First, a comment

 Susan wanted to comment on yesterday's post, but the system would not let her for one reason or another.  So, she emailed the comment to me.

    "Thank you for saving me from falling into the canal. And yes, my curry was delicious. I hope we can have lunch at this place again before you leave. In the meantime, I'll be practicing my long jump technique."

 

The pace of social engagements is picking up.  For the first time since being here I've had to say "I don't think that day will work for me because I'm busy."  I decided to write things down, which is how I know it's getting serious.  In the next 14 days I have 3 that do not have something scheduled besides class.

However, I have some more proverbs to share from this book.

 

It was originally published in 1981, and this is a 13th printing from 1993.  This is the first one.

I like the imagery of a dog giving its loyalty immediately and a cat being a cat.  Now, about the layout of the book.  Each proverb or saying is first written in Japanese characters.  Then it is written in Roman letters for Japanese pronunciation.  After that is a literal translation in English, German, and French.  If there is an equivalent saying in another language, that is posted in bold next.  When there is no equivalent translation and the meaning is a bit obtuse, a parenthetical explains.

And here we see an example.  Kakka soyo - to scratch an itch through a shoe.  It expresses a feeling we've all had.  I have seen many students with this sense of irritation because they cannot adequately express their feelings.  Like good proverbs and sayings, the imagery is very clear.  You can almost scratch through a shoe, but any true satisfaction only comes if you change the entire situation.

 This last one is the reason for doing exchange trips.  We must leave our wells if we want to experience the ocean.  Even if our well is next to the ocean.  We can expand our thinking by hunting up different places to visit and travel to.  Eventually we return to our well.  For now, I'll do my best out here.