Not Japanese

“If Shaquille O’Neal always represented Superman, then Kobe’s the Dark Knight: vulnerable, but all the stronger for it.”

- Page 22 of The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac, Presented by FreeDarko

おはようございます !

Had a delightfully Japanese morning.  Didn’t have school today, so I was looking forward to a full day of free time to clean up my desk.  I usually need around eight times the amount of time necessary to do any sort of organization to get it done.

About ten minutes into work as I was struggling to remember the third line of the hiragana chart, Ki-San reminded me I had mochi making at 9.  He then informed me, however, that my schedule had been changed.

This happens from time to time with me and Ki.  I have learned it is best to agree with his decisions on managing my time and follow his instructions blindly.  Turns out that also at 9 there was a shodo event for the elementary school children.

I didn’t know what shodo was either, and this lead to a few minutes of misunderstanding as he went to his computer to figure it out for me in English.  Ki-San and I take much longer to communicate sober.  At a bar, this would’ve been cleared up in 30 seconds.

Shodo is Japanese calligraphy.  I was not only supposed to go, but was supposed to “escort” – his words – his wife Tamoy.  Tamoy wears the pants in this family and is one of the female bosses around town, as far as I can tell, so I really didn’t understand this.

Nevertheless, I drove to their house to find her dutifully cleaning, as is Japanese custom heading into the new year.  We had a short chat inside, then she got in her car and led me in my car to where the event was held.  I am the best escort of all time.

Tamoy-Sensei showing me the ropes.

After arrival, Tamoy spent some time teaching me how to write “friend” in Japanese, which I eventually did, albeit badly.  Favorite rule was that you only get one chance for each stroke.  If you make a mistake, you’re not allowed to go back and fix things.  Clearly not my style, but it’s always good to challenge oneself.

After that it was off to make mochi once again.  My third time through, so I had the drill pretty much down pat.  Start with some rice, mash, beat with a hammer for a while then roll, sometimes filling it with stuff.

Today was particularly delicious as it was the first time I had a mochi, cream cheese and kimchi mix.  Best I’ve had so far.  Sorry, gnatto mochi you’re number two.

After work took advantage of the rare snowless December day to have winter windshield wipers put on my car.  Patronized the gas station of a “buddy” for the first time.  With a smile, he brought my total to 5000 yen, or around 50 clams.

Came home, and finished off last night’s lasagna while procrastinating on cleaning my “danger room.”  Instead spent the evening updating my LinkedIn profile and this site.  Added a page for Hamatonbetsu, finally.  And, thanks to this post found a webcam into Hamaton.  Kind of a crazy small world internet moment, finding someone in America who was really into Hamatonbetsu from their comp.  Closed the evening out catching up with friends on gChat and being surprised by The Gus responding to an email of mine.