05/05 - Moving and Shaking, not necessarily in that order

Natural alarm,

no need to set your clocks friends,

the ground will break sleep.



Find yourself anew,

once more, what you have been through,

Orientation.



Along the canal

when wintry winds whip

shoulders disappear


Today was definitely a memorable day. Exhausted from traipsing around Shibuya I went to sleep at about 9:15 PM (or as it is always known here, 21:15). Thanks to crashing early I awoke before 5 AM, which gave me a little time to lie in bed (the floor basically) and check my messages and e-mail before experiencing my first ever earthquake at 5:18. Half awake, I thought the guy next door was moving furniture around awfully early until the floor really started to rumble beneath me. No harm done other than a slightly elevated heart rate for a couple minutes. Though it was apparently a fairly large scale earthquake. Read more about it here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/new/world/japanese-earthquake-stops-tokyo-trains-temporarily/article18455483/

The rest of the day included a long orientation with all the teachers that work for the company, regardless of which University they'll be working at. Around 100 in total. It was nice to meet the final member of our triumvirate that will be teaching at Rikkyo University, and some other cool teachers from all across the world. Interesting and "interesting" ideas were shared for lesson, and then we enjoyed a couple of beers along the water on a nicely lit but chilly night at the Canal Cafe.

           


The third haiku of the day takes inspiration from the following Matsuo Bashō haiku, following some traditional rules, such as mentioning a season, referencing nature, depicting a moment of insight and sparingly using punctuation.


"The crane's legs
have gotten shorter
in the spring rain"