April 19- 25, 2010
We went to Taiko on Tuesday and learned just how large our group is when someone commented that, still less than half of the normal group was coming! We practice in a room with 1 solid wall and 3 glass walls, and I'm slightly concerned that we will soon have 1 wall and 3 open windows! It's so loud in the little tiny room I feel like something is going to burst and I'm not sure if it's going to be my brain or the walls! Maybe next week I should take some earplugs! Good thin we only play for 20 minutes at a time and then take a 20 minute break.
I thought my grocery store adventures last week would be my most exciting trip to the grocery store, at least for a little while; but Wednesday, I had my 15 seconds of fame. . . at the grocery store! It's crazy I know, 2 weeks ago the lady lost a car door, last week I got stuck translating imported off-brand pop from America that sells for 40 cents, so what could be more exciting this week you ask?! I was on the news, let me explain! So, Ajigasawa has a very famous 'town dog'.
Meet Wasao!!
On Thursday I was coming home from running errands and as I approached our street I saw 4 police cars and a detective van. As I got closer I saw that the officers were standing around the phone booth that was taped of with crime scene tape. I was so curious and completely shocked; A. I was surprised there was a crime "in the hood" and B. I couldn't figure out what could have possibly happened at the phone booth to warrant this much attention. The detective was fingerprinting the broken glass! When I got into the parking lot of our apartment my neighbor came up to me and asked me if I saw the phone booth and then he said that I should be very careful! I later found out that 2 of the glass walls on the phone booth were broken and the receiver of the phone was stolen. OH NO! Can you believe that this is happening 1 day after town safety day! It's the first crime in a long time! Ok, so I know it's a big deal to everyone here in town, after all everyone is talking about it, but did it really warrant 8 police officers attention, of the 12 total?? If a phone booth was broken in Phoenix, A. I would be surprised if someone even called it in, B. If report was taken, C. if it was noticed/fixed within a week. It's kind of nice to live in a little bubble of 'world' peace! The photo below is from after the police were gone, I didn't want to take a photo while they were there. The phone booth is now wrapped up in blue plastic.
By Friday, the phone booth was fixed! They got on that one, fast! Friday there was vandalism at the high school as well, in the boys bathroom. The students were caught and suspended for several days. I'm sure they will get questioned about the phone booth as well. The common answer to the phone booth crime is that some of the new high-school students are having a hard time adjusting. If only this was the worst of it in America too.
On Friday after Eric got off of work we took a little drive and went to Hirosaki. In our previous adventures in the city we have stumbled past a store with a sign we couldn't read but the icon was that of a fountain pen nib, Eric being the fountain pen fanatic that he is has been quite intrigued! Unfortunately every time we have seen it the shop has already been closed for the night, so this time we headed there first, and it was all worth it because he was open! Eric was looking primarily for a leather pen pouch for his current pen collection, but they were either bright orange and very cheap or extremely fancy with an iconic brand name label, and of course the price tag to go along with it. Eric passed for now, but did trust the shop owner with two of his antique pens that need minor repairs. We'll go back in about 10 days to retrieve them. He also bought a beautiful new color of ink that is a deep green/blue blend, it was the perfect solution to the debate between blue and green ink :) After our little bit of shopping we had an early dinner at our favorite Japanese curry joint and then we piled back in the car and drove home. It was so strange to drive home from Hirosaki in the daylight. We usually end up having a late dinner when we are in Hirosaki because we get so caught up in the amenities of the city, but tonight we managed to steer clear; between our self control and the convenient extension of daylight hours (no we do not have daylight savings time, but now that Winter has ended we have a few more hours of sunshine in our days) we made it home in time for this:
Unfortunately for Eric, he slept almost all day Saturday, fighting off a nasty migraine. I hate seeing him in so much pain, I'm glad when he can sleep them off. I spent the day studying and starring into a computer screen packed with one complex organic structure reacting with the next... The end is SO close! I just want it to be done :)
Recently everywhere we go we see gardening supplies and pretty new flowers for sale, which has left Eric and I very anxious to join in the fun and start planting! Our community is extremely agricultural, everyone has a garden or apple orchard or rice field somewhere! Sometimes they are small and alongside their house, and sometimes they are acres upon acres. Since we live in an apartment we don't have 'our own yard' so we decided we would plant in pots! Even our downstairs neighbors own a plot of land for vegetable gardening. So, we've had the urge to plant some things, in particular cilantro. You can buy coriander here, dried or fresh, but no cilantro. Eric's parents mailed some seeds and we cannot wait until they grow! It's been very very rainy, which has delayed our planting plans but today we decided it was time to form a new plan, a rain friendly one. So today, despite the rain...
The week for me started out with my last midterm for my Organic Chemistry class, now I just have to make it through the dreadfully long final that is a meek 3 weeks away. Then I get to shift the focus of my studies entirely to the masterminding of the MCAT. I am going to kick it's butt!
We went to Taiko on Tuesday and learned just how large our group is when someone commented that, still less than half of the normal group was coming! We practice in a room with 1 solid wall and 3 glass walls, and I'm slightly concerned that we will soon have 1 wall and 3 open windows! It's so loud in the little tiny room I feel like something is going to burst and I'm not sure if it's going to be my brain or the walls! Maybe next week I should take some earplugs! Good thin we only play for 20 minutes at a time and then take a 20 minute break.
I thought my grocery store adventures last week would be my most exciting trip to the grocery store, at least for a little while; but Wednesday, I had my 15 seconds of fame. . . at the grocery store! It's crazy I know, 2 weeks ago the lady lost a car door, last week I got stuck translating imported off-brand pop from America that sells for 40 cents, so what could be more exciting this week you ask?! I was on the news, let me explain! So, Ajigasawa has a very famous 'town dog'.
Meet Wasao!!People traveling in our 'state' of Aomori, who came from all over Japan, often come to our town just to meet this little fuzz-ball. Aparently a few years ago a man from southern Japan met him in our town and went home and blogged about it and called him "so ugly that he's actually cute", and it somehow made it to the news, and now he's famous! There are cell phone charms sold in other cities of him, he is also on Tissue boxes, calendars and T-shirts, Hello Kitty even dressed up as Wasao for Halloween once and there is a stuffed animal to prove it! Personally, I think he's pretty cute. Eric and I had not gone to officially meet Wasao yet. We weren't really avoiding it, I guess the town dog just wasn't too high up on our to-do list... but we do plan to take Eric's parents to meet him while they are here. LONG story short, sorry about the ranting introduction, Wednesday was Town Safety Day and 8 police officers (of the 12 total) were at one of the local grocery stores to promote town safety. The officers brought Wasao along, probably to get people to come talk to them. I was leaving the grocery store and I walked outside and I saw the policemen lined up along with some girls passing out free tissues and Wasao in the middle. I proceeded to my car and I was stopped by an officer who is in our English Club. He asked me to please meet Wasao and I realized it would be rather impudent of me not to, so I obliqued. While I was meeting Wasao I was being asked if I felt safe as a foreigner in our town and if I liked it here, and the news crews captured the whole thing, both for the evening news, and the town newsletter. . . wonderful! To top it all off it was a horrendously windy and rainy day so my hair was of an extra-special nature today. So now, literally everyone knows my name. Maybe people will stop calling me "Eric-San" now. (San is the equivalent of calling someone Mr. or Mrs. and is the same for both males and females.) It is more common for people to go by their last name than their first name in the work place in Japan; however, many of the ALT's go by their first name with the hope that their students will be more comfortable with them. Because people are not familiar with English first and last names they often have no idea which is which. People know that I am Eric-San's wife, and therefore call me "Eric-San" as well. I don't mind, I actually think it's kind of funny.
Wednesday was Eric's first attempt at the Japanese driving test, and unfortunately not his last :/ As I mentioned before the driving test is very very confusing, more confusing than difficult. Eric made it all the way through the course and was then told that he failed, which is a good sign at least. The course instructor has the option of forcing you to stop after your first mistake! Eric was told that he did not follow the proper procedure for making a right hand turn on one of the turns. The problem is that which turn was done incorrectly has been lost in translation... so now we are searching and searching for the right answer. We have been told that when you turn right (remember, for us that is crossing traffic) you should turn into the furthest lane possible, therefore crossing every lane of traffic. Logically, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but we have been observing other drivers quite carefully, especially police officers and it does seem to be the norm. Hopefully we'll figure it out before he tries again in a few weeks.
Wednesday was Eric's first attempt at the Japanese driving test, and unfortunately not his last :/ As I mentioned before the driving test is very very confusing, more confusing than difficult. Eric made it all the way through the course and was then told that he failed, which is a good sign at least. The course instructor has the option of forcing you to stop after your first mistake! Eric was told that he did not follow the proper procedure for making a right hand turn on one of the turns. The problem is that which turn was done incorrectly has been lost in translation... so now we are searching and searching for the right answer. We have been told that when you turn right (remember, for us that is crossing traffic) you should turn into the furthest lane possible, therefore crossing every lane of traffic. Logically, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but we have been observing other drivers quite carefully, especially police officers and it does seem to be the norm. Hopefully we'll figure it out before he tries again in a few weeks.
On Thursday I was coming home from running errands and as I approached our street I saw 4 police cars and a detective van. As I got closer I saw that the officers were standing around the phone booth that was taped of with crime scene tape. I was so curious and completely shocked; A. I was surprised there was a crime "in the hood" and B. I couldn't figure out what could have possibly happened at the phone booth to warrant this much attention. The detective was fingerprinting the broken glass! When I got into the parking lot of our apartment my neighbor came up to me and asked me if I saw the phone booth and then he said that I should be very careful! I later found out that 2 of the glass walls on the phone booth were broken and the receiver of the phone was stolen. OH NO! Can you believe that this is happening 1 day after town safety day! It's the first crime in a long time! Ok, so I know it's a big deal to everyone here in town, after all everyone is talking about it, but did it really warrant 8 police officers attention, of the 12 total?? If a phone booth was broken in Phoenix, A. I would be surprised if someone even called it in, B. If report was taken, C. if it was noticed/fixed within a week. It's kind of nice to live in a little bubble of 'world' peace! The photo below is from after the police were gone, I didn't want to take a photo while they were there. The phone booth is now wrapped up in blue plastic.
By Friday, the phone booth was fixed! They got on that one, fast! Friday there was vandalism at the high school as well, in the boys bathroom. The students were caught and suspended for several days. I'm sure they will get questioned about the phone booth as well. The common answer to the phone booth crime is that some of the new high-school students are having a hard time adjusting. If only this was the worst of it in America too.
On Friday after Eric got off of work we took a little drive and went to Hirosaki. In our previous adventures in the city we have stumbled past a store with a sign we couldn't read but the icon was that of a fountain pen nib, Eric being the fountain pen fanatic that he is has been quite intrigued! Unfortunately every time we have seen it the shop has already been closed for the night, so this time we headed there first, and it was all worth it because he was open! Eric was looking primarily for a leather pen pouch for his current pen collection, but they were either bright orange and very cheap or extremely fancy with an iconic brand name label, and of course the price tag to go along with it. Eric passed for now, but did trust the shop owner with two of his antique pens that need minor repairs. We'll go back in about 10 days to retrieve them. He also bought a beautiful new color of ink that is a deep green/blue blend, it was the perfect solution to the debate between blue and green ink :) After our little bit of shopping we had an early dinner at our favorite Japanese curry joint and then we piled back in the car and drove home. It was so strange to drive home from Hirosaki in the daylight. We usually end up having a late dinner when we are in Hirosaki because we get so caught up in the amenities of the city, but tonight we managed to steer clear; between our self control and the convenient extension of daylight hours (no we do not have daylight savings time, but now that Winter has ended we have a few more hours of sunshine in our days) we made it home in time for this:
Unfortunately for Eric, he slept almost all day Saturday, fighting off a nasty migraine. I hate seeing him in so much pain, I'm glad when he can sleep them off. I spent the day studying and starring into a computer screen packed with one complex organic structure reacting with the next... The end is SO close! I just want it to be done :)Recently everywhere we go we see gardening supplies and pretty new flowers for sale, which has left Eric and I very anxious to join in the fun and start planting! Our community is extremely agricultural, everyone has a garden or apple orchard or rice field somewhere! Sometimes they are small and alongside their house, and sometimes they are acres upon acres. Since we live in an apartment we don't have 'our own yard' so we decided we would plant in pots! Even our downstairs neighbors own a plot of land for vegetable gardening. So, we've had the urge to plant some things, in particular cilantro. You can buy coriander here, dried or fresh, but no cilantro. Eric's parents mailed some seeds and we cannot wait until they grow! It's been very very rainy, which has delayed our planting plans but today we decided it was time to form a new plan, a rain friendly one. So today, despite the rain...
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