it's not life that matters but the journey...

Lots of interesting things have been happening, so I guess I had better get caught up. 

First, I’ll talk about the interesting developments with the weather and the forces of nature.  A few people have asked me if I felt the earthquake that happened in Chiba last Saturday – and in fact, I did.  I was teaching a class at the time, and we felt the table and chairs move just a little – it lasted maybe five seconds or more, and I was afraid it might get worse.  But it was only about a 5.9 magnitude and was centered in Chiba (the location of the Tokyo Narita International Airport), which is a good three to four hours from here.  Still, it was the first earthquake I had felt since I lived up in Humboldt County, California, so it was kind of thrilling. 

The other brush with disaster was the anticipated typhoon that was supposed to roll through our area on Tuesday evening.  The news showed that its path was going to be straight along the coastline near here, which would have really caused some damage – but mid afternoon, it changed course, and headed to Chiba (those poor people!) where it weakened and didn’t cause much damage at all, just lots of rain and wind.  We had torrential rain on Tuesday, but that’s all.  Then the day after that, it was unbelievably hot, probably 36 degrees C (ok, math and science wizards, what is that in F?) – anyway, it was pretty damn hot and almost 100 percent humidity.  Supposedly after a typhoon (which we really didn’t have), it gets extremely hot like that, and it was really clear too.  I could see Mt. Fuji yesterday for the first time in over a month (its usually too hazy or cloudy to see it in the summertime).  Today it’s visible too, and though its hot, I don’t feel its so humid.  An interesting point about Mt. Fuji – last night it was really clear too and when Masahiko was driving me back from the station, we could see several tiny lights in the distance, where Mt. Fuji is.  He said that those were the lights of people who are climbing the mountain at night.  If you climb Fuji, you go at night so that you can reach the top by sunrise.  I tried it when I was here before, but didn’t make it all the way to the top – it was exhausting and very cold, but I think I actually want to do it again!

Tuesday night I got a call from my former Japanese teacher, Noriko, who asked me if I could teach her and her grandson on Wednesday afternoon.  I think I will start teaching them once a week for awhile.  I met Noriko at 1:30 and she bought us some lunch and we went to her house for the lessons.  I ended up teaching her grandson and his two friends (three 7-year-old boys) for one hour, and I gave Noriko a private lesson for about 40 minutes.  She paid me more than the school pays me so it was a nice bonus!  The kids were pretty good students for the most part, but I didn’t really have anything organized so they were kind of daydreaming and chattering a lot in Japanese.  I taught them how to say “I like” and “I don’t like” and the names of colors, foods, sports, and animals. They are very cute  - one boy kept hanging around me and showing me how to use his pokemon game – and another boy is really smart, supposedly the highest in his class.  He caught on quickly to all the words and phrases I taught them.  Noriko’s grandson, Juki, is a bit more shy – and of the three, he is the only one who hasn’t learned any English at all.  I’m looking forward to spending more time with them. 

After the lessons, I still had to go to Shizuoka and teach my three classes from 5-8 p.m.  So I was tired when I got home, but still stayed up and watched TV and read.  I’m trying to watch Japanese TV to see how much I can understand – its still maybe only about 40 percent, but I am getting better!

Tomorrow we are leaving in the morning to drive to Nagano for our weekend at the lake.  It’s about a 4-5 hour drive, so it will be a long day.  We will stay until Monday morning and then drive back, giving us about two and a half days there.  I wish we could stay longer, but both of us have to get back for work – I will teach five hours on Tuesday afternoon and then again Wednesday morning.  And I hope to tutor Noriko and the kids again too.  Also, we hate to leave the cat for too long - Masahiko's parents are here and can feed him and pet him, but he is so spoiled with us here almost all of the time! 

That’s about all that’s been going on here.  I have found that the local library has a fantastic selection of English books, many of the classics which I never read, so I am currently reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm and I also picked up another book by my current favorite author Paulo Coelho.  I am enjoying reading so much these days – I didn’t do it for such a long time.  Of course the more I read, the less I write, so maybe that’s not so good. But since I spend an hour on the train (30 minutes each way) each time I go to Shizuoka for work, I can get a lot of reading done.  I wish I could get my hands on some Harry Potter books - I never read the fifth one, and the sixth just came out, but I don't think they have them here in English.  Oh, well!

I thought I'd share with you the latest encounter that I had with the Japanese insect world - a bug that I found outside the sliding screen door of the second floor balcony - just outside the room where I use the computer.  It was nighttime and I heard this giant bug fly against the screen door.  When it landed, I was able to see it clearly with the light from the room, and I took this picture so that I could ask Masahiko what it is.  He was out that night with friends.  Of course I kept the door closed  and watched it safely from the other side of the sliding glass door.  The bug was at least two inches long, not including the long feelers that you can see.  Masahiko told me its what the Japanese call "kamikiri mushi" - which translates to "paper cut bug" (kami is paper, kiri is cut and mushi is bug - little Japanese lesson for you).  It is so named because if it were to bite you (which it would if you touched it), it would feel like a paper cut.  I couldn't find any information about it online - its related to the asian longhorned beetle, but looks slightly different.