I spent most of my day today studying and eating. I had this idea that I’d study all day, but I interspersed my study sessions with some pleasure reading, a walk, some shaved ice, and a nice simple Japanese style dinner.
A highlight of my day was meeting my new neighbor upstairs.
Interesting person. Her name is Jane, and she is from England. She is half Japanese, but speaks no Japanese herself. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with someone with a thick English accent, stronger than what I was used to from Melanie. She has family that are here to help her move in, a couple of grandparents that don’t speak any English. She must be able to communicate with them, because they seem to be getting along.
We chatted just briefly on the steps. In a couple of days she’ll be off to Yashiro for the concentration camp treatment that I got last year. I didn’t tell her that, though. Best to leave the experience there for her to discover. I gave her a hot tip on the train system, and she’s eager to chat some more and hear what else is around the neighborhood. She asked me an odd question about whether I’m an early riser – but didn’t tie it to any particular reason.
Anyway, she seems nice enough, she’s tiny so she’ll make softer footsteps than Mel did, and I think we’ll be getting along just fine.
For dinner I cooked up a traditional rice and miso soup meal, with a side of kimchee to give it a Korean kick. Excellent!
Now I’m going to do one last review of vocabulary before I go to bed. Tomorrow I’m doing a short day at work, and I’m going to try to get Tuesday off since that will be Kuniko’s first day out of her “prison”, a mandatory live-in at school for the past five days. I’m hoping to go meet her in Osaka after my class in Kobe tomorrow night.
