Nihon de...
I am learning all of the words contained in an illness. Binetsu - slight fever. Seki - cough. Nodo - throat. Kusuri. Particularly nodo no kusuri, which comes in a variety of nasty forms. I am particularly unfond of the vitamin drink, although the gargle is likewise unpleasant. According to my brother, who is the source of this illness, I may have swine flu. He got the information from one of his instructors, though, so it is quite possibly suspect. Although apparently school has been canceled once or twice because so many students were absent due to illness. Thanks to him, I've actually had to wear a surgical mask, which makes you feel really silly, and makes my glasses fog up. It seems I have another week left of this.
Learning is coming on by leaps and bounds, though. Mama Fumie has been extremely helpful, although getting me to compose a kamoshiranai sentence this morning felt a little cruel, to be honest. I am learning good words from her - akahaka, frivolous. Hato, pigeon. Apparently dove and pigeon are the same, although Mama Fumie and I had a bit of a debate over this when there was a hato on a clock. I said it was different than the hato at the station, and she said it was the same, and I said it was a shiroi hato, and she told me another word, which I promptly forgot. According to the dictionary, a dove is a shirohato. White pigeon. Eh, pretty much, I guess.
This morning I've mostly been hanging around - Mama Fumie wants to go shopping, I think, but I don't think I've got the energy, to be honest. I certainly don't want to go and visit Obaasan - if I do have the swine flu, the last thing I need to do is visit an elderly woman. I am not contagious anymore, but still. Too tired anyway.
Breakfast this morning was a green leafy vegetable similar to spinach in appearance, only with a chard-like stem and an okra-like flavor and sliminess. Very good, although I can't remember what it was called. Also coffee jelly, which doesn't really taste like anything. Mama Fumie had me try some of the milk one, which is apparently a popular Chinese dessert, and actually tasted like tapioca jello. I really like the milk tea, speaking of milk things. Can't wait until it cools down and I can drink more tea. It's too hot right now, and also びねつがあるので、ミルクちゃあつすぎます。I really don't need to be heated up any more, I don't think.
Just finished Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett. Somehow I managed to only bring depressing new books with me - Green Dolphin Country, which is all 'ooh exciting islands and New Zealand and Interesting People' but also a lot of characters who have been twisted and malformed by circumstance into caricatures of what they could have been, and Voyage of the Narwhal, which is kind of like that biography of John Fremont, who almost did everything. He was never in the right place at the right time, and no matter what he did, he never quite managed to get what he was after. He was almost a famous explorer, almost won a war, almost became president - actually, Answers.com would have you believe that his life was not nearly so frustrating as all that, but it doesn't quite give the full story. He still accomplished a lot, but he never got the recognition or positions he deserved, and all of his projects failed to achieve their full potential. Same with Erasmus Wells, main character of The Voyage of the Narwhal. I mean, it is an arctic exploration story, so that's not very surprising, but still.
I have a hard time with arctic exploration stories. Lots of people die and get trapped in the ice and don't find what they're looking for and when, or if, they get back home, they usually get forgotten or abused. The only way to achieve lasting fame was to die a horrible death, possibly after having resorted to cannibalism. Franklin's lost expedition, for example. Which led a great many other people to go looking for him and die horrible deaths/become terribly mutilated/have their health ruined/lose their ships and all other possessions. As a matter of fact, they've been looking for him/his lost ships up till last year. DED AND FAMOUS BECAUSE DED. Also probably because his whole Northwest Passage search appeals to the inner dreamer and adventurer. A great quest, for pure knowledge. Blah. Ded. Wikipedia says it's more or less the Canadian national story, which is kind of cool. Anyway, it's a bit depressing to read about. I should have brought cheerful books.
Going to go find something in Japanese to watch/listen to in the hopes of improving.
Learning is coming on by leaps and bounds, though. Mama Fumie has been extremely helpful, although getting me to compose a kamoshiranai sentence this morning felt a little cruel, to be honest. I am learning good words from her - akahaka, frivolous. Hato, pigeon. Apparently dove and pigeon are the same, although Mama Fumie and I had a bit of a debate over this when there was a hato on a clock. I said it was different than the hato at the station, and she said it was the same, and I said it was a shiroi hato, and she told me another word, which I promptly forgot. According to the dictionary, a dove is a shirohato. White pigeon. Eh, pretty much, I guess.
This morning I've mostly been hanging around - Mama Fumie wants to go shopping, I think, but I don't think I've got the energy, to be honest. I certainly don't want to go and visit Obaasan - if I do have the swine flu, the last thing I need to do is visit an elderly woman. I am not contagious anymore, but still. Too tired anyway.
Breakfast this morning was a green leafy vegetable similar to spinach in appearance, only with a chard-like stem and an okra-like flavor and sliminess. Very good, although I can't remember what it was called. Also coffee jelly, which doesn't really taste like anything. Mama Fumie had me try some of the milk one, which is apparently a popular Chinese dessert, and actually tasted like tapioca jello. I really like the milk tea, speaking of milk things. Can't wait until it cools down and I can drink more tea. It's too hot right now, and also びねつがあるので、ミルクちゃあつすぎます。I really don't need to be heated up any more, I don't think.
Just finished Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett. Somehow I managed to only bring depressing new books with me - Green Dolphin Country, which is all 'ooh exciting islands and New Zealand and Interesting People' but also a lot of characters who have been twisted and malformed by circumstance into caricatures of what they could have been, and Voyage of the Narwhal, which is kind of like that biography of John Fremont, who almost did everything. He was never in the right place at the right time, and no matter what he did, he never quite managed to get what he was after. He was almost a famous explorer, almost won a war, almost became president - actually, Answers.com would have you believe that his life was not nearly so frustrating as all that, but it doesn't quite give the full story. He still accomplished a lot, but he never got the recognition or positions he deserved, and all of his projects failed to achieve their full potential. Same with Erasmus Wells, main character of The Voyage of the Narwhal. I mean, it is an arctic exploration story, so that's not very surprising, but still.
I have a hard time with arctic exploration stories. Lots of people die and get trapped in the ice and don't find what they're looking for and when, or if, they get back home, they usually get forgotten or abused. The only way to achieve lasting fame was to die a horrible death, possibly after having resorted to cannibalism. Franklin's lost expedition, for example. Which led a great many other people to go looking for him and die horrible deaths/become terribly mutilated/have their health ruined/lose their ships and all other possessions. As a matter of fact, they've been looking for him/his lost ships up till last year. DED AND FAMOUS BECAUSE DED. Also probably because his whole Northwest Passage search appeals to the inner dreamer and adventurer. A great quest, for pure knowledge. Blah. Ded. Wikipedia says it's more or less the Canadian national story, which is kind of cool. Anyway, it's a bit depressing to read about. I should have brought cheerful books.
Going to go find something in Japanese to watch/listen to in the hopes of improving.