Two poems.

The class composed five-line poems today in preparation for a school-wide competition taking place next week. My two poems (on the subjects of sukina mono "things I like" and nihongo "Japanese," respectively) are as follows.

Taiyo no shita de asobu
tori no nakigoe o kikinagara
tsumetai mizu ni hai'te oyogu
kireina hana mo aru
kawa e ikou

Frolicking under the sun.
While the listening to the birdsong
swim in the cold water.
And also the beautiful flowers -
let's go to the river.

Itsumo
nihongo o benkyou shite iru ga
mada
doraemon o
shiranai

Always
I am studying Japanese.
And yet
still I do not know
Doraemon!

The doraemon poem, coming on the heels of the to do about my not knowing doraemon, was a real hit with everyone. Ujige-sensei complimented me on my poetic sensibilities and strongly encouraged me to enter the contest, which was a nice ego boost.

Scenes from a Life Japanese.

I've been riding at the front of the trains during my morning commute and observing the driver, trying to get a sense of how the well-oiled machine that is the Tokyo train system runs. The most interesting thing I've noticed is how the driver points forward right before the doors close, as if signaling. Of course the driver doesn't control the doors, and he's separated from the guy who does by ten cars. So how they coordinate is fascinating to me. I assume that both workers are simply on incredibly tight timetables, much in the way synchronized dancers coordinate by counting beats. I'll keep watching until I have it all worked out in my head.

( In other news... )

Final points: be sure to scroll down for a second post that's tied to this one, wherein I put up some poems I composed today in class. And also, enjoy this photo of me goofing around. A friend put a teddy bear sticker on my cheek the other day, and I promptly forgot it and proceeded to wander the city with it affixed to my face. But I didn't get any extra looks or anything. After all, I'm a tiny, freckled, blonde-haired, blue-eyed gaijin. A teddy bear sticker on the cheek is really just frosting.