Home post // Feb 11 
・薬屋のひとりごと３ (31% → 45%)
Got to read a fair bit on the train, was distracted a lot by the scenery and landscape outside.
And oh! (not reading related but I have to share this) Train staff made an announcement through the speakers seeking for someone who knew how to speak Japanese and so I went to the café coach to see what was going on. Turned out a young Japanese woman had trouble with her luggage and missed her station and thereby her connecting train. The train staff had trouble with language barrier so I tried to help them (I never practice my speaking skills 
unless singing counts). And guess what? …I was nihongo jouzu’d (first time!) She seemed genuinely impressed too, I’m so conflicted! xD At first when I heard her say that I thought to myself “are you kidding me” but the expression on her face made me so happy. It was so bizarre to suddenly be in a situation where all my studying so far has paid off. In my own country too. I don’t think a lot of Japanese people come here especially not to the inaka middle of nowhere during the winter.
Anyway, hopefully she reached her destination okay! 
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As a warning, it involves bugs and a corpse whose condition was … not fine 
so yeah, gross and morbid. The chapter title was 冬人夏草 and it’s a pun on the bug 冬虫夏草 (some nasty looking caterpillars if you ask me 
please do not look them up, you’ll need bleach for your eyes). Story: The main protag is walking around the forest and finds a bunch of rare poisonous mushrooms. Turns out they only grow when there’s a dead animal or human buried underneath. She knows there’s a person who has been missing since a year ago and connects the dots. …There’s a reason she requested gutsy (腹の据わった) people to help her dig up the ground for her.