Welcome to another exciting Little Schmoo post in the land of the strange. Ok so tell me please this amazing country constantly baffles me with its singlemindedness, in a class of 4 students we were debating the fact the Japanese people never commit driving offences. When I pointed out the every morning I crossed a major road to come to work and every morning at least 3-4 cars ran the red light my students first responded that I was lying because surely Japanese people dont commit offenses (but foreigners ALWAYS lie...) after much debate I convinced them that I had no reason to lie when I near get run over every morning crossing the road... this was then followed by "Well you must have a lot of chinese in your area, because they always commit crimes" this was greeted with a chorus of approvals from other students. At that point I pointed out that in the land of Oz (and some basic human rights indicate that) racial discrimination is a crime and that all four of them had just commited a crime and therefore Japanese people did commit crimes.
Silence ensued for the last 5 minutes of the class, oops
Nonetheless I do try not to offend my students, too often...

Anyway on a lighter note
DID YOU KNOW?

The youngest pope was 11 years old...
more people are killed annually by donleys than are killed in plane crashes...
China has more English speakers than the US...
that the YKK on your zipper stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikigaisha, the worlds largest zipper manufacturer...
the sultan`s wife is called a saltana (logical but funny)...
that the electric chair was innvented by a dentist (cavity repair anyone?)...

hehehe
until next time
xxxx Live long and prosper
posted by Schmoo at 8:24 PM

Well finally made it to the infamous Beppu, land of many hells and onsens... ok so its just a large geothermal region but it sounds exciting!!!
The hells were stylish, I even grabbed a few chackas (?) before deciding to run away before the bus filled with Japanese school girls arrived, who although cute in their sailer outfits, tend to scare me when they travel in packs pointing and laughing in my direction, so I have developed a healthy amount of fear of them...

any way i experience the lovely ocean, red and kamodo dragon hells before i gave up on walking (this place has some hills I can tell you and I am sooooo unfit). i was forced to stop for food in Beppu market place (forced i tell you) which lies under the train line, a cute idea on space saving if i ever saw!!!
I actually got a few great pics so when i get off my behind I`ll develope them and pop em on tiggers website for general inspection...
I had more Japanese classes today (also a chance to pick up some more books from the international library) so I am finally learning actions, I can say "I read a book yesturday" and "I drink beer now", both of which are rather important and well to do conversation openers I`m sure you`ll agree with me!!!
I was so glad the weather held for the trip to Beppu, its raining...again...today but am working so I care not at all.
Anyway guys
Live long and prosper
posted by Schmoo at 8:51 PM