There's a typhoon a-coming...

I checked email this morning to find a message from the American Embassy in Tokyo. It warned all Americans in the Tokyo area to prepare for what the Japan Meteorological Agency categorizes as a “very intense” storm. It also instructed us to keep our passports on us at all times and to"make appropriate provisions for food, water and shelter". Here's an article on the typhoon: Strong typhoon bears down on Japan. While it looks like it shouldn't hit Japan very hard, Taiwan it seems has not been so lucky.

In other news, yesterday we found out that kids in both of my hostsisters' classes at school have H1N1, or what they simply call here 'influenza' （インフルエンザ）. 2 kids in Koko-chi's kindergarten class have the bug, so she now has an entire week off. They're scheduled to go back to school next Tuesday, but it's on TBA basis. They're going to wait and see, my hostmom said. Yuzu, unluckily, still has school, but had to have her field trip cancelled, since a group of kids two classrooms down from hers now have the flu. One more kid in her homeroom class with it means no school for her, too. Wooo!

Expectedly, they're both wearing face masks any time they leave the house now.

Tomorrow I was scheduled to go to my field placement at Tsuga Elementary, but I woke up this morning feeling like a sack of rocks and ended up sleeping until about 3 in the afternoon. Given that this H1N1 is running rampant among schoolchildren here, it's probably not the best idea for me to walk in there tomorrow with a rundown immune system. Plus, the teacher who oversees my placement told me, while laughing, that I should stay home "if I'm scared of the typhoon". I'm not exactly sure what she meant by that..

Other than those mild panics, I'd say I'm doing pretty well here. The initial adjustment period is mostly over for me. I know where things are. I have a routine down. I know some people and most of the time can get what I need through basic conversation. It's a good feeling. Now the greatest challenge that awaits is sheer memorization of loads and loads of vocabulary and kanji. Now that I have the foundations in place, I have to accumulate data like crazy. It's amazing how few words you actually use from day to day. When something as mildly uncommon as gardening pops up in conversation, it can be too much for my school-oriented vocabulary to handle. The only solution? Incessant study. It can't be too bad, right? Everyone likes a good flash card, no?