Soup du jour
Wednesday is the busiest day of my week. I have 4 classes at school and they start early so I end up stuck in rush hour on the trains which is especially unpleasant in this muggy weather. Luckily I'm usually the tallest person so my face isn't jammed into anyone else's armpit. The people around me aren't as lucky as their faces align perfectly with my armpits. My commute is about 1 1/2 hours each way, 2 trains and a bus. This is when I get to do most of my reading. And my plan is to use this time to do all my course reading when I start the Linguistics program next month.
Actually today I only had 3 classes because my 3rd year students are still in New Zealand. Another nice thing is that because it's really hot these days the school cafeteria now offers hiyashi udon, a cold udon mixed with cucumber and mandarin. It may sound strange but it's quite tasty and VEGETARIAN.
After school I have about 3 hours to kill so I stay at my desk and generally study Japanese (only 6 months to the big test!). You may be wondering why I'm still studying Japanese after all this time... haven't I learned it yet?! Well first of all you probably give me more credit than I'm due. Second of all, there are thousands of Chinese characters (kanji) and I'll never learn all of them... or half of them... or probably even a quarter of them.
I said I was killing time because every Wednesday I have a martial arts class that begins at 7. I study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at a dojo about halfway between my school and home. It's a mixture of wrestling and Judo, with no punches or quicks. It's mainly choke holds and submissions (arm/wrist/shoulder/neck/leg/knee/ankle/foot locks). It may sound barbaric but it's definitely not. When caught in one of these potentially dangerous holds you merely give up by tapping out. Once the hold is released you are fine and there is no damage. At the end of practice I'm exhausted but healthy. Sports where you kick or punch are far more punishing.
I get home about 10pm and eat a small dinner with Yukiko. Then we usually relax for the rest of the evening. All in all Wednesday is a full day for me. School, studying and martial arts. And I still squeeze in about 3 hours of reading.
Actually today I only had 3 classes because my 3rd year students are still in New Zealand. Another nice thing is that because it's really hot these days the school cafeteria now offers hiyashi udon, a cold udon mixed with cucumber and mandarin. It may sound strange but it's quite tasty and VEGETARIAN.
After school I have about 3 hours to kill so I stay at my desk and generally study Japanese (only 6 months to the big test!). You may be wondering why I'm still studying Japanese after all this time... haven't I learned it yet?! Well first of all you probably give me more credit than I'm due. Second of all, there are thousands of Chinese characters (kanji) and I'll never learn all of them... or half of them... or probably even a quarter of them.
I said I was killing time because every Wednesday I have a martial arts class that begins at 7. I study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at a dojo about halfway between my school and home. It's a mixture of wrestling and Judo, with no punches or quicks. It's mainly choke holds and submissions (arm/wrist/shoulder/neck/leg/knee/ankle/foot locks). It may sound barbaric but it's definitely not. When caught in one of these potentially dangerous holds you merely give up by tapping out. Once the hold is released you are fine and there is no damage. At the end of practice I'm exhausted but healthy. Sports where you kick or punch are far more punishing.
I get home about 10pm and eat a small dinner with Yukiko. Then we usually relax for the rest of the evening. All in all Wednesday is a full day for me. School, studying and martial arts. And I still squeeze in about 3 hours of reading.
posted by Jason at 10:32 PM
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