December Photos

02/12 - Fukuoka Now Party
03/12 - Cycle to Yamaguchi
05/12 - Snowy Mountains
09/12 - Mikasa Class
13/12 - Haruda Class & Secret Santa
14/12 - International Office
15/12 - The 8th Floor

Flight Home

Kanashima had booked us a taxi yesterday and it was delightfully there at 6am. Lauma, Drummond, and I headed off towards the airport after Fujita-san saw us off. The taxi driver took us to the international terminal, instead of the domestic one since Drum's and my flight was earlier than Lauma's. We left Lauma at the airport with a four hour wait and drove off to find our terminal.

I only found out the other day that I was going to be flying with Drummond: a nice surprise since flights can be tedious at the best of times. Always good to have someone around to share the boredom.

We sat next to a guy called Junya who was visiting England and Spain over the next couple of weeks. He is staying with some Japanese friends that live in London. We exchanged email addresses and merrilly quizzed about how to say things in Japanese!

It was one of my best 12 hour flights ever, as I managed to pass the time most adequately with long doses. Only once towards the end of the flight was I bored enough to play with the computer games, though I wasn't in the mood for learning how to play Shogi. I watched "The Wedding Crashers" and "Abudeka". The former was rather amusing, even for an Owen Wilson film, though extremely random in parts. The latter is the 6th installment in a popular TV series of the same name. It is a action-comedy about two cops and was a little strange in places, though very enjoyable to watch.

We landed on time, if not a few minutes early. My dad picked me up from the airport, and we said goodbye to Drum who had to catch yet another plane up to Edinburgh.

Last Day

My last day in Japan for 2005. I head off tomorrow on the same 8.15am plane as Drummond. Thus some of today was spent saying good-bye to people.

We had a little sushi party at lunch time, with Kanashima-san making it all in front of us. Some of us even had a go ourselves. I didn't and even sneaked off with Ciarán for a quick curry-rice. I don't think I could stomach enough sushi to fill me up.

In the afternoon Seb taught us about the Edo period (my period!!), before I taught at Linden Hall with Flick and Binks. We got all the kids in the gym together for the whole 75 minute session, though the first 45 minutes was an obstable course-cum-spelling challenge. They seemed to enjoy, though one team won 4-0.

Dazaifu, Teaching, and Yokitori

After lunch today I went shopping with Lauma in Dazaifu. I rarely go there, but it is so far very nice. It had precisely one street with shops on it, leading from the train station up to the shrine. These are mostly touristy-type places, but isn't that what one wants as presents for family? I got a few bits and bobs, which made me feel happier since I haven't really bought much else.

Afterwards I did my usual monthly 4 hour stint. Haruka and her mum and little brother (17 months) were already in the car when I arrived, as Noriko had seen them at the bus stop and so offered them a lift. Haruka is so very cute: I think it's the smile and the tiny, tiny teeth.

I took pictures of all my classes again, which was nice. They will be posted above. Definately not sure of everybody's names: I did write them all down, it's just matching them to faces that's the difficult part:

1. Haruka (4 F) and Ryūki (7 M)
2. Rin, Mayuko, Eri, Jūri (all girls), and Kenta and Kiyoto (boys)
   
3. Five girls: Sayaka, Arisa, Kanami, Yuki, and Yuri
   
4. Shohei (M) and Moe (F)

My favourite is definately the third class just because they concentrate more, they're better at English and grasp the new concepts quicker. They also know my name and will sometimes even talk to me! The second class did come in and start drawing pictures of me on the board, which was cool. I had to teach Shohei on my own as well, whilst Noriko taught Moe, since they are doing to different levels of English tests next year. I hope I did all right: I had to introduce him to the future tense, which is something they don't have in Japan!

When I got back I found a couple of Japanese Christmas cards waiting for me from Kaede-sensei, by tea tutor. It was very nice of her to remember. I was also informed by Yū that we will be wearing kimonos and I might even get to where a hakama (the trousers) if there is a size that fits! Should be fun, though weird.

In the evening we all went out to a little yakitori place for a few drinks and a little food. Here we unveiled our secret santa gifts: I got from James a kid's book about a monkey, a Japanese mask, a giant fan, a shishimai dragon, and some tiny KitKat pieces. Thank you James!! Drum seemed to like his calligraphy stuff that I got him, though you can never tell with Drummond since he's always so damn happy!

The highlight of the evening was what Rushen got for James: the basic theme is due to the fact that James fell asleep in a toilet in Foobar for 3 hours last month. Thus James received some toilet cleaner, toilet brush, smelly stuff, a toilet lid cover and a cool bag to keep them all in!

Extra Tests

Today Lauma and I sat our "extra" kanji test at lunchtime. I think it went all right due to my usual "study over breakfast" learning regime. I think I've forgotten them all already!

Linden Hall was pretty good today. I taught with Lauma (as usual for a Monday) and I think we've come up with a game that they all enjoyed. It's pretty simple and we basically don't have to do anything. We gave one kid a flash card and had them describe the thing to the rest of the group. Obviously they're not allowed to say the word, and we often have to prompt them with questions. Some are better than others, but they could all do it. Then we gave a point to the describer and another to the person that guessed correctly: that way everyone gets points.

Brendan had an interesting class in which one of his kids announced that he'd peed on his chair. Brendan was like "ok, then" and moved the chair away, whereupon the child exclaimed that he'd peed on the next seat as well. Sounds like he just decided not to go the bathroom. I think Brendan coped with the situation well; I think I would have lost it.

Kanji Carrying the Meaning of "Movement"

Due to mine and Lauma's impending departure from this country, she has thoughtfully arranged for us to do the end of week kanji test tomorrow. Thus I have a double load to do now. These are they: 出 (come/go out), 入 (enter, put in), 乗 (ride), 降 (descend), 着 (reach, arrive, wear), 渡 (cross), 通 (pass, commute), 歩 (run), 止 (stop), 動 (move), 働 (work). I can see a "worst kanji test, ever" coming up.

Here We Come A-Caroling

Aikido in the morning in which Flick and I were relegated to the white-belt class. This consisted of us along with two boys of about 6 years old and two teachers. It basically ended up as Flick and I with one teacher to ourselves trying to learn the moves.

From what I can tell there are two basic moves: blocking an attack and taking your opponent to the ground. This can be done either on the front side, or the back side. I was "lucky" enough to have one of these moves executed on me, and I have to say that they really work! I was spun round and put on the ground in no time, all because I tried to slice open his head with my hand.

The Cream Tease (choir mode) performed three carol concerts today: one in Cambridge House, one at a house party we were invited to by Ciarán's adopted family, and the final one at a bar in Tenjin for Brendan and James' boss.

We sang by the big Christmas tree at the entrance of Cambridge House; it had lovely acoustics. Most of the people who came were my friends, though Hachi-san announced it over the dormitory address system which brought a few more people out of the woodworks. We sang for about 15 minutes before heading off to our next gig.

We met Ciarán's "mother" and "little brother" Suiichi at Takamiya station and then caught the bus to the house. When we got there we were immediately taken to a little table where the man of the house did some calligraphy for us. He wrote Ciarán's name, and then made us choose a word which he wrote. I now have "harmony" addressed to "Edo". We were made to sing last because we were "too good". So beforehand we had the man playing his flute for us, Ciarán's mother played a "A Whole New World" from Aladdin on the piano, some kid whistled a tune from an opera (scarily well), and another woman playing the piano whilst a man failed to play along on an harmonica. So, was quite interesting. I think they enjoyed our singing, though; I can never tell if they're just being polite, but they did all listen intently, even the children! We were then given a lift back to the station.

We then went to the MochaJava cafe in Tenjin. Was quite a strange and small little place packed full of people who were all learning English. Once I was settled down I found myself talking to a man from Ghana who was doing a PhD. in Molecular Biochemistry focussing on cancer research. Had a nice interesting conversation with him about the Ghanian education system: they condensed a seven year senior school course into a three year one in 1986, though to make up for this they extended university course by a year! There was a strange Japanese picture quiz (including prizes) before we sang, including one such clue:

けけけけ
ごごごごご

the answer to which is obviously "keshi gomu", which means rubber. That was about the only one I understood the answer to. I won't go into details unless somebody asks. We sang after this though, by which time Lauma, Flick, and Hirata and Ohnishi-sensei had turned up from having watched Yoshimatsu-sensei do Jazz dancing. I think again we were enjoyed, and a slightly higher number of English people meant that a few people new some of the tunes. The Japanese only seem to know "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

Lost Calligraphy

I went with James into Tenjin where we met with Flick and Ciarán. We hunted round for a place to eat, but came across only 40 minute queues until we found a rather nice little ramen bar beside the restaurant that Seb took us to in our first week. It was very cosy, with realy wooden logs for seats, and the food was tasty and cheap to boot. Beats the £3 for a toasted cheese sandwich that we saw.

Afterwards I went with James to a free calligraphy class in the ACROS building. It was quite fun: we were writing New Year's cards, rather copying out the calligraphic hand off a a photocopied piece of paper. It's really hard to read Japanese calligraphy; I really don't see how they manage but every Japanese person can do it. It looks nothing like normal handwriting or computer print but is still perfectly legible to them! Lauma turned up half way through and we stayed and had green tea until the class finished.

I went a-wandering afterwards to find Hakata station, but became lost instead. I had to ask for directions, and obviously I had to walk back the way I'd just come. Very frustrating. I was looking for a ￥100 shop that I'd been told about, but I searched high and low but I couldn't find it. I was in quite a bad mood by now, which was helped by the fact I got lost twice more on the way back and had to again ask for directions. In total I spent 2.30 hours that I'd allocated to Christmas shopping doing nothing but walking around aimlessly. I gave up in the end, bought myself another CD and came home. Sorry everybody, you're not getting any presents this year!

I went downstairs in the evening and spent about an hour with the reception staff as they helped me to write a New Year's card to one of my teachers. We've all been allocated one to write to, and now I've finished mine. I can't send it until 16th though, by which time I'll be back in England. I'll have to get someone else to post it.

More Adjectival Kanji

They're coming thick and fast now: 元 (origin, source, base), 気 (spirit, mind, air, atmosphere), 有 (have, possess, exist), 名 (name, famous, members), 親 (parent, kinship), 切 (cut, end, moderate), 便 (current, traffic, convenience), 利 (profit, proficient), 不 (un-, in-, not), 若 (young), 早 (early), 忙 (busy). Kanji count: 181.

Less than a week...

We got our results back from yesterday's test today. I got 83.33%, which is pretty cool. That means I passed my level 4, though obviously not officially. I think we're going to have another mock test at the start of next year and those of us who got over 70% will have a go at level 3. I'm sure we'll fail that outright at the moment.

Ikema gave us some photos from the barbeque we went to. Copies for each of us of those photos that we are in. I find it a slightly odd mentality that we always only receive photos of ourselves. Surely it would be easier just to make a full copies for everybody instead of spending hours working out who should get what. Other presents that we received today include an giant card with an Ukiyo-e print on it (with envelope) and a persimmon, both from Yoshimatsu-sensei.

I worked in the afternoon for Noriko. I took a few photos of my class which I have put up and I made a note of all their names, though there are two that I get confused not least because their names are practically identical.

1. Rio (6 F), Chisato (6 F), Nobutaka (5 M), Daiki (5 M)
2. Yūka (F), Mao (F), Shōgo (M), Takuya (M), Takumi (M), Ryosuke (M)

The last class are aged about 9-10, I think. Anyway, I got a lift home from Shōgo's mother, since Noriko was teaching the extra class again. I had a funny feeling she was taking me to the wrong place before I even got in the car. In the end we ended up at Oxford House, which is the other dormitory and is on the university site. We found Cambridge House eventually, though, and she didn't seem to mind having gone the wrond way. "It was a nice drive," she said. She was quite chatty, too, which was nice. I like to practice my Japanese.

We had another "choir" practice today. Many thanks to Ciarán and James' friend, and to my dad for sending us the music. Much appreciated, though we're not sure that we're going to manage to pull some of the arrangments off as we are unaccompanied. I hope it's going to sound good though. We have three concerts to perfect it.

Japanese Music

Today we had a Japanese Language Proficiency Test. It was a mock level 4 test, the bottom one but you've got to start somewhere. I think it went alright, though we were faced with a lot of grammatical constructions that we have yet to see.

After the test Hirata-sensei told us about Japanese New Year cards. People send them to everyone they know, basically. Hirata says she sends about 100 each year, her husband sends 200, and the man at reception reckons he sends 300. They are similar to postcards, and often have pictures of them. Some even have a number of them for entrance into a nationwide lottery. We were given an information sheet and a card to send to one of the teachers. It also seems that if someone has someone die in their family in that year, then you don't send them a card. The post office also has a job on its hands, as it promises to deliver them all on New Year's day.

In the evening I played pool with Nozomi, Akiko, and Kaori, before chatting for ages. Nozomi's finally stopped ripping the proverbial out of me everytime I make a mistake and has started correcting me, which is nice! She also lent me a CD of the Japanese band: Rip Slyme. They have an... interesting sound. They remind me of my friend Garni, since he always used to listen to old-style funk music like Funkadelic's "One Nation Under One Groove". After they had to go (because of their 11pm curfew) I stayed and talked with Hachi-san and Fujita-san. They want me to explain to them about my family, country, culture, etc.... in Japanese! I think it should be good for my Japanese.

Practicing Carols

Flick and I did "Christmas Bingo" with the first years this afternoon. We make them draw their own pictures in the grids, though, as it takes up the whole lesson as opposed to taking only 5 minutes. I don't think any of them have heard of Jesus though. However, we weren't about to start going all religious on them, so we left it.

They have a trampoline at Linden Hall, the lucky things. We never had a trampoline at my school. They don't seem to know about the danger of it either, as they were all already on it when we arrived in the gym. We had stern words with them, of course, as we're good like that.

We had another sing-song last night: our first for a while now. We've moved on to Christmas carols as we have three concerts that we are doing on Sunday: one in Cambridge House, one for Ciarán's adopted family and one for Eiko who Brendan and James work for. Not sure how ready we will be.

Tea Day

I hate when I don't understand something in class. I suddenly get all disillusioned with the world, stop listening, and stop trying. In short, I get grumpy! The problem that this state of mind lasts for the entire lesson. I think I need to work on it, maybe.

Didn't do much in the afternoon, though I have been invited to a Final Round interview for Deutsche Bank. The problem is that it is on Friday... Why can't they understand that I am in Japan!

Had tea ceremony again. It was my last one before next year, which is a pity. I have to work next week, you see. The teacher invited me to a little party she was having, but I didn't understand where it was and the girls all have school (on a Saturday!) and so can't go either, so that was the end of that! I rushed my performance, though, today. I get worried that the others will get bored as it is taking so long. I managed to spill water over the water heater instead of pouring it inside... clumsy. We all seem to get bored with about 30 minutes to go as we all just start talking and not paying attention. I feel sorry for the last person to do the ceremony as we just don't seem to care by then.

I went out for a drink in the evening with Rushen, James, and Ciarán at the local American-themed bar. We were joined later by Drummond, Rachael, Brendan and his new girlfriend Keiko. We stayed until 1am talking about such great things as Sesame Street and the Muppets. Those were the days. Some old ladies sent us over some cheese and biscuits, and two plates of assorted nuts and dried beans. Very kind of them, though not sure why; they seemed a bit crazy. I find it odd seeing old people walking into a bar at 11.30pm; you just don't get it in England!

Shopping

I went to Tenjin this afternoon where I met with Flick. We went shopping at the huge ￥100 shop on the 7th floor of the Daiei building. So much stuff, so much junk, but also so many cool things, and all for ￥100! We went primarily to buy presents for the secret santa thing we are doing Tuesday week. I bought some cool things that I think I now want, so I they like them. Obviously I can't say what they are in case the person in question were to read this blog... but I don't think they do. Oh, well! I also got myself a map of Fukuoka and some other assorted Christmas presents.

I also bought a carry case for my Nintendo DS so that I can take it around with me, as well as a Japanese CD: Sol-Fa by Asian Kung-Fu Generation. I've been meaning to get some Japanese music for a while now; I think I should treat myself more often.

Kanji for Human Relationships

Kanji day today... it's been a while: 友 (friend), 父 (father), 母 (mother), 兄 (elder brother), 姉 (elder sister), 弟 (younger brother), 妹 (younger sister), 夫 (husband), 妻 (wife), 彼 (he), 主 (chief, main, lord, owner), 奥 (deep, inside, interior). Kanji count: 169.

Sunday

Felicity and I once again attended our Aikido class at the local police station. It is really fun to do, though so hard to coordinate yourself properly. It's not helped by the language barrier, either, so we have to make to with watching intently and the hand gestures of the lovely people who are teaching us.

Today we stayed for the second class as well, which consisted of people with white & black belts. I'm sure they didn't expect us to manage to do any of it perfectly as there is so much to consider: hand position and movements, as well as the same for your feet. Plus, there are particular movements you have to perform as the attacker as well. Difficult, but good fun.

In the afternoon I studied some of my older kanji. I'm trying to keep everything in memory as opposed to just remembering the ones for the week's test. I've done 35 so far, but I filled up my little flash card book, so I'll have to get another one before I can continue.

Later I played pool with Akiko, Humie, and Nozomi for an hour, after which we randomly did karaoke in the big karaoke room where we went during our party last month. They sang in Japanese, whilst I sang in English (I was really happy that they had songs by Bread!). I quite like Japanese music, whereas most other people here, and back in England, don't. I'm not sure why: is it the language thing? I never listen to lyrics anyway.

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Red Dwarf Series I. Such a good comedy, that. The old episodes can be really funny, and it's interesting to see how the characters have changed over the decades.

We're on the road to Yamaguchi

I went to breakfast this morning, where I had a little chat with Ayaka before she suddenly got up and left. On the way down I met Brendan who was only just arriving back from last night. Bear in mind that this was 7.45am and that he was wearing all of James' warm clothes: cardigan, jacket and scarf, as well. Then I came back and chatted to my lovely girlfriend, Hannah. I spent the rest of the morning playing JUMP Superstars on my Nintendo DS! Oh, well. I did another day in my scrapbook as well; I've just finished up to our Miyazaki roadtrip. Such a long way to go...

I watched "Taxi 2" with Brendan when he arose from his slumber. It is very multicultural: French, German, and Japanese; though incredibly racist (on purpose, and in a funny way). It's a good film, though slightly over the top. I think it just all adds to the pleasure, as the story line just keeps getting more and more bizarre.

I went for a bike ride with Brendan later on, as well, up to a reservoir in Yamaguchi. It's about a 10 minute cycle flat out, though we took our time and took some photos. We stopped at a little shrine we found on the way, as well. Obviously, the reservoir was totally artificial and it looked it, though they'd made an effort with the design. The surrounding forests were impressive though, with many a crow flying overhead. My bicycle's really rubbish, though, as the front tyre is always going flat. I can even here the air escaping after I've pumped it up.

Happy Birthday, Hannah

Happy birthday, little one. I just wanted you to know that I love you very much, and that I'll really sorry that I can't be there for you today. I'm thinking of you lots, though.

I hope you have a really nice day at home, sweetheart, and that you get some nice presents. I'm back in 12 days, so we'll have a little late celebration then, and there's always Christmas to come.

Love you lots, sugar,
from your Edward
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fukuoka Now Party

I covered Drummond's Linden Hall today, so that he could be with Rachel. Not a bad lesson: I taught with Rushen, and only for about 15 minutes before we went for play. I opted to hang around for Seb to give me a lift, rather than run for the bus, however after we had dropped someone off at the station and stopped while Seb picked something up, it had taken about 30 minutes. Any other day it would have been fine, but I had to get to Tenjin for the party. Thus, I went without eating, picking up a couple of onigiri on the way.

It took Lauma and I a little while to find Sam & Dave's but we did eventually. The girls had done a good job of decorating the place "Vegas" style and there were some casino tables: blackjack and roulette. Three of the teachers turned up: Yoshimatsu, Ohnishi and Hirata, as well as one of the ladies from reception and Izumi. Rushen's sword teacher, Mike, was also there as well as a couple of people on the JET scheme that we keep bumping into: Ian and Joy.

The performance itself was... well, I think we sung well... given the circumstances. We had one microphone between five of us, which was the same as no microphones, so it was quite a belt. The comedy sketches, whilst having some funny bits, just bombed. Some bits were far too long, and the English was spoken so fast that only people with a good grasp of the language had any idea what was going on. This, unfortunately, wasn't most people. Also, the timing and coordination was just all wrong, and the stage was too small and cramped. Oh, well. It's over now... I just feel sorry for all the people who came to see us; it must have been so disappointing.

I came home with Binks, Rushen and Ciarán after the party, whereas the others stayed out for karaoke.

Non-Day

Two Japanese lessons, including one vocabulary test. I came home and did nothing. Drummond's "cousin" has come to stay for a couple of weeks, and by "cousin" obviously I mean girlfriend. It's just that you're only allowed to have family stay here so everyone has an instantly larger family on arriving. Just don't tell the porters.

I've been trying to create a little web application that will test me on my kanji. I've had limited success, mostly due to lack of patience. One day I may even finish it and expand it into the realm of vocab testing. Now that would be hi-tech!