geeks

a week or two ago the word 'geek' came up in one of my lessons and of course my student asked me what it meant. it's kind of a difficult word to explain really. but she got it and was like 'like in densha otoko?' and i was like 'huh?' so she told me it was a movie. about geeks. apparently. so i finally watched it last night, and it was really cute and i quite liked it. imagine my surprise when today i come accross this book review and find out that densha otoko is more than just a cute movie. it's based on a true story of an exchange in a chatroom and has been made into a movie, tv series, book, and manga, AND translated into english. crazy! so now i'm reading through a version of the original chat logs that have been translated into english. it's actually kind of amusing reading the transcripts knowing that they are to become something of a sensation.

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge

this bridge is the world's longest suspension bridge. a few weeks ago we went to check it out and were lucky enough to get there as the sun was setting. definitely an impressive sight.

riding stable in japan

we went for a walk in a big park (hittori?) in suita where they had this riding stable. of course i wanted to take a look because i am always curious about how horses are kept in different places. it was so interesting that everyone was wearing breeches and tall boots! even the people just watching the horse being lunged. they had a lot of lungeing rings set up, and i also didn't see any turnout space. makes me wonder if there is a corrolation between the two. unfortunately we didn't walk right into the stables because there were all kinds of signs in red kanji on a gate leading to the stable and i couldn't help but guess it meant no intruders. too bad coz it would have been interesting to see. especially since we could hear that they were playing classical music over speakers in the stable...