Hello! After a laughably long time away, here's another update from work. I really want to catch up on my blogging, but the specter of uploading all the pictures seems very daunting every time I sit down to work on it. Also, to be fair, there are less moments or activities that seem truly new or remarkable or blog-worthy (though that very well may be a false perception).
Weather: It's winter here again in Japan, and in my particularly wet prefecture, it means a damp sort of cold that gets into your bones. It's been hovering around freezing for the past few weeks, which is much warmer than it often is in Chicago or Colorado at the same time, but it definitely feels different. 'Tis the season for hats and cut-off gloves and sleeping bags. It's snowed every day for the past two weeks, a dramatic departure from last year, when there was far less snow. And in response the street sprinklers, that peculiar snow-removal technique, squirt up everywhere, making gutter-jumping and car-splash-avoiding a constant concern.
At school, the teachers' office and the classrooms are heated, but the halls are not. The whole building is spacious and made of concrete, so I can usually see my breath when walking to class. Also, I have to say, the energy management techniques are horrific. Doors and windows are often left open by the same students and teachers who shiver and mutter "さむい！" ("samui!", cold).
Recent interesting lesson: a conversation class where I remarked that I was surprised to find Japanese food I never knew existed, like Japanese curry, okonomiyaki, and takoyaki. My teacher laughed and said that curry (カレー "karee") was not Japanese, but Indian. If you've never had Japanese curry, it might be difficult to get how crazy this was, but it's completely different than Indian curry. Here it's a thick, dark stew that is rarely spicy, often served with a fried shrimp, chicken, or pork over rice. There are Indian restaurants here, even some quite authentic ones, but apparently most Japanese people don't know how different their dish is. Along the same lines, but much crazier, is that many people here think McDonald's is a Japanese company. I think that in addition to how funny/unbelieveable this is, it's a lesson to be wary of exceptionalism in any form--if you think your way is the only way, you're almost certainly going to be wrong.
Engrish: Doesn't exactly qualify, but my friend Colin recently had this exchange with a teacher after a class in which most of the class was fast asleep.
Colin: Sayama-sensei, have you ever heard of the expression "beating a dead horse"?
Teacher (nodding seriously): Ah, yes. Not as much fun.
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