"The petals fall, they change the color of the scenery in this town."

Thanks for all the suggestions of phrases. I'll see how many I can fit on the board. Lately we've been playing a game for warmup in classes where they have to distinguish which word I said, out of two that Japanese pronunciation doesn't differentiate between - say, light and right, or berry and very. They trace down a graph and see if their result matches the one I was going for. Even for a native speaker it's a bit of a tongue twister. Next week I want to try adapting an English version of shiritori, which is a traditional game where each person has to say a word starting with the last syllable of the word the previous person said. It might be tricky since you need to have a big vocabulary to think of words that start with ___.

The students went to various sports competitions at other schools yesterday, so we had no classes. I sat at my desk and made flashcards for first-year classes next week. There was no school lunch, so I brought a bento - somen again because I have much love. We stretched the break out to the full extent allowed - one of the teachers had brought in homemade cheesecake, and we discussed what I thought of Japanese television, and what they thought of American. Everyone has always been amazed that I watch things I don't speak the language of, but the way I see it, it's like Opera. Opera is beautiful, and fascinating, and heart-breaking, and I love it listening to it even though I don't speak Italian. Or Mime! Where there is neither words nor music but you know the story.

I bought a tiny cheap cute toaster oven because I desperately crave baked goods and roasted things. My mouth gets bored after infinite boiled or steamed meals. I have to think of a good meal to baptize it. Hopefully I won't have to much trouble reselling it next March. There's a Co-Op grocery store near the park, a little out of my way from school, but I like going there because they don't force plastic bags on you like the big supermarket.

Everyone, and I mean Everyone, asks what Japanese music I like. It could take days to elaborate, but in simple terms the artist I adore above all others is one Domoto Tsuyoshi:

And that's him doing a cover song, not even one of the incredible pieces he's composed. I actually a blog separate from this one, a Livejournal I've had for years, to chat with friends about music and shows, and I usually keep the two divided, but there are some people I admire so much I'll inflict them even on uninterested parties.