Rhuminations

I really like my adult classes in Tendo. They're not classes through my employer, they just have the contract to provide the teacher; and the classes are for fun. My wednesday class, we always just sit around chatting, it's great. Sometimes I go 'okay let's finish this chapter' or section or topic, so we try, but we always veer off course. My Friday class is not as comfortable, but when they make comments in Japanese I always make a face and say "Whaaaat?" It sounds corny, but they always laugh and try to explain. I find it amusing that the class that has difficulty just chatting is supposed to be the one that is more advanced. They all help me find out so many useful things; i learned the difference between and particulars about sukiyaki and shabushabu (sukiyaki is a pot with soysauce, vinegar, dashi, water for broth, where you dump in a plate of meat and vegetables; after it cooks, you dip an item from the pot in raw egg and then eat it. raw eggs in japan are very popular and safe. shabushabu (their version of 'swish, swish') is just a pot of water, with either meat or fish put in it (i think one at a time)); about strange places to visit (there's a mountain near tendo with a depression in it, and in that depression are lots of little holes that cold air comes out); and that the only thing japanese people eat with a spoon (specifically a chinese spoon) is a dish called chawanmushi (basically a savoury egg custard with mushroom, green onion, maybe some other tasty stuff), because it is impossible to eat with chopsticks (the chinese version is just egg, much plainer and less tasty). I bought a manga book i was drooling over a while ago even though I had no clue what it was about, simply because it looked cool. They informed me the title was 'black butler'. I'm very excited to translate it. it will be so worth it.

I went to another Onsen a few days ago, it was also awesome. It was the middle of the afternoon and therefore deserted, so I had the whole place to myself. There was an inside bath and an outside bath (rotemburo), but I was escorted to the inside one, and I didn't know you couldn't get from one to the other. That's all right, I'll be going back, and will go to the outside one next time. I wished I had brought my camera since it was so empty. It was a pretty little tiled room, and the water was oooo so hot. I went in for as long as I could, came out and cooled off, then went back in; I ended up having to take a few cold showers so I could go back in, because I was so warmed to my core that it would have taken a few hours sitting in the room to be able to go back in again.

Dane recieved a gift from one of his students; she had recently purchased a new car, and it came with some emergency rations (hardly suprising for the Japanese). She gave him a can of bread. (not suprising for the Japanese, but still suprising to me). This bread, ended up being intensely orange flavored (if it's an emergency, it might be your last meal, can't have plain bread, right?) and very can shaped. I wonder if they put the dough in the can, sealed it, and then baked it? Where would the air have gone? Oh well, haha.

Come December 20th, Dane will have a vehicle; he will be purchasing this car from the teacher he replaced here. So holidays, here we come! We have about a week and a half off. I wonder where we'll go. We should totally go south, so it's warm enough to sleep in the car, and just go to an onsen every day to get clean (it's customary in Japan to wash yourself before going into the bath, so that you don't sit in your own dirt, so there's little wash stations everywhere). It would be fun! Haha.

I signed up for a wwoof membership (willing workers on organic farms); in exchange for helping on a farm, I get to stay with a Japanese family and get fed. I'm very excited about it. Also, very excited about moving to Tendo at the end of the month; it's much smaller, and therefore easier to get places; also, much prettier I think. I will also be able to take a whole bunch of classes, like calligraphy, flower arrangement, hiphop, ink painting, pottery, and so on. I hope. :)