My toilet just went insane.

My toilet just went insane. Imagine the inner-workings of your home's toilet. After you turn the knob to flush the toilet, a plug closes up the tank again and then water flows from a little tube into the tank until the little floating bell in the tank rises high enough to shut off the valve, right? Well, you know how sometimes after you turn the knob, the plug doesn't close and you have to jiggle the knob around a bit until it falls into place? And you know how sometimes it's stubborn and won't budge, so you actually have to take the porcelain lid off the tank and coerce the plug into place so the toilet will stop wasting water? Well that happened to my toilet tonight. But Japan's toilets come with a twist - for some reason, maybe so you can see that your toilet water is clear or maybe Japanese people like the sight of running water, the tank lid of all toilets here are like little sinks, and the little tube that refills the tank comes up out of the lid into a little faucet that pours the water down the sink's drain back into the tank. Very aesthetically pleasing. Well, tonight when my toilet wouldn't stop flowing and I had to open the lid, I didn't realize the tube feeding water to the faucet wasn't actually attached to the faucet. So when I removed the lid (and thus the faucet with it), water started shooting out of the tank all over the bathroom. But I couldn't do anything because my hands were busy holding up the porcelain lid, which I couldn't put down because the lid was covered in mildew and some kind of apparently-inocuous blue disinfectant. So finally balancing the lid with one hand, and dripping blue shit all over the place, I aimed the tube back down into the tank and jiggled the plug back into place. And then, for my final trick, waited for the thing to finish filling, and redirected the tube back into the faucet while dropping the lid back into place. . Now my bathroom is covered in toilet water. On a related note, I need to go buy more towels.

On a completely unrelated note, I ate a lunch today with Chong-ri after our professor for Reading Class failed to show up for the 2nd time in five tries. After that, we wandered down to her apartment so I could, of all things, teach her how to ride a bike as I promised. We've all seen images of proud fathers running behind their son or daughter as they finally let go of that little Huffy's seat and watch their kid reach another childhood milestone. Now picture me holding up a 38-year old woman on huge gray granny bike as she struggles to pedal around a dirt field in Sendai. Yes, it was as bizarre looking as you think. And since she doesn't speak English meaning there is no chance she is going to read this and be offended, let's be honest: she weighed more than I expected her to. Of course, I will be immensely proud when she finally rides on her own. She has a long way to go, but goddammit, we're going to make it. Afterward, we headed back to her apartment so she could reward me with kaki and sobacha (persimmon and buckwheat tea).