mt. fuji and other adventures
(actually bathrooms are down and around to the left)
lines have been known to reach 30+ meters.
wait times are estimated at 10 minutes per 10 meters.
but hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go.
or in this case, if you think
you might have to go in half an hour,
you should just go on and get in line.
at 3776m, the rules are no different from those on playgrounds all over japan:
rock paper scissors decides all.
who has to clean the (in-house) toilets, and whose turn it is to man the (200yen) toll toilet, and who gets to take a bath first on (weekly) bath day? those, of course, are all decided by someone with power.
no, i’m talking about something much more serious.
i’m talking about who gets the extra cookie at tea time.
three weeks ago i started a japanese class that has taken up a good chunk of my time recently. it’s only twice a week for two hours, but both the tuesday teacher (kanji and listening) and thursday teacher (grammar and reading comprehension) run over for about 20 minutes. since i don’t have anywhere else to be, i welcome the extra class time. i spend several hours during the week studying for the next class, during which i spend the full two hours plus furiously taking notes and trying to follow along.
it’s kind of refreshing to be back in class and a “student” again. i love learning and that feeling when it clicks and all comes together in your head. though i’m a very anti-social classmate. there’s little to no chit chat during class and when we leave we soon get lost in the crowds of shibuya. i do wonder what the other people in class do; one girl is a perfectly dressed OL, one girl has the cute little “baby in belly” tag on her bag, and the only guy in the class is always dressed really casually and has a general “i don’t care” aura. but since it’s the JLPT level one class, i can’t imagine he doesn’t. just over seven weeks left until the test (dec. 6th).
i’ve been spending a fair amount of time at my sewing machine too. i finally finished my first quilt. it’s a charm quilt perfect for snuggling up with on the couch. i started a “picnic” quilt, even though the picnic season has ended here in tokyo. i also made a fun reversible shoulder bag the other day. i’m still tweaking the pattern and thinking out various sizes, but today i sat down and made labels for upcoming bags. i’d love to make them to sell at some point. some day.
until now i’ve always bought fabric that jumped out at me, but with these bags, i’m thinking of going a different direction. a choice that reflects where i am and the fabrics available. i don’t have the funds to expand my fabric stash right now, so i don’t know what kind of timeline or what shape it will take, but i’m excited at the prospect and just experimenting with what i have.
i’ve ventured into the world of homemade soups and make batches of brownies and muffins here and there too. basically i’m just still enjoying the slow life.
and life is good.
mt. fuji feels like forever ago. like from a dream the happened between that early morning bathroom trip and the alarm clock.
i have all those photos waiting for me, and yet i can’t bring myself to open them. i don’t know where to start.
i started this blog with the idea it would be different than what it is right now. the title is staying, but it may be about the “other adventures” for a little while.
i need to get my footing (or something).
and i guess that’s okay.
i finally uploaded my mt. fuji
pictures onto my computer.
in 31 days i took 1883 photos.
no matter how you do the math,
that’s a LOT of photos.
yeah, wowza.
i haven’t even begun
to sort or edit
or even just enjoy them myself.
but for now:
“purple august”
*下界 gekai literally means “world below” and is used on mt fuji. to refer to life and the world off the mountain.
this summer’s stint was shorter than planned, but that’s how life goes, right? …learning about what’s important in life and making choices accordingly.
got back yesterday and my bag arrived this afternoon. i’ve got lots on my plate, am feeling jetlagged (from a month of 3am wake ups and a 8pm bedtime) and am trying to adjust to being back in the city.
i haven’t counted, but i’m pretty sure i have over 1500 photos if not more, which will hopefully make their way over here, in time.
the bus is pulling out of shinjuku west exit.
i sent my bag ahead and will spend the night in gotenba before heading up to 3776m early tomorrow morning.
the last two weeks were busy and today i cant believe i got everything done and caught the 18:30 bus.
mt fuji: take two, starts tomorrow!!☆
*the japanese word 雲海 (unkai) literally means sea of clouds.
some days it feels like you really are staring at the sea.
a white sea that drifts past you.
and it’s a little bit like heaven.
this was my favorite meal last summer.
creamy chicken stew with white rice and green tea.
at one point, i got really sick (fever, chills, headache, etc.) and slept for a whole day. i woke up to eat meals before collapsing back into bed. at lunch time, the chef asked me what i wanted for dinner. he kindly obliged when i requested his creamy chicken stew.
it’s nothing fancy, but oh is it good.
for the last 2 months, i’ve been studying for this day. and i can’t lie to myself or anyone else and say that i was a super student. i wasn’t. i did study quite diligently for the first 3 weeks and then, well, life just gets in the way sometimes.
as for the test:
kanji/vocab (100pts)
i went through once and was able to (only semi confidently) answer about 45% of the questions. while reviewing yesterday, someone tried to tell me that the character 黙る was the same character in 沈黙 and at the time i didn’t visualize 沈黙 just remembered how to say the word, but when it appeared (in a “how do you read the underlined kanji?” question) on the test, i just smiled and confidently circled ちんもく. too bad the other 55% of that section didn’t go like that. some of the questions were so hard, with so many kanji i’d never even seen before, or words that i didn’t know. i’ll be more than lucky to come out with a 50%.
listening (100pts)
listening is my strength, without a doubt. i went in hoping to make up for my weaknesses in the other sections with a stellar listening score. frustratingly enough however, there were several questions where i wasn’t sure exactly what i was supposed to be listening for, or i couldn’t follow the conversation because there were suddenly too many words i didn’t know. i wanted to get 90% or better, but i was unsure of 5 questions, which will knock me back to 85%.
reading comprehension/grammar (200pts)
this section is broken into two larger parts. there are several passages and then questions about the reading in the first half and grammar fill in the blank type questions in the second half. on the reading comprehension, i got tripped up on quite a few questions but on my first run through i at least answered 70% of the questions. my reviewing yesterday helped a lot on the grammar section, but i still only answered 65% on the first go through. then i went back and tried to answer the skipped questions. i could have used more time, but in the end was sort of rushed and for more than a couple questions, just picked something. since it’s a multiple choice test, it’s smart to at least filled in an answer for every question, hoping to get lucky here and there with a 25% chance. the reading questions are weighted more than the grammar questions, so i’m hoping i got somewhere between 60-70%.
however, with a little math, those scores still only put me at 65%. the passing line for level one is 70%.
so, either i need to have done better than i imagined, or really get lucky with my guessing. i could sit here and beat myself up for not studying as much as i “should have” but i’ll just get down on myself and there’s nothing to be done now anyway. and, really, the last two months have been just what i needed – lots of sleep, lots of being lazy, lots of cooking/sewing/making, lots of friend-seeing, lots of living LIFE (albeit in the slow lane).
plus, now mt. fuji awaits!!
☆t-minus 13 days☆
