Typhoons and Turtles (nearly)

I want to start this post with a lament for my shoes. My best umbrella efforts notwithstanding, and despite having been sprayed before leaving England's temperate climes, my shoes now have a horrid grey water line about halfway up the top, from the incessant rain there's been over the past three days. Incessant because tomorrow there is (apparently) going to be a typhoon! Exciting and nervewracking in equal measure. At the end of lessons today at Naganuma school (where I learn, or at least attempt to learn, Japanese every morning) there was the standard Big Ben bell sequence, which marks the beginning and end of each class, and then an announcement in quickfire Japanese, of which the only word we understood was 'taifu' (guess). The teacher then explained that, although the typhoon is expected to make landfall tomorrow during the day, lessons would continue as normal. I asked what happened if the typhoon struck while we were there and the teacher said that, if we were in the eye of the typhoon, it would be remarkably calm and we could easily get back. Of course, if we're not in the eye of the storm then we might just have to stay in school until it clears up a bit. Great. The word is that it's unlikely to be more than a heavy rainstorm - no serious Philippines-style destruction is forecast - but still, I have a flat rental contract to sign tomorrow...

We also had an induction session and welcome party at Hosei University, where we'll be attending a series of special lectures given just for us scholars until December. It's a huge university, one of the 'big six' which are all prestigious institutions in Tokyo. I'm going to get a Japanese language buddy so we can both practise, and apparently I'll also be assigned a faculty member 'in a field close to my own' - though they're a bit worried about that as they don't really teach linguistics. I don't mind, though, it's not as if I need to go to a lab or anything like a research scientist might want to. There might be an interesting lecture or two to attend, though at this rate I won't have any time left to do anything else! Still, it's good that there are so many opportunities. It was nice to meet some students at the party as well.

This afternoon there was a lecture (another one!) given by Professor Arthur Stockwin, general authority on all things political and Japanese and one of the people who interviewed me for the scholarship. Three of us decided to be groupies and go - it was interesting, so I'm glad we did - and we got a commemorative photo in true Japanese style to mark the occasion.

I've also been alerted to a slightly disturbing trait I didn't realise I had until recently. For some reason, I seem incapable of remembering the Japanese for 'could you say that again, please?', a phrase I often need to say in class. The only thing I can normally think of to convey this is an inquisitive 'mmmm?' sound, accompanied by raised eyebrows and an upward jerk of the head. It's been compared to the gesture a turtle might make when coming out the water (?!). It's now got to the point where all five of the others crack up if I do this, which makes me forget what little I've understood of the question anyway. I'm yet to go a whole day without doing the move by mistake, but I'm aiming to have a turtle-nod-free day before the end of the week. Watch this space...