The City No Longer Forsaken

"They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted." ~Isaiah 62:12

Friday, September 15, 2006

In Japan

I`m miraculously at a computer for the second time in two days! I can`t wait to get internet at home. Here are some first observations from Japan:

-Riding the trains in Tokyo during rush hour is as close to spooning as I`ve ever come.
-When one rides on an escalator, those standing shall always form a single file line on the left so that those walking can walk past on the right. Even if you must make a line to get on the escalator and the right side is empty.
-The spacebar on keyboards is only about an inch and a half long. The button next to it translates what I`m writing into Kana. But to change it back to Roman letters I must hit the button in the top left corner.
-There are true mini-vans here. They`re shorter than most of our sub-compact cars.
-People doze on the trains all over the place here and don`t seem to miss their stops.
-While English is in a lot of places, if one wants to read nutrition labels they must know Japanese.
-I will now be using a blowdrier. It`s actually humid enough to be worth it. I also can no longer shower at night without my hair becoming a frizzy mop. Hence, I am becoming even more of a morning person.

Apparently I did too well with my Japanese tapes. I can say, "Sumimasen, nihongo ga wakarimasen," (I'm sorry, I don't understand Japanese) with a pure enough accent that one of my leaders thinks I may be confusing people into thinking that I must speak more Japanese than I'm letting on. Well, I don't. :) A random guy came to the door the other morning and took a long while to go away with me telling him the whole time that I didn't understand.

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