Escape from Okinawa

As wonderful as it is living on a sub-tropical island, sometimes I need to escape. And I did! I went to the mainland for the long weekend. I visited Paul, who lives in Kobe. And along with Paul and some of his friends, I also visited Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara.

We went to Kyoto for the changing-of-the-leaves festival. It was so crowded that there were traffic jams on the sidewalk. But at least the leaves were pretty!

On our walk from Paul's apartment to the train station, we passed by a pet store. The puppies for sale were so cute- they almost didn't look real. And Paul was very patient while he waited for me to stop staring at the puppies.

In Nara, we visited some temples and played with deer. The deer were either drugged or amazingly tame. One man had a deer drinking green tea out of his palm!

And it was cold. Really cold! At least compared to Okinawa. Brrrrrrr.

The mailman can't read.

Today a fellow English teacher and down-the-street neighbor gave me a postcard. Addressed to me. With my address written correctly. The lovely Anna had sent me this postcard from Paris. So why did it end up in someone else's mailbox?

Either the mailman can't read romaji very well (and should therefore go back to 4th grade) or he saw that the postcard was written in English and decided to give it to a foreigner. Any foreigner.

I wonder how much of my mail never arrived due to mailman error...

And by the way: Anna is cold and doesn't have any sweaters. Please help her.

more giant spiders

But this time only in a dream! Last night, I had another dream about a giant spider. I walked into my former bedroom in my parents' house, and there was a huge spider's web attached to both the floor and the ceiling. And there was a large, unidentified object in the middle of the web... Strangely, there wasn't any furniture in the room. Just the giant web. And I couldn't see the spider. I was a bit afraid that it would jump from its hiding place and bite me. So I left the room- kind of pissed off because I really wanted to pack a suitcase in that room.

I went shoe shopping...

and I found the best shoes ever. For only 800 yen, I am now the new owner of really uncomfortable platform boots! Maybe I'll wear them to work tomorrow.

My Second Favorite Animal is the Goat

Yesterday, I happened to look at the window at the field behind the school. I saw a goat wandering around. After watching it for a few minutes to make sure I wasn't imagining things, I had a brief conversation with a nearby teacher.

Amy: Excuse me. A goat is over there.
Nearby Teacher: Yes.
Amy: A goat. At school.
NT: There are two goats.
Amy: (wondering why NT doesn't think this is strange) Why?
NT: (confused look and brief pause) They live there.
Amy: Goats live in the field behind the school?
NT: Yes..
Amy: Are they school pets?
NT: Yes, that is so.
Amy: Ok, thank you.

During lunch I could hear the goats going baaaa baaa baaa. I baaaaa-ed right back at them. The students were very entertained, and started calling out animals for me to imitate. What a great English lesson about animals! And then I started to wonder... I have heard cows at other schools during class. Do those schools keep cows as pets? I have always assumed they just lived on a nearby farm.

This is not what you picture when you think about Japan.

Am I Ambidextrous?

I have always been right-handed. At least I've always thought I was right-handed. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm ambidextrous? Maybe I'm a converted left-hander? Or maybe I'm just normal, and most people use both hands.

Recently I've noticed that I always use my left hand for certain things.

1. Playing cards. Just the idea of playing cards right-handed makes me uncomfortable.

2. Eating food without utensils. I use my right hand when eating with a fork, but my left hand for finger food.

3. Picking things up. A carton of milk from the refrigerator, something on the floor... always left-handed.

4. Turning on/off the shower.

5. Turning doorknobs.

But I can't write with my left hand. I can't use chopsticks with my left hand. What's the deal? Is this normal??