A regular day

 After the excitement of yesterday, today is a regular sort of affair.  I had two students come to talk with me.  One wants to be a Junior High School English teacher, and the other... well I can't recall what the other said he wanted to do.  Both of them spoke English with enough proficiency that between the two of them we only needed a translator app once or twice over the course of an hour.  Because of this, our conversation ranged from what to do in Tokushima (neither are from here), to video games, to mythology, to skateboard culture, to what restaurants are good.  It was a nice conversation.  I was told that my writing on the board made many students think I must be a math professor.

Then, later in the day another student came by to chat some.  It was another good conversation.  Belonging to the group is a big deal.  He does not want to belong.  I understand where he's coming from.

He was surprised that I do pushups every day, that I play video games, I am lazy about work - a number of things.  I think many students have an idea of what a professor is like.  In some ways I fit that notion and in other ways I'm very much not who they think.

It's good, though.

Thao also came to talk with me.  Just to chat about nothing at all.  I told her about this recurring dream I've had the past week where I get bit by a black widow.  It was probably seeded by my encounter with the huntsman on Saturday.  Last night was the first night I didn't dream much.  What's strange is at home I rarely remember dreams.  Vivid dreams are even less frequent.  Here, though, I've had active dreams almost every night.  Today it occurred to me that this is probably a good thing.  Dreams help your brain organize the new experiences and emotions from the day.  Instead of being frustrated or worried about the dreams, I can say they are an indication that I'm experiencing so many new things.

This is the way of the world, I guess.