In this email a bunch of observations and
one funny story.Ý First some things that have happened.Ý My apartment
is extremely damp...all the time.Ý So much so that some of my clothes
have mildewed...now that is humid air.Ý One white shirt took a real
"green beating" so I had to take it to the dry cleaners.Ý With pocket
dictionary in hand I went to one.Ý Well of course I had to get a
membership card for the dry cleaners...again memberships are really
big here. To make a long story short they told me it would take 2
weeks to get my one, basic white shirt done.Ý Uh...sorry that just won't
work...I need it within a week (again improvise with one word English combined
with one word Japanese...both by me)...a phone call to someone and then
an "okay"...one week...have I mentioned that things aren't done quickly
here? ÝÝÝ I've seen some great sights the last couple weeks.Ý I had
a day off last week so a couple Japanese girls...women...young ladies
I know along with another ALT went to Nikko.Ý This place is known
throughout Japan as a place to see leaves.Ý Kinda like the Vermont/New
Hampshire of Japan.Ý Well, I wasn't expecting anything close to that,
but I was really amazed...and it might have even beaten the beauty
of any of those states...lots of waterfalls too...I took pictures.Ý
We also visited a few Shinto shrines which were a few hundred years
old...even took some pictures of those...well video at least.Ý Ý
ÝÝÝ A few friends of mine came up a little time ago.Ý We were in
my local McDonald's when a long-haired, teeth missing (the others
were gold), hippee wannabe (I know that isn't an official word) came
up to our table.Ý In a grin that only his mother (or maybe not even
her) could love, he pointed to my friend Rafi and said in what might
have been the only English he knew "You strong, sex, magician"...after
a couple seconds of processing by the four of us we started laughing...he
then walked off.Ý Rafi takes the liberty to remind us about this
and we all laugh...but my question is should he mention that he was
chosen by this man?Ý Almost forgot to mention the fact that this man kept
staring at our table from a far for quite some time.Ý And people say that
there are barriers between East and West...well in a small corner of a
McDonald's in Nakanojo a connection was made.Ý Yes Rafi is in the audience
tonight.Ý Hi Rafi...you strong, sex magician you...but anywho (again that
isn't a typo).Ý ÝÝÝ One day I was teaching...imagine that...well
in one of my classes six of the students had one of those surgical
masks on.Ý I thought there was some flu bug going around or something
since I only thought they wore them when sick.Ý Turns out they wear
them when they are avoiding being sick too.Ý I guess that little mask
works both ways...in this case the students were going to run in some festival
and they didn't want any germs to get to them.Ý ÝÝÝ I forgot to mention
that the highschool girls wear really thick, leg warmer, type socks
with their really short skirts.Ý I also found out that they keep
them half-way up the calf and exactly straight with each other by
gluing them to their legs everyday.Ý Guess that is the style now
though I am told it is fading out.Ý ÝÝÝ The music here consists of
mostly teenage or young adult bands who sound like the Japanese Hanson...so
I rarely turn on the radio.Ý ÝÝÝ Japan doesn't put their clocks
back or forward...so now I am 14hrs ahead of you if you are on the east
coast of America.Ý So it is 4:10pm on Wednesday here and therefore it is
2:10am Wednesday morning there...I am already half way done with the week...envy
me.Ý ÝÝÝ A little while ago I saw this sweater in a pattern book
and I wanted it made.Ý Well I found out that to get it made by a
company would cost over $270!!Ý I mentioned it to a lady at my office
and she asked her knitting teacher if she would do it...she agreed
and I got it yesterday.Ý It took her 10days...40hrs to make this wonderful
thing...I'm no (did that on purpose too) knitting genius, but that is pretty
fast.Ý She only wanted me to pay for the material, and to have a picture
taken of the both of us while I was wearing it.Ý She even thanked me for
the opportunity to make a big size sweater since it was the first time
she has made one that big.Ý Gotta love the Japanese hospitality.Ý
I'll bring the sweater home at Christmas. ÝÝÝ ÝÝÝ