Phrase of the Day: 五里霧中

Today I started administrative training 行政研修【ぎょうせいけんしゅう】、and it was quite an experience. Government workers from lots of different ministries come together for two weeks to participate in seminars centered around one major topic. This round is on Japan-China relations, so I'm hoping to get a lot of useful information from it. That is, if I can focus long enough to absorb all the Japanese that's being hurled at me all day. For the first 30 min. of the first lecture, I wasn' t able to follow what the speaker was talking about at all, so I guess you could say I was:

五里霧中 【ごりむちゅう】 (n) totally at a loss; lose one's bearings; in a maze; in a fog; all at sea; up in the air; mystified; bewildered

I like that expression because it very evocative; it literally means "Five li (Chinese distance measure) in the fog."

The good thing was that as the day went along, I was grasping more and more of what was being discussed, so I guess you could say I was only 3 li into the fog. Tomorrow I'm shooting for only one!