So to answer your question, yes, shi-tzu's and dragons CAN be friends.

Anyway, as fun and hilarious as Japan can be, it also has its frustrating moments. One occurs when your train line randomly shuts down and the explanatory announcement is in mumbled old-man Japanese. And the thing about asking people for help is, well, they WANT to help, but they're not very good at it. Saying that your Japanese is bad will only elicit a repeat of the same long, convoluted explanation which you will never hope to understand. And no matter how futile the situation is, most people won't give up until a resolution is reached, making the whole process very long and uncomfortable for all parties involved. So as for the train incident earlier this week, it ended with me being a full half-hour late to work, then showing up all flustered only to be asked by my boss why I didn't get a "chienshomeishou" (a paper lateness explanation) from the station workers.

Another thing that's already starting to piss me off is the lecherous stares I get from weird old Japanese men on the train. I can't begin to understand why a man a full head shorter than me thinks he has the right to do this. The secret weapon against Japanese train perverts is, of course, looking them directly in the eyes with the fiercest don't-even-think-about-it look you can muster. This scares the crap out of them, because direct eye contact is so rare and confrontational here. I've already had to do this a few times, and I'm getting sick of it. It's especially weird when you're drifting off to sleep with your headphones on, you open your eyes for a second, and there's a gross dude right there watching you.

But don't worry about me. If you've ever been to Japan, you'd know that I'm definitely in the 98th percentile for Huge Scary Women here.

In other news, Japan apparently decided a long time ago that the ABC song in traditional form is too hard, specifically the fast "LMNOP" lyric. So they revised it to sound something like this. Sing along if you like:
A B C D E F G *rest*
H I J K L M N *rest*
O P Q R S T U *rest*
V W *rest*
X Y Z *awkward end*
Needless to say, I completely botched it in my demo lesson today, first singing it with the original LMNOP lyric, then, recognizing my mistake, singing it again but completely leaving out J and V. My trainer then sat me down in front of everyone and took about ten minutes to explain to me all the myriad reasons why it is important to learn the lyrics to the goddamn alphabet song, while I sat there nodding my head.

That'll do it for stories today. On Monday, I have to teach my very first real classes, which will be...
*drumroll*
1. A 30-minute "class" in which I sing songs and dance around with (read: at) a group of 1.5 to 2 year olds and their moms.
2. A 40-minute "class" in which I read oversized childrens' books to, and play games (for example, "jump up and down" and "put the foam letter in the hole") with, a group of 2 to 4 year olds and their moms.
3. A 60-minute class of 9 to 12 year olds, who will surely disrespect me from the get-go and continue to do so for the entire year.

Should be hilarious. I'll keep you updated.

And here's a picture of the area I've been walking through every day to get to work:
Yeah, Tokyo's pretty cool.