Japanese English

I've come across some really random attempts at english during my first year in Japan, and although I often take pictures on my phone, I usually forget to blog them. I'm bored right now, though, so here are a few examples:

This is meant to say 'drink'. Don't ask me to explain, it would take too long.

WTF??? If anyone can tell me what this is trying to say, please let me know.

You can't see it, but the next line on this t-shirt was 'please cry for me'. Ok.???

Well, do you have a life to devote? Mildness? Makes perfect sense, right?

Can't argue with that.

Natsuyasumi (summer holiday)

Today has been pretty mixed. Dan and Rosie left Japan today after 3 years of teaching. They are heading back to NZ to settle down and get married, etc. We drove them to Yamaguchi city (about 45 minutes from Hagi) and took them to the bullet train station. Saying goodbye was difficult, and Dan, Rosie and I were all in pretty bad shape. Here are a few of my favourite photos from the year:

As we were leaving the train station, we realised all the clouds and humidity had cleared up and the rainy season is finally over!! After about a month of rain, storms, humidity and dampness, the sun has decided to come out at last! We decided to celebrate this with an afternoon and the beach, so Jo, Eugene (Jo's boyfriend) and I hit the beach.

I was sitting next to Jo, and there was about a foot between us. I was just about to take a bite of a pastry I had in my hand, when a hawk swooped down between me and Jo and tried to take my food! But it missed and grabbed my face instead. I'm not kidding! Luckily I was wearing sunnies and its claw caught those and only scratched down my eye instead of gouging it out. It bled so I washed it in the sea, and hopefully it won't get infected. Do hawks have lots of bacteria on their claws?

I tried to take a picture of it, but it isn't very clear. You can see the cut under my eye, and can just barely make out the scratch that runs down my forehead and through the corner of my eye. It happened about 7 hours ago and it is still hurting. Should I be worried???

Japanese lesson 3

So by now you should be able to write hiragana and katakana correctly, right? The next step is realising that there are no spaces between words in Japanese. For example:
私は日本にきょねんの８月にからきました。
This is read as: ‘Watashi wa nihon ni kyonen no hachi gatsu ni kara kimashita’ which means ‘I came to Japan in August last year.’
As you can see, it is a mix of hiragana, kanji and numbers. Also, you sometimes get katakana in there as well. For example:
私はニュージランド人です。This reads as ‘watashi wa nyu geerando jin desu’, which means ‘I am a New-Zealander.’
In that example there is kanji, hiragana and katakana. And these are just simple sentences. So before you can read anything, you really need a fairly large vocab just to be able to figure out where one word stops and the next one starts!

Also, in order to be able to read the newspaper, you have to know at least 1000 kanji. That is a little bit beyond me at the moment. Hell, I still struggle with bus time tables and easy stuff that 3 year olds can read.

Ah well, talking is a lot easier. People are pretty forgiving when you try to talk to them. I had a 10 minute conversation with a taxi driver about the differences between NZ and Japan and few months ago and although he didn’t speak any English and I hadn’t exactly been doing a lot of study at that point, we had a really good chat.
Speaking of study, I have been doing quite a bit lately and have really noticed an improvement. The other day at an elementary school, I had no trouble talking to the kids while we were playing outside at lunchtime, and this old woman at a bus-stop last week wouldn’t shut up when I answered her in Japanese – and I haven’t figured out how to say ‘stop talking to me’ yet! So I am thinking of taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) in December. There are 4 levels (4 being easiest and 1 hardest). I am looking at level 3, where you have to be able to carry out a conversation and know 800 kanji. I reckon I’m up to the challenge.

Sorry, got a little off track. Back to the language lesson:
The best thing to do is carry a dictionary around. My cell phone has one built in which has saved my ass a few times, and you can also get electronic dictionaries which fit in your pocket. Or, if you are ordering food pretty much anywhere in Japan, just point to the picture and say ‘kore’ (core-reh). That is about all you need to get around!

Oops, I wrote this last Thursday and forgot to post it. Sorry.

At the moment it is a very busy time of year. Tomorrow is the last of term, which means no lessons, just closing ceremonies and cleaning and mucking around with the kids. Ok, I know that doesn’t sound like much is going on, but it is also the time when ALTs go home and new ALTs start arriving in Japan. It is also the time when all the teachers have enkais (parties) to celebrate the end of school, the start of summer, the end of the rainy season . . . actually, any excuse is good enough for an enkai.
Last Friday our Board of Education had a leavers enkai for Dan, Rosie, Jo and Pauline, who are all leaving. This means that yours truly is the new leader of the Hagi ALTs. Scared? I know I am! Basically it means I get the oh-so-exciting job of organizing the new ALTs who start arriving on August 1st. Already I have been racing around like a headless chicken sorting things out at the Board of Education, getting in contact with the newbies and answering questions, etc. This is on top of teaching and also doing proof-reading for the Hagi Tourism Board (I think I mentioned that in a previous post?).

Anyway, the enkai on Friday was bittersweet because all the ALTs from Hagi and the surrounding country came to the party and it was great to hang out, but it was also the last time we would all be together, so we had no choice but to drink the pain away :)
The drinking led us to a karaoke bar where bad singing (and Y.M.C.A.) was perpetrated. Unfortunately (or maybe luckily), the typhoon was already starting to make its presence felt, so we called it a night a little after midnight. The next day was the All Blacks vs. Australia rugby game, and we had talked the barman at our favourite bar to open up just for us to watch the game. He opened at 4:30, and by 6pm the place was absolutely full of ALTs from all over Yamaguchi because a few weeks ago we sent out an email inviting everyone to come and play and Hagi, and a huge group came in spite (or maybe because of) the typhoon. Saturday night it really hit us, and Sunday the weather was absolutely shit. Monday was a public holiday, and by about 7pm, the wind and rain finally buggered off and the sun came out. Just in time for the working week to begin. Typical.

This Friday Jo and I are going to an enkai for one of the schools we both teach at. It will be the last enkai we will have together, so we will make sure it is a good one.
Saturday and Sunday there is a sand-art festival / competition in Hagi and I am going with some of my students. Looking forward to that!
And then on Monday Dan and Rosie are leaving! I’m dreading it, because I know there will be tears! Jo leaves in a week and then I have maybe 2 days before the newbies start arriving. This year has gone insanely fast, especially when I look back at how long I thought it would be when I first got here. I know I said I was only going for 1 year, but it is so much fun, I’m not ready to come home, yet. Maybe after 2 years I’ll be sick of it. . .we’ll see.

Last weeks' events

So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday on an island half-way to Korea. Ok, so it is only about 1/3 of the way to Korea, but it felt like further because of the typhoon over the weekend! I never used to be one to get sea-sick, but the last few times I have visited island schools it has been painful!

Anyway, this island has about 1000 people living on it, and 20 kids. 4 at junior high school (12 – 15 years old) and 16 at elementary (6 – 11 years old). And because the island is so far out from the mainland, I had to stay overnight at a hotel. Now, I know this sounds like luxury, but the life of an ALT is not always as glamorous as it sounds!

After recovering from the boat trip out to the island I had 3 classes at the junior high and then had to wait around until 5:30 to escape to the hotel. You’d think it would be a fairly nice place, especially considering I paid 4200 yen (about $65) for one night. However, my theory is the hotel was built in the 70’s, and nothing has changed since then! Including the bedding. The futon and blanket were damp, the air con either turned the room into a freezer or didn’t work at all, the TV was coin operated (WTF??) and in the bathroom there was no towel or soap, just a handful of toothbrushes and some toilet paper (I suppose I should be grateful for the small mercies!).

And the toothbrushes did come in handy in the end: My stomach wasn’t really up for a proper meal, so I didn’t go to the one restaurant on the island before it closed, and ended up with a cup of instant mashed potatoes which I lucked upon in the tiny shop. I made it back to my hotel room no problem and made the mash, then realised there were no spoons with the tea, no cutlery whatsoever, and I hadn’t packed any – my own fault really. I guess you can see where this story is going. I was reminded of an episode of Black Books where Manny is forced to eat scrambled eggs out of a shoe with a comb, and this inspired me to use a toothbrush (non-bristle end)! Here is the proof:

You heard it here first!

Good idea, bad idea

Good idea: Go out for a nice meal with a couple of friends.

Bad idea: Go to a place that has really cheap beer.





Good idea: After dinner, go to the office to pick up the rest of the weeks' lesson plans.
Bad idea: Take said lesson plans to the nearest bar.





Good idea: Read over lesson plans and think about what to do during class.
Bad idea: Let friends with lighters take lesson plans away from you.





Good idea: Translate the drinks and food menus into English.
Bad idea: Decide to test all the drinks we have never heard of before.





Good idea: Get all the ALTs in Hagi to come and help with translating and tasting.
Bad idea: Bringing in necessary ingredients for making more drinks (mojito, anyone?)





Good idea: Asking the barmen for help with translations.
Bad idea: Asking the barmen who don't speak English for help with the translations and ending up with even more drinks.





Good idea: Going home.
Bad idea: Going home via the beach. Damn crabs!

Jo enjoying her first mojito of the evening.

What I've been up to

Well, last month the fireflys came out, so of course it was an excuse to go drinking. You know you have been accepted by Japanese people when they invite you to go eating and drinking with them. It was great! I think one of the highlights of that night was when a firefly landed on my nose - I'm not kidding! Unfortunatly, I was the only one who didn't get a photo of it. Instead, this is us drinking at a small izakaia (place where small food items are cheap beer and sake are sold).

A few weeks ago I wasn't in the greatest mood, so Daniel (left, Pauls friend visiting from America), Matt (centre) and Paul, decided to invade my place with beer and chocolate and play my playstation for a few hours. Note the cans of beer - where else but Japan can you buy 1 litre cans. Even the boys struggled to finish theirs (except Paul, who had 2).

And on the 18th was Dans birthday, which we celebrated in style with a whole lot of food, beer and karaoke! Good times. The only problem was that his birthday was on a Monday, and none of us got much sleep for school the next day (I think I managed 3 hours). But it was definitely worth it!

I have a lot more photos and videos, but my birthday gift to Dan was a promise NOT to post them on the internet. Sorry, guys:)