Well, it's official; I'm sitting in the International Centre looking at my first bona fide Japanese snowstorm. The wind is high, and the gray-green water is choppy and roiling as it makes its way northeast from Lake Shinji. The ducks in the water were bobbing close to shore, and I saw an eerie sight as I crossed the bridge. I looked east, at the rice paddies on the long, flat island below me, and I saw what seemed to be about thirty bluish ovals in the middle of the field. I stopped to try to puzzle what they were. They looked for a moment like tombstones, then I realized I was looking at the backs of a large cluster of BIG birds - herons or storks, or something else - , all spaced about a foot or two apart and standing stock-still facing away from the wind. A few sentries stood on higher ground. Strange. I need to look at a Japanese birdwatching book sometime, so I'll know what I'm looking at.

When I left home a few hours ago, it was cold but still sunny. The odd flake of snow was spiralling down from the sky, but the mountains were veiled at the top. These mountains - when I say "mountain", I don't want you to get the wrong idea. These aren't huge mountains, although their sides are steep. They are very close, and they have rounded peaks covered with trees. They have a very comforting presence. This is part of a range stretching north towards the sea. Matsue castle sits on one of its foothills, isolated from the rest. Matsue city appears to end abruptly at the foothills, just past the university, but I haven't gone exploring that way yet.

I'm really enjoying the freedom and speed that a bike gives me. Of the two that Neal left me, I've been using the mountain bike exclusively. Her name, as written on the side, is "My Pallas". She was in pretty rough shape, so I've oiled her joints and bought her a new bike light, and she feels much better now. I never thought I'd get on a bicycle again, and now I'm a convert. I travel all over the city now, and love it!

I got a Christmas package from home on Christmas Day, addressed to me from my stepfather's bookstore. It contained a Christmas card, a Blomidon Naturalists Society 2007 calendar, some fair trade organic chocolates from Just Us! (chocolates made in Hantsport; who would have imagined it!) and a small blue volume of Japanese folk tales and naturalist's notes by Lafcadio Hearn. Now most of you may not have heard of Lafcadio Hearn, but in Matsue he's famous. Born in Greece and raised in Britain, Hearn came to Japan in the early 1800's, coming first to Matsue, where he lived near the castle for close to a year before moving to other parts of Japan. He fell deeply in love with Japan and wrote many books about Japanese culture and traditions, landscapes and stories, bringing Japan to the eye of the world. He rhapsodized about Matsue in particularly affectionate descriptive prose. And Matsue has responded in kind. His rooms here in the old part of town have been preserved as he left them, a statue of him stands nearby, and in stores you can buy Lafcadio Hearn chocolates, sake, wine, tea and coffee. So I was delighted to get a copy of one of his books. The stories and style remind me a bit of Yeat's Irish fairytale collections. It won't take me long to finish it, especially with my holiday break starting today!

I had two days of work during Counselling Week. My teaching duties were light, so I put my efforts into preparing my classes for the first two weeks of the new year. I've been colouring a lot; Yuri, one of the other teachers, remarked that sometimes preparing for class is like being in kindergarden again. I also had a lot of check tests. Many of my students use self-study materials at home to improve specific skills like grammar, fluency (speaking smoothly), listening, et cetera. Check tests are 10-15 minute sessions where we go over the words and phrases and read them aloud in dialogues. It's very motivating for the students, and I found the tests quite fun as I got to know my students better. I had one private lesson as well, which went really well. I'm starting to relax and trust myself a little more.

I need to go to a grocery store with someone who speaks Japanese. I have a couple of recipe books, but I've been unable to identify or ask for a few key ingredients I think I need. I've been living on stir-fries and miso soups, so I'm doing okay... and I LOVE my electric rice cooker. The problem I have is that five days of the week, I don't get home until 10pm or so, and the last thing I want to do is make or eat a big meal. But I'm snackish, so the temptation to buy some chips or something fried is strong. There are plenty of fried foods cheaply available in Japan, plus lots of Western-style fast food; though I got briefly turned off chips after accidentally buying fish-flavoured ships twice. (I NEED to learn to read Japanese!). I also got caught out buying bread. I picked up a dark loaf of bread, thinking it was rye or oatmeal, because I don't want to buy the ubiquitous white bread. Turned out it was chocolate bread. Whoops. I ate it anyway. I've made a few mistakes like that.

At work, I'm on the bento plan. You buy a set number of bento box lunches (for an outrageously low price), and the bento people bring lunch to your office. A bento lunch comes in two plastic boxes. The smaller one has rice in it, and the larger one is divided into sections containing a variety of small dishes: a meat or fish dish, some vegetables, and a selection of salads and pickles. The Japanese love pickles. It's cheap, it's healthy, and it's giving me a chance to try a lot of different foods. The bentos have a cartoon character on the front. Every company here seems to have either a cartoon mascot, or a celebrity rep. AEON has a group of Japanese celebrities, including a pretty young movie actress who is on all our posters and a distinguished kabuki actor. I don't know any of them. I've also seen Cameron Diaz hawking Softbank cellphones, and Tommy Lee Jones is the face of Boss canned coffee.

I was briefly addicted to the canned coffee (it comes out of the vending machine HOT! I'm easily impressed.), but now I've cooled on it. I'd have to call it "coffee-type drink", not real coffee, and although it has plenty of sugar and caffeine and is highly effective, I don't like the jittery feeling it gives me.

I also have to mention the dish that Neal introduced to me before he left. It's called okonomiyaki, which roughly translates as "things I like fried". It consists of an egg batter and a series of ingredients (cabbage, onions, sprouts, carrots, shrimp, bacon, chicken, et cetera) brought to you raw. You mix it up yourself and pour it on the grill in the centre of the table, flip it to cook the other side and eat it with lots of different sauces and garnishes. It's like a huge, thick, tasty omelette or savoury pancake. Mmm.