess what happened today (well, to be precise, it started last night).

Give up?

It snowed!!! Finally. This has put me in a great mood, though I have no idea why. The snow melts instantly when it hits the sidewalks/roads, but sticks to vegetation, leaving it quite pretty outside. It was quite the surprise when I opened my drapes this morning to see snow covering the trees that grow just outside my balcony.

When I got to school, Mr. Niwayama informed me that due to the cold, many students were staying at home (not that I would have noticed, seeing as I have no classes today). One has to wonder at the efficacy of teaching only a fraction of the students.

Last night, I had my first Japanese class with Hiromi. Hiromi lives close to my house, and I've worked out a language exchange with her (English for Japanese this time). I had to get directions to her house from Joe, but within 3 hours of getting her to draw me a map, I promptly lost it. So, I started wandering towards Hiromi's house, and this car drives right up to me and starts honking. Quite nice of her to come pick me up. Then I got to her place, and her mom had cooked dinner for us, and left it waiting (she wasn't there because she had left). It was quite delicious, and nice to have a home-cooked meal. Oh, and the Japanese lesson was quite useful as well, though her level of English is way more advanced than my Japanese.

Enough random rambling for now. Hope all is well.

...that makes 5 people who I can speak with in my city

So I was sitting at the computer the other day, when the principal of my school, to whom I have never spoken before, randomly comes and sits down next to me (he usually hangs out in his office). He asks me about my vacation, so I tell him the whole shpeil. He then proceeds to tell me that I should 'tell the students about [my] tsunami experience. It is important for us to be ready, because Japan will have a big earthquake soon. Please don't talk for the entire class, but maybe for only a few minutes'. Got it, no problem. Then he looks as he's about to leave, but I ask him about his winter vacation. He tells me about it (you'd swear we were having a regular conversation, I had no idea that this guy's English was so great), and then says goodbye, and takes off. He hasn't talked to me again since.

...things here are so random sometimes.

They like me, they really really like me...

So I was sitting on this computer chatting away on MSN messenger when one of my teacher comes up to me and asks me if I'm busy. Of course, I say no, so she asks if I can teach a class (this was about 5 minutes after the bell had rung, and my teachers usually give me 2 days notice whenever they want to reschedule a class, and usually it's only to cancel a class hardly ever to add one). So I sign off MSN, and stand up to join her, at which point she starts sprinting to class (when getting to class, some Japanese teachers, especially female ones, seem to have two speeds: standing and sprinting). Anyhow, we get halfway to class, and I ask her what the deal is. She informs me that the class had thought that they were going to be 'team taught' (ie have me in the class). When they didn't see me, they apparently starting 'boo-ing' the teacher, at which point she ran to get me.

I later realized that while they might not necessarily like my class (but just prefer it to the other non-team-taught English class that probably involves a lot of boring memorization of vocab), it's still nice to know that I'm not at the absolute bottom of the totem pole.

ps yes I know that I have been delinquient in updating this, but I have lots of nice pictures coming...