shuji

sayumi
「ゆ」はやっぱり難しい

sakura - cherry blossoms

if you look very closely on the right side half-way up the picture, there are three specks. those are ducks.

i love being able to see so many mountain views on my train ride to school

何の足形だろう

Minmaya PR poster/presentation we made

these were top-notch omiyage

my column

Today was my second 習字 (shūji) calligraphy lesson.  Shuji maybe translates better to "penmanship" since it's not necessarily artistic, but still you use a brush and ink and have to sit properly etc.  I find it very relaxing and meditative.  But I also end up nervously sweating a lot.
I asked to learn to write the letters in my name, but "yu" and "mi" are one of the harder hiragana letters to write, so it was quite a jump.  But I tried my best.

Today was one of my Minmaya days, which I love.  The commute to school is so relaxing and I usually nap for most of it.  I always like the mountain views and the fields especially in winter.  I didn't think rice paddies would be fun to look at, but they are because sometimes you can see ducks or other birds floating in them.  It's very cute.
Once again, at school, I was greeted with snacks in a little origami box I keep on my desk.  I usually use the box for small items I use for class (dice, cards, etc.), but somehow it accidentally became a gift mail box.

Since the students had an eye check-up in the afternoon, I saw the eye doctor that I went to see on Monday in Aomori.  It was funny when he recognized me and did a double take. We had a nice chat.

The PR magazine we have in our town started a new column called "あっ！困った！" which honestly is pretty hard to translate.  It's like "I was in trouble!" but colloquially it's maybe better translated as "oh sh*t!"  Anyway, I decided to make a simple English conversation to highlight some cultural differences between Japan and America.  In this case, it's separating burnable and non-burnable trash, particularly in stores and restaurants.  I also suggested adding a QR code that links to a recording of my coworker and I reading the dialogue.