Conflict arising from cultural differences is something that commonly happens to JETs, but i've been fortunate to experience only a few minor cases so far. the most recent one was not really a conflict per se, but more of an english translation problem. so, here's what happened. some time ago, i got a message from the head of the human rights centre. it was an invitation to attend an event. as part of his message, he wrote "i want you to bake a cake for the event". considering he's not in my chain of command at all, my immediate thought was, 'who the hell died and made you the boss of me?'. but then, he's been nothing but kind and polite to me since i've been here, so this was uncharacteristic, to say the least.

the expression "i want you to..." is also taught in schools here, by the way. i expect that's where he picked it up. the direct japanese translation is "...してほしい", which is used to make a request to another person. it's casual neutral-ish in japanese (ie. suitable for use between friends, but not to superiors), but "i want you to..." has a demanding tone in english. so what happened was that when we met in person to discuss the details of the event, i brought it up and gently told him that a native speaker would not use it in that way. instead, phrases like "could you..." or "would you please..." more accurately convey the tone of a request. at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, i think the situation was handled rather well! relations weren't hurt, the message was conveyed successfully, and there shouldn't be a repeat case involving the same phrase.

also this week, i received a letter from my friend's in-laws in akita, along with a big box of apples which i believe they grew themselves. they're juicy, crisp, sweet...my ideal apple. reading the letter (well, being able to read the letter) made me realize how far i've come in my japanese learning journey. while i'm not yet good enough to use it in a professional setting, i think i can communicate effectively with native speakers. i'll write them back, along with a new year card that i made during the JET workshop. i used to send christmas cards, but stopped after JC. doesn't seem like a big thing among people i know. well, new year's cards are still big in japan, so why not? i have to get it in the mail by 25 december for it to arrive on time. seems doable.

just yesterday, i stopped myself from making an impulse purchase. my trip to the stationery stores in kochi city didn't turn up any of the nib units i was looking for. in addition, the pilot explorer is no longer available in the singapore store that stocked them previously. so i wound up looking at the website of a company based in the US. the total bill came up to USD 150 (including shipping), which is about SGD 200. decided to give myself some time and mental space to sort my finances out first before committing to it. odds are i'll get it by the end of this year though, especially since i have one pending assignment on the science side.

on that topic (shipping, not science), i realize that in some cases, shipping can be more economical than making a trip down to the store. the thought was brought about by my recent kaldi trip. out of curiosity, i looked up their shipping charges, and found that they charge about 900 yen to ship orders below 6500 yen. it's free above that. on the other hand, going to my nearest kaldi would cost me about 1500 yen in tolls, and between 1500 to 2000 yen in petrol. not to mention the time taken (about 2 hours total). so yes. unless i have other business where i must physically be in the city, i think it's better if i ship stuff over, even more so if i wait till i have a big enough order to get free shipping. good to know!

this coming week is the last week of term 2. perhaps it's because i'm still working so close to christmas/year-end, but i don't feel the holiday spirit. well, there's about a week to go, so there's still plenty of time.

-random thought of the day: Need to get corn.-