2/4/10 room, post dinner- After dinner last night it was another homework fest punctuated by shower time and Gaijin Smash. Gaijin Smash is a blog written by someone who did the JET program in Japan a few years ago. Fletcher san told me about it. The JET program is a program that allows students to come to Japan and teach English for a certain length of time. The blog is very entertaining, much more so than mine. But it is also pretty explicit and tends to focus on negative aspects of Japanese life when it is focusing on Japan at all. I was also amazed at how different this guy’s experience in Japan was compared to how mine is. A lot of it was that he is male and a lot of it is just his lifestyle but it was still really interesting.
This morning was late start day. I got to sleep in an hour; it was nice. In the first section of class we recorded ourselves attempting to say Japanese sentences with the proper intonation. It was a little strange hearing my own voice played back in my ears. When you speak your voice sounds different to you than it does to other people. I’ve always been fascinated by that. It has to do with sound waves traveling to your inner ear through your head, a solid object, instead of through the air. The first time I ever heard my own voice played back to me on an answering machine I was like, “Who’s that?” My mom: “YOU! Doofus!” I was baffled and have been fascinated ever since.
After the first section we went to a different room for the last two sections. Then I had lunch with Kai san, San san (her name is San and “san” is the honorific, it’s really rather funny, but then I’m easily amused), LeBlanc san, Elfalary san (still don’t know how to spell her name), and Brea san. It’s weird but you end up knowing some people only by their first name, some only by their last name, and some people you know both and have to switch back and forth for in class and out of class. XP
On the way to lunch I ran into Doro san and Tana san. Doro san was eating what looked like bread but upon closer examination (yes, I examine food whenever I see it even if someone is eating it. I have a fetish ok?) I realized it had azuki (red bean paste) in the middle of it!!! Doro san gave me a chuck of it too! When she first offered I said I didn’t need it and that I wasn’t trying to get some of it, I was just admiring. But she still insisted so… what could I do?? :d it was SCRUMPTIOUS. It was French soft bread with Japanese red bean paste inside!! It was BEAUTIFUL!! ^_^
My lunch was apple, sushi, and anko snacks. Anko is another way of saying… azuki!!!! I love red bean paste, can you tell? AND it’s good for you too! I mean it’s just beans. It’s strange though, despite all the beans I’ve been consuming: soybean, red bean, etc, there has been no rise in any flatulence levels. :o It must be more Japanese magic at work. Well, now that I’ve given you way more information than you ever wanted… :P
I went to Cultural History of Tea Ceremony where we watched a movie, IN ENGLISH. Go figure. I really like the professor. He is so great. He actually crawled up on a desk to demonstrate sitting seiza (traditional Japanese style) and other variations people do nowadays. He also lent me a really cool book about tea, IN ENGLISH. It seems really cool. It is Curiosi-tea by Camellia Cha. I recommend it if any of you are hard-core tea fans. And if you are not, you might be by the end of this book. :D
When I got home I was fed azuki (red bean paste, that’s the word you are going to know by the end of this blog if nothing else…), and lemon, honey, and hot water. I make lemon, honey, and hot water back home so I already knew I love it. :D I also was given a mikan (mandarin orange) and went up to my room to wait for dinner.
Dinner was hamburgu. No, that’s not a typo. Hamburgu is a hamburger patty on a plate with sauce on it. I have heard of it from Japanese class. It was delicious. (I have been known to eat a hamburger patty without a bun in America so it wasn’t too novel of an experience.)
After I finish this entry I will study for my kanji test tomorrow and do homework and probably stay up way too late reading Curiosi-tea. (19:39)
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