Ups and Downs.

Hello, again readers!  It's WR this week.

I've been moving at a strange, stutter-step sort of pace for the last two weeks; alternating between incredibly (if semi-voluntarily) busy at work and studying my butt off for the GRE, which I take in exactly one week.  [Gulp.]  This will be my second time taking the GRE, and this version is entirely different than the one I took almost 5 years ago.  To be honest, I like this version a lot more.  But that still doesn't mean that I like it.

The good news about studying for the GRE is that I learn a whole bunch of interesting words.  I love learning new words, especially ones that are bizarrely specific.  Such as:

Defenestrate (v.) - To throw something out or through a window.

Winnow (v.) - To sift through what is unwanted and keep that which is valuable.

Pulchritude (n.) - Physical beauty, especially that of a female.

In memorizing the new words, I've taken to thugifying (v.) them in context.  It makes it much easier to remember.  For example, "Yo, girl... your pulchritude is off the chaaain."  Or, "Imma winnow through your phone contacts, removing them bitches and hoes."  It gives the words sticking power, I think.  You won't forget pulchritude now, will you?

I also really like this comic, which demonstrates "defenestrate" with a funny, RPG twist.

So, yes.  I've been studying a lot.  And, with all the time-requirements that have been demanded of me in the past weeks, I've not done much worthy of an epic blog post.  Today, I'll just give you a taste of my week; in all it's random ups and downs.

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UP:  My desk-neighbor art teacher is AWESOME.

My desk-neighbor (separated by one desk, between us) is Akahoshi-sensei.  She's the sweetest, kindest little thing, and I adore her.  She's young, around 25, and she's a very talented artist, with a habit of leaving wonderful little doodles around.

Like a Zombie Pikachu on a Post-it.

She doesn't speak much English, so we communicate mostly in Japanese (or with exaggerated gestures and sounds).  But, after seeing this awesome little doodle... I finally caved and asked her to draw me something. 

For her canvas, I gave her my newly purchased Japanese notebook, which I use to practice grammar points by writing original (if sometimes crude or silly) sentences.  For example, in using the "kara" form, meaning "because" or "since," I wrote this sentence (which may or may not be perfectly grammatically correct, for the record).

金持ちの人ですから、私はあなたと結婚します。

Kanemochi no hito desu kara, watashi wa anata to kekkon shimasu.

"Because you are rich, I will marry you."

So, yeah.  I'm thugifying (v.) my Japanese, basically.  Anyway.  I asked her to draw something, anything she liked, on my notebook.  I told her that I'd be more likely to study if I had something cute to motivate me on the cover.  She was very flattered, and took the notebook from me with a big smile.  A few days later, I came to work to find this on my desk:

Front ridiculously cute cover.

Back ridiculously cute cover.

Amazing, right?  I love it.  I LOOOOOOVE it.  It made my whole day.  And it has actually made me want to study more, so hooray!

DOWN:  Japan's rainy season sucks.

If you don't know, it's rainy season here in Japan.  That means hot, humid, rainy, gross-grossness.  It means soggy feet that never fully dry, and sweat in places you never thought possible.  It means getting sweat stains on your WORK SLACKS; the kind of stains that we, in America, reserve for GYM CLOTHES.  

It means carrying a folding fan and sweat rag with you, wherever you go.  It means a horde of bugs moving into your apartment.  It means you must keep constant track of your umbrella, or you may end up being f'ed on your way home from work.

It means this:

Now, it's probably hard to tell, but that water is about 4 inches deep where it hits the car's tires, and the gutter along the side of the road is about 8 or 9 inches deep and almost full to the top (not to mention that the gutter has large drainage holes on every panel, 12 inches apart).  That's a lot of rain.

But, as much as I hate rainy season, the plant-life here requires it.  So, I'll just wring out my underwear after work, and try to keep my grumbling to quiet English only.

UP & DOWN:  Japanese class enkai.

This week my Japanese class held their annual Graduation & Sayounara party.  It was a lot of fun, and the food was phenomenal, but... it's still hard to say goodbye.

After the departing ALTs gave their speeches (all in Japanese!  Way to go, guys!), the members of the beginner class, including myself, performed a comedic skit in basic Japanese.  It starred us as ourselves, as well as paper-and-chopstick puppets for the other characters.  

Yeah, we like to keep it classy.

"It's... it's.... MILLER-SAN!"

"The Hero of the Seinen Center!  Yattaaaaaa!"

People enjoyed it, I think.  We got to poke fun at our super-sweet (and always a little late) teacher, and it was a good practice for me in writing Japanese.

 

But still, the party was sort of a downer, in a way.  The year has really gone by so quickly.  It's hard to think that, in a few short weeks, there'll be new people arriving who are just as terrified and overwhelmed as I was.  And some of my friends will back in their home countries.  I'll likely never see them in person again.  

Sobering, ne?

UP:  School cafeteria food is good.

Yep.   It's really good.  $4.00 for green tea, a heaping pile of rice (with egg, seaweed, herbs, and mushrooms), two slices of fried pork (with a tartar-like sauce), a shredded cabbage salad, and an onion-carrot-chicken broth.  And, at $4.00, it's one of the more expensive things on the menu.

Yummy.  Friday's lunchtime feast.

I don't often have time to eat a full, leisurely meal in the cafeteria.  But, this Friday, I made the time.  And it was well-spent.  Not only did I enjoy eating the delicious meal, shown above, but two students came and sat with me and we talked in English for almost an hour.  Neither of them are in any of my classes, either, so it was great to get to know them better.

A nice way to end the work week, I'd say.

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Well, as rambling as this has been, I hope you enjoyed it.  For now, I've got to get back to laundry and GRE studying before I go to another epic farewell party tonight, in downtown Tenjin.  Ups and downs, right?  Ups and downs.

Thanks for reading!  And don't forget to feed the fish!
WR

Vocolo. . . wha?

Tis DW this week with the first installment from my temporary home in the land of salty lakes and mormons.

So before I unleash a barrage of pictures upon you all, I should probably take at least a minute to explain what it is I'm doing here.  I'm currently taking part in an extended summer certificate program called the Summer Vocology Institute put on by the National Center for Voice and Speech.  To answer the question that no doubt just popped into your head, vocology is the science and practice of voice habilitation, especially as it pertains to those who use their voice professionally. 

The primary instructor for the SVI is Ingo Titze, a voice scientist from The University of Iowa who has been involved in an incredible amount of research in this area.  The course for the first block is "Principles of Voice Production", and given the name and the instructors background in physics and engineering is unsurprisingly technical.  Chapter topics range from the enticing "Fluid Flow in Respiratory Airways" to the alluring "Biomechanics of Laryngeal Tissue", and of course I await with bated breath "Fluctuations and Perturbations in Vocal Output".  

In all seriousness, however, I have already learned a great deal, and what wasn't new acted to reinforce topics from speech science and other courses I've taken in the past.  It's also been fun to view professional vocal production through an incredibly sciencey (it's a word) lens.

The workload is hefty, covering a chapter of that anything-but-fluffy material each day, with daily homework, and a test a week.  But given the hellish spring semester we all faced as first year SLPs it really doesn't seem to bad.  Especially considering it's only a single topic to focus on.  So, I've been trying to use the spare time I have to make new friends, and explore the town a bit.  And now begins the picture barrage!

The first thing I saw when I got off the plane in Salt Lake City was a strikingly familiar site.

Apparently there are a handful of these in various airports around the country, who knew?  Wikipedia apparently.

The similarities ended there.

what are those strange lumps in the distance?

The lumps get closer . . . ominous

The light rail made it an easy trip to my new home . . . in the dorms of The University of Utah.

yeah I never thought I'd be back to this.

a mite nicer than my old dorm.

The student center right by where we live complete with dorm style dining commons.

 To be completely fair apart from the bed and the fact that it didn't come with any kitchen supplies besides a stove and a fridge, this is a far cry from my split room dorm at Iowa.  The buildings were part of the Olympic Village back in the day, and each apartment has 4 private locking rooms, two bathrooms, a full size kitchen, and an odd and slightly dysfunctional living space.  The campus however is pretty picturesque.

if only you could hear the gajillion magpies screeching their cacophony.

lots of cute old buildings, that may date back from the original Fort Douglas, now just a few blocks down.

The ped bridge leading to the light rail and the rest of campus

more pretty

You can barely make out my dorm back up in the distance

The music building where most of our classes are held.

So you may have noticed in that second to last picture that the dorm seems tucked right back up in the foothills.  Yeah, this campus is completely built on an incline and it is also pretty isolated from the rest of town.  The 1.5 mile walk from the dorm to the music building features a 300+ foot elevation loss, a trend which continues for another mile or so toward the downtown area putting my home at about 650 feet above city center which is already a respectable 4300ft above sea level.  Needless to say my legs were mad at me most of last week for all the walking/running I did.  But that didn't stop me from making it down town to see Temple square.

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, I think it's a hotel.

the mothership

they sure do like their white stone and ornate details

A mormon monument . . . a mormonument?

featuring some very unmormon-like symbols

I also took some time last weekend when studying for a test to lounge around outside at Liberty Park, which was delightful.

Well said placard . . . well said.

The view out of the park with the town off into the distance

just a lil' greenspace here.

If only the park had a good natural backdrop

a lil' panorama for a lil' lake

On the walk back to the light rail I happened upon an old rail station which had been converted into a mall.

I even got a little baking in, in the name of a potluck this coming Saturday.

a flour in the desert

Lastly, it was one of the girls in the program's birthday this past Tuesday so we went to a free outdoor big-band / swing dancing concert they were having downtown.  While the days may be hot and dry as a bone, that makes the nights near perfect and bug free.  The only thing it was missing was a dance inhibition removing beverage . . . silly Utah.

the bandshell complete with natural spotlight

Some of my new friends who graciously allowed me to kneecap them repeatedly while dancing.

Ok, with that I should get back to some school work, as I still have some headway to make this eve.  

Thanks as always for reading, and don't forget to feed the fish!

DW

Pottery Part Deux: The Return to Akizuki.

Hello again, readers!  It's WR this week.

Remember back to Golden Week?  That epic string of mini-adventures I wrote about?  Well (if you don't remember), during the vacation, I went to Akizuki and made pottery with a few of my friends.  The cups and plates and candle-thingies we slaved over sat for several weeks, hardening or... something.  I'm not sure.  Then, they were glazed to perfection and baked in a kiln.

So.  You know what that means...? 

The Amagi Line!  Platform, this way!

 Back to Akizuki we go, to pick up our creations! 

Amagi Station.  A tile mural thing.

This time, there were only three of us making the trip.  We decided to make the best of it, though, by exploring a new part of the town and hitting some different tourist sites than we saw in our first visit.  Unfortunately, rainy season had just begun (stupid, but totally-ecologically-necessary rainy season!).  But we ladies refused to let a little drizzle keep us down!  (Insert "Success Kid" Face.)

First thing on the list of things we were told we just HAD to do in Akizuki (but were unable to do the first time around) was eat kuzukiri, cold-served arrowroot noodles.  So, we found a highly-recommended, allegedly-famous shop just off the main drag.  It was gorgeous inside.

Pretty, ne?

The menu!

The three of us each ordered the standard noodles, shown in the upper right photo, above.  Below, you can see what arrived.  The noodles are in the middle (served on ice, with a cherry blossom).  The dipping sauce is on the left, and a plate of picked something-or-other is on the right. 

 

Now.  Here's where I need to give you a little more information: All we were told about kuzukiri was that they were "noodles" which were "famous in Akizuki."  And we, probably like most Westerners, assumed that noodles would be a savory sort of meal.  So, we thought, when we ordered, that we were about to eat lunch.

Not so much.

It turns out that kuzukiri is a dessert.  A strange, cold, jello-like, sickeningly sweet dessert.  We decided to do a little photo-journalism to capture the experience of eating it for the first time.  Enjoy.

"I'm not so sure about this, you guys..."

"Finally caught the slippery little bastard!"

"Wait, should this taste like... this?"

"Maybe, uhh... maybe the pickles will help..."

(Actual candid shot.)

"Whew.  Finished.  This is what adventure tastes like."

Despite the look on my face in shot #5, I think if you were suitably prepared, kuzukiri would actually be quite good.  But, for us three rained-on and starving girls, cold-molasses-and-pickled-greens-jello-soup was not exactly what we had in mind when we walked in.

Regardless, we had places to go!  Things to do!  So, we spread our touristy map (in English!) across the table and formed a plan. 

We made our own Akizuki walking tour!  We stopped at a nearby temple, a few local shops, a fantastic flea market, a preserved samurai-family house and museum, and of course, our final destination; the pottery cafe.

As always, here are the photo highlights!

Imakouji Bridge.

Gorgeous, rainy temple grounds.

More temple grounds.

The temple itself, I think.

We took brief shelter from the steadily increasing rain inside a quirky little cafe & shop.  We browsed both the downstairs lobby and the upper loft, discovering some interesting treasures along the way.

Movie posters!

An old, beautiful map of Kyushu.

Artfully-tacky, old-timey cards.

A cute shot of Natalie, as we descended.

Then, after another short and soppy walk, we came to the Akizuki Flea Market.  This place was amazing.  I probably snapped a hundred pictures inside.  There were so many interesting things!  I mean, it was everything I adore about American Flea Markets, but with a completely different cultural twist.  A combination of completely familiar and totally foreign.  I loved it.

While shopping, I started a conversation with an older gentleman that worked there.  In Japanese.  Okay, well... he really started the conversation... and it was in very simple Japanese... but I found out that he was born in the city where I live (Chikushino).  So, we talked about restaurants that we like, and the neighborhood I live in, and what I do in Japan, and where I'm from, and when he moved to Akizuki, etc., etc... ALL IN JAPANESE.  Bam! 

The guy even gave me a discount on a necklace I was buying!  [Note:  In certain places in Japan, like Flea Markets, there is a widespread "haggle" culture.  Now, I don't participate in this at all, because I'm terrified of misjudging a haggle-atmosphere and offending someone when I don't have the language to gracefully and/or desperately apologize.  So, really, by giving me a discount, I assume that he was basically haggling on my behalf.  I even tried to talk him back up in price, but he was a very good haggler and wouldn't have any of it.]

Anyway, it was great.  And here's a few select photos.

I laugh every single time.

Every shelf, full of tiny wonders!

Kero-kero!

Once we'd shopped our fill, we continued onward toward the next stop on the tour.  As we walked, we paused near the entrance of a cafe (one side of the street) and a restaurant (the other side of the street) to check our progress on the map.  The rain was coming down harder now and, as one of us accidentally left her umbrella in Amagi station, we were all huddled under 2 small umbrellas. 

(We also happened to be huddling near this bucket of tomatoes for sale, which I show you for no reason at all, other than the fact that I think it's a really cute picture.  No surprise; the sign reads, in katakana, "Tomatoes.")

"To-ma-to."

But I digress.  So.  A local man, presumably the owner of one of the shops, saw us standing there in the pouring rain and ran away across the street, through the downpour, saying, "ちょっと待って," ("Wait a minute.")  He came back a moment later with an umbrella for us.  We told him that we wouldn't be coming back this direction, so we couldn't return it.  But, he insisted.  We thanked him again and again and continued on our way.

A few moments later, us now farther down the road, he calls out to us again.  We turned, and there he was; running up the street with a bigger, nicer umbrella.  He said something about the other one being too small and cheap.  We said about a zillion ありがとうございました's, to which he just grinned boyishly and waved his hand in that dismissive gesture that I've come to know so well.  Oh, Japan.  Sometimes, you can be really, really kind.

A bit more walking in the rain, and we arrived at our next stop; Bukeyashiki, the samurai house and museum.  It was a gorgeously preserved old-style Japanese house and garden.  And, given the weather, we had the whole place to ourselves!  Here are a few photos.

Looking out toward one of the gardens.

A garden off one of the first floor, main-hall rooms.

Very Seussian looking, no?

Photos & relics of the samurai family.

Then, we left the museum and made the last, short walk to the pottery cafe.  It was as beautiful and cozy as I remembered it, and I told the owners repeatedly that I was moving in.  (They seemed okay with it, actually.)  At last, our lovely pottery teacher brought out our bounty, one piece at a time. 

Look at all them pretty bowls!

We were thrilled that nothing broke, or cracked, or exploded in the kiln, as is always a possibility with noob-pottery-makers like us.  And I was especially pleased that nothing fell or broke off of my design, which was a precarious one.  It looks beautiful with the light green glaze!

Ta-daaaa!  Finished candle-thingie!

Eleanor poses with her pretty bowl.

Pottery safely wrapped and stowed, we trudged back into town, boarded the bus to Amagi, and ventured back to Fukuoka (where... funny enough... we all went to the same birthday potluck party, that night).

So, Akizuki.  Part Deux.
A wet day.  A tiring day.  But a really, really great one.

Thanks for reading, everyone!  And don't forget to feed the fish!
WR