January 27

It was another school day today. I got up as usual, but this time with quiche! お母さん turned on a kid’s TV show and asked if I wanted to watch it because it had easy Japanese. I gave a non-committal answer and it was left on the television. I felt a bit silly glancing at it every once in a while and then felt utterly ridiculous when there was a segment in English for kids. I did, however, get to see the Rube Goldberg part of ピタクラスイチ in its original glory on TV, but I had to go to school right after, so I got the embarrassing experience and nothing more.

Class started late today (as it always does on Tuesdays). It gave me a chance to study for the 漢字 (my weakest point) quiz. I was planning on catching my regular train to class, but I ended up being too late and caught the next one (with Keily). When we got to the めいじょ line and the train opened, a stream of little elementary students, all in uniform and mostly with (surgical) masks emerged. It was quite a sight.

Class was rather uneventful, until we started going over masculine and feminine speech. I chose the tomboy approach. Afterward, we worked with plain and ます／です form. We had a good time because the 先生 at the time decided to imitate the other 先生 so that we could practice the more formal speech. It was entertaining at the least.

After Japanese, I had はんが. It was a bit embarrassing because I had not put much effort into my design and the resulting woodblock showed it. We spent the entire class period carving, and not much else happened.

After the ride home, I went to do my laundry and お母さん instructed me that I had done it wrong on Sunday (of course). I hadn’t opened one of the valves in the water line, so the dirty water didn’t leave and there was the possibility of pipes bursting. Luckily, it didn’t seem to have happened, but I felt stupid for making the mistake (and for not being able to follow what お母さん was saying when she was explaining it.

I’m hoping I can relax and get over my embarrassment for the rest of the evening. I got most of my homework for the week done last night and today between classes, so I have a good chance.

It looks like I can’t get anything right. I went to pick up my clean clothes at the prescribed time, and I couldn’t understand what the machine was saying; it was flashing an analog “u” and “14.” As it turned out, (after asking お母さん) I had not opened the water valve. I was suspicious before when I started the laundry and checked it, finding it to be tight, but I figured since お母さん didn’t say anything when I asked if it was open (easily misconstrued as the statement “it is open” since there is a difference between the statement and the question of only one syllable) that it was alright. Luckily, the problem was easily fixed, and the rest of the washing process went smoothly.

For dinner, we had 焼きそば with shrimp, squid, and vegetables. We also had the Japanese version of split-pea soup. I think I ate too much. For dessert, we had eclairs (with chocolate that actually tasted like chocolate!). Once again, Japan knows sweets. お母さん asked me if I only bought 昼ご飯 at 南山大学, and I told her that I did. In response, she told me to buy sweets while I was there since I liked them and they are easy to come by at the convenience store. I don’t want to seem like a mooch, but I’d rather eat sweets when お母さん gives them to me than at lunch too because I don’t want to overdose (though it’s probably too late).

Japan report; yes, they do wear masks when they are sick. It’s not that weird either, except for one time when I saw a man wearing one and due to the contour of his face, it looked like there was no nose under the mask. Also, some people wear them when they are not sick, specifically when they are on the 地下鉄 (and probably the buses too). The rationale is; in confined spaces of soon-to-be/already sick people, it is a good preventative measure to wear the mask to prevent oneself from getting sick.