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

Here's something that you can't say in Chicago in the middle of January:  I actually had to get out of the house today to get warm!  This house (and I know I've said this before, but I have to reiterate it 'cause its just too unbelievable) is colder than being outside.  And last night, we were just using our air conditioner (which does do heat, but not when the temperature outside drops to below freezing, which it apparently was last night), so when I awoke I realized that the temperature in the room was about seven degrees colder than it usually is - only 15 degrees Celcius (math whizzes please tell me how much that is in Farenheit).  We sleep on the floor, on a futon, and even with a down comforter and an electric blanket, I couldn't get warm.  So, today I went out for a walk - me and almost the entire geriatric population of Fuji.  Its amazing how many old people I see during my walks, (because of course how many people my age are out and about walking at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday?) and most of the time I wish I could just hide behind sunglasses.  The old people are probably nice, but for the most part they either avoid looking at me, or (usually its the older women) they look at me like I'm something the cat dragged in.  Since I usually avoid eye contact, I was shocked today when a young woman (maybe in her early 20s) looked at me, smiled and said "Konnichiwa" very pleasantly - I almost passed her by without even nodding, and then I would have been really embarrassed.  Luckily I had looked at her, knowing she was young, so I was able to smile and nod before she passed by.  And then surprisingly, not even five minutes later, an older woman smiled at me and said "Konnichiwa" too.  I was so happy!  But it does demonstrate two things:  1)  first of all, there is a huge generation gap here in terms of reactions to foreigners.  Of course the older people lived through, or just after, WWII and have their own ideas about the U.S. - and they just are not accustomed to seeing foreigners in their daily lives.  YOung people, on the other hand, are more worldly and more open-minded in general, wanting to learn English and traveling to foreign countries.  So its natural to assume that younger people wouldn't be so afraid to talk to a foreigner.   and 2) I realized, after the older woman said hello to me that maybe it would do to look at everyone and smile, and if they don't smile back, then to he** with them!!

Anyway,  it did feel so good to get out and walk for an hour, and I deliberately took routes that would involve lots of hills.  Its been so gorgeous the last couple of days - Fuji-san is covered with snow and its been sunny and clear.  I took some photos of the sun setting on Fuji-san yesterday so once I get them on my photo site, I'll get one on here too.

Today I was lucky in that two of my students canceled, so I taught the remaining student by herself.  She's the Korean girl, named Won Jin, and though she's only six, she's really smart!  I hardly had enough to teach her for an hour because everything was so easy for her.