Japanese Spelling :D English Spelling D:

Whenever something cool or interesting happens, I always want to write a little thing about on this blog. However, usually those things are really small and insignificant, and I've either forgotten them or something bigger has happened by the time I sit down and type out a post.

That being said, I'm now going to try and just type a big list of lots of random things I've noticed, either about being an exchanger, me, or Japan. Things that I wouldn't've written otherwise. Enjoy.

- For the first 6 months of being here, I listened to the soundtrack from Sweeney Todd almost everyday. I have no idea why. "A Little Priest" made for good going-to-school music, I guess.

-Crepes in Japan are really intense. They're not flat; instead, they're filled with whipped cream, ice cream, fruit, chocolate, and every other deliciousness, rolled up into a cone, and served to you hot. As the other exchangers know, I have a slight obsession with them (and Susan still owes me one).

-The sakura are beautiful, and everyone loves them. There's no doubting that. But (don't tell) I actually like ume, or plum blossoms, better.

-People always freak out when they are introduced to kanji, the Chinese characters used in Japanese writing. Not only do you have to remember some 2,000 to read a just newspaper, but most of them have 2 or 3 different ways to pronounce them! I laugh at the people who freak out. When you break down the kanji, they're pretty simple, and the readings aren't that bad. If you read books in Japanese, you learn them pretty fast. And plus, the readings even have sort of a system: one kanji alone is usually pronounced one way (kunyomi), and when it's put together with other kanji, it's pronounced the other way (onyomi). It's like Latin roots- everyone knows that aqua is the root for water, but you don't see people at restaurants going, "Hey, could you get me some aqua?" Do you understand it? Sorta?

-Every now and then, old people will get mad at me if I offer them my seat on the train or bus. Most are grateful, but sometimes they're like, "No! I'm fine! I don't want your seat!" Maybe this is in America too- I haven't really ridden public transport in the US- but I find it really weird.

-I've always found it interesting how most cultures name days after the sun, moon, water, fire, etc. Japanese does it, Spanish does it, English, lots.

-There are really good Japanese actors out there, there are. But 90% of what I've seen is so terrible I want to cry. The Japanese "Idol" phenomenon needs to die. And idol is someone who is relatively attractive, decides to go to a talent agency, and then is pushed into the Japanese media by singing, dancing, acting, modeling, and doing all sorts of TV appearances. The girls are typically covered in disgusting makeup and fluffy/skimpy clothes, and are supposed to epitomize either overly cute or self-degradingly sexy. There aren't as many guys, but the ones that do exist are just pretty faces, and usually model and appear on TV exclusively. The reason why I hate the idol phenomenon is because it prevents real talent from being seen; people are too busy swimming in a sea of cutesy models who have little talent to notice the normal person bursting with talent.

-Nothing freaks me out more than looking out a train or bus window and seeing the reflections of 3-4 people staring at me.

-You don't tip in Japan, but it's ingrained into my mind that you must tip. I always feel so strange when me and my host family leave a restaurant and walk past the waiter/waitress who we didn't tip.

-While tipping is ingrained into my mind, driving is not. I can never remember which side of the road Americans drive on, and here in Japan I always have to let the driver get in the car before me so I know which side shotgun is on. It's confusing, but the technique I have to remember is ARJL (ar-gel): American Right, Japanese Left. I find it terrifying that I have to use a mnemonic device to remember which side of the road to be on. Like people who always forget which way left and right are, only with cars.

-Japanese toilets are freaky. There's the old-style, which is a hole in the ground. Then there's the modern, which is Western style with lots of special functions, like bidets and music players and electronic flushing noises (for "ladies who don't want to be heard"). Most have seat heaters, too, which annoyed me for the first few months. Sitting on a warm toilet seat makes you feel like someone's just been there, which feels a bit nasty. But part of the fun in going to a new restaurant or store is to see what kind of toilets they'll have!

-There are several types of yen coins: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 (as far as I know). 1 yen coins are really light and feel almost like plastic, although I don't know what they're actually made out of. But unbeknownst to most of the world, many Japanese people included, they can float. Or more specifically, they can sit on the surface tension of water, cause they will sink if you just drop them. Since they can get really cumbersome (looking for the single 100 yen coin through a sea of 1 yen coins D:), I put them in random containers of water and hope that somebody will come along and go, "WOW, FLOATING MONEY!" They also make for cool pictures.

-I think chopsticks are easier than forks to use and more practical, unless you're eating really slippery food. Especially when you get fancy food; instead of stabbing and mutilating it with a fork, you can delicately pick it up with chopsticks! People always are surprised that I can use chopsticks here, it's sorta funny.

-Most Japanese calendars are set up so weeks run from Monday-Sunday, not Sunday-Saturday. I'm still not used to this, and I highly doubt I ever will be. Weeks have never started on Monday in my mind; who wants to start the week on a workday? Starting on a day off is so much more relaxing!

-I do not understand why, America or Japan, people need more than 1 umbrella (maybe 2). And on that note, did you know that the Japanese word for "umbrella" is "kasa"? It's pronounced the same way as "house" in Spanish (casa!). So if someone asks me anything about a house in Spanish, I'm going to be really confused.

-For that last one, I was planning to write something in Spanish, but then every time I tried to think "Where is the house?" in Spanish, I kept getting "家どこ？”, which is really lazy/slacker Japanese. But Japanese nonetheless.

-今海にほんまに行きたい！でもさ、春やから行けないと思う :(　多分夏にだい五ホストファミリーと行けるかな~

This has been fun! Maybe I'll do it again later.

And Dad, send me an email soon!

Talk to ya'lls later!