you know when you've been in Japan for a year and a half when...

your Japanese handwriting is neater than your English

(I think the scrawl that developed from taking lecture notes at uni has somehow dominated my written script now- my usual handwriting now looks nothing like what it used to at school. It's often illegible- not least to Japanese people, but occasionally to myself too. However, my Japanese is nice and neat. Granted, I don't know how to write it any other way, so probably couldn't be messy with it even if I tried. Teachers at school often comment on my 'kirei' (pretty) writing - but for all I know, such a compliment could be one like 'your Japanese is good' (meaning terrible, but keep going), which I groan when I hear now.)