Omedeto Gozaimasu!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my loved ones!

I'm leaving for Tokyo in 3 days...as Dawn said, the countdown has begun! Aside from seeing two of my dearest friends who live in Tokyo, spending New Years Eve with some of my favorite people in the world and just enjoying the general splendor that is Tokyo, I'm excited about the fact that...after five months...I'm actually going to get my hair cut.
Dawn found a English speaking salon - and we'll be heading there immediately after we get off the train in Tokyo. Nothing like starting the New Year with a fabulous new do.

Speaking of Dawn - she recently had the audacity to be thoughtful enough to write me a beautiful card for Christmas, so I've decided that the only way I can hope to reciprocate is to make a public announcement of how dear this girl is to me. So here goes...

Before I left for Japan, the one thing I prayed more fervently about than anything (besides not dying on the plane ride over) was that God would pick the perfect person to be my co-worker. It's scary to think that you'll be spending a year with one person who will probably be the ONLY person in your town who speaks English. And what God brought me was more than I had even thought to ask for. In four months, Dawn has become one of my best friends. She is witty, charming, funny, intelligent, hard-working, gorgeous and adventerous.
She's become my partner in crime for everything...from an afternoon romp through Okazaki park, to a mysterious grape picking outing with people we don't even know, to endless inappropriate conversations at work to just laying on my bedroom floor laughing 'til our sides hurt. In these last few months...I've been through a lot. I am certain God knew I would be and that I would need a companion like Dawn to be there with me to listen to my fears and concerns, to literally pick up the pen when I didn't know what to write, to offer advice (whether in the more ethereal or just...grabbing my arm and showing me) and to help me see that I'm not alone or crazy (though perhaps a bit of a moron).
In case she doesn't realize it - I adore her, pray for her everyday and (as she said) will be there for her, no matter what happens.

So there. Now she knows. And so does everyone else.

Goodnight. :)

Jishin!

I have been informed that since I am no longer sick or particularly tired that my blog is in need of an update.

So...here it is.

A few nights ago, as I was settling into bed (aka, the floor) I felt the entire building rock violently. It was so brief, but so intense, I was certain something had hit the building or that a gas pipe had exploded. After calling Dawn (and waking her up, poor thing) to make sure it wasn't her apartment that had just exploded, I saw an announcement pop up on the TV saying that a 3.2 earthquake had just hit the area.

Hmm, my first earthquake in Japan.

This evening, in my second to last class of the day, as I was drilling my students yet again on the difference between "how much" and "how many" ....I felt the floor begin to shudder. As a resident of Chicago, I'm used to the floor shuddering. If you live near an el or where trucks pass by or where the Blue Angels fly over you, then your floor will occasionally shudder. It wasn't until both my students leapt up, started shouting "JISHIN!" (EARTHQUAKE!) and dove under the table that I realized that it wasn't just a big truck rolling by.

So, there's my update. It's not particularly interesting, but it's what I've got for now.

Christmas is rapidly approaching but in the scope of all that is happening, I can hardly even comprehend its existance. Yet somehow, I've managed to become involved in throwing (hardly "throwing" - we're just going to a local pub) a Christmas party for friends in the area. I'm hoping that taking the time to sit and relax with friends will finally put me in the Christmas spirit.

Then one week later, it's off to Tokyo. I realized a while ago, this will be my second New Years in a row that will be celebrated in some fabulous, foreign city. Last year Athens, this year Tokyo...
Hmmmm, I wonder if I can keep up the tradition.

nap time is for grown ups...

I have officially been sane for over 48 hours. Sadly, that's a record for me as of late.
So now I'm registered as exhausted. I'm fighting yet another cold...and the recent 2 day downpour isn't helping any.
The weekend was fantastic...Sunday's all day, girls only shopping trip to Nagoya was much needed therapy. Then Monday was a tour of the local Miso factory, some much needed cleaning and then dinner at my favorite Korean restaurant. If I wasn't so mind numbingly tired and sick, I'd probably think this week was going really well.
Basically, I just need a nap. A 24 hour nap...

Arden: Take Two

My current "mood" has been set at "sane" for the last few days. Of course, I have spent those last few days proving that to be utterly incorrect. I'm not changing it, though, until it's true. Thankfully, the weekend has at last arrived so I'm hoping that with some shopping therapy and a lot of sleep, I will be able to piece my sanity back together.

Dawn and I have adopted, and often use, the term "Igmflie Moment" (That's pronounced ig-mah-flee) to describe those times when you just want to shout "I'm Glad My First Language Is English!" (Thus, IGMFLIE)

Because of my job, I am CONSTANTLY amazed at how language works and how humans learn it.

For instance...if you're looking into a neighborhood and you want to find out about the crime level and the number of schools in the area, what would you say?

"Is there much crime in the area?" and the answer might be "Yeah, there's a little."

but for schools, you would ask

"Are there many schools in the area?" to which the reply could be "Yes, there are a few."

Now...how come it's the same type of question and the same type of response, but for one you use "Is there much" and reply "a little" but the other gets "Are there many" and the answer is "a few."

I'll leave you to ponder, if you don't already know.

The point is, you just...KNOW, right? Did anyone ever sit you down and explain the correct time to use Many vs. Much and the correct quantifiers for each? I doubt it. We just kind of picked it up along the way. Which is pretty freaking crazy.

And as I spent my second week in a row attempting to teach this to my high level students, I couldn't help but think...IGMFLIE.

Frostbitten

Before coming to Japan, I vaguely remembered that, thanks to complete lack of insulation in Japanese buildings, it tends to be very...very cold inside when it gets cold outside.
This is no longer a vague memory but a daily reality. I've started setting my alarm fifteen minutes earlier in the morning, so that I can turn on my heater and hide under my blankets until the room warms up. Despite being on the second floor, my apartment floor is icy to the touch. Which is great....because I sleep on the floor.

The strange thing is, it's not THAT cold outside. It's only 48 degrees right now, but inside it feels about 20. Dawn and I got our heating bills this afternoon and nearly passed out with shock. It's going to be a lonnggg, expensive winter...

Speaking of Dawn, she brilliantly suggested that after surviving weeks of work and personal stress, we shed our weekend plans of chores and errands and instead, go out for a day in the big city. So we're off to Nagoya on Sunday for a day of shopping, sightseeing and eating...and free from any talk about work, boys or life after Japan. Basically, it sounds like heaven and I've started my countdown...