Classes seem to actually be getting into what they're supposed to be teaching now. Which means my business communication class suddenly became immensely difficult. I had to write about my strengths and weaknesses as a worker. I don't even know the answer in english. I guess I forgot that I could just b.s. it. Oh well, that's what homework is for. I'm taking so many classes though, I have to be careful what lies I tell to who…
Which will be a problem because I'm woefully disorganized. Not as bad as another guy in the class who was working furiously on a homework sheet. That had nothing to do with the class… But I'm still pretty bad. I need a few more notebooks, probably, and should actually care about where I put my handouts. I'll get it eventually, I guess.
Literature is equally difficult and easy. The Prof goes through things so slowly it's as though time itself has slowed down. However, he also tends to skip randomly to different places in the readings, or to whatever kind of story he wants to tell at the time. It's kind of frustrating. That, and he hasn't gotten over his hayfever yet. I don't know if he actually will, which is kind of distressing. The worst part is that when he gets really excited about something (in a Japanese way), he just gets really quiet and whispers it. I had a hard time telling that's what was happing for the first few classes. I guess the Japanese get excited in different ways. In the US, we get all high-pitched, or start talkingreallyreallyfast. But the professors here in Japan tend to get quiet, and use slightly more emphatic words, but it's still really hard to tell.
No issue getting back today. Though, it started raining about halfway, so I had to buy an umbrella. It's completely unheard of in Japan to walk in the rain without one, and Mama's neighbors would think she's neglecting me if they saw me walking around without one. There's a lot of social pressure here in japan (or so I hear from people who've been here longer), so doing things like going out without a jacket or umbrella when it's cold or raining will make my host family look bad. I also got this candy. It was supposed to be green tea flavored, but it was really mild, and mostly white-chocolate tasting:
Speaking of host family, papa came home today! His voice still sounds terrible, but thankfully it seems he is well enough to come home. It was a little awkward sitting with him in the dining room while mama and Miri fixed dinner, and Sabi was upstairs cleaning. But he was quiet, and we watched weird Japanese television together, occasionally chatting and laughing. I'm trying to be downstairs more, spend more time with the family. It's one of the best ways to get better at Japanese, or so everyone keeps telling me.
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