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