(note: here you can read about e-prime, something i heard about which i have decided to try as an experiment. this post has been composed, to the best of my knowledge, entirely in e-prime, and i will continue to try to do all of my writing in this language.)
december has finally come. does this mean winter has started? it feels cold outside, but it still feels more like autumn. i took a picture of a mountain after i went food shopping the other day. i spent more money during that food shopping than i have in any other since i got here. here you can see the picture. the leaves change, and japanese people sincerely love to talk about how much they appreciate looking at the changing colors.
the rest of these pictures i took before a karate lesson about a week or so ago. my left foot has almost reached its normal status again. i might not even have to favor the other one in karate tonight. i did get kickced in the nose last week, which did not feel like fun at all. i learned that the nose piece demands constant protection. every time before my karate lesson starts, the lesson for the little kids ends, and if i get there early enough i can watch them spar. i got some action shots here which you may enjoy.
sometimes they really go crazy and i like to watch such small kids use so much enegry. yamamoto sensei stands with his arms folded, giving criticism and encouragement.
those white things on their arms and legs, the supporters (sah-poh-taas), help absorb the impact of feirce blows. even with those on, a good fight can still hurt. and no, i had no head protector when i got hit in the nose. we don't use those. it would have been very nice to have had one then, i imagine.
here you can see the rest of the kids lined up, waiting their turn. those green shirts with yellow writing look great; they say seikoukai (the type of karate) on the back in yellow and "full contakuto karate" in white on the front, which i find funny.
and here you can see a closer shot of some kids hanging out. the japanese peace sign, or victory sign, has become ubiquitous. the boy on the right, sensei's son, seems young but will become strong one day.
and that would exhaust everything i have to show you today. yesterday i bought 2 bus tickets to and from osaka for christmas week, and even though i felt nervous about carrying on a conversation in japanese, i still got a compliment on my language ability, which felt great. today for lunch we ate a big piece of brown bread, watery vegatable soup, milk, an orange, and what the japanese call "american dog", which you would recognize as a "corn dog". i received two because i come from a foreign country, and the baseball coach laughed at this. i will probably eat gyoza and edamame for dinner. liz gets here in under two weeks, and it will feel so nice to not work and relax for a while.
great!
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