Hamsters

Today I went with a friend to the new Home Center downtown. There was a fantastic petland full of cute dogs and bunnies and fish and parakeets and guinea pigs and beetles and HAMSTERS.

They were absolutely adorable! The sign said not to put your hand in because they bite, but the lady working there didn't say anything when she saw me put my hand into the first hamster aquarium, so we went ahead and played with practically every hamster in the place. Some didn't seem to notice when we touched them, but this fat gray one turned its head around and glared at us, seeming to say "Leave me alone! Can't you see I'm busy burrowing??" It glared every time we touched it. If it weren't 3o bucks, I would have bought it on the spot. We must have spent more than an hour playing with hamsters.

I want a hamster. No, not one hamster. I want a whole bunch of hamsters. They're so cute!

But after asking the lady working about how many babies they pop out, it got a little scary. Apparently 2 hamsters can have about 30 babies a year. So in a few years, how many hamsters does that make?

Year One - 30 hamsters. Let's say 15 girls and 15 boys, and the next year they all have babies, too. And just for simplicity's sake, let's say the parents die after a year.

Year Two - 450 hamsters. Now that's a lot of hamsters in just a couple years. A few aquariums filled to the brim with hamsters?

Year Three - 6750 hamsters. I might need to convert one room into a hamster playroom.

Year Four - 101,250 hamsters. Not only have we grown way past infestation level, but the previous hamsters would be dying off and I'd need a shovel to pile them up in the backyard for burning.

Holy cow. Perhaps I don't want hamsters.

The photo

Just got a call from the Fukuoka Consulate saying the photos were too small. I got them done at a passport photo booth, but apparently the Japanese passport photo size is 0.5cm smaller than the American one. Hmm . . . wonder where I can get bigger photos done in a jiff . . .

Passport issues.

My passport expires in two weeks.

I filled out the passport renewal documents, paid a hundred bucks for a money order of $67 US dollars, assembled the self-addressed insured envelopes, attached two photos and sent the whole packet off to the Fukuoka Consulate today. Supposedly it then gets sent to America for processing, and I'm hoping that the whole procedure is completed within two weeks.

I had the forms filled out 3 weeks ago, so why did it take so long for me to get around to sending it all? Those darn pictures. I'm gonna have this passport for ten years, so of course I want a good picture. I waited until I could get a haircut. Then waited until I had time to get dressed up in a suit and make my way downtown to the photo booth. I figured a suit looks more professional, and less likely to get questioned in the customs lines while travelling (my current passport with the photo from my long hair & eyebrow ring days caused worrisome delays in Cambodia). I spent $20 on photos and thought I looked kinda weird in all of them, so decided to ask around to see which photo looked best. It took several days to collect a nice sample of opinions.

Everyone liked the non-smiling serious face. Which I didn't. So in the end it didn't even matter if I asked what everyone thought or not, because I went with the photo that most people said they DIDN'T like. But I'm smiling big, and that's why I chose it.

Does the renewal get processed in time? Will my current passport expire and make me an illegal alien? Oh, the possibilities. Nothing to do but sit back and see what happens.

9 months of memories

Rolls of film were piling up waiting to be developed and I finally got around to it. 168 photos on high quality photo paper cost about a hundred bucks. Yikes!

Looking through all these photos made me realize that I take pictures of friends, places, and events, but never of myself. I'm getting older . . . my face is changing . . . my hair goes through different phases . . . fashion evolves. What did I look like a few years ago? I know I looked younger, but how?

Then I started thinking about the collection of photos I do have. None from my childhood; none from high school. It's like I never existed until I became an adult.

But I didn't intend to suddenly get all sentimental. I started writing just now because I thought it'd be nice to spice up this blog with some of the photos I just got back. So . . . here are a couple from the Hot Spring Festival held back in March. There was a parade, lots of food stalls, singing, dancing, and all kinds of events throughout the city. Mostly it was just fun being part of a big crowd and running into friendly faces.

I was surprised to find one of my favorite students part of a group of guys hauling a portable shrine down the road. Yes, I know it's bad to have favorites, but what can I say, some are just more likeable than others.

Something's growing!

A few weeks ago I planted hundreds of seeds and some bulbs in a range of planters and pots. Unfortunately it then rained for several days straight and nothing came up, so I assumed that they all drowned. But something's growing!

Two planters have haphazardly sprouted a bunch of little green stems, which look suspiciously like weeds. The planters sown with carrot seeds have sprouted shoots in tightly arranged clusters. A promising sign!

Half of the 26 marigolds have started growing, and the gladiolus pots have stems peeping out from the dirt. I am now officially a gardener.

Cute Furry Creature

This afternoon when I looked out my window there was a cute furry creature moving through the garden. It looked like a tan-colored ferret. So cute! Its fur looked so soft. I hope it comes back.

I think I'm turning Japanese

So I've been living in Japan for almost 6 years now, and at first I had a lot of native English-speaking friends to hang out with. But people go back to their home countries, and I've made little effort to make more foreign friends. It was kind of a conscious decision; I wanted to make more Japanese friends and improve my Japanese. I guess it worked. I feel confident in my speaking ability and feel very comfortable hanging out in completely Japanese social circles. It's even gotten to the point where my daily thoughts and even my dreams are totally in Japanese.

But last night I discovered a downside to this.

I went out with some friends to a restaurant-bar, the kind where everyone sits on the floor in a long row and talks to the few people around them. Some friends of friends had brought a couple of American guys that had just moved to Japan and they ended up sitting near me. I had no idea how to talk to them. My English was stuttery, I didn't know how to carry on a normal conversation, and I felt awkward when they didn't give expected responses. I felt socially inept. Is it really that easy to forget how to act around people from my native culture? I've grown so used to reading social cues from Japanese people and these two Americans caught me off guard.

So I moved away from them and kept myself among a group of Japanese guys that I'd met once. It was relaxing. Entertaining. Non-confrontational. I could overhear the American guys talking about fraternities and trying to explain what they're all about. If there was a chance of me giving it another go at conversation with them, that turned me off. I moved even further from them and immersed myself in conversations that I used to find boring, but somehow came to love. What Chinese characters do you use to write your name? What foods do you like? What is it like growing up in the countryside?

Talking with the American guys made me feel uncomfortable, inadequate, on-edge. I didn't know how to read their facial expressions to tell me how to move forward with the conversation. Were they even interested in what I had to say? How do I know if they're listening if they don't encourage me to continue speaking with polite nods and questions? I didn't interact with them again for the rest of the night, until they stood up to leave and I waved goodbye.

But on a completely different note, I spent the night talking with a hot firefighter and was impressed with his taut biceps and chest muscles. He let me touch them.

I know Japanese!

Sure, anybody can say that they know Japanese, but I have proof!

Last December I took the highest level of the Japanese Proficiency Test and the result finally came in the mail . . . I passed!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!

To tell the truth there was a pretty good chance of me failing, considering I haven't studied for the last few years and have only been picking up spoken Japanese. And this showed on the test . . . the Listening Section turned out fantastic. Reading/Grammar was so-so. Writing/Vocabulary absolutely sucked. I'm surprised they didn't fail me for having such a low score on that part.

The test is only given once a year, and at specified locations throughout Japan. On this entire island (southern island of Kyushu) only two cities were designated, and one of them happened to be Beppu (population 123,003 in December 2005). In fact the test site was so close to my house that I walked there in the morning. Lucky me!

Valentine's Day is for me!

Today is Valentine's Day! And in Japan that means girls give chocolate to boys. I got lots of yummy chocolates! And not just any chocolate. For this one week a year, you can find the good stuff in department stores. Note to self: next year have a party on Valentine's Day, and invite all the girls I know.

Must pace myself. At this rate I'll be diabetic by morning.