Why we dont speak Japanese/ Dealing with Earthquakes

**This post was written the morning before the big earthquake. This was my experience with earthquakes prior to the major one that day. I appologize for any confusion.**

This is kind of a two part post. First I want to tell everyone that we are all ok over here with the recent Earthquakes. I don't think they even did any damage. Coming from Michigan, I had never experienced an Earthquake in my life. My first experience was at the end of watching Top Gun. Tom Cruises earth shattering performance literally mad the ground rumble. At the time, it felt like someone next to me was just shaking their leg uncontrollably.

The thing about earthquakes is there seems to be no warning. There are things like blizzard warning, tornado warnings, hurricanes are tracked for weeks, but earthquakes just kinda pop up. I still have no real clue what to do in an earthquake. I hear you are supposed to crouch under something sturdy. Most things in Japan are about as sturdy as a piece of paper standing on its end. Anyway, Wednesday I was Skyping a friend when all of a sudden my room felt like it was going back and forth. I can only equate to what a hillbilly must feel when their mobile home is relocated to a new trailer park while he is staying inside. The sensation went on for a good few minutes. I actually felt a little motion sick when it was all said and done. There were 3 more earthquakes the following morning. I have to say there's nothing  quite like waking up to the whole room shaking.

I also learned a very important tidbit about the country I chose to move to:
Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 per cent of the world's quakes occur. Basically, we get a lot of Earthquakes. Considering the fact that I've only been here a month and have experience 4 now, I am going to believe them.

If you want more info on the quake click here. Don't forget I live in Sendai which is mentioned in the article.
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Part 2 More Miscommunication


Tuesday, I bought a bunch of what I thought were donuts to share with the office for Fat Tuesday. After biting into one I found out it was filled with bean paste called "anko." All I can say is bean paste does not spell a delicious treat. Japanese people love their bean past though. Also I bought what looked like cinnamon and sugar donuts. Turns out they were actually Mochi a green tea flavored rice paste filled with more bean paste. I'd equate it to eating pure dough.  

 

Tell me this doesn't look like a donut

While teaching, I got off subject because one of the kids wanted to be called Mr. Donut. I thought it'd be a great time to relate my story of bean paste. Well I started talking about it and realized they needed the Japanese word for it. Generally, we never talk in Japanese but I figured this could help. I called it Ancho. The kids started cracking up and pointing to an inappropriate place. According to some teachers, the students thought I was saying Concho which is kinda like checking someones oil. I quickly recovered to Anko but was super embarrassed and tried to calmly move right on to the story.


Miscommunication at the Restaurant 

The one play they thought they were splitting

Last night, several of us went to a Korean BBQ (Higashiyama) to celebrate another teachers birthday. 4 teachers wanted to split this meat platter and tried to relate that to the waitress. You can guess what happened next. Food comes out and so do 4 of these $40 meat platters. They informed us that they couldn't take it off the bill. The funny thing is the waitress didn't even question it when we ordered. She must have thought Americans really love meat.  They also don't have doggy bags here so we only had one option. It literally felt like Christmas in March. I have been craving cow parts since I got to Japan. Its pretty hard to come by. The food was delicious!

What we all actually got

The finished product