Mogwai's Guide to Simulating Japan's Rainy Season

Step 1: Get dressed. Whatever you would wear out in public will do, hopefully, that does not mean a sweatsuit, I hate it when those are worn in public for something other than jogging or working out. Anywho, get dressed.

Step 2: Turn on your shower. Make sure the water is slightly warm but not too warm. But not too cold either. Just right will do.

Step 3: Get in the shower and count to twenty.

That is how long it takes me to go from my train station entrance to my bike, Butterfly Battle. That is how wet I got in that amount of time. My clothes are dripping dry in my bathroom as I type this. The ride home did not make me any wetter than I was in that first twenty seconds. After that brief period of time, I could not have been more soaked.

Having said that, I like it when it rains this hard. I like the smell, the sound, the look, and the feel of the drops hitting my skin. There is not a lot I dislike about the rain, to me, it is one of the most soothing things in the world. What I do not like is having a bike as my only means of transportation. Even then, the bike ride home was quite nice.

Soon, I am hoping to see paper ghosts dangling in the trees throughout the countryside. The ghosts are thought to scare the moisture away and make the rainy season pass quickly. If I have any sightings, I will post the pics.

In other news, tomorrow is my last work day before my vacation. I am getting excited to see my family and how they react to this place. I also had my first hardcore Japanese lesson today and I thought my mind was going to explode. Nothing helps you learn kanji quicker than old ladies making you translate a complex song and berrating you with sentances like, "C'mon, thats the third time the character for "kai" has appeared in this song. You should know it." Needless to say, I will sleep tonight, haunted by dreams of "kai" hovering over me and hiding in the shadowy corners of my apartment. The funny part, "kai" is not a horribly important character. It is what the Japanese call a counter. Basically, it is a word that goes behind a number to indicate what it is that the number represents. In English, if one were to say, "I have thirty bucks." Bucks, would be the counter word. Anywho, the Japanese method for teaching people kanji appears to be to drown them in it and see if they can swallow enough of it to keep their nose above water. I am not sure if I like the method, but I do know several new kanji because of it.