Invertebrates for lunch and dinner
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It was Hi-chan’s birthday this morning, so I compiled a compilation of the American candies I brought for my students in a gift bag and brought it out as I was leaving. I’ve also been diving uncontrollably into this horde of sugar, which I should be saving, I think because I’m finally crashing after my first week of what I call the kid in a candy shop effect—seeing so many new things—and no sleep. I feel very worn out during the day, and today I noticed that one of my nipples has swollen hard. This happened before during a stressful semester at college, and I thought I had cancer, but the doctor said it was just a stress response.
I gave the bag to Hi-chan as I was leaving. She was outside petting a stray cat. She normally is so happy and excited, I expected her to open the bag and scream, but she accepts it with a smart nod and, “arigaTO!” I repeat, “otanjoobi omodeto!” (happy birthday) so that she gets the idea that she can open it, but she repeats her thanks, standing perfectly still and holding the bag out in front of her.
After I get in the car with H-sensei, I look in the mirror and see her doing some kind of dance and smiling. I found out last night that she’s an only child, and that when she first came to the H residence, she was very shy and spoiled, but she’s loosened up since then. I’ll never forget the image of her grabbing these fearful cicada bugs right off the tree. I got hit in the head by one today—they’re a very massive insect.
In the afternoon, we played a game based on the Japanese Haiku, which my father would love too, but for different reasons than me. Cards are strewn out over the floor, each containing the first character/syllable of a Haiku poem. H-sensei reads the poem, which I can’t understand, while Hi-chan and I compete to find one of the 40 so characters included in the set. The actual Japanese phonetic alphabet is over 500 characters, but these are old poems, so they are limited to a certain few Hiragana characters. She beats me very badly, but I sneak a few grabs in there.
At work, I gave some of my omiyage (souvenir) gifts. I’m supposed to give my best omiyage to the principal and vice principal, and give to them first, but I’m too impatient and give it to the people who’ve more directly helped me. T-sensei got a moose, and they’re amazed with the description of how large it is. To H-sensei I give a calendar of Minnesota, and he had no idea there were such senic places. He asks me if I’ve been to any of the places on it, and I can only say I’ve been to St. Paul, which is less impressive.
Y-sensei gets a triplet collection of Minnesota shot glasses. I don’t think I’d give this to an educator in America, since taking shots seems to be largely limited to college-age people, but he has professed to be a hearty drinker. He’s pointed out a “shot-bar” and asks me about American beer.
We go out for lunch with H-sensei, R-sensei and A-sensei. In the car ride over, they ask me where else I’ve traveled, and also about the other groups I’ve encountered. They really have no idea what Mexicans are like—H-sensei describes a mariachi and the sombrero/pancho look as his stereotype. I explain how Canadians go, “eh,” and how southerners say, “yall,” all very impressive. But the most impressive, is when H-sensei asks me what Germans are like. I tell him that they’re always angry, and do my gibberish German impression—“einaspizenheimernich! Nine!” and everyone loses it.
We go to a Japanese Italian restaurant, and I get squid pasta, which is recommended by H-sensei. It’s a special kind, with the ink sack broken, so the whole dish is black. It’s a lot like a salty, squishy sausage pasta dish. At dinner, I got to have octopus and baby squids, the first time I’ve had invertebrates for more than one meal in a day, and also the first time I’ve had octopus. I’m not sure humans were meant to eat anything with suction cups, but then again, I’m finding a lot of things I didn’t think humans were meant to do are quite rewarding.