Links, links, links

(This post is basically entirely links.  Yay?)

Hey, remember when I submitted an article to The Fulbrighter a million years ago?  Well, it's finally been posted online!  You can now read it in all its glorious snark gloriousness.

In other news, writing continues...slowly...excruciatingly slowly...buh...

In other other news, our Tuesday Japanese classes are now all student-taught (I unfortunately don't get to teach a week, 'cause the typhoon screwed up our schedule), and this week we learned how to make this Taiwanese dish call Oachen (at least, that's how you write it in Japanese, which means it's probably nothing like that in Chinese), which is kind of like...a gelatinous omelet?  Or a wiggly okonomiyaki?  It's tasty, but has SUCH a strange texture.

In final news, I was Googling my name for kicks (which was how I found out that my article was finally online) and found out that there are pictures of me presenting at the Chubu Fulbright meeting.  I basically look like a giant dork while presenting.  What is even happening with my right hand?  I'd also like to note that this is the picture they took of Austin.  He looks like an actually competent human being, who isn't trying to do some sort of firebending.  I am just glad that I have already been accepted to graduate school, because it would be really sad if some grad school was going to accept me, Googled my name, and then was like, "...nope, we want someone who presents with six thousand percent less energy and random hand shapes."

...back to writing now, I guess...

I don't eat whale meat, but...

...I'm still bad at updating!

Let's see, exciting highlights of the past week:

My new roommate came!  I was supposed to get two new roommates (to replace Louki and Grace), but one wound up cancelling at the last moment, so there are just three of us in the room now.  My new roommate is named Yi-Yi, and she's

...was that a gunshot outside?

...I really hope not.

...there was a second one.

...I haven't a clue what's going on, but I hope people aren't shooting each other in the streets, because that would be awkward.

...anyway, Yi-Yi is from Beijing, but goes to school in the States.  It's nice to have someone around the room again (since Hi-chan is gone so much of the time).

On Sunday I presented at the Chubu Fulbright Alumni Association's meeting.  There was kind of a mix-up, and I arrived slightly before 4 (when I was supposed to start presenting)...unaware that Austin (the other Fulbrighter presenting--he's a graduate student) was presenting BEFORE me, not AFTER.  Needless to say, I felt kind of terrible and apologized profusely and was bummed out of my MIND because I had really been looking forward to his talk.
My presentation went fine, though, and people were generally interested, although I got some odd questions, like, "Has anyone ever told you your hair makes you look like a miko?"  ...well, no...?
There was a reception afterwards and I talked to a bunch of interesting people, including a PhD student from Malaysia, who told me his tales of graduate school woe.  Although most of his tales weren't that woeful, so hurrah...?

Also on Sunday, Kim and Louki came back to Nagoya for the day to pick up their bags from my room and eat cheese naan.  (They are addicted to cheese naan.  I haven't a clue how they're going to survive without it.)  Kim didn't believe me when I said that I could be excited about anything,* and I waxed poetic about gum syrup containers to prove her wrong. It was certainly one of the stranger dinner conversations I've ever had.  (It also convinced Samantha, who just moved into the dorm and went to dinner with us, that I am insane.  OH WELL.)  And then Samantha and I took them to Nagoya station where we bid them farewell and swore everlasting vengeance friendship and stuff.

Yesterday the dorm had a gyoza party, which was delicious, and I met a bunch of the summer students, which was also nice.  It was also Yi-Yi's birthday, so everyone sang happy birthday to her and ate SO MANY GYOZA (okay, I probably ate like a fifth of the gyoza; don't judge me; I was really hungry).

Aaaaaand today we had Japanese class and talked about comparative particles!  It's actually pretty interesting, 'cause for this study they gave people the beginning of four sentences and asked them to write continuations of the sentences (using comparisons).  The sentences translate to:
I eat meat, but...
The husband drinks shochu, but...
I eat whale meat, but...
Japanese people eat whale meat, but...
Before I tell you the results, take a minute to come up with the second halves of the sentences for yourself!





All done?


Okay.



Everyone finished sentence #1 with "...I don't eat [X]."  Similarly, everyone finished sentence #3 with "...I don't eat [some kind of other meat]."  70% of the respondents finished sentence #2 with "he doesn't drink [some other kind of alcohol]" while the remaining 30% finished with "...I/the wife don't drink alcohol."  In the case of sentence #4, more than half the respondents finished with "...[some other people] don't eat whale meat," and everyone else finished with "...Japanese people don't eat [something crazier than whale meat]."
Interesting!  Part of the reason that the sentences split up like that is that "I" isn't seen to be part of a pair like "the husband" or "Japanese people" is.  So when you (the generic Japanese speaker who was raised in Japan) see a sentence like "I ____ X," you automatically assume that X is the thing being compared, not you with someone else.  But when you see a sentence that starts with "The husband ________ X," you might assume that you're comparing the reactions of the husband and wife about X, rather than comparing X to something else!

YAY, WORDS.

*I AM EXCITEMENT IN HUMAN FORM.

I'm bad at updating; what else is new?

Hey, guys.

This is not a real update, but rather just saying HI I AM ALIVE AND MY DAD IS VISITING AND I HAVE TO WRITE A THING FOR THE CHUBU FULBRIGHT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WHICH IS EITHER SEVERAL SENTENCES OR A FEW PAGES* AND I SPENT TWO HOURS GOING OVER SUSANOO SHRINE'S FINANCES YESTERDAY** WHICH WAS UNEXPECTED BUT NOT BAD*** AND ALSO I AM REALLY TIRED BUT HANDBOOK UGH COHERENT SENTENCES GONE sklalkreakjreau

Real updates coming when real updates come.

*I asked for clarification and the clarification made it even less clear than it originally was, if that's possible.

**Apparently, at some point when I wasn't paying attention, I went from being "that weird kid who keeps hanging out at the shrine and asking weird questions" to "that weird kid who is competent enough to allow to help out" to "that weird kid who knows what she is doing and we are relying on her to actually be a member of this community and we are okay with her seeing our financial records and talking about serious stuff in front of her."  I am...actually pretty okay with this.  I am more concerned about other people not being okay with me.

***Actually it was really good, 'cause I had a bunch of questions about stuff having to do with the neighborhood association, and I didn't even have to ask them because they all came up.  YES, serendipity.

By the end of this trip, I will know everything there is to know about the Japanese health care system

Guess who spent four hours at the hospital with her roommate today!
Hint: it was the person who writes this blog.
Fortunately, Louki does not need to have her foot amputated, but she DOES need to sit down and stop walking so much and TAKE CARE OF HERSELF.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, LOUKI.*

On a random note, Kim gave me stroopwafels, and I am PRETTY PLEASED because stroopwafels are amazing.  OM NOM NOM.  If you don't know what stroopwafels are, well, obviously you don't have Dutch friends who feed you.  Maybe you should fix that!

Otherwise, not all that much going on over here, other than me working on my paper, threatening the other Fulbrighters with alligators,** trying to figure out where to take my dad when he visits next week,*** fangirling at Julia and Ellie (sorry), trying to work out the logistics for my speech in June (for the Chubu Fulbright Alumni Association), planning my trip to Tokyo for the Fulbright 60th anniversary reception,**** fangirling at Julia and Ellie some more (SORRY), planning my trip to Okinawa with a bunch of the other Fellows after that, etc. etc. etc. etc.
Basically, exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks, but right now, not that much excitement! Sorry.

*I totally know that you occasionally read this blog, Louki, and also that you apparently haven't bothered to save the url and search for it through Google, which seems kind of weird to me, but WHATEVS--I have too many bookmarks.  And if you want to know how I know this, it is either my MAD PSYCHIC POWERS or my DEDUCTIVE PROWESS.  Or maybe BOTH.
...also, I think when they asked on the form if you were living with someone they meant in a relationship OOPS.  They should have been clearer.

**This makes sense in context, and has to do with our wretched handbook.

***I literally just got off the phone with Itou-san, and she said, and I quote, "There is nothing anyone would want to see in Nagoya."  Although then she amended that by saying that there's the castle and the aquarium, but neither is all that interesting.
...by the way, my dad is visiting me next week.  Guess I should have mentioned that earlier.

****Where I might be meeting the emperor.  Yes, the emperor of Japan.  I keep forgetting to write about things on this blog.  I am quite bad at remembering to write about things.

In which I am half of a Brown alumni reunion

Today was the Chubu* Fulbright Alumni Association's lecture/reception thing, so I went over to Aichi University to join one other current Fulbrighter and about 20 former Fulbrighters.  There were two lectures, one in English and one in Japanese (although it seemed that everyone except for one guy was bilingual).  The one in Japanese was about Japanese American oral histories (specifically those having to do with the WWII internment camps) and the one in English was about the 2007-2009 financial crisis.  Both were good, although the English one definitely won on the nerd index by comparing American banks to Lois Lane.

Afterwards we got free dinner, which was delicious but I don't know what 75% of what I was eating was.  OH WELL.  It's probably a bad sign when you're pleased that your food has a face because at least then you know what it is.

I also met lots of interesting people, including a gentleman who studied at Brown University as an exchange student!  We swapped tales of College Hill, and he wanted to know what had changed and what was still the same.  "When I was there, they called the cafeteria...they called it the Ratty."
"Yep, it's still the Ratty."
"Is the food still," he searched for the right word, "Ratty?"
"It definitely is."
Also, he described Brown as "really wild."  And he went there before SPG.**

Also, I'm supposed to present at their next meeting, which will be in May.  Given how long the lectures went today, that means I have FORTY MINUTES in which I have a room full of people at my mercy mwahahaha.  I mean, OH NO, I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT MY RESEARCH FOR FORTY MINUTES; WHAT TO DO?  (Although, I realized that I haven't given a presentation that long since the Tea Ceremony Presentation Epic.  You mean I don't have to condense a year's worth of research into 10 minutes?  THANK GOODNESS.)

Also, I find it interesting how many Japanese people try to convince me that Japanese religion isn't "normal" because it isn't exclusive.  How are you defining "normal" anyway?  Chinese religion is the same way, so it's not as though Japan is the only country in the world in which you can worship more than one religious tradition.  (There's actually a saying in Japanese, "Born Shinto, marry Christian, die Buddhist.")  But a gentleman I was talking to today was insisting that non-exclusive religious practices weren't "normal."  I tried to get him to explain what he meant by "normal" (and subtly hint that maybe he was applying Western norms to very non-Western ideas), but he was not convinced.  "Normal" people are religiously exclusive, like Americans.  (Of course, when I explained that I have celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas and the winter solstice, sometimes all in a single year, he got very flustered and tried to get me to admit that I was secretly Baptist...?  I don't know.  It was kind of odd.)
Oh well.  I will have FORTY MINUTES in May in which to convince him.  BWAHAHAHA.

In completely unrelated news, this song is SO CUTE.  It's about capybara in an ONSEN (hot spring, for the uninitiated).  C'MON, you'd have to be HEARTLESS to not find this EXCESSIVELY ADORABLE.  It also makes me really want to visit an onsen.  Hmmmmm, onsens.

It's almost midnight here so I should sleep.  G'night!

*Chubu (中部) is the region of Japan in which Aichi Prefecture is located.

**Sex Power God.  It's a party.  Don't look it up with small children around.