My Tutor and Unicycles

I went to Hirata-sensei’s Japanese lesson this morning, in which we finished off the lesson’s grammar. We also had a vocabulary test, but the number of words we had to remember was the least it has been for a long time. We also watched the video for the lesson; it was funny, but nowhere near as funny as the previous lesson’s one. Today, a female worker was staring at a picture she had received from the matchmaking company, of which she was a member, when her “German” colleague entered her office. There then preceded a conversation based around the man in the photograph. We have been studying “looks like”, so it makes sense: “he looks like a kind man.”

After class, I ate yet another curry-rice, before going to Seb’s class in the afternoon. It was good, as usual, and we managed to advance rather far. We have now finished the fourth page, but I will not manage to make it to the end of the book. Perhaps I will attempt to complete my translation upon returning to England or I could have one of the others send me their notes. Afterwards, I had Seb look at my speech, which has now entered its third version, and now contains a joke, which Seb assures me will get a laugh. There is still a sentence, though, which nobody who reads it understands, so I will probably ask Ikehara-sensei about it tomorrow.

I had my tutor session again, which was useful. I had the same girl, even though the teacher told me I was getting somebody different. My girl is kind, though, and I think it is better not to have to return to basic introductions every week. I like the talking practice, though I did not really do much this time. I did a lot of listening, though. It is reassuring that I can understand most of what she says. We read a Japanese song lyric by an artist that she mentioned last week. It was hard to do, as I did not know most of the kanji, and I did not even try to understand the meaning. We also talked about sports and my dislike football. She was surprised, as she has her foreign perception of all English people being beer-swilling, football crazy maniacs, which I guess for the most part is true, but it is the exceptions that make us interesting.

I had Linden Hall afterwards, which was relatively easy and civilised. Flick and I took the children outside and played “Sardines” with them. They seemed to like that, though it took them forever to find Mariko – the hider – so we only really played one game in the time. We let them have free-play for a little while afterwards. Momoko dragged me around inside a skipping rope and I played “Jan-Ken-Poi” (rock, paper, scissors) with her. I acted as a support for Mariko and Keisuke, as they attempted to learn how to ride unicycles!

This evening, I have done my homework and then spent a while trying to translate some of my manga. It is interesting to do and everybody that I have spoken to about it thinks that it is a good idea, so I am going to keep on battling through. I hope that, with perseverance, I will get quicker at reading it. I think I might do some programming now, after a little break, maybe. I have not done that for a long while.

Work and Tea

I went to Japanese this morning, in which we covered about half the grammar points, which are not too difficult. Most of us have been using them for a long time now, but I guess it is good to clarify the grammar points – make it explicit. Not much interesting happened, though. However, Watanabe-sensei has an uncanny ability to make time run at about half the speed that it normally does. No matter how long you spend studying kanji, thinking that surely there will be no time left to study anything else, there always is, with some left over. It is mind-boggling, but also incredibly boring.

I had my curry rice, as normal, before heading home. Ikema-sensei went through, and corrected, my speech, though he changed the word “cuisine” into “science” for some unknown reason. I am not sure about that. I shall run it by somebody else, next, to see what they think. Maybe Seb, as he often has good ideas about these sorts of things and more-often-than-not knows of some little Japanese grammar quirk that will give the whole thing a lot more power.

I had an email from one of Ikema-sensei's students, who are all emailing us in English - to practice their computer skills, I think. I had already replied to him, though he sent me an email with the subject line reading "hurry up" and the message body consisting solely of "please reply." I wrote a slightly snotty email back and copied him my original reply back. I have not heard back from him yet.

In the afternoon, I went to teach for Noriko. There were only two classes today, unbeknownst to me, as the third class was taking a practice English exam in preparation for the real thing on Sunday. I am not sure why she never tells me, though. They were both fine, though. I enjoyed the second class, as we interacted possibly the most we ever had. It was fun. I have them once more, in two weeks time.

Once I got home, I went straight to tea ceremony. Maki-san was the only one that was already there, as well as the teacher and Oh-san, but they do not count! We did a different setup today, without the kettle in the ground, but on one of the tatami mats. It was fun, though, and interesting as it was different. The four other new girls turned up in pairs as well. I did a normal tea, and then one on a plate, as that it what I can do most easily when I am back in England.

We finished at about 10.30, which is the new norm, after which I came back upstairs. Ciarán’s dad and uncle, who arrived yesterday evening, were sitting with some of the others eating cheese & crackers. I sat with them whilst my pizza cooked, though afterwards, I still needed a little more dinner, so I made a toasted tuna and cheese sandwich.

Another Concert

I had my Japanese lesson with Ikehara-sensei this morning. Only four of us turned up this morning, for various reasons, including a few “I cannot be bothered”s. James, Lauma, Brendan, and I had an acceptable lesson, though we did not do anything new, just review, but that is good as well. She says that we are going to start going faster from Thursday. Whereas now we are taking three lessons to do one chapter, we shall increase to one chapter covered in only two lessons, which seems ridiculously fast. This is especially so when you consider that we have two lessons on Thursday and Friday, which means we will be doing one lesson a day. It seems like we are going to have a mountain of homework to do, but that is the price you pay for learning I am willing to pay it.

In the afternoon, I watched a couple of anime episodes and put my Japanese notes in my file. I could not find the hole-punch, though, so I was unable to fix them all in the folder. I also started my packing my taking all the cards off my shelf. I could not work out what to do next, without dragging my suitcase out and starting to fill it. I did not feel like I should start packing proper, yet, though maybe I should. I also did my homework.

I left the house at 5.30 and headed to the station, where I caught a train to Futsukaichi. There I met up with Lauma, Binks, and Brendan who were coming to James' concert too. We got the Limited Express to Tenjin, where we met up with Kimiyo. The concert hall was not too far away and we found James when we got there with Kanashima-san and her husband. James gave me his camcorder and we took our places. Not soon after, Keiko (Brendan’s ex-girlfriend), a friend of hers, and Sawako all turned up and took their seats. Brendan was sitting elsewhere, as he bought his ticket at the door, whereas James had arranged all of our tickets for us beforehand.

The concert was good and I recorded most of it, surreptitiously holding the video camera on my lap. The one time I did raise it up, one of the ushers told me that I was not allowed to film, so I just closed the viewfinder and continued with it recording on my lap. I think it shut off halfway through the last movement, though, as it juddered three times and then stopped the slight vibrating that it had been doing up until then. They sung two Beethoven pieces: the first was something I did not recognise and the second was his ninth symphony. I enjoyed it, though I prefer Rachmaninov.

We waited around outside for James, but he never appeared and when we finally got through to his phone he said that he was staying for the party. Kanashima-san and husband left and Sawako and Kimiyo went rushing off to find a giant, restaurant-coupon catalogue, which took them about 15 minutes. I am not sure why they went, either. Drummond is currently on holiday with his parents in Kyoto and Sawako is going up to meet them on Thursday. Brendan upset Sawako by telling her that Drummond’s parents are mean and that if they did not like her, they would be nasty to her. It took a lot of reassurance from Binks to put her mind at ease, I think.

We all came back on the train, in the end, after entertaining ideas of staying out for a drink. I am down to less than 100 yen now, but I am working for Noriko tomorrow, so that will get me some cash-in-hand. I need to budget now, I think, and set some aside for things that I need to do, like pay my phone and air ticket bills.

Dinner with Ikema-sensei

I have been to aikido this morning, though Mina, who said she would come, did not in the end, so we cycled instead. It was fun, but we got there a little late and still hardly anybody was there. It was a bit worrying, but people eventually came and we started practicing, so it was all right in the end. We did some cool new moves again as well as some old ones that I have done before. It started raining bucket loads at the start of the second class, which worried me slightly. It seems the rainy season is upon us. Luckily, however, the rain abated, and it was only spitting lightly when we came back home.

I made myself a couple of open tuna and cheese toasties and I ate them whilst watching anime. I also wrote my speech for the Closing Ceremony on the 15th June, the day before I come home.

We were taken out to dinner in the evening my Ikema-sensei at a Chinese restaurant in Futsukaichi. Seb and Maki-san came as well, which lessened the difficulty of the situation. The food was mostly very tasty, apart from the bits of jellyfish that they served us first. Horribly crunchy, but with no taste. We drank about three bottles of wine to four of us, so we were slightly tipsy when we left.

James and Lauma went home, but the rest of us stayed out, moving on to a little bar near the station. It has microchips embedded in the bar and on the menu cover. We had a few drinks there, which Ikema-sensei also paid for, which was good as I only had 300yen. We also partook in a lot of (drunken) chatting. It was good fun. I got a taxi home with Binks and Katherine, and just about beat Seb back, who was on his bicycle.

Baseball

After last night's happenings, I unsurprisingly finally got myself up at 3pm. I went to Cosmos in the rain, as my stomach was demanding food. It eventually received an instant ramen meal for its troubles and a lot of orange juice. Brendan emerged as well, though we could not arouse Rushen.

Brendan and I were adamant that we would not go back on our plans to see a baseball match, so left without Rushen at 5pm. We made our way into Tenjin, where we visited the largest bakery I have ever seen. It is underneath the train station, though I have never been there before. How little I explore! From there, we took the subway to Tojinmachi, the closest stop the Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome. We could see it when we emerged from the station, but it still took about 15 minutes to walk there and then to find the ticket counter.

We purchased the middle price ticket: the S-seat and went in. The inside is full of food and drink shops, as well as merchandise outlets and was buzzing. We bought a drink each before going to find our seats. The inside of the dome was gargantuan and was pretty packed, which is surprising as they play most every day. We chose not to sit in our exact seats, as the they were between two other couples and the rest of the row was empty, so instead we sat at the end of the row. The man in front of us looked around engaged us in conversation in English. He was at the match with his daughter, a big Kawasaki (the shortstop) fan, and spent the entire time holding a Kawasaki fan with her mobile phone firmly planted on top. Her father kept turning round to explain certain things to us, which was nice of him.

We were only slightly late to the game, as they had just finished the bottom of the second when we sat down. The score was 1-1, and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks were playing the Chunichi Dragons.

It was not long until the Dragons hit a homerun; dissapointing, but impressive at the same time. The amount of time the ball stays in the air is mesmerising. The Hawks came back quickly, getting a homerun with a runner on base to go ahead. In the end it was futile, as the Dragons eventually won 4-3. It was good fun, though.

At two points, the Softbank's cheerleaders came out to cheer on the crowd. Before the second time, we knew something was going to happen when people started to buy and inflate long, orange balloons. The man in front of us gave us one each, which was nice. Eventually, the crowd around us was a sea of orange. Then the cheerleaders came on (I think they were called the "Softbank Sevens") and started dancing along to some song, the words of which were being shown on the giant TV screen. Everybody moved their balloons in a piston movement during the song before releasing them all to the sky as they deflated, after the song. It was all very strange.

We were sat along the foul line, to the left of the field, though the stand directly opposite us was very vocal. They all chanted along at exactly the same time, waving their orange and white noise-makers in the correct way. It is like it is all preorganised, especially as they all appear to start up together. It is an odd sight to behold, but that is Japanese crowd support for you.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to pick up a wild ball, of which there were a few flying in to the crowds to the accompaniment of warning whistles. One even flew over head, before bouncing back down to be claimed by a man in front of us. This is not a game where you can fall asleep whilst watching. Afterwards, a couple of people in blue would come rushing along to make sure that everybody was okay.

The other noticeable thing is the number of people with kegs strapped to their backs, running up and down the stairs, offering beer and other drinks to people. A good idea, I think, as it means that you never need to leave your seat! The bouncy energy that they all had at the start of the match, however, gradually lessened towards the end, unsurprisingly.

After the bottom of the seventh, people started to leave. In fact, there was a noticeable movement of people, including the two in front of us. Maybe they did not want to be involved in the ensue crowd of leavers. People also departed after the eighth. We stayed until the end of the match and watched them tidy up the pitch. The Dragon's mascot came running on the pitch and did some backflips, which was rather impressive.

We bought a team shirt each, with Kawasaki's name on the back, as we had at least heard of him. The large size is still quite a tight fit on me though! There was a mass of buses laid into Tenjin with a very orderly queueing system in place. A man stood at the back of the queue with a sign denoting what the queue was for. There was no pushing, either. All very civilised.

We had a good time and it is something that I have been keen to do for a long time. I only wish I had gone to see more, as it was rather enjoyable. Next, I want to see a game where my team wins!

Yet Another All Nighter

I had Yoshimatsu-sensei’s Japanese lesson in the morning, in which we finished the lessons grammar work. I can indicate that a value is a minimum about (“at least”) and I can say if I think a number is excessive. Excellent, exciting, and very technical stuff, don’t you think? I had curry-rice for lunch, served to me by the grumpy-lady, as I now refer to her as. She never smiles. I much prefer the other lady, who is extremely tiny, as she has is a lot happier and with whom I sometimes have a little chat, normally about the weather.

In the afternoon, James, Lauma, and I went to Ohnishi-sensei’s Japanese class, where we had to write another composition. It was my last, she told me, and it was on the awful subject of “surprises.” I am slightly worried that I have no emotions, or something, as I have no recollection of ever being surprised. I just take it all in my stride. Anyway, I wrote more than I had ever written before about how I have not been surprised whilst being in Japan, and why. It is a little odd to read, I think.

I did not come home, but instead stayed in the international office with James and Felicity, as I was covering James’ Linden Hall shift whilst he worked elsewhere. I mostly played on my Nintendo DS and talked a little Japanese with Maki-san. It is all good practice.

Linden Hall was fine, I guess, though Louis was his usual handful. He pushes us as much as he can, and Flick even took him outside to have words with him. Some of the first years were also a little annoying as two of them would not even come and join in with everybody else. They insisted on hiding in the library, which I just let them get on with after a while. Another, called Chihiro, was very sweet though. She has the same name as the girl in Spirited Away. Anyway, we had them concoct a story, one sentence each, which saw a monster kill the hamster with a fireball before devouring one of the kids in the class, Terumasa. Interesting. Then we let them loose on colouring in and sudoku, which the older kids seem to enjoy, i.e. Ryo.

Playing with them afterwards was quite tiring. We were in the gym and I somehow ended up in “goal” whilst three of the boys kicked balls at me. It was quite fun, I guess. I came home on my own and sat next to one of Nozomi’s friends whose name I used to know. We chatted for a little while, before I went to sleep! I had a not so tasty dinner with Brendan.

In the evening we went out to celebrate Rushen's birthday, which was yesterday. We all went to a restaurant called Tattoo for drinks, except for Lauma who could not come. Akiko came as well. We gave Rushen his present of an England shirt, but it turns out that he has already got one. Oh, well. The plan is now to change it for a Japan version. Binks, Ciarán, and James went home, though I was convinced in to staying, thus scarpering my plans to catch the last train home.

We moved on to Fubar, where the boss, Jodi, had set aside the new VIP room for us. It is just a tiny square of a room opposite the bar, with windows around, so it is not particularly private. It was fun though, as he also gave Rushen a bottle of champagne, which we all drank. We spent the night drinking, dancing and talking. At 5am, when it was already getting light, we moved on to a different club, called Safari, which was a dive, full of posers. We did not stay long, though, and were soon piling six of us into Akiko's car for the journey home.

Tea and Origami

I went in for my Japanese lessons this morning, as so very boringly usual. They were okay, though, as we started a new chapter, which came hand-in-hand with some interesting grammar points. They are useful and are used all the time by Japanese people. I can now say that something is done for a purpose, so “in order that” or “for.” It is handy, and I have been using it slightly already, even before the lesson. I had the day’s special for lunch, which was eel on rice. It was rather tasty, but eel is rather expensive in Japan so it is not offered very often.

The afternoon’s lesson was in much the same vain. It was not too boring though; the time seemed to pass quite quickly and it was soon the end of the lesson. I came home on the bus with Ciarán and Lauma, though we did not sit next to each other, as the bus was its usual over-crowded self. We did not have to sit on it for too long, though, as it is quite a quick journey: about 15 minutes on average.

Back at the house, I did my homework, a little programming, and watched an anime episode. They are all ending on cliffhangers currently, so I always want to watch the next episode. There was no time, though, as I had to go to tea ceremony. I quickly transferred my washing into the tumble driers before heading off downstairs. Oh-san joined me again, though she was wearing cut-offs, bearing her revolting hairy legs. Not a pleasant sight.

I did not go first today as the two new girls had something to do and so wanted to go earlier. They went first and I watched. Various people turned up during the course of this: Maki-san, Yuu, and Ayaka, who popped in to say that she could not come today. They are both going back to their homes tomorrow for some sort of teaching placement. I am not exactly sure what it is about, though. They will be back next month, and I might get to see them one last time before I head on home.

Tea was good: I only did my thick tea ceremony, though I made too little and it was too runny, I think. Nevermind, hey? It is fun, though, I like it a lot, and I think I am good now. I can mostly remember what to do; though I like to be prompted and I am always looking to the teacher to make sure what I am doing is correct. I should get more confident in it, especially as I know that she will tell me off if I go wrong.

Yuu announced that she had learnt origami today, and had bought some paper with her, so the teacher stopped the lesson, and we all made a spinning top together. That was quite fun and unexpected, and was better than the tedium of waiting around and bowing at the right places. It was quite difficult to make, despite what she said, and consists of three different squares of paper. I think I am going to forget how to make it very soon, unless I practice making about 12 a day, which I am not going to do, obviously. It is quite cool making origami though. In the end, I spent 5 hours at tea, this time. Aaaghhh! I like the talking, though, despite not being able to understand what they say. I am hoping that I will pick something up, even if it is just being able to listen better.

I came upstairs afterwards and made my last Bachelor’s Super Noodles before going to bed.

Conversation Practice

I have had a longish day at the university, more so than usual. It started with the usual Japanese language lesson, which was just finishing off the chapter. We seem to be doing a chapter every three days, which still seems too long, but I guess is not too bad. We watched the amusing video clip for the chapter about Mr. Miller asking his next-door neighbour to receive a package for him. We had dinner before Seb’s class, which was again good. I am enjoying the translation. It is not too difficult when you get down to it, though there are some underlying subtleties that Seb notices and explains. We could do it by ourselves if we had the inclination. All we would need was a big dictionary, or the vocabulary list provided by Seb, and we would still manage to make some passable translations. It is quite interesting, as it is about a little village in Japan, post-WWII. Nothing much has happened so far, and I am not sure whether it ever will, as it is a short story.

Katherine phoned me after the lesson to tell me that she had tried to pick up her plane ticket, but had come into difficulties. Admittedly, she went to the wrong floor and the lady she spoke with took a while to figure out what she wanted. Turns out, supposedly, that our tickets have been changed three times already, to get them to the current date, which means we owe 15,000yen in exchange-fees, which is £75 and slightly more than I was hoping to pay! I have told Maki-san, though, and she is going to try to sort it out. I hope that she will be successful, otherwise I will just send the university and invoice for the difference.

I then had my conversation with a tutor. Mine was called Miyamoto Aiko and was very good to talk with. We ran over the one-hour time we were supposed to talk for by 20 minutes, not that I minded, as it is more practice for me. I am again impressed with my communication abilities and Aiko said I was very good, though I reckon she would have said that anyway as she is Japanese, and thus, by extension, overly polite. We talked about many different things, like food and alcohol (very important), as well as films and music. She came prepared with a list of things that can be said in a restaurant, as well as a menu, and initiated a role-play with me, where I was the customer and she was the waitress, which was a little odd, but shows that she is learning how to be a teacher (or a Blue Peter presenter). She also taught me some of the local dialect, as well as different counters for objects (it is a Japanese thing). It was a good experience and practice; I like talking Japanese.

Next, I went to Linden Hall where Flick, Binks, and I took the children outside and played British Bulldog with them, which they all enjoyed. I slipped and fell three times, though, on the soggy field and manage to get my jeans covered in mud. Luckily, wash day is tomorrow, and I always have two other pairs of jeans if I cannot be bothered to wash them! It was quite an easy lesson, though, which makes a change.

I came home and had dinner with Flick. Ciarán was supposed to come down as well, but got “caught up in his emails” so did not show up. It was not particularly nice, though, and I picked out all the tiny pieces of asparagus, as it is nasty stuff.

Stuffed

I put some money in my postal account this morning before school, as my mobile phone bill money comes out of it on Thursday. I tend to leave it until the last minute before putting enough money in to cover the expense. My phone has been useful and I think that it has been worth it. I wonder if I will get a company issue phone and computer from Deutsche Bank? I very much doubt it, but we shall see.

Class was fine: much the same as usual. We went over everything that we did yesterday, again, as I do not think we were supposed to have done it yesterday. It was good practice, I guess, and it still takes me a while to work out which verb I should be using. With practice, it should come, I hope. Drummond was not there again today, as he was sorting out his future somewhat, and Ciarán was also absent, as he has been recently.

I had lunch (a giant, curry rice that completely filled me!) before coming back on the bus. Ikema-sensei is taking us all out to dinner on Sunday night, I think. He said I had good manners as I bowed to him when I said hello. He also said that Seb walks around on his mobile phone bowing just like a Japanese person even though the person cannot see him doing it. When Ikema-sensei said that we had good Japanese, Hirata-sensei (who was in the room at the time) commented that we were a special year, i.e. better than the others were.

I had an email from a random Japanese person called Keisuke asking me how I found Japanese life and food. I guess that he is in Ikema’s English computing class, as the others all seem to have received such an email before. I think I was the only person willing to communicate with these kids, as all the rest just moan about it.

Other things that I have done today include watching anime (I love it. It is so gripping); doing my homework; writing more of my program (which I have started yet again); and testing myself on kanji.

Improving

My day has been ok, today. One Japanese lesson in the morning, in which we got through quite a bit of grammar, though it was just something we had done before but with different words depending on “social status.” Japanese is such a polite language. There are at least four standard levels of politeness, with some more subtle variations in between. It makes it harder to speak it though, but I think that is half the fun. I like choosing which type to use, and you can add subtleties to the way you talk simply by altering the way you end a sentence.

I had ramen for lunch, which was a nice change. I went home on the crowded bus and the person I ended up sitting next to started talking to me. He seemed quite nice and I think his name was Masa. He is in his first year at the welfare university and wanted to practice his English. We managed to talk for the whole bus journey home, albeit slowly. He plays football for the university though he does not think the team is very good. An objective outlook I think.

At home, I did my kanji homework, which took up most of my time, for some reason. I have started doing translations on all the phrases, which is quite useful, I hope! I sometimes do not understand, though, but I hope we will go through it in class.

I returned with Lauma on the bus to do Linden Hall, which went quite well. We had about 15 kids in total I think and it was a big effort trying to keep them quiet, but we somehow managed (lots of counting down from five). We had them name some body parts, which we numbered, then in two teams they picked a number from a box and drew the corresponding part. They created a couple of interesting looking people. We then took them to the gym, where we had them line up and name flashcards as fast as possible. They went in two teams from either end of a line as flash cards, and wherever they met they had to do Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner was allowed to continue, whereas the loser went to the back of their line and the next team member had to start straight away. They often were not paying attention, allowing the other team to streak to victory.

There were a couple of first years that I had not seen before: a boy called Ryoga, who was very quite, but seemed to know what was going on and drew his body parts with vigour. There was also a sweet girl called Norika, who just smiled all the time. She waved me good by when I left, which was cute.

I came home by myself, as Lauma went to Yakuin to teach, and went to dinner. I sat with Akiko, Humie, and Kaori, and chatted. I am surprised at how much of their talking that I can understand now. I have progressed a lot, I think, but I still cannot speak! I find it hard to get the words out sometimes, but I can mostly get across my meaning, now. I like being able to communicate. It makes me feel like I am achieving something.

James' (Late) Birthday Celebrations

I went in to Tenjin with James, Drummond, Binks, Flick, and Lauma, and once there we met up with Shin, Sawako, Mina, as well Kaori and another girl, who I have supposedly met before but I cannot remember. They were giving out free ice-cream-like stuff in plastic bottles in the station foyer, so we all grabbed one of them. They were so cold on our hands and the taste was only mildly appetising, but it was free, so we ate it.

We walked, at a slow Japanese speed to the restaurant in Akasaka, taking us about twice as long as it would have done if we were walking at a normal speed. The restaurant was cosy and we sat upstairs in a small room to ourselves in large chairs. It was an Italian restaurant, so I had some minestrone soup to start, followed by veal spaghetti. It was a set course, but rather tasty. We chatted a lot and somehow passed the time. I learnt of a Japanese comedy game show called Sh
ōten, in which old men make jokes and are awarded a zabuton (a square cushion to sit in the Japanese style on the floor) when they tell a good joke, and have one removed when they tell a bad one. If they get ten, then they win a round-the-world trip. Anyway, it gives rise to the saying "zabuton ichi mai", or “give a cushion to that person.” It is said when you tell a good joke.

We declined dessert, and instead went to a bakery nearby, where we sat in the garden and had cake. The two random extra girls left us at this point. I had an apple and cinnamon pie. Lauma left after eating cake, as did Shin, who went off to continue helping his friend move house. We stopped in at a Lawson’s where we bought alcohol, before going to a grotty little park to drink it. There were many people with netball-style tops on (you know the ones which say the position) with the number 22 written on the back. They were going around picking up litter, which was a very admirable thing to be doing. Flick got given a portable ashtray, for her mobile phone, by them as well. We drank, pretty quickly, as we had been faffing slightly, before heading off to the cinema.

Rushen and Akiko were there also (by arrangement) and we saw The Producers, which was very funny indeed, though slightly surreal. It was about a couple of men trying to put on the worst show ever in order to make money. The show was about how Hitler was a great man, which was rather hilarious and the characters were quite amusing. It was done in a musical style itself, with the characters bursting out into dance and extended dance scenes and various intervals throughout the film. We were the only ones in the cinema laughing, as I believe the Japanese philosophy is not to do so, even if it is funny, so as not to disturb other people’s viewing experience (maybe?). It might be that they have been brought up not expressing their emotions, but who knows the real reason? Strange atmosphere, either way.

After the film, we went back to near the restaurant, to a Scottish pub. There was a large selection of beers and various other drinks, though many seemed to not be available, or only in limited quantities. I think we managed to literally drink the place dry! There was also a rather fantastic selection of English food. It surprised me how much I wanted to eat everything on the list. I had not thought that I missed it that much, but obviously, I do. I had a steak and kidney pie, though, predictably, it was rather disappointing. It came in a small round dish, about the size of a tennis ball in diameter, and that was it. No vegetables or chips or anything. The pie itself was very tasty, but I cannot wait to come home and go out to a good little pub for some slap-up grub. That is what it is about! I had a couple of bottles of cider as well, to go with it: a Wood Pecker and a Strongbow. Shin reappeared with his friend Shingo, and Kimiyo turned up later as well.

We stopped off at a convenience store for ice cream, before heading off to another bar called Monochrome. I did not go, though, nor did Rushen and Akiko, and we came home on the train together. Rushen is looking for a flat to live in for when we finish the course. He seems to be enjoying it all, though, which is good.

Crazy Sentences & Culture

I spent the morning continuing my programming project. Aren't Design Patterns cool? I think they are, but should only be used where necessary. That is the general rule you must remember. I managed to reduce a whole class to just a few stub functions calling three main methods, as the functionality was so similar. Great stuff... At least I think so.

Anyway, I made Batchelor's Super Noodles for lunch, though I left the pan unattended, and thus unstirred, for slightly too long and now have added decoration inside. After scoffing down these hot strands of joy, I caught a train into Tenjin with James and Flick. On the way, we discussed sentences containing impossibly many repetitions of the same word. I came up with a sentence containing eight "had"s in a row. It kind of makes sense, but in an odd way. It is about a sentence that used to contain the phrase "had had" but no longer does:
"The sentence that had had 'had had', had had 'had had' removed."
Pretty funky, eh? James had one about their being a space between words on a fish and chip shop sign:
"There are spaces between 'fish' and 'and', and 'and' and 'chips'."
Five "and"s in a row. Who would have thought it possible?

We first visited the Apple store together, to collect Flick's computer, which had spontaneously combusted a few days previously. They said that it was still rather ill inside, with fungus growing on the electric boards, presumably living off the beer that she spilt on it last year! We left her computer copying music back into iTunes and Flick went with James to locate a restaurant for James' birthday lunch tomorrow. I headed in the opposite direction to pick up my ticket for the flight home. On my way, I saw some kind of marching demonstration/protest, with a long line of adults and children holding signs walking down the road. I have no idea what it was about, though. Also, this month, there is some kind of festival being held at the IMS building. Today, this manifested itself in a large climbing wall on the street outside, with lots of noise and girls in impossibly short, unattractive, blue shorts handing out bottles of some odd liquid drink to people. I forced my way through the clouds and eventually found the correct building only to discover that the JAL office is closed at the weekend. How annoying.

Instead, I went to Best Denki, where I bought a Nintendo DS Lite. Exactly the same functionality as the current Nintendo DS that I already own, but infinitely better looking, smaller, brighter, and with a better battery life. Now I can play multiplayer games with people, as well. I had a bit of trouble using my card, as the machine would not swipe it, but after a little convincing, they called up the VISA office and did it manually. It took a little extra time, but I got my prize. I also took a Sengoku Musou 2 (Samurai Warriors 2) branded notepad for free.

I withdrew some money from the post office and went back the Apple store to meet up with the other two who were returning from having found the desired place, which supposedly looks very cosy. They also located a Scottish pub, which made James far too happy.

We wandered around, looking for a place to have a drink, but everywhere was packed. We eventually went to a long and thin place in Daimyo, facing onto the arcade. I had a coke, Flick a Hoegaarden, and James had an iced hot chocolate. Along the street, was a miniature stage, where a variety of girls got up to perform a couple of their songs, complete with prerecorded backing track. We could not work out who would do such a thing, as surely popstars would only play big venues, not small streets, and those who wanted to be famous would not yet have the prerecorded backing tracks at their disposal.

James went off to his choir rehearsal, whilst Flick and I caught a Limited Express train to Kurume to go and watch Ciarán play the cello in his concert. Lauma and Binks also came, and we sat together near the front. Their was a cute child next to us who started conducting through the quiet bits, and jumping up and down in time during the loud parts. She mostly slept on her grandmother, though.

They played Beethoven's Fidelio, Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto, and Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony. It was very, very good, especially the Rachmaninov, my favourite composer. The pianist was amazing, making it look like easy work as he caressed the Steinway grand piano into emitting crisp and sharp sounds. The conductor was also very flamboyant, with grey hair, speaking to the audience before each piece about something. The most entertaining of them all though, was without a doubt the cymbalist, who playes during the Tchaikosky. He appeared short and fat, with a bit of a belly which he stuck out everytime he sat back down and lent back, his face releasing a sigh from the just exerted effort. But, brilliantly, just before he crashed his cymbols together, he would pull an amazing face of concentration, turn slightly to the side, before bringing them thunderously together and holding them either side above his head. It was a marvel to behold such enthusiasm.

We spoke briefly to Ciarán's host family after the concert, before they left, and we also left Ciarán at the after show reception. We were going to head to a bar for a drink, but instead, by the time we had walked back to the station, everybody bar Flick was keen to go home. So that's what we did.

A good and active day, with a bit of culture to boot.

Weather

I have had two Japanese lessons today, because it is Friday. Yoshimatsu-sensei, this morning, brought in a selection of Japanese snacks, for some reason. Some were tasty, like the dried noodles, but others were not, i.e. the sweet-potato crisps. I managed to get the toy that came in a packet of mints, though I did not get a mint. It is a pencil-end, with a spring and a football sticker on the end. I feel so cool now, as if I am going to be the most popular kid in the playground. In the afternoon, we had Ohnishi-sensei, which was fine but nothing amazingly fun. I cannot remember what we did, though. Japanese lessons are not interesting anymore, but I am still learning things, which is good, but not fast enough for my liking.

For the rest of the day, I have been programming. I have started my program from scratch in order to make the internal workings beautiful and well coordinated. I am having fun, though, even if it is a seemingly pointless activity. I am certainly no longer bored, but it locks me in my computer even more than previously.

Today has been muggy, even though it has been raining. It is a sample of things to come, I fear, but, luckily, I am coming home before the rainy season hits. That will bring hot weather, typhoons, and very high humidity levels. Not something that anyone likes, I fear, but the Japanese cope with it. They all carry around their pocket-handkerchiefs with which to mop their brows. I like good, cool, British weather.

Inhouse Teaching

I had my Japanese lesson this morning, and then one in the afternoon. Ciarán, Rushen, and Binks were up watching the football this morning (noisy people), but only Ciarán stayed in bed. Binks played tennis before class with Lauma, and Rushen had to go into work for a teleconference. Thus, the class had slightly fewer people. Drummond did not turn up, either, going to Tenjin instead, for some reason. Classes are going so slowly now. I feel like we could have finished the whole lessons vocabulary today, even though it was slightly complicated. It certainly did not need two separate lessons to cover two grammar points, especially since they were so similar. Hirata-sensei says that previous years have not been as motivated to learn as we have, so at least she recognises are will to learn. Perhaps something will happen about it, but somehow I doubt it.

After lessons, we had a little meeting with the tutors that are going to be talking with us. Only James, Flick, and I went to represent us, as the others were busy, or sleeping. There were about four Koreans, and about six Taiwanese students there as well. There were about seven tutors, who are training to be teachers, I think. They were all women, which I guess I could have guessed! We are going to talk about once a week, for an hour, individually. There are rules to the conversation, though: only Japanese and no questions about grammar, though we can ask in which contexts different words may be used. I think that it should be good for our speech, though having it done earlier might have been better. I suppose later is better than never. We each had to stand up and give our names, country, and interests. We each did about 10 seconds worth, though I was sitting in the wrong place so ended up going first.

I walked to the station with Flick, as we had missed our bus due to the meeting. She went off to work, and I returned home to potter. I went for dinner with Rushen, though it was not particularly appetising, so later I ate a small pizza as well. Drummond and Brendan turned up to sit and eat with us, which was good company. Afterwards, I gave Drummond a lesson on how to use Excel. We covered many aspects of the program, though he seemed to understand everything – he made notes, even – and was happy for the lesson. Brendan chipped in with different things that one can do. Together, we did well, I think. Drummond says that he will give me some guitar lessons/tips in return, which should be good.

Observation

My day has been rather plain. I watched an episode of anime in the morning and did a little translation for Seb’s lesson, though that was cancelled. I had my Japanese lesson this morning: so ordinary. It was another full house today and another lesson that dragged on. We did not study anything new, just finished off the chapter: video, exercises, etc. At least that means that tomorrow is new material, which is always the most interesting thing. We are going to be able to “try” to do things, soon.

Lunch was fried rice and some chicken pieces. I resisted the curry-rice temptation for once, even after finishing and still having 20 minutes left before the bus. There is no need to eat as much as possible, I have decided. I caught the bus home, where I did my homework and put some more kanji into my program. I then returned with Flick and Binks to the office to wait for Linden Hall to begin. Maki-san informed me that someone had to write and give a speech in Japanese at the closing ceremony, which has been scheduled for 15th June especially for Katherine and me, I guess. The original closing ceremony is still going to take place, but with a much reduced number of people. They will do another speech at that one, which James will probably give. I am quite looking forward to that. I just have to write it now, though. Maki-san said it should be about two minutes long, but I think I can drag it out to about 5 minutes easily and acceptably. I just have to figure out what to say. Perhaps I will write it in English first, translate it, and then get a Japanese speaker to adjust it so that it sounds good.

I had Linden Hall after that. It is later on Wednesdays, so it is only about 30 minutes, though the children were still doing there homework until at least 5.10. I think they were all hyperactive due to the rain having taken away their playtime. Moreover, on a Wednesday, they get no free play, so they become agitated. We took them to the gym, where we had them find flash cards in a race, based upon clues given. Most paid little attention though, and they were generally disruptive. They like to test us. We also had the added stress of the cameraman being there, though all the children seem to know who he is and often jump on him, the poor guy. It was not for long, though, so it so quickly over. A first-year called Kousuke, who had never been before, came and seemed to understand what was going on, despite having only started in April. They have progressed quickly, I think.

So Much Tea

My day was quite relaxed in the first part but then tiring in the second. I had a Japanese lesson in the morning, which was attended by everybody (except obviously for Katherine), which was a first in quite some time. It made it drag slightly, though. It was not too bad, but I get slightly frustrated at how slowly we are moving through the book. I was hoping that we would move onto our third textbook before I came home, but, at this rate, we will not be anywhere near to doing so. Perhaps, I will ask to have the textbooks anyway. I do not think that it should be too much of a bother, especially since the rumour has it that we have to pay for them ourselves. I want them, though. I want to learn.

Anyway, I had curry rice for lunch before returning home on the bus with Lauma, Binks, and Drummond. I spent most of the afternoon programming again, though I also did my homework. I watched a couple of episodes of anime before going downstairs at 5.30 for tea ceremony. To begin with, it was just the teacher, Oh-san, and me, and I did my “thick tea” ceremony. I think the first half an hour is now set aside just for me. I am getting quite good now, of which I am proud! After a while, Maki-san from the office turned up, as did Ayaka. Yuu did not come today, as she was late leaving school (or something). The two new students also came later.

I like tea, but I think doing it for 4¾ hours is slightly excessive. I think everybody was falling asleep! It was some good Japanese practice as well, though the teacher keeps using old Japanese sayings, like 関の山 (seki no yama, meaning "the most one can do"). I have become slightly more openly inquisitive, so I spent the lesson asking questions about what everything meant. Both Maki-san and Oh-san were working for me in “dictionary corner!” I missed dinner as well, but I ate a toasted tuna sandwich, and I attempted to make a Pasta-‘n-Sauce using some milk I bought the other day, because Rushen asked me. However, he bought some himself in the interim. That was at the weekend, but it was still drinkable. I had to guess the measurements as well, so the sauce was rather liquidy and never really set. I still have one more left to attempt to cook.

Because of the Earthquake...

I went to school with James on the bus. When we arrived, Brendan was already there with Drummond, though Drummond went home for some reason. Lauma and Binks also turned up after having played tennis this morning. Binks then proceeded to spend a lot of the rest of the day tellikng us about how much pain she was in from it. We had our lesson, just the five of us, which was cosy again. The lesson passed rather quickly, with only a little new grammar learnt. My Japanese skills now extend to saying “there was a plane accident and lots of people were killed” and “because of the earthquake, many buildings collapsed.” If only they would teach us useful things! To be fair, I am sure there are interesting ways in which I could use the structures, but I cannot think of any.

I had lunch in the canteen. I had the day’s special, which was rice and beef stew sauce (maybe), though had a bit of an unpleasant edge to it. I ate it anyway, along with the pieces of fried chicken that it came with. Yoshi came and sat with us to eat. We discovered a mutual love: Final Fantasy games! He has already completed the newest one, which is not even out in England yet! I would not understand it in Japanese, though. It is my goal, though. One day I will be able to play and understand Japanese computer games.

I talked on the bus to Kaori and Humie coming home. It was more fun then trying to talk to the teachers as you can just talk about what you want, i.e. relevant things. I think it is good practice. Kaori mostly showed James and I pictures from her phone to see whether we knew what they were. They were mostly cartoon characters, though most were English/American in origin, I believe. She even had Gizmo on there. “Gremlins” is a good film!

I spent the entire afternoon programming! It is so very fun, especially now that I have a project to work on. It is coming along well; I have made many refinements. Most of it is “under-the-hood” so people will not notice them/care, but I like doing it. Making the code prettier is a worthwhile task I think! I have also put it onto one of the computers here, so that the others can use it if they want. I know that Lauma wants a copy. Maybe I should charge her!

I spoke to my little sister for a while on MSN as well. She has her first exam on Saturday, though she said that she had plenty of time to go still. She and her friend attempted an 11-hour library marathon, but managed only two, with the rest spent down the pub!

In the evening I went to dinner: some sort of pork meat and a bowl of rice. Fantastic.

House Warming

I went with Felicity, as usual, to Aikido this morning. Sawako told me that she enjoyed it when she came, but is not going to continue as she does not have the correct clothes and because we are leaving soon so will not know anybody there. Slightly odd reasoning, but fair enough.

It was fun, as it always is, though Felicity was complaining that one of the guys always twists your elbow when he drops you to the ground. I have noticed that as well and try to avoid him, or alter my fall to cope. I guess that it means he is good, but it doesn't half hurt!

When I got back, I watched a little anime, before sitting down to watch 20 minutes of Eddie Izzard's "Definite Article" with James and Drummond, which was quite funny, though only a small fraction of the 2 hour show. We had to stop watching, though, as it was time to go to Kanashima's house-warming party.

There were plenty of people, though I believe ours was the third party in the last couple of days. Her new house is very lovely, with wooden planking on the floor, a strange handrail on the side of the staircase, up to the 'playroom'. She seems very happy with it. The construction men that had built it were there (we met them at the house blessing) and were cooking a spit roast: a hunk of beef and a chicken on a skewer over a charcoal fire. Slices were cut off as they cooked and served along with many, many other dishes. These included normal chicken drumsticks, chicken drumsticks cooked in coca-cola, sashimi, sushi, raw tuna, grapes, crisps, sandwiches, etc. The list goes on. We sat outside in the garden, being brought food and generally waited on. It was not an environment conducive to making new friends. There were a few other people there that I recognised: Notomi-san, who works at the university and came with us to Hokkaido, and another lady who has twice brought her son into school. He had a cold, though.

Later in the evening, Kanashima announced that the Jazz Band had arrived and we were all led upstairs. We were made to sit down in front of a table with a cloth over it. Only once we were settled, did Kanashima's husband receive permission to "turn on" the jazz band and remove the cover. Underneath were a set of instrument-holding figures, who moved in time with the MIDI-fied jazz music emitted from the speakers. It was quite amusing, though maybe the fact that Kanashima had bought it especially for the party was the funniest thing of all.

Afterwards, it was announced that the head construction worker would play his saxophone, but first he performed a couple of magic tricks. The first involved sticking a pen through a 1000yen note, before removing it to find the note untouched. In the second he carried two chopsticks in his palms, seemingly defying gravity. It was quite amusing. He played Green Sleeves and a few other pieces, which went down well. It is surprising how confident some Japanese are. They are either that or totally shy, which is often worse.

The barbershop was forced to hastily reform, having not practiced since before Christmas, I think we did pretty well. The crowd seemed to enjoy it and we even remembered some of the actions. Drum, James and I then did our traditional "Norwegian Wood" before we launched into "Happy Birthday" for Jamese. He is 22 today. We had much cake, including some Kanashima had prepared.

A few older ladies gave a small Noh performance, one singing and another playing a Noh drum and saying "noh" at the appropriate moments. It is quite a lovely art form, though, from what I hear, it is pretty much the same thing for a whole 4 hour play. We only had 5 minutes worth, so it was much more bearable.

To end the night was a raffle of sorts. We each randomly picked a ticket, and then prizes were produced with numbers attached. I won nothing, but everyone received a little gift of some kind. Mine is an odd shaped soon, either used for scooping tea leaves, or sugar, depending on whom you ask.

We signed Kanashima's guest book, though I think I used the wrong kanji for her name, thinking back about it now. Oops. Everybody else left, leaving just us students and family. We sat about, munching our way through the left over cheese and biscuits, crisps, and grapes, which kept getting restocked. I came back with a few of the guys, whilst the others stayed a while longer. It was good to see Kanashima again and I enjoy looking around her house and eating her food.

Much to Drink

A wasted morning was followed by a different kind of wasted afternoon, today, as I went with Drummond, James, Brendan, Sawako, and Nami to Kurume. There, in a slightly boggy park, a barbeque was being held, with music, organised by a man from Jimmy's bar that Drummond knows. 2000yen to attend the event bought us two sticks from the barbeque: one lovely meat and the other not so attractive things from the sea; music; and all we could drink from the cooler. The choice was cans of beer and cans of a Japanese drink called "Chu-Hai." Initially, I was despondent at the high price of such a soft drink, until it was pointed out to me that it was stronger than beer! From then onwards, I was happy. Seb was also there, unexpectedly, with his wife Misako. He wore a flat cap and looked like a farmer.

Drummond came expecting to be roped in to play his guitar, which he duly was, though not at the park, but at an identical event inside a bar. Both food and drinks were the same, though boggy the floor was not. A guy played his guitar, including George Michaels "Faith," and "Isn't She Lovely?" by Stevie Wonder. We played a drinking game that involved having a sip everytime we understood a word he sang.

Next up was a band called "Dub Clear." A three piece electric band: electric guitar, bass, and drums, they were looking for a vocalist. They played some quite heavy music, but there was passion and we all enjoyed it. Drummond played afterwards, some of his classic songs. During this time, I spoke a little to the drummer of the previous band. I gave him my address and a couple of hundred yen, and he promised to send me their CD. They also gave me their web address, linked above!

Drummond continued to play beautifully, before coaxing James and I to sing with him for a while. It did not take much, to be honest. We sang "Norwegian Wood" and "Kiss From a Rose," now our core reportoire.

We returned to the park upon completion of Drummond's recital, though Nami failed to make it that far. Slightly worse for wear (at 4pm), she was taken home my Brendan. The rest of us were treated to more songs from the first guy that we had heard play, as well as some break dancing, which was novel. Drummond played, once again, and sang a single song with James: "Songs of Love." Drummond finished with his favourite Thomas Leeb piece: "The Hard Can," which we all love.

Once more, at 6pm, we returned to the bar with everybody. We sat with Seb and his companions and chatted to them in Japanese and English, depending on the person. One person I spoke could even speak some French, though everything I attempt to recall just turns into Japanese on the way out. Another band played as we socialised, keeping us all tapping our feet.

We took our leave not much longer afterwards and returned home. Here, we foudn Lauma and Felicity raring to go out for the planned meal in the evening to belatedly celebrate Lauma's birthday. I knocked back some orange juice, changed my shirt, and went with them to Hirao. Drummond stayed behind with Sawako...

We found the French restaurant without too much trouble, though we rendezvous-ed with Katherine, who had been wandering around for 10 minutes in the wrong direction. We comandeered some rather expensive wine - £5 each for one bottle - and ordered our food. Lauma and I had a set meal each, which was a nice platter of different things for a started, including paté and fois-grais, and came with bread. The main was a lovely piece of beef stake with some French fries, and we had a bland cheese cake for dessert. Flick and Katherine has mussels.

Everybody else trickled in whilst we ate and I had yet to finish my steak before we all were there, including a revived Nami, with Brendan, as well as Akiko with Rushen. Katherine had organised a cake, which was rather more tastier than the one from my meal.

I think everybody had a good time. We all came back on the last train, apart from Rushen who headed off in Akiko's car, and those who had headed home (or out) earlier.

Kanjitastic

My day has been average. Two Japanese lessons today. We started a new chapter, though it is not that interesting. It is not something new, more a better, subtler way of saying something that we already know in certain contexts. I prefer completely new constructions, as at least that way you feel like you are getting somewhere. In the afternoon, we did another composition. This time the title was “My dream.” I think it was meant as “what do you want to be when you grow up?” It was quite fun, though I want a topic on which I can write a lot with as much different grammar as possible. I feel I have not been able to showcase my language skills properly yet.

Back at the house, I have done a lot of programming today. My little kanji tester is coming along nicely, and the kanji in its database now correspond to the ones that we have learnt from our books. I shall have to dedicate more time to inputting the rest of them. I think I will leave out some of the unrequired fields for now, and maybe go back later to input them if I can be bothered! I like my program, though, and it should be useful in helping to learn and retain my kanji knowledge. Now for the vocabulary and grammar aspects!

That has been my day. There was also some food eating involved, but that was not very interesting. Tonight, we are going to watch Finding Nemo, at Drummond's request. Mainly because Sawako is round.

Random Bits and Bobs

My day has been pretty average, I guess. I had no after-school activities, after all. I had two Japanese lessons and as predicted, only Lauma turned up out of the Okinawa lot. The others were up this morning, however, but did not come in. I like the smaller classes, so I was happy. I think that will stop from tomorrow. Oh, well. It was nice whilst it lasted. There is nothing really interesting to say about either class, apart from some of the tapes that we listened to were ridiculously fast! It is slightly depressing.

I came home on the bus, which was completely packed. So much so that the bus driver decided to just leave, promising to return to collect those remaining. I think they need to sort out their system, slightly. It was never this bad last year. Luckily, we made it out of class on time, so we at least managed to get on, even though we had to stand. Once back at the house, I put my washing on, as it is washday today! Lots of fun there.

I got a package from Hannah, as well today! It had some sweets and a book about Shintoism. I really want to know what it is all about. I guess I should have read it closer to the start of the year, but better late then never, ey?

Speaking of which, I got my times for the flight. I will get in at 4.15 on the Friday. I can go to pick up my ticket in Tenjin if I want, but I do not have to. I will, though, for piece of mind and because I will probably go into Tenjin again at some point. I can also pay the money beforehand, which means I do not have to keep it aside, remembering not to spend it! I shall have to tell Katherine as well.

Among other things, my dad phoned DB and sorted out an issue that I was having. They emailed me twice asking to return some form asap, despite the impossibility. They just accidentally included me on a mass mailing list. I have special permission though! I’m glad it is sorted out now, though. Takes a weight off my mind. I am quite looking forward to working and I do not want to be disqualified before I even start!

This evening I have mostly been programming by kanji program. I am rewriting it to try and make it nicer, though it is slow work at the moment. Once it starts coming together, it should be good, I hope. It should be easy enough to convert it so that it will teach vocabulary as well. Maybe I could sell it!! I also spoke a bit to Adrian and Andy, which was nice. I haven’t talked with them for ages.

Teaching

My day was hectic! I had a Japanese lesson in the morning, though today there were only three of us! Ciarán decided to stay at home to write some article. I think it is voluntary, and politically orientated. Whatever floats his boat, I guess! Rushen went off to work, so I ate lunch with Drummond. I had the special today: tonkatsu, i.e. some strips of battered pork, with some good tonkatsu sauce over it (it is a little like Worcestershire sauce, so I have heard, but I have never eaten that so I do not know).

Drummond and I went to Sebastian’s class in the afternoon to continue our translation. It is quite fun, and Seb is very patient. We finished the second page today, though we might have a go at going a little further by ourselves. It would make it more of a discussion in class about the problems we came across, which might be more interesting and we would go much faster through the book! I only have 5 weeks left to finish the remaining 18 pages. It does not matter, though. I will finish it by myself, hopefully, at some point! Anyway, the book is about a village after WWII having a visit from some American troops for the first time. So far, they have all been slightly scared by their arrival. The dialog is quite amusing, though, as they use some quite brash formations.

I came home after class, pottered and returned for Linden Hall. I got there a little wet (it was raining) but mostly sweat covered! I had my yellow shirt on, which multiplies the effects of water on it. I wrote it off as just rain, thanks to the weather outside! Little did they know I was just sweating far too heavily! Unfortunately, I was a whole 30 minutes early, despite having twigged that today was a later day. Fool that I am; I could have taken my time. Brendan and I took the lesson for 30 minutes. We did describing things, again. One of my favourite lesson-types: you just let the children do it! Brendan disappeared to some meeting 10 minutes before the end, but I handled the 10 children that they were. I did my favourite ending as well: making them all line up until they were all completely silent. It took a good minute or two. I like to think that it makes them appreciate that they have an effect on each other. Also, maybe the ones that understand will make the others shut-up!

I came home on the bus. It was good to hear the kendo students are back practicing, letting out strangled, blood-curdling screams all the time. I ate quickly (some strange bacon stuff), and then ran off to my other class (Bink’s one). I was not too rushed today for some reason, so I did not stuff or cycle too fast! I had an okay lesson with the three-oldies. They told me about “the relationship between Japan and South Korea, with respect to the Torino Olympics,” “UK School League Tables,” and “Nursing Animals” (i.e. animals used in nursing). An interesting collection. They are quite fun to talk to; at least, the time passes quickly. It was still raining, but very lightly so I did not really get wet. I had my umbrella with me though.

Converstations

I guess my day has been slightly more interesting than usual. I had my Japanese class in the morning, as usual. We started a new chapter, both in the kanji and the vocabulary, so it was slightly more interesting than normal. I can now say, “Smoking is bad for your health” and “I am good at using computers!” They are just the things that I have always wanted to say, though already tonight I have used it in the form of “Eating vegetables is good for you.” I had to avoid the backlash from that one: that most people seem to think I hate vegetables. It is not true, I always tell them, I just do not like salad. They ne’er believe me, though.

I had lunch and then came home by myself as. There were only four of us again, and Rushen has started his job full-time in the afternoon. He’s been working from after lunch until nine both yesterday and today. I wonder how long he will keep that up. I am glad I do not have to adhere to the Japanese work ethic. Even Deutsche Bank will be nowhere near that tough! I do not want to work long hours!

In the afternoon, I pottered about a bit. Finished transferring my program (it works) and tried to translate some more of my blog. I want to write complicated sentences in Japanese as opposed to the usual boring ones that I normally churn out, but it is slow work.

Anyway, I went down for tea ceremony at 5.30, but the tea sensei was a little late, and I found Oh-san with one of the bus drivers. He was doing origami. He is very good at it and can do it very quickly, though he kept saying that it was easy to do, but it certainly did not look like it was. He made something that resembled a cricket (though I think it was a cicada) and a swan with a turtle on its wing. I already have one of those in my room from when he gave them to Flick and I a few months ago!

Tea was good. I did thick and thin tea, though with a big break in between. Ayaka and Yuu were both there. I have not seen either of them for a while. Maki-san from the office also turned up as did a couple of other new girls. We left when we had finished, but the newbies stayed to have a go themselves. They were there for another four hours until 10.30! I had dinner with Akaya, Yuu, and Oh-san (it was cheeseburger) and then chatted with Nozomi and some of the Taiwanese people for a while. I have spoken to so many people tonight! Hopefully, it has done my Japanese some good.

Converstations

I guess my day has been slightly more interesting than usual. I had my Japanese class in the morning, as usual. We started a new chapter, both in the kanji and the vocabulary, so it was slightly more interesting than normal. I can now say, “Smoking is bad for your health” and “I am good at using computers!” They are just the things that I have always wanted to say, though already tonight I have used it in the form of “Eating vegetables is good for you.” I had to avoid the backlash from that one: that most people seem to think I hate vegetables. It is not true, I always tell them, I just do not like salad. They ne’er believe me, though.

I had lunch and then came home by myself as. There were only four of us again, and Rushen has started his job full-time in the afternoon. He’s been working from after lunch until nine both yesterday and today. I wonder how long he will keep that up. I am glad I do not have to adhere to the Japanese work ethic. Even Deutsche Bank will be nowhere near that tough! I do not want to work long hours!

In the afternoon, I pottered about a bit. Finished transferring my program (it works) and tried to translate some more of my blog. I want to write complicated sentences in Japanese as opposed to the usual boring ones that I normally churn out, but it is slow work.

Anyway, I went down for tea ceremony at 5.30, but the tea sensei was a little late, and I found Oh-san with one of the bus drivers. He was doing origami. He is very good at it and can do it very quickly, though he kept saying that it was easy to do, but it certainly did not look like it was. He made something that resembled a cricket (though I think it was a cicada) and a swan with a turtle on its wing. I already have one of those in my room from when he gave them to Flick and I a few months ago!

Tea was good. I did thick and thin tea, though with a big break in between. Ayaka and Yuu were both there. I have not seen either of them for a while. Maki-san from the office also turned up as did a couple of other new girls. We left when we had finished, but the newbies stayed to have a go themselves. They were there for another four hours until 10.30! I had dinner with Akaya, Yuu, and Oh-san (it was cheeseburger) and then chatted with Nozomi and some of the Taiwanese people for a while. I have spoken to so many people tonight! Hopefully, it has done my Japanese some good.

Coke Birthday (Supposedly)

My day has not been terribly exciting. I went back to school today for another Japanese lesson. It has been a while and it showed slightly as I cannot form a single coherent sentence anymore! I hope that it will come back quickly, what little I had in the first place. There were only four of us in class this morning: Drum, Ciarán, Rushen, and I. Brendan cannot come this week, as he has to cover for another teacher, about which he is unhappy. The others are back on Wednesday, so it should be small classes until at least Thursday. After that, we will see who comes back to class this week!

I had lunch and then came home on the bus. I pottered about on my computer, trying to convert a kanji-learning program that I found so that it runs properly on my computer. It involves dismantling the original, and then recoding it. It is quite a fun project. I do not recall being this motivated about programming for a long time. I have it working now, though, and it seems useful. There are still some loose ends to tie up, but knowing me, I will never get around to them as it works well enough as it is. It remembers your progress and progressively introduces you to new kanji when it thinks you have mastered all the preceding ones. I will probably try to match up its kanji files with the ones that we learn from our book. Currently, I do not know quite a few readings, though maybe learning them now will be more rewarding in the future. I doubt it somehow!

I had Linden Hall this afternoon, as well. I got ready to leave, and went downstairs, only to wander why I was going so early. I had been looking at the wrong side of the timetable and I was an hour premature for the bus. I made it in the end, though, and on time. I went into the international office to photocopy some sheets for the vague class I had planned, but then when I am teaching with Brendan, we never do what I plan. Instead, we played “Super Simon Says” for 45 minutes, which the kids seemed to enjoy. The tasks became immensely complicated, though, with things like “Super Simon says ‘run to your locker and then come back.’” At the end, we had them split into two teams and form shapes that we said. We began with “A” and “Z”, but then moved onto “bus” and even “happiness”! The final game was the “Socks” game, where you take your socks half off, and have to try to remove other people’s socks without losing your own. It was quite a violent game and I was surprised that there were not many injuries. They were playing for sweets, as well! Somehow, Louis lost a sock in the process, too, and nobody had an extra one, so I do not know where that went. I will let Brendan take any blame coming!

Thirst

I went to aikido again, this morning. Neither Shin nor Sawako showed up again. I am not sure why not. Anyway, I rather enjoy not knowing anyone as it means I have no distractions and can concentrate on trying to learn. I have a few, implicit friends, who I partner-up with to practice the moves quite often. I think we are meant to try to go with someone different each time, and I try to do that. A couple of young girls came and stood, slightly giggling next to me, at the start. I said hello, and they replied. I then asked their names and they both ran around, trying to not be the one to answer. They are sweet, though, but I have obviously forgotten their names. They kept nodding their heads (tiny-bow) at me every time they caught my eye. They sat next to me at the end, again, as well.

I came home, all sweaty, and had a shower. I then went to Cosmos for food, though mainly for drink. I was thirsty. I got two cartons of orange juice, a bottle of Pepsi, and one of Matsui Cider! In Japan, “cider” is just a fizzy drink – it is not alcoholic. I have spent the rest of the day doing various boring things. I started to translate some of my blog into Japanese, for fun. I might have the teachers mark it when I have finished, if they do not mind. Ciarán, I believe, does extra exercises that he then has marked. I have also attempted to read a newspaper article in Japanese – just one. I am going to try and do one a day in an effort to improve. It was about how two people were killed and one injured this morning! Such nice reading. I did not think things like that happened in Japan! It was far away in Honshu, though.

I have also played my Nintendo DS, watched a couple of episodes of anime. I even had a nap this evening, as I was falling asleep, though it was a deep sleep. It was only for an hour though, from 7.30 until 8.30. I have had dinner (a toasted tuna and cheese sandwich) and am not longer tired. I think I shall have difficulty sleeping tonight.

Good Anime, Bad Movie

My day has been its normal, boring, Saturday-type. I faffed about on my computer for a while before getting up. Katherine was interestingly passed out on the sofa in the lounge, back from her Kagoshima trip, no doubt, but I did not disturb her. I spent the rest of the day continuing to play on my computer, as usual. I was looking at various Japanese programs for learning kanji, though I have not really found any that I like. I am rather fussy!

I have also watched a lot of anime today: about five episodes! It is very good though. I want to watch more! I sat with Rushen, Akiko, and Paul to watch a South Park episode earlier, which was mildy amusing, though I have seen funnier ones. We also watched a little bit of Troy, which was still pretty awful. The bit I watched did not have much Brad Pitt in it, though, which made it slightly more bearable! It did have Orlando Bloom being all wussy and almost getting killed by some guy in a 1-1 duel over Helena. Crappy movie.

Drum Plays

My day has been uneventful. I have yet to leave the building, despite it being another gorgeous day. I can appreciate it from indoors. I have been on my computer, as usual, for most of the day. I played my guitar for about 15 minutes as well today, and watched a few videos of somebody else playing guitar. Fun, fun, fun!

I went to dinner with Drum and Ciarán, which was quite nice (both the food and the company). After which we went to Kurume to hear Drummond play. Brendan, Rushen, his mate Paul, and Akiko came as well, and also Sawako, Mina, and Yumi from yesterday's trip. We had a good time, and Drummond played well. Seb, his wife, and a friend also turned up. Later on in the night, I sang a couple of songs with Drummond, at Drummond's request, before he continued alone.

Interestingly, it turns out that I was in the same class as Paul for a whole year, yet I do not think that either of us has any recollection of each other. To be fair, it was in Year 5 when I was about nine. He is also a year older and so had a different social group, but we remember the names of others in the class. Such an odd coincidence, us both being 9000km from home, yet in the same place!

I came back with Brendan and Ciarán in a taxi, whereas Akiko gave Rushen, Paul, Drum, and Sawako (the other girls had gone home) a lift. We went to bed, but they all came back to Cambridge House, snuck passed the man on duty, and came upstairs to start a party. I hear they drank until 5 in the morning!

YamaYama Cooool: So Desu Ne (Day 2)

Day 2 started not so early, but not too late, either. We were all up and about by 10, sweeping and cleaning up the house in preparation for leaving. Drummond and I made camembert sandwiches for everyone, though there was no toaster. Sawako dished out jarred (like tinned, but in jars) fruit for everyone.

We spent a few minutes trying to work out the logistics of getting everybody into two cars. In the end, most people squished into Tomy's car, and our car kept the same passengers. For a while, Sawako was going to ride with Drummond's guitar on top of her, but in the end we brought it along with us.

Our first stop was Shin's house again, dropping off last night's utensils as well some left over food. After that we went to Yama Cafe/Kitchen Usuda for lunch. Shin knew the owner and we had a nice selection of things to eat: some bamboo shoot gratin, cabbage soup, pizza, and a large choice of bread. We had cake for desert. It was rather tasty. I wrote in one of their guest books, in both Japanese and English. It was rather silly, though!

Sawako joined us in our car, a straight swap for Drummond's guitar, and we headed to a river, where we sat on rocks for a few hours. We stopped off at a convenience store on the way for drinks, and even bumped into Shin's mother again. At the river, Drum and Tomy had a swim, but from Drum's screams of agony I think the water was very cold. Other than that, we skimmed a lot of rocks. We spent a couple of hours in that beautiful setting just relaxing.

Our next activity was to be strawberry picking, but Shin called up and it seems that many people have all ready been this season and so there are few left. Instead we went to a souvenir shop (an interesting substitution) called Farm Guernsey. I had a large Mr. Whippy, which is supposedly famous in Kyushu, which was tasty. We also bought a couple of small presents for the guys back at Cambridge House.

We began the journey home after that with a few stops on the way. The first was to the onsen that we had planned to visit yesterday. It was rather crowded, with only a small inside bath and a larger outdoor one. There were a few children just jumping around and having fun, uninhibited. There was also a deck for sitting on and admiring the great view of the countryside from high up on the hill. The water was hot, which is relaxing to begin with, but gets uncomfortable after a while.

When we got out, the girls had yet to appear, so we went for a short car ride, with Eriko who had not gone in. We parked by the side of the road and watched the sunset, also calculating that the Earth turns at 1,666.66kph. In fact, it rotates at 1,674.396kph, so definately not a bad guess at all!

We collected the girls and came home after that, stopping off to get dinner on the way, though we tried numerous places before we found one. The first few were closed and then we got to a place where nobody seemed to have any rice. We managed to eat in the end, though. I had ramen and the others had a variety of Japanese dishes, some of which looked tasty, others did not.

We got home at about 12am; Sawako slept on sleeping-Drum's shoulder for most of the rest of the journey. Shin and I listened to Radiohead some more before putting on some Japanese band called Natural Flours. It was a great trip, and Drum and I had a good time. Shin organised it very well. The weather was beautiful for the whole two days, which definitely gave everything a happy, cheery feeling. Kimochiii!

YamaYama Cooool: So Desu Ne (Day 1)

Today is Ciarán's birthday, so he and most of the others have gone off to sell chicken with Kanashima somewhere in Japan. They all left at about 8 this morning, so I did not see them.

Drum and I, instead, are going on a little two day road trip with some of our Japanese friends. We were picked up by Shinichiro (hereafter know as Shin) from Cambridge House, and we drove to meet the others. All together there were 10 of us going in two cars: Shin, Sawako, Mina, and Kimiyo were the ones I already knew. There was also Tomy, Tatsunori, Eriko, and Kimi(?). We paid Shin the money for the trip and off we set. Drum and I rode with Shin in his car, with the stereo turned up loud, blasting out some good music we had brought with us. To start with, we had some 70's soul classics that Drummond had borrowed off Rushen's Akiko.

We got stuck in a giant traffic jam going there, which made us about 2 hours late. We cut out the planned onsen stop, because of it. We ordered lunch over the phone, so that it was ready by the time we arrived. We all had toriten, which is chicken tempura, or chicken deep-fried in batter.

We then headed off up a hill, where we had a great view of the countryside below us. It was so refreshing to get out away from the built-up areas of Japan to the relatively untouched land in the hills. There was a kind of playground next to where we stopped, with a huge castle-esque climbing frame, though it was rusting. It did have a giant slide, complete with rollers. It was only later we noticed the "Do not enter" sign!

Shin got off in his car and drove off, mysteriously, and after a little while most of the others jumped into the other cars and left as well. Drum, Sawako, and I were left wondering what had happened. It did not take long to realise that they had simply gone around the corner to where our lodgings were. It had the feel of a large log cabin, though not made of logs. There were about three bed rooms, and a large living area which opened onto a wooden patio with a stunning view. We were the only ones staying there, which meant that we had no restrictions on our activities, bar burning the place to the ground.

We got back in the cars and carried on up the hill, reached a shrine about 2 minutes later. We climbed up a rocky path to the peak (568m above sea level). One part involved using a chain to help get up the side of one of the rocks. The view was really cool: loads of green everywhere. The girls had most difficulty climbing up and down, mostly because of their choice of footwear, whereas Shin just ran and jumped around everywhere. He is mad.

After climbing back down we went shopping for dinner. We bought lots of meat, vegetables and other assorted goodies, before driving to a Harajiri falls. A cool waterfall, we crossed over a long rope bridge opposite it, obviously swinging it as violently as we could, before we realised there were others on it as well! Oops. We then went and climbed on the rocks forming the waterfall itself. Never in England would you be able to walk up to the edge of a waterfall!

Next we went to Shin’s parents house (where he grew up). We met his mum and his dog, Ron. They gave us rice and a few other things. Halfway back to our accomodation, we realised that we had forgotten to pick up the hot plates they were going to lend us, so our car turned back whilst the others went on ahead. We met Shin's dad who was returning home when we got back and picked up the tools.

Back at the house we had a big feast, though there was a little trouble with the electricity. We worked out in the end that, for some reason, the mains could only cope with one hot plate, not two when it would cut out. There was a lot of beef, chicken, onions, bean sprouts, peppers, aubergine, squash, edamame, and later there were marshmallows. Marshmallows need real fire, it turns out, as they just melt when put on a hot plate!

Kimiyo went home at around 9pm, as presumably she was working again the next day. She's been driving the whole day, but she got home safely at about midnight.

Later Shin’s parents turned up. We all sat around, chatting and continuing to eat. We were then told that we all had to introduce ourselves, so we went round the table. Shin's dad took notes on all the girls' names and asked for their mobile numbers! Later, Drum and I played and sang. We did a selection of a few Beatles' tunes and some others from our reportoire that we knew. We got a little drunk and started to blag tunes that we vaguely knew. Drum has an amazing ability to play things by ear, so we ended up sining a few more Beatles', Simon & Garfunkel's Sound of Silence, and even the YMCA, to which they all joined in with. We did not know any of the lyrics, though.

Bed was on futons on the ground. The guys slept around a Japanese fire place in the main room, whereas the girls had three rooms between them.

I Love Golden Week

I played my Tetris in the morning for a long time: until about noon! I decided it was time to get up at that point. When I had done that I made a tuna and cheese grills for lunch.

I have not really done much else today. I watched more anime: Ghost in the Shell, and about four Bleach episodes. I played Tetris and Beneath a Steel Sky (my new, old game) as well. I have generally, lazed about today. I went for dinner with Ciarán downstairs in the canteen, though it was not particularly tasty – definitely not when compared to what we ate last night. In the evening, some of the guys returned from Kagoshima, so we went out for a drink in Asakuragaido. I had some pizza as well. There was Drummond, Brendan, and Flick (the returnees) and James, Ciarán, and I.

Cosy

I had a nice long lie in this morning until 11.00. I have been very tired recently and it seemed like a good opportunity to catch up on some sleep. I went into university with James to get some lunch from the canteen. I had curry rice, and then later some fried rice. I think I have eaten too much today. In between my two lunches, I went to the 100yen shop with James, where I got a folder for this term’s work. I also bought a drink, as it is rather hot today. Sweltering heat, the muggy kind. It is hot even though it is quite overcast and threatening to rain. Not so pleasant. Also, I was sure that the 100yen shop had the heating on!

I came home on the bus, and pottered about a little. Somebody decided that it would be a good idea to cook tonight (I think it was Ciarán) so we all went to YouMe town together to shop. There’s only four of us around today: Ciarán, James, Binks, and I. Quite nice only having a few people, as it means that you can easily do group things, like cooking together. We got the ingredients we needed, and I went upstairs and bought Tetris for my Nintendo DS. I have not had time to play it yet, though.

We cooked together pretty soon after we got back. Well, mostly Ciarán and Binks cooked. James did some useful things and I sat and kept them company! They made chicken breast, stuffed with tomato, garlic, and cheese, and wrapped in bacon, with mange-touts, broccoli, and carrots. It was quite a nice meal. We had some nice bread with it, as well as garlic bread (!) and some red wine. It was only just over £3 per head as well and there was quite a lot of food. I think that most people assume that I cannot cook for some reason, and so do not mind so much when I do not help much. I did peel some carrots though!

We had some castella cake and strawberries for desert as well. We watched Amelie in the evening, before bed.