I was a little apprehensive about the lessons on Tuesday - on the timetable both periods were simply billed "速読＆話そう!" (Speed Reading and Let's Talk!), once again giving me the impression that much of the course is being made up as it goes along. It turned out to be better than expected, though - we'd talk about the subject the Speed Reading entry was concerned with, then read bits and pieces from it, then generally talk about it some more. In the first session we discussed the apparent increase in Japan of 草食系/soushokukei. Directly translated this word means vegetarian or herbivore, but in recent years it's been used to describe people who are not very active or assertive in heterosexual romance. Some interesting discussion, mainly about gender roles and cultural influence. The second session dealt with the typical Japanese system of employment, which appears to be rather strict in comparison to the little I know about the English one.
When visiting my regular bakery for lunch, I was delighted to see the shelves lined with tinsel! Although there are still some days that are quite warm, and the last leaves of Autumn have yet to fall, this surely means I can start looking forward to Christmas!
Wednesday, Wednesday, though... Short lessons, as per usual, and rather easy to deal with in a "speaking-about-stuff-in-the-textbook-and-later-practising-similar-conversations" kind of way. Thereafter I met with a bit of a shock - I have to pay the rent for the five months of the next term by the end of November! This won't quite break my bank, and though it was a nasty surprise it's almost comforting to know that in Japan, same as in England, Universities and the accommodation associated them tend to operate with near complete ignorance and/or indifference to the nature of their students' finances.
Later I went out to dinner with Chihiro and her husband at a nice little Italian restaurant. It was really fun, those two are really thoroughly decent sorts, and we stayed chatting and so on until the restaurant closed, not unlike when I go out for meals with my family in England! Also, had some good fettucini fungi and marvelled at the futuristic toilet - the flush was operated by a control panel mounted on the wall, completely separate from the toilet itself! Of course, I got in a bit late so no chances of fixing the sleeping pattern, but it was worth it!
 |
| Japanese Snacks Vol. 9 - Cream Bread: Another staple of my diet out here. A bit like a custard doughnut, but slightly larger and more bun-like. As you may tell from the photo, I buy them reduced whenever I get the chance! |
