Catchup Japan 28 April

 The school programme is almost half over, it's hard to believe.  I haven't actually learned very much which is a disappointment. There's been a cold bug going around the shared houses and two teachers went down with it as well. The school doesn't seem to have any substitute teachers available so they combined the classes for a week. The resulting numbers and wider range of ability has meant that we've spent most of the week just playing simple games or revising very simple material. One teacher is back next week so hopefully it will get better.  Meanwhile both shared houses have had some drama, inevitable when a bunch of disparate people are shoved together to live in basic conditions with few facilities. We unfortunately have a difficult American woman in our house,  judgemental and impatient, and just downright rude at times.  I'm trying to avoid her but it's difficult. Two more weeks and then we will all go our separate ways.

We've seen a bit more of the area.  We drove to a lake which is a beauty spot, although up in the mountains it is definitely still the end of winter and quite cold, some snow amongst the trees, bare branches. There was a nice shrine you could walk to.

Meanwhile down near the school, spring has definitely arrived. Lots of daffodils and tulips, but the cherry blossom is virtually gone now. It's been a bit warmer, so not so awfully cold at night which is a relief.

Another activity we did was to visit a workshop making traditional wooden bento boxes called Magewappa. They had some beautiful things on display. The boxes are made by bending cedar from northern Japan into shape, and then securing the shape by threading through a strip of cedar bark. We did a workshop to 'make' our own box - really they had premade it and all's we did was glue in the already-cut-to-size lid and base, and a bit of sanding.  Still a nice souvenir though. I hope I can get it home in one piece - I will probably stuff it with fabric and wrap it in more fabric.

Despite temporarily living in Japan, it's not  immersion.  The students all speak English to each other and the locals of course are getting on with their daily lives.  I did join a group that went to a local izakaya (a little pub) for a tasty meal, and we chatted to the owner a bit; and I spoke a bit to the staff at the local museum the other day. The Magewappa owner gave an introduction to our workshop in Japanese and frustratingly I couldn't understand most of it. Despite studying for several years now, my conversational Japanese is still minimal. I'm not sure what I want to do with my Japanese after this experience is over.  Having even a rudimentary ability has really made my trip easier and opened up the prospect of going places I wouldn't have attempted without any Japanese. For example, I'm going to do a week in the Tohoku region after school finishes, staying mostly in Japanese-only hotels and getting around by public transport. I feel like I have enough Japanese to ask for directions or to check into a hotel. But to get better at Japanese, I would have to put some serious effort and time in , to expand my vocabulary, learn kanji, maybe pay for a class with a teacher, read and speak a lot more. At my age I find it a lot more difficult to memorise things and also I just don't retain them very well.  I will never be fluent, that's for sure. So I don't know. During COVID, learning Japanese every day became a hobby that kept me busy, and I knew I would be going back to Japan eventually.  But at the end of the day, it is a long way and very expensive to come here, and I don't know how many more times I will come back.

I finished the vanilla sock I started knitting on the plane. It's tempting to crack on with the second one but I feel like I should save it for plane knitting on the way back, since it's basic enough that I don't need good light for it. I've still got my charted cowl project and a few other things to work on. I gave away the little trinket tray I made from the Japanese fabric to a younger student who was fervently admiring all the Japanese motifs on  the little pencil case I made from the same fabric, she was really delighted which was nice.