ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Now that I have been here a decent time, I believe I have finally become used to driving here in Japan. It's very different from driving in the U.S. because of how the two countries drive on the opposite side of the roads; America on the right and Japan on the left. I finally believe that i can say driving on the left side of the road feels normal now.
I feel like there are a lot of overlooked quirks to switching the side you drive on. for example, which direction you look for oncoming trafic. In America, and any other place where people drive on the right, the oncoming trafic comes from the left while turning right. This is the opposite from Japan as you may already know. However, coming from someone who has drivin like this their whole life. its simply muscle memory considering which direction you look before turning. This distinction is very important to make so that you dont drive out into oncoming traffic or cut in front of someone you did not see and cause an accident because you looked in the wrong direction. until recently I had to constantly double check my actions before I did something on the road. but now im realizing that almost all of my instinctive actions don't require correcting. Although, this does not mean that I'm not double checking.   

It isn't much, but after a lot of debating and procrastinating, I finally bought something for my apartment that is completely aesthetic in nature. I figured the wash closet was the place to start. After all there were only a couple of things to get...right? Well, I didn't really expect to see a nifty mini-shelf to accommodate your phone while you... take care of business. And I should get some kind of stand to hold the extra paper. This small area is turning into a big project.

The color selection was limited, but I like purple, so I went with that. Next was the toilet slippers. I considered a non-cloth option, but my obsessive need to have a matching set won out. What did I learn from this experience? Decorating is not cheap. Nothing off the shelf is ever going to fit me here. (The slippers are comically small on me.). And it probably isn't best to let someone like me decorate on my own.  

In Kurashiki, for some unknown to me reason, there's a small park outside the station dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen with a clock that opens up and performs a puppet show of some of his famous fairytales on the hour. Andersen has written some of Western Cultures most famous fairytales, such as the Little Mermaid and The Emperors New Clothes. Fairy tales are one of my favorite genres of literature, and for the last year and a half or so, I've been trying to read one every night. When you see me next, you should tell me what your favorite fairy tales are, either from the West or from Japan.