Writing

One of the more interesting and unusual things I have noticed while teaching is the way my students write their letters.

Japanese is written a much different way than English. In Japanese almost every "letter" (since they don't have letters per se as much as symbols that represent sounds) is written from left to right and top to bottom. Even when the top is the "add on" part.

Okay, this is kind of tough to explain without demonstrating. So here is "u" in katakana:

Step 1:



Step 2:



Step 3:



Notice how the "add ons" the little parts are written first, because they are at the top and the left part of the letter, and then what I consider the "body" of the letter is added last. This is very different than the way I would write this letter, I would write the "body" part first and then add the little line at the top last. Similar to if I were writing a Q I would write the O body part and add the tail at the end.

Because my students learned to write their Japanese letters in this manner they tend to write their English letters in the same way.

Here is how most of my students write "E"


Step 1:



Step 2:




Step 3:




Step 4:



Weird.


And here is "a" and "b"

a1:



a2:



b1:




b2:




In both cases, students tend to write the line and then add the circle part, and not even a circle, more like a half circle connected to the line.

And maybe it isn't a big deal and this is a completely boring post, but try writing those letters like that and see how odd it feels. Just like as I am learning katakana and trying to follow the "proper" steps to write their letters and it feels completely unnatural. OH MY GOD IS THIS WHAT CULTURE SHOCK FEELS LIKE?!?

Speaking of which, I ate a fish last night. And when I say I ate a fish, I mean I ate the entire fish, from head to tail. Well, actually from middle of body, to tail, to head last. It was about six inches long and pan fried so it was nice and crispy.

Kind of looked like this, but cooked



There were three on the plate, and I asked, "how do you get the meat off of this little fish?" And the response was, "You don't, you just eat the whole thing."

"Uhm, you mean head and tail and bones and all?"

"Yes."

Ooookay. So, I cut the tail off and the head off and attacked the meaty part of the body, thinking I could at least handle that. Yeah, lots of bones in a fish. And I am not used to eating bones. That was strange. And I kept getting bones stuck on the end of my tongue or between my gums and my cheek, so i had to keep wiping them out of my mouth (which is not polite by the way). But, eventually I was able to chew it up. And then (after another beer mind you) I attacked the tail. Actually that wasn't bad at all, it was just crispy and less bones, or littleler(is that a word) bones than the body of the fish. Yay! Now all I had left was the fish head. Looking at me with its ugly fish mouth open and frowning. Its eyes, while cooked you could still see its eyes, it eyes looking at me. Like it was daring me to eat it. Knowing that I couldn't. But I did! It is tough to eat something that is looking at you. That is my new rule in life. I think I would be willing to try anything, as long as I don't know what it is I will eat it. I think that is where I get freaked out. "Hey try this chicken asshole! How bout some sheep eyeballs? Want to eat monkey heart?" NO! But if someone just put that stuff down in front of me and I didn't know what it was and couldn't identify it I think I would just eat it, let my tastebuds be the judge. Of course, if someone serves me monkey heart and I eat it I will be really upset. That is my other rule, no eating monkeys. Anyway, tangent over, eating something with a face that is looking at me, that is tough. But I did. And you know what? Not worth it. It was just chewy and bony and not anything special. Now I have done it, and can say I have done it, but can't say that I will be seeking out any more of that dish anytime soon. Maybe just to prove how manly I am when I hesitate before eating it, aka, give the Japanese a laugh.


The bar we went to last night has been my favorite so far. It was traditional, meaning you had to take your shoes off. However, whereas most traditional restaurants and bars have low tables and you sit indian style (can I still say that? cross-legged style for all you politically correct types out there (or as I like to call them, douchebags!)) and if you are lucky you have a wall nearby to lean your back against. Otherwise it is sitting with no back support for an hour or two. Yeah, not so fun. Not for my back. Well, this place had the mats on a raised floor with the regular height table set into pits in the floor. So you could sit with your legs under the table. It was like eating at booth. And I had a wall behind me, so back support too, so it was exactly like eating at a booth. Yay! The only difference was that you didn't scoot into the booth you walked on the bench until you got to where you were going to sit and then slid under the table. Fun.

Oh, and another thing about some of these bars in Tsuruga, and I assume much of Japan. They are tiny. They are about the size of my apartment. This bar last night couldn't have possibly held more than 20 people. There were two tables in the place and then a bar which might have had 6 seats. I kind of like those places. Somehow they seem more "real" than those huge bars I would do events at for the radio stations (more so for the Bay, RNR has events at some pretty small places too). Of course, none of these bars have a pool table or darts, and the drinks are probably twice as expensive, so not 100% better than big American bars.