元気いっぱい？
Genki ippai?
So I have been trying to teach myself Shodou (Japanese/Chinese calligraphy). I guess it is really Chinese but Shodou is the Japanese name. The classes havn't matterialised yet. I was told there were classes every thursday, however it is not as simple as that. They were asking me if I wanted to take a test, and I could do that by mail from tokyo and how was Friday for lessons. I just want to practice a little bit for fun! The book on Shodou I got is pretty good though.

What else, ah all this studying has made me short sighted. No really! My left eye was a little short sighted before, but my right compensated and I could never not read anything or notice it unless I spent some time alternately closing one eye. But only after a few weeks of study I noticed a huge difference and I am quite short sighted now, I am pretty sure I would need glasses to drive if I took an eye test right now. It is a little worrying!

My new teachers are very genki ippai (full of beans), we had a marathon karaoke session after the welcome party on friday, it lasted until around 3am!

The knowledge that I am leaving soon(ish) and all this planning on what to do in the future is having a curious affect on my motivation here. On one hand I have more energy, I realise that my time is finite here so I want to make the most of it. However on the other hand my brain is full of future plans and Izena has almost been relegated to the past now, it is not something to invest my energies in because I will be leaving. Hopefully I go out with a bang!

However again due to having internalised the knowledge I am leaving I am starting to notice all the things about Japan that would be appear strange to people at home. The have TV shows that showcase experts who go into great detail on how to use a watering can, or how to walk up stairs! My favourite was a martial arts expert who demonstrated, at great length, the best technique to carry a handbag, his technique was based on the use of the katana (刀 - medium sized Japanese sword). Do Japanese people who come to the UK mock our feeble handbag carrying skills? In the course of my studies I had a unit on how national culture affects the business environment. Japan was rated by one fellow as a very masculine culture. 'Really?!' I thought. Later that night at the teachers party I noticed that all the men were sitting outside drinking while the female teachers were inside cooking, they went straight into the kitchen as soon as they arrived. Yeah...pretty masculine.

Today was the opening ceremony at the Junior High and the welcome ceremony for the new first year students. They all looked so small and cute in their Junior High uniforms! Sush I am a guy AND I can use the word cute! I will work on keeping their shogakusei genk intact!

Alright,
Craig out!