Ok, maybe its because its summer break and no one, including teachers, is in the office that its so great to be in the office! Sure its kinda boring and its only Monday... but its only Monday and no one is in the office! The quiet is nice here when I have access to the Internet.
I probably will do more Japanese study the rest of the week but today, I just read up on world news, wrote my intro speech. Studied some Nihongo. Talked with the few teachers here who are around and have the courage to practice their English skills. One even brought me three melons from his garden. ``No chemicals`` was his introduction to them. It was really sweet to have a light hearted conversation with someone about gardens and possibly going to visit Mt. Asahi (?) Japan`s slightly active volcano... I`ll have to take a picture of these tiny little melons, they are too cute!
This weekend wasn`t terribly eventful, just cleaning up the apartment and my first attempt at cooking in the newly cleaned kitchen. It wasnt too bad but nothing turned out exactly right... The genmai (brown rice) was a little too mushy and the kinpira (carrots, burdock root, sesame seeds) was also slightly off. When grub starts to look good, I will take pictures and post recipes, until then, trust me.. it was just a bit off.
I also went exploring around my neighborhood. I must have sweated off the sunscreen in a matter of minutes because I am sunburned! The nice thing about Chikugo, where I live, is that its sorta a suburb in a rice patty. Every block is a mixture of house, home vegetable garden, and wafty green rice paddy.Which also means, I got a bit lost wandering from rice paddy to house. Musta been out for 2 hours or so. It happens when one gets distracted by the number of butterflies visiting flowers everywhere and amongst the shallow waters of the rice paddy, tons of snails just swimming/crawling about. It was pleasantly relaxing, even if I got the worst sunburn in my adult memory.
Oh.. and because we are surrounded by rice paddys, here in Chikugo, I have a million mosquito bites, all of which, I have scratched raw... mmm... yea.
Mental note* bring sweatproof sunblock and bug spray
you know in some cultures, giving a girl tiny melons and inviting her up a volcano constitute a legally binding marriage. I'm just sayin'
ReplyDeleteYou paint an interesting picture. I can see you getting lost among the rice patties, daydreaming about butterflies, getting really red, thousands of mosquito bites, maybe a little dehydrated and rumpled, and possibly a bit grungy. Lost in Japan. Poor little Natalie.
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