This Monday it’ll be six months since we arrived in Japan. When I first tried natto, in the week that we arrived, I wasn’t sure what I thought about it. I’ve had it a couple of times since. Today something clicked: I really like it now. It’s a great feeling because it’s known to have an acquired taste, much like Vegemite in Australia.
[photopress:Mug.jpg,thumb,alignleft]It was my birthday last Thursday. More about that later, but for now I’ll just say that my Japanese teacher gave me a lovely mug after the lesson tonight. It has a funky shape that’s really comfortable to hold.
On the way home we saw some familiar people. Outside a restaurant was a cat that looked just like Bexley (my sister’s cat), and outside Lawson was a very woolly golden retriever. Its tail was up and wagging. Later, near our house, we met a cat that was just like Pesky (my cat), but slightly more eccentric. He was sniffing the bumper bar of a new Mini. Then he tilted his head and tentatively licked it a few times, before turning to us and staring us down.
I made tofu burgers for dinner, but they didn’t taste as good as the ones in Life. They’d probably have been better if I’d followed the recipe. As usual, the dynamic duo of mayonnaise and tomato sauce came to the rescue.
Not a bad day considering how busy work was.
Valentine’s Day was fun this year. In Japan, girls give boys presents. My star BW pupil (I think she’s eight years old) gave me a great box of chocolates after class. All the staff laughed at us.
One of the other mothers must have thought it was a good idea, because after a later class another student from the BW class was waiting for me. She’s younger, and very shy. After some encouragement from the staff she held out a box of chocolates at arms length. When I took it she ran off and hid her face. So cute! She refused to say “Happy Valentine’s Day,” despite encouragement from the staff and her mother.
I must say it was pretty embarrassing for me, too. I don’t like that I like to support such a blatantly commercial day.
[photopress:sisyphus2.png,thumb,alignleft]The story for my animation is coming along nicely (thanks, Nate!) In preparation, I finally bought myself a Wacom tablet. It’s so nice. I’ve had a tablet before (thanks, Tijn!) but it’s in Australia, and this one is considerably larger.
Attached is the second drawing I’ve done with it (and The GIMP). It’s of Sisyphus, an inmate of Hades and a character in my animation. He has no parts because he’s dead. Hands play an important role in the story, which is why his are so large.
After months of trying – stuffing around with forms to be posted in, etc. – I finally got an IC card for the railways in Osaka. The place to get them is from JR. You just put money in a machine and it gives you a card. No forms! It feels so elite to slip through the ticket gates just by waving your wallet. The card works on JR, Hankyu and the subway lines. Don’t try it on the Kintetsu railway; you’ll get owned.
Last night my card was running low, so I went to refill it at Hankyu Umeda. The Hankyu machines have no English interface and at one point I had to ask for help. I turned and said “Sumimasen,” to the first person I saw.
“Sup, dog.”
“…”
This guy had apparently just returned from Los Angeles. He and his friend were all, “yo,” and “wassup!” I think he was a bit drunk, and didn’t quite understand what I was trying to do. He commandeered my card and took me to see the station master, who told us to go back to the machines. He almost went through the gates with my card before I reminded him what I was trying to do. He wasn’t being malicious; just drunk.
In the end I chose a button on the machine at random and it filled up my card.