Thursday, February 12, 2009

青垣の生活  Daily Life in Aogaki : A Dichotomous Key

6:30AM Alarm goes off.

1a. If Monday, Tuesday, or Thursdays, go to 2
1b. If Wednesday or Friday --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:10

2a. If I can see my breath, --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:30
2b. If I can't see my breath --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:15


Okay, enough of that.

Breakfast used to be well-rounded, but that was months ago when I was still going to bed at 8PM and waking up at 5AM. Now I'm doing good if I remember to grab a mikan orange on my way out the door or if I remember to throw some toast into the toaster oven. Sometimes there is time for tea.

MTTh I am at work by 8:10 and morning meeting starts at 8:15 at my base school. I swivel around in my chair and listen to the meeting, but hardly understand anything. Usually I hold off my reading of the NYTimes until about 8:20, when the morning meeting is over and teachers are running around getting ready for homeroom. I have time to look at my schedule, set out books, find class lists, mentally prepare myself, and maybe eat that mikan.

If I have to go to the bank I'll find an hour I don't have anything to do and walk down to the bank. A good 7 minute walk. Wakes me up and gets me out of the office with all of its fumes from the space heaters.

Usually I'll have 2-3 classes, though sometimes only 1 or as many as 4. Usually I can be out by 4PM, but sometimes I'll stay later if there's something to work on or ponder. Once in a while a student will ask for a conversation hour after class or the cooking or taiko clubs will invite me to a meeting and I will be at the school until 5 or 6PM.

In warm weather I might go for a walk or bike my way on some errands after work, but in cold weather I do one thing: sit under my kotatsu, eat at my kotatsu, and drink at my kotatsu. I catch up with mail and messages and Skype friends and family. It's my time to unwind.

WF I am at work by 8:05 for the 8:10 meeting. More of the same. Any number of classes. If it's a slow day I'll walk into town for lunch, either to the grocery store or the bakery.

If it's a Wednesday I stay in the office and work/read until about 5PM and then head out to dinner with friends before going to my weekly Japanese lesson. I get home around 9 or 10PM, depending on when the lesson begins and how long it lasts, which all depends on if I feel like the living dead or not.

If it's a Friday, there are several possibilities: I run out of the building at 4 on the dot and return home, I run out at 4 on the dot and hop on the train to a weekend destination, or I stay until 6 and hang out with the tea ceremony club. I sorta got roped into that, but it's fun and there are Japanese sweets involved, so it's all good.




In other news, I killed a mukade in the bathroom yesterday. I guess that means it's spring.

2 comments:

Fiona Johnson said...

I loved this post. What does a mukade look like?

Joslyn said...

The mukade I saw was really small. Just a little baby. A quick google will bring up a lot of results. Luckily I've only seen one large one in the house.

Ugh, let's not dwell on such unpleasantries.