Saturday, June 21, 2008

Japanese Language Culture

I love the fact I am learning lots about how the J language works, yet can't really speak it/read it.

You know how in California, if someone can't speak Spanish and is kind of pretending to, they just say the English word and end "o" to the end, as if that makes it Spanish? Well, I was finding it REALLY amusing for a while that there are a lot of "Japanese" words that are English with an "o" or "u" at the end which then makes it "Japanese." But then I started getting frustrated, because in class I would say a word...for example let's use "private jet." My students would start talking to themselves-"private jet? private jet?" I would then start dancing around the room trying to act it out/thinking of any and every other way to say it...drawing it....finally the students would say "OH! Private Jet-O!" And my jaw would drop in disbelief because I did NOT understand why they did not understand "private jet" but understand "private jet-o" ?!? I finally brought this up at a work dinner and it was explained to me that 1. These are not "Japanese words"-- they are Western words basically just repeated in Japanese 2. Pretty much every Japanese word/name in existence ends in a vowel, so they just naturally attach a vowel, which I guess changes the pronunciation/sound and then makes it easier to understand?

I have also gotten to the point of wanting to strangle students for forgetting articles in simple sentences. They sound like cavemen and it drives me insane. No matter how often I correct them, if they are medium level-low level they will simply revert back to no articles the next time they speak. I was venting about this to my Japanese coworker the other day and she explained she understood how annoying it must be for me, but assured me it's SUPER hard for them, because in Japanese there are no articles at all. Ok...makes more sense.

Oh...and I have been recently forced to learn the Japanese alphabetical order. Not as easy as you think.

So there you go, little by little I am understanding more and more...................yet I completely suck at learning the language for myself. Ha. I am learning random kanji though due to forced survival reasons and what not. Somehow this will hopefully all mesh into eachother and make me somewhat survivally (is that a word?) OK in this crazy language.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Hair today...gone tomorrow...

(I am soo clever, ha ha)

I chopped my hair off today. There is a salon next to my school. I figured they didn't speak English but I didn't care because I have been sooo sick of my hair, especially with the humidity. So, I made an apt somehow for my lunch break and took my coworker in to translate what I wanted done. The stylist seemed quite nervous because she probably had never cut western hair before. She did a pretty good job considering we couldn't even communicate! For a shampoo, big deal cut, and a blow dry it only cost me 2100 yen (like $21.00)! I can't really complain. The picture below was my inspiration. It actually looks pretty similar. You'll have to wait until I go out and do something to see real pictures. I like it though. It's a "fresh change" for the summer.



Monday, June 16, 2008

Horror movie sound effects??

Uhhhhh there is a storm above my apt right now. The thunder is so loud you'd think I was in a haunted castle or something right now. The rain is pouring so hard you'd think I had a waterfall coming off my balcony...with a light show. INTENSE. (I have to walk 15 minutes tomorrow to that business contract thing so let's hope this passes by morning or I might be throwing a small temper tantrum).

I feel like that "muahahahaha" scary laugh should be coming from outside right now....

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Rain, Rain Go Away...

It is now officially "rainy season" here. That means it will basically rain almost every day for an entire month! Hurray! (Can you sense my sarcasm?)

I tell my students it's weird for me because back home, where it hardly ever rains, rain is a treat. But here...I look out my window and roll my eyes when I see it is raining...AGAIN.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Survival English

This week, one of my classes involves using "will" (I will do that, she'll blah blah, you'll die...-more on that shortly). There were these handouts in the lesson material packets that had pictures of different emergencies like frostbite, choking, or my personal favorite- a toddler standing on a chair holding a bottle of poison like it is a wine bottle, etc. I decided to use them as my "free expansion" to have them say stuff like "If you swallow poison, you'll die..." and carry on a conversation. I also told them to discuss things you should do if you happen to deal with one of the emergencies listed. I had an odd number of students so I had to partner up with one. This is how some parts of our conversation went:

Me: If you drink poison accidentally, there is a good chance you'll die.
Student: Have you ever drank poison??
Me: No...not yet. By the way, what SHOULD you do IF you drink poison accidentally?
Student: Drink lots of water.
Me: Umm...
-insert basic lesson about calling an ambulance and poison control-

Me: If you don't chew your food properly, there is a good chance you'll choke...by the way what would you do if you were all alone and were choking?
Student: Call an ambulance?
Me: No...if you are choking it is difficult to speak...
Student: Drink lots of water?

That is when I decided to end free expansion and for the last five minutes basically turned the lesson into a CPR class-- when it is appropriate to call for an ambulance, and how to do the heimlich maneuver on yourself or someone else, etc. Since EVERYONE thought you should drink water for those kinds of emergencies (and might I add no one had even heard of the heimlich?? Not even whatever it is in Japanese??). I seriously wonder how many deaths are caused a year in Japan because someone only drank water for these incidents (or maybe no one chokes here because the food portions are so small). I am not only teaching English anymore, I am apparently now saving lives as well.

It looks like I am going to Okinawa for Obon (holiday in Aug)!!! It'll be extremely hot and crowded but WHO CARES? It's Okinawa! (For those that don't know what Okinawa is or are too lazy to google-- it's Japan's tropical island super super south. It looks a lot like Hawaii (see below), has lots of tropical fish (and some very poisonous things too eek). I am excited though =)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I love life's random small gifts.

They are never extremely significant, but they can really make a day.

Today started out like any other day. On Tuesdays I am contracted to teach at a small business in the suburbs about a 10 min train ride away from Hakata. There are only 2 students and they are really cool so it is nice and laid back. I always take the 11:55 train, and it is the only one I know how to take to get there. The train is only 3 cars so I always have difficulty remembering where to stand exactly on the platform (Hakata is soooo big) so that I don't have to run to wherever the train parks itself. This time I decided to go to the furthest end where there were benches and listen to my ipod since I was a little early. Then, my friend called me and I was chatting. I looked up and saw the time was 11:55 so I got ready to get on, the train approached me.....and kept going. =( I missed it!!! I kind of freaked out because I wasn't sure when the next train would be, etc. I went to the JR people and luckily one of them spoke decent English and they told me which train to take, but it was leaving at 12:11 and my lesson started at 12:30 (and you know how J people feel about tardiness) so I was a little stressed. I made it to the station and literally booked it, heels and all, for my usual 10ish minute walk to the office. I literally made it at exactly 12:30, sweaty and disgruntled, and positive today was going to be awful starting out like that.

But...I walked in and they said "Um....so we had an idea to go to Dazaifu today (big shrine-see blog entry in May), is that OK?" Of course it was. However I was a little skeptical as I was in all black today and it was humid as hell (I imagined we'd be walking around the land/they'd make me teach them outside or something). But when we got there I realized the deal. Their president who is super nice (and speaks very good English) opened a cafe in Dazaifu with his father who is calligraphy artist. So they just took me to the opening day of the cafe. It was really nice (and had AC), I got a free beverage, and there is an aromatherapy school upstairs and the lady gave me some oil as a gift. No lesson. Just free talk. Then they took me to one of the temples I had been to before, but it was a bit more helpful having someone there to explain what things meant, etc. Then they dropped me off at work, where I didn't even have lessons today due to a schedule change this week, so I just had a luxury of time prepping for the week. Not a bad day I must say =)

I am a firm believer that for all the bad there is in life, there will always be plenty of good to balance it out/make it even better =)

Saturday, June 7, 2008

F Bills

(I like how I posted about how busy I am and have since been blogging every day). This week has been a frustrating/panic inducing week over here regarding everyday Japan life...ie paying utility bills. I already vented to some of you about my cell phone issue, and don't really feel like explaining the long story, but just know it ended in me being EXTREMELY frustrated and having to run to the bathroom at work to force my tears to go up and back into my eyeballs rather than down my face (doing that is extremely exhausting btw). A big chunk of the frustration came from what we call "foreigner syndrome"--when something here happens/has to be a certain way and we (the foreigners) cannot comprehend why it has to happen/be a certain way with no going around it whatsoever even though it makes absolutely no sense and is completely inconvenient, yet you have to just shut up and swallow it, because that's just how it is. Ok back to my story--the other chunk came from what I will go into in a few.

OK, so after that issue happened, I came home to my apt last night and found a random receipt along with a bill/voucherish thing under my door. Of course it was in kanji, but I did see on the receipt the total was 7500 yen so I wanted to know what I had to pay NOW. So I stayed up super late trying to figure out the translation online and resulted in learning some really random kanji but still had no clue what it was for or what it even was in fact. I brought it to my manager today and she first looked at the receipt and told me it must be for this upcoming month's gas bill. Then looked at the billish voucher thing with hardly anything on it and told me it was the current bill from last month/April for gas. Then she turned to me and said "The first month is usually more expensive." And then pointed to a number on the bill-- 35447. At first I think out of denial my brain somehow changed the imaginary comma that would come after the 35 to a period and decided it was 35.447 and the end would be rounded off. But then I looked again and said (internally since I was at work surrounded by students) "350 DOLLARS FOR *^*&^&^*& GAS?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!! WHAT!?!!!!?!???" Then I took a deep breath and asked her if it was normal and she said........not really and that she would call for me. We are super busy on Saturdays so then I had to run off and teach 3 classes. Where I spent all 3 internally panicking about this new bill situation. My coworkers told me it had to be a mistake, but after the cell phone thing I had reason to believe I would actually be expected to pay that much for a month of gas! I was worrying so much about it, I actually turned it into a warm up discussion for my 2nd more advanced class. "Who here has their own apt? Ok, do you pay utility bills? Ok, I got a gas bill for 35,000 yen, is that normal?" Most of the students nodded their heads like "yeah, duh, what do you expect?" --Restart panic mode- "Wait....so....it's normal to pay 35,000 yen a month for GAS?" Looks of doubt/confusion began. Then I decided to be smart and wrote it on the board. Looks of shock and realization then surrounded me (I think they were thinking I said 3,500 yen-reasonable). So they reassured me that was NOT normal. But did that calm down my worrying? Not really? The thoughts of "What if the last tenant never paid their bill and they make me pay it or else I won't have AC this summer??? What if there is a leak and they will make me pay it????" etc. Finally I found my manager and she told me that she made a mistake and the "35,447" was really my account number (HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF), I owe 7,500 for the past two months combined. I can hang with that.

OK, so now why I think these 2 above situations affected me so much--back home I have (as well as all of you I am sure) had frustrating bill issues/confusion. However, back home I could pick up my phone and call someone. Back home I didn't need someone to call for me or come with me to run simple errands like...mail something at the post office/translate anything for me/try to understand me/explain to me since their English isn't perfect. Back home I can stand up for myself and handle my own problems. Here, I am kind of useless/helpless when it comes to everyday situations like this and I am FORCED to rely on others. Not that I don't trust my manager-she is wonderful-but I guess it would be easier to cope with annoying things like this if I could control them a little more. I guess I had a tad of "culture shock" this week finally you could say?

Eh, at least it's the weekend. BTW- I am making "Mexican food" tomorrow for my coworkers and can I just say I have never spent so long in a supermarket hunting down ingredients/compromised ingredients to make....ground beef tacos? I am definitely going to return a creative chef, that is for sure. =)

--Oh and btw-I now have a new pet peeve about groceries here. A lot of things are all in English on the packaging (random mistranslationish quotes/brand name/etc) but what it ACTUALLY IS is ONLY in Japanese! WHY? Is it so hard to just include a bit more English??? My example of the day is seasoning bottles. The seasoning company is in English, their motto is in English, yet I have no idea what the f$%& is inside the bottle besides the obvious obvious herbs/seasonings (like...rosemary...wait that's actually it) because the name of the herb/seasoning/whatever is only in Japanese. Sigh.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Oh, I forgot this tidbit

A few days ago my student told me that my area of residence is "famous" for Yakuza activity and that she worried about me living alone. I think she expected me to be horrified by this news (Yakuza not her worrying) but I was kind of fascinated by it. I love that stuff. Does that make me weird? Anyway, it is sweet of her to worry, but so far the most "disturbing" thing I have witnessed thus far in my neighborhood is a cat fight with strays. People who live in Japan might think it isn't as "safe" as it used to be, but it is still 1000000000000000000000000000000000 times safer than the US I'll tell you...

Something about me has changed

I used to always wonder why it was so hard for people to keep in touch (slow at writing letters, not returning phone calls, really late at uploading pictures, etc etc). I was always the "you send me a msg I get back to you ASAP" kinda person. But now I completely understand the people I questioned above. I don't know if it is Japan or just the fact my brain is on overdrive to the millionth power, but bottom line---I know I know, I suck at keeping in touch with back home! I have been incredibly lazy about uploading pictures, returning emails, talking on skype, and even updating this here blog. This is not a promise to change because, lol, I doubt it will anytime soon, but a humble excuse/apology for becoming someone like above. The reason I don't see myself changing anytime soon is I can't do too many things at once. I decided it has come to the point where I must choose to update this all the time, be prompt in communicating, etc etc OR remain #2 in sales for Kyushu (being #1 is impossible so I am quite thrilled at 2), prepare lessons, teach 30 classes a week, interview new students, attend seminars/more training, random job related activities, go shopping for nylons every other day, have a million self study counsellings, have educational counsellings, do follow up work with the self study til 10 pm or later every night, fill out mindless (and sometimes useless) paperwork, and talk A LOT. I am choosing the job for now (and yes, in case you were wondering, I often do everything/more I listed in 1 day--not 30 classes though haha). Maybe after June when this self study business has died down a tad* I will be a bit better and maybe even have an exciting story for you, but until then, sorry =/...but surprisingly even though the above sounds like a vent, I actually don't really mind any of it. Somehow I manage I guess? It's hard to explain, but I think there is a big difference between taking a vacation to a foreign country and LIVING (cough working full time) in one. After a while, you get into a routine and....it's basically just like a routine you would have back home but instead with a difficult language and often times baffling culture =). I'm hoping after June when I get my first actual full paycheck, I will finally be able to start doing a bit of short weekend trips and such. But until then I am swamped. I am having a pretty good time though so don't worry---I just definitely live for the weekends =) But if you find yourself missing me or wondering why I responded to someone else's wall post but not yours, etc etc I assure you I am not choosing favorites....once again I have just become "one of THOSE people." But--on my weeknights 7amish-9amish your time seems to be my "be as lazy and useless as possible for a few hours on the internet" time so let's talk! (Probably typing talking though as I am also normally catching up on my much missed American TV and obviously can't skype at the same time). Love and miss you all and even though I suck please keep emailing and loving me =)

OOOOH but on another irrelevant note, I finally learned the kanjii for my train station/area of residence-Yoshizuka (romanized). Yoshi means lucky and zuka is actually tsuka (or something like that) changed for whatever reason and that means tomb. So I live in Lucky Tomb. Yay. Haha. I am wayy too lazy (see above reasons) to find the kanjii and post it on here, but in case you don't know, kanjii is one of the 3 alphabets of Japanese and is a symbolic alphabet (the other 2 are phonetic--do you know any other language with 3 writing systems??? All mixed together in one sentence???)-so it is kind of interesting now that I know the meaning, since "zuka" or "tsuka-whatever" kind of looks like a cemetery. Even though I know it can't be meant THAT literally as I see a "cross gravestone" in the picture and I don't think Christianity has much to do with Japanese, but WHATEVER I FINALLY AM ABSORBING SOMETHING!! --clearly the highlight of my week. The end.

*Ha