"Network, Footwork and Teamwork."This is part of the vision statement of the Iizuka hospital said by it's employees during the daily morning meetings. I admire this hospital and the people who work there more and more each day.
Yesterday, March 14th, was "White day" in Japan. One month after Feb 14th is the day for men to give gifts of chocolate, cakes and other sweets to women in return for gifts they received on Valentines day. (and can I just say...WHY is this not done in North America? Seriously, there is way too much pressure on men to give gifts and the ladies get off totally Scott free! Love oriented gift giving reciprocity should be the way of life).
Anyways, so a man at work presented Samantha and I with a few treats that were made by his family in their bakery. So kind, and so delicious!
Our Japanese lesson was great. Our teacher essentially threw the book out the window and spoke to us with a white board and marker writing down words and simple phrases (well - simple for Sam, she's got excellent Japanese!). We also counted money. The counting system here works in four digits instead of 3. So 1000 is sen (one thousand) but! 10000 is ichi (one) man ("ten thousandth" category identifier). Confusing?...It took me 12 minutes and my Japanese text to figure that out.
After our lesson, Kobayashi-san (our teacher) took us to the Ouzuka tomb. Interestingly, they don't even know who is buried there. But it's very old, very large, has intricate detailing and holds historic significance, an exhibit was made. Kobayashi-san also treaded Sam and I to delicious snacks from a bakery. I can't handle all these sweets! Note to self, start work out regimen NOW.
At night, we were invited out with Ken, a previous Lattitude volunteer who has stayed to continue work at the Iizuka Hospital, and medical students and doctors to a pub nearby. It was great fun regardless of my minute conversational Japanese. There was a young girl there who found my knee comfortable and was a gangnam style dancing champion. I also met a man named Hai-san. In Japanese "Hai" means "yes", so everyone calls him "Yes man". I had a really great time :)
Today, the conclusion of my first week in Iizuka, was delightful. Our Japanese lesson was lead by Nishio-san, an absolutely splendid woman. She gave us candies and told us about Cats the musical playing in Hiroshima (I MUST go!) later in March. We also spoke a lot about how sounds are said in Japanese versus English. The Japanese say "nya nya" to describe the sound of cats meowing. After lunch, Yano-san took Samantha and I to the Kyushu National Museum and the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. He is so much fun! He let me take this picture of him with his head on a cardboard cut out of one of many men who carry and race one ton floats at the Hakata gion yamakasa festival in July.
Cherry blossoms are not quite in bloom yet. But we got a peak at some beautifully pink plum blossoms soaking up the start of the spring sun. On the ride home, we listened to some of Yano-san's favorite music: The Police, Bohemian Rhapsody and the Safety Dance.
Japanese words of this week:
ototoi (oh-toe-toe-ee) = day before yesterday
otto (oh-toe) = husband
Otouto (Oh-tooooe-toe) = younger brother
Otou-san (oh-toooe-san) = father
to (toe) = and
ottosei (oh-toe-say-ee) = sea lion
outo (ooooh-toe) = sound
Imagine: The day before yesterday, my husband, father and younger brother heard the sound of a sea lion.
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