Does sento wash away bad news?

I had my presentation on sarma today. It was really boring. There was a presentation on Rockies-As-Shown-By-A-Travel-Agency, a perfectly delivered, very touching story about porcupines and personal space, and a presentation-cum-degustation of a Malaysian dish, a presentation on Fusui (or Feng-Shui, if that's more familiar), beautiful presentations on Malaysian jungles and highlands and Israeli saline depths, and a Look-How-Cute-Little-Anteaters-Are one. Of course, there was also an utterly incomprehensible piece on peonies, but even that was a detective novel compared to my Recipe-of-the-Week column in Foreigner Daily.

Various and sundry replies for Linda: The baito is actually a sweet gig. I'm programming odds and ends for my lab. So I don't go anyplace I'm not already going to, and not doing anything I wouldn't already be doing. The only downside is, I'm not meeting anyone I wouldn't already be meeting. But shou ga nai.

As you might have guessed, I did go research local sarma. I went with my gourmet Canadian friend, and I was a bit nervous ("What will he say about our peasant cuisine?") but in the end he really enjoyed himself. Me, I was nitpicking all the time how nothing is really what I'm used to, even though everything was very good. My complaints were mostly based on the fact that it is a haute cuisine restaurant catering to japanese palates, and I'm used to plain old home cooking.

As you might or might not know, sarma is very sour and salty. As (some other of) you might or might not know, Japanese don't like strong flavours. Result is, I felt it was bland. Still delicious, but not the dish I know and love. Also, you only get a midget of one sarma roll for the price I don't want to put on the blog. It is not cheap.

Chabapuchicchi had a similar problem: not enough spices. White codfish (bakalar na bijelo) was the most authentic, from what we had. Shutorukuri (and congratulations for the first one who manages to decipher what that is) surprised me with paprika added to the cream sauce. I know paprika and dairy go well together, and are often mixed in Croatian cuisine, but I haven't yet experienced it on that particular dish.

However, I'm not sorry I went, even considering the hefty bill. I might go back soon, for lunch, if I have time - they have a set lunch for ¥1000, which is more than affordable, considering - but I doubt I will splurge for a dinner there any time soon.

I am continuing my weekly visits to the cute nurses in the dentist clinic. They say there's nothing better than having a pretty girl in your mouth, I don't think this is exactly what they mean. But it's good for health. I'm still in the root-canal-cleaning phase. Dunno why, but I can't but be reminded of Alien 3. One visit is not that expensive, but it accumulates. And that's just two teeth. Sigh. At least that's a regular expense, not a surprise to my wallet.

Unlike the scholarship money cuts. Yup, we got wind of the rumour that our monthly deposits will get cut by about ¥15000 a month or three hence. Plus, the JASSO policy of refunding 1/3 of whatever medical costs after the national insurance is getting axed next month (which is why I'm hurrying with my oral chimney-sweeping efforts).

More bad news: With regrets, I've decided to stop my attempts to start Aikido again. Every week my knees feel worse - last time I had trouble walking for the next couple of days. Not fun. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe ask about using the Uni sports hall, and starting to swim. Swimming is boring, but it's exercise, and I guess much better for me than destroying my legs in the name of health. I just hope the water is tolerable. (And that for once I do what I tell myself to do.)

Speaking of water - I still haven't gone to a sento, so...

Excuse me for interrupting myself, but I'm really annoyed. I don't know whether it's myself, or English, or Japanese, or... Whatever it is, I hate mixing writing styles. Namely, whether to write the long O as "ou"/"oo" or simply "o". It just seems so bloody inconsistent! But the fact is, if I'm writing something in Japanese and don't want to use a native script, I'll probably go with the accurate kana transcription: "ou" most times, "oo" where applicable. But if they're just words that got into English, I feel silly writing "sentou" when whoever knows the word will probably recognise "sento" sooner. Besides, I'd feel like a pompous prick. So I resolve to remain consistently inconsistent, and peeved at my peevishness.

Ahem. Okay. I still haven't gone to sento, and I think I might like to try to go today. I think I might enjoy it after working on the presentation for so long. On the 'Net I found one near Omotesando station, which is on my free route, and I'm thinking to go and try to find it. I don't have any tattoos and I've read up on sento etiquette, so I hope I'll be fine. Before that, a quick stop at the cafeteria, to see if there's still anything edible.

Till next time!