Japan.
Where else can you go out for a dinner with six people and rack up a $300 bill by eating three pieces of sashimi (and no...this is not special imported sashimi from Atlantis), two tiny pieces of over-salted chicken, and two (weak) drinks each? Oh wait, I forgot, we also ordered "Chorizo and cheese" obviously impressed with their international menu. What came- four tiny slices of SALAMI and some teeny pieces of gourmet cheese (Mexico and Italy must be the same thing to them). That alone was $13.00. I wouldn't mind SO MUCH handing over my $40 share if I wasn't still starving....
Ughhhh. I miss Yardhouse =/
By the way, I am now in a Japanese company COMMERCIAL (kind of refer to last post). More to come on that later... I am tired.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Plomotion
No, that is not a typo. Just an example of a stereotypical Japanese person's mistake =)
I looked at my schedule and that was in the middle of my lunch break for tomorrow. I asked my manager what she meant by "plomotion." She told me a camera man is coming to take more pictures of me tomorrow. Oh...pRomotion! (Actually I figured that out quickly, I just liked teasing her).
It's just funny sometimes how some things wind up being translated into English. A lot of it always catches me off guard, but at this point I have gotten used to hearing odd things and instantly making the connection with what was meant.
My favorite, and this STILL catches me off guard, is "Are you OK?" Someone, down the line, must have taught someone at my branch that "Are you OK?" = "How are you?" I used to get asked that ALL the time in the beginning and it would make me stop dead in my tracks in horror that I didn't look happy enough or was making a bad face without realizing it. Because, to me at least, "Are you Ok?" is a question you ask someone when something seems wrong. We have done a bit damage control in correcting this, but I still hear it sometimes, and although I now know what is meant, it still catches me off guard every time.
Another example, a few weeks ago my manager and assistant manager were going to take me around to businesses and have me say "Hi" in English while they offered them discounts for lessons. My manager told me, "Lindsay, I want you to smile!" And I was thinking to myself..."Have I not been smiling when I do promotional (plomotional-ha) events???" Then, I realized she meant she wanted me to be "exciting."
Besides this, there are these set phrases Japanese people just LOVE, yet seem sooo cheesy to me. Yet, I find myself tossing them in all over the place with new student interviews, counsellings, or even lessons, just because I know they LOVE to hear it! Even if it doesn't really apply to what we are directly talking about. I am also starting to use them in my own conversations out of habit. Catchy.
"Do your best." -You can say this to anyone/anywhere and they will give you a determined face and nod in firm agreement, if you're lucky maybe even make a fighting fist. It doesn't matter if you are coaching them to be more enthusiastic about English, or they told you they wanted to buy a pair of shoes. For some reason, it always works.
"Let's study!" or "Let's study together!" (the cheesiest). Honestly, if someone in the US said that to me if I was looking into taking a class, I would be weirded out. But here, they LOVE it (but then again they also like cow intestine soup). Once again, you can just toss it in anywhere. New student interview, a letter to a continuously absent student, a student who HAS been studying with you religiously, a stranger on the street...yeah they love it.
I looked at my schedule and that was in the middle of my lunch break for tomorrow. I asked my manager what she meant by "plomotion." She told me a camera man is coming to take more pictures of me tomorrow. Oh...pRomotion! (Actually I figured that out quickly, I just liked teasing her).
It's just funny sometimes how some things wind up being translated into English. A lot of it always catches me off guard, but at this point I have gotten used to hearing odd things and instantly making the connection with what was meant.
My favorite, and this STILL catches me off guard, is "Are you OK?" Someone, down the line, must have taught someone at my branch that "Are you OK?" = "How are you?" I used to get asked that ALL the time in the beginning and it would make me stop dead in my tracks in horror that I didn't look happy enough or was making a bad face without realizing it. Because, to me at least, "Are you Ok?" is a question you ask someone when something seems wrong. We have done a bit damage control in correcting this, but I still hear it sometimes, and although I now know what is meant, it still catches me off guard every time.
Another example, a few weeks ago my manager and assistant manager were going to take me around to businesses and have me say "Hi" in English while they offered them discounts for lessons. My manager told me, "Lindsay, I want you to smile!" And I was thinking to myself..."Have I not been smiling when I do promotional (plomotional-ha) events???" Then, I realized she meant she wanted me to be "exciting."
Besides this, there are these set phrases Japanese people just LOVE, yet seem sooo cheesy to me. Yet, I find myself tossing them in all over the place with new student interviews, counsellings, or even lessons, just because I know they LOVE to hear it! Even if it doesn't really apply to what we are directly talking about. I am also starting to use them in my own conversations out of habit. Catchy.
"Do your best." -You can say this to anyone/anywhere and they will give you a determined face and nod in firm agreement, if you're lucky maybe even make a fighting fist. It doesn't matter if you are coaching them to be more enthusiastic about English, or they told you they wanted to buy a pair of shoes. For some reason, it always works.
"Let's study!" or "Let's study together!" (the cheesiest). Honestly, if someone in the US said that to me if I was looking into taking a class, I would be weirded out. But here, they LOVE it (but then again they also like cow intestine soup). Once again, you can just toss it in anywhere. New student interview, a letter to a continuously absent student, a student who HAS been studying with you religiously, a stranger on the street...yeah they love it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
My short blurb on anime
Today I would like to talk to you about anime.
I was very adamant back home about disliking anime. I am still not the biggest fan, but it has grown on me a tad since I have been here. By a tad, I mean movies by one director that is. Before I go into that, I will explain why I hated it/still don't like a lot of it here. I found anime back home to be obnoxious and the animation style was less than desirable to watch...not to mention it is a notorious hobby for geek-dom/Japanophiles. In fact I remember I had this other version of The Little Mermaid when I was little, and watched it so much the tape broke, and then was a little saddened to later be told it was anime. I also don't care for much of it here, because it is very pornographic in many cases. Lots of bondagey things. Just gross (and this is coming from like afternoon cartoons kids watch). On the other side of that, you also can't go into a convenience store without walking by a display of pornographic anime magazines (how anyone could be aroused by a cartoon beats me...oh wait I probably pass by a foreigner or two every day who is-was that mean?). So that is why I dislike it a lot.
Now what I DO like, and I have really started to explore are Hayao Miyazaki movies. Whenever the topic of favorite movies/cartoons/whatever gets brought up in class, students are always raving about them and ask me if I've seen them. Finally I looked them up on IMDB and felt kind of dumb. Miyazaki is like Japanese Disney-except better I think. In fact Disney has retranslated a lot of his movies and released them in the states. Why I felt dumb-because it turns out I have seen quite a few. Chances are you have too. Some of his movies have been nominated for Oscars in the past, like Spirited Away, etc. So lately when I am laying low, I have been watching some of them, rewatching the few I've seen(I remember my mom actually rented one of his most famous ones-My Neighbor Totoro (English title)- for me and my sister when I was little-the fact I have barely ever watched anime in my life gifts me with the ability to remember every single one I have seen), and I am kind of blown away. His movies are so much better than Disney movies! Even if you don't care about the story that much-although some are so touching they've made me cry a little, the animation is just INCREDIBLE. It's art! And that says a lot coming from someone who dislikes anime and also doesn't have much to say about animation, period. I highly recommend watching them, though. Look at the link to see the list of his movies-but like I said, chances are you have seen one or two in the past somehow. A lot of famous people do the voices for the English versions as well. Ok, that was my short blurb on anime. I needed to talk about it sooner or later. =)
I was very adamant back home about disliking anime. I am still not the biggest fan, but it has grown on me a tad since I have been here. By a tad, I mean movies by one director that is. Before I go into that, I will explain why I hated it/still don't like a lot of it here. I found anime back home to be obnoxious and the animation style was less than desirable to watch...not to mention it is a notorious hobby for geek-dom/Japanophiles. In fact I remember I had this other version of The Little Mermaid when I was little, and watched it so much the tape broke, and then was a little saddened to later be told it was anime. I also don't care for much of it here, because it is very pornographic in many cases. Lots of bondagey things. Just gross (and this is coming from like afternoon cartoons kids watch). On the other side of that, you also can't go into a convenience store without walking by a display of pornographic anime magazines (how anyone could be aroused by a cartoon beats me...oh wait I probably pass by a foreigner or two every day who is-was that mean?). So that is why I dislike it a lot.
Now what I DO like, and I have really started to explore are Hayao Miyazaki movies. Whenever the topic of favorite movies/cartoons/whatever gets brought up in class, students are always raving about them and ask me if I've seen them. Finally I looked them up on IMDB and felt kind of dumb. Miyazaki is like Japanese Disney-except better I think. In fact Disney has retranslated a lot of his movies and released them in the states. Why I felt dumb-because it turns out I have seen quite a few. Chances are you have too. Some of his movies have been nominated for Oscars in the past, like Spirited Away, etc. So lately when I am laying low, I have been watching some of them, rewatching the few I've seen(I remember my mom actually rented one of his most famous ones-My Neighbor Totoro (English title)- for me and my sister when I was little-the fact I have barely ever watched anime in my life gifts me with the ability to remember every single one I have seen), and I am kind of blown away. His movies are so much better than Disney movies! Even if you don't care about the story that much-although some are so touching they've made me cry a little, the animation is just INCREDIBLE. It's art! And that says a lot coming from someone who dislikes anime and also doesn't have much to say about animation, period. I highly recommend watching them, though. Look at the link to see the list of his movies-but like I said, chances are you have seen one or two in the past somehow. A lot of famous people do the voices for the English versions as well. Ok, that was my short blurb on anime. I needed to talk about it sooner or later. =)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
カタカナ
I am finally sitting down and actually studying Japanese. Although through osmosis and some very very light studying I have learned maybe 1/2 the katakana (the title of this entry by the way) alphabet, I decided it is time I actually LEARN it, so I bought a book. Katakana is one of the three (yes 3) Japanese writing systems. It is one of the most useful to learn because it is used to say western "borrowed" words, so most menus and other practical everyday things are written in katakana. The alphabet is all syllables that are all pronounced evenly in each word-unlike in English where we only pronounce part of the syllables (besides exeptions). Many words can sound VERY similar to the English/whatever western language word it was taken from, just with the Japanese style sounds (saying the words you pretty much just sound like you have a very thick Japanese accent while trying to speak English to give a better picture). However, you have to know exactly how to say it for it to sound that way. This is difficult sometimes because if the katakana is for two words...like "iced coffee" for example, there is no space/break in the writing like you are used to, so it is up to you to decide where a word starts and ends, that can be more difficult than it sounds. That is the fun part of studying? In the book there are lists of vocabulary and I have been covering up the answer and trying to read the word/figure out what it is. I feel like a retard because I am sitting there sounding it out in every breaking way I can and still have no clue, then I look at the answer and I'm like...OH. Hmm. OK. Then say it again, and it instantly sounds pretty much like the western word.
Here is an example:
ク リ ア
ク=ku (like coo in cool)
リ=ri (re in read)
ア=a (sounds like "uh")
So now try sounding it out. Ku-Ri-A...so naturally I sat there trying to guess this one. My best best was Korea (think about it). Check the answer...OH! CLEAR! DUHHHH. (Except ummmm kuria=clear?? What??). But then try saying it again, it will instantly sound close to "clear" because now you know how the syllables should be pronounced/how quickly they should be said.
Here is my favorite surprise word:
イ エ ス
イ=I (like "ee")
エ= E (like aye)
ス= Su (like sue)
So what does that wind up sounding like? Eeaysu? Wtf word is that???
This one stumped me. Then I looked at the answer: JESUS.
??????????????
But then I read the footnote and saw it is taken from the Portuguese version that starts with "ye" but there is no "ye" sound in Japanese meaning "I" is the next best sound. OK.
So although some katakana is very very similar to English, it sure takes a bit of understanding to really get it.
Oh and by the way- my name is リンジ
(Ri-n-ji)
Very close to Lindsay, huh? =)
PS-I hope you can all see the actual Japanese symbols in this?? I have the Japanese language pack installed on my windows....otherwise I pretty much wrote this entry for nothing. Haha.
Here is an example:
ク リ ア
ク=ku (like coo in cool)
リ=ri (re in read)
ア=a (sounds like "uh")
So now try sounding it out. Ku-Ri-A...so naturally I sat there trying to guess this one. My best best was Korea (think about it). Check the answer...OH! CLEAR! DUHHHH. (Except ummmm kuria=clear?? What??). But then try saying it again, it will instantly sound close to "clear" because now you know how the syllables should be pronounced/how quickly they should be said.
Here is my favorite surprise word:
イ エ ス
イ=I (like "ee")
エ= E (like aye)
ス= Su (like sue)
So what does that wind up sounding like? Eeaysu? Wtf word is that???
This one stumped me. Then I looked at the answer: JESUS.
??????????????
But then I read the footnote and saw it is taken from the Portuguese version that starts with "ye" but there is no "ye" sound in Japanese meaning "I" is the next best sound. OK.
So although some katakana is very very similar to English, it sure takes a bit of understanding to really get it.
Oh and by the way- my name is リンジ
(Ri-n-ji)
Very close to Lindsay, huh? =)
PS-I hope you can all see the actual Japanese symbols in this?? I have the Japanese language pack installed on my windows....otherwise I pretty much wrote this entry for nothing. Haha.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
I don't know
This has been such an exhausting past few weeks for me, physically and mentally. So many things crawling around in my head. So much inspiration. So many plans. So many realizations. So much work. So tiring.
Oh, this is also my way of apologizing if I have come off negative lately. My brain and body is simply on over drive and it's hard to handle sometimes.
Basically, I am grateful for the weekend just so I can recharge.
Oh, this is also my way of apologizing if I have come off negative lately. My brain and body is simply on over drive and it's hard to handle sometimes.
Basically, I am grateful for the weekend just so I can recharge.
Friday, August 1, 2008
I hate having to make decisions
Besides the obvious big one below, here is my current dilemma:
Go to sleep with air conditioner on and possibly die due to lack of oxygen and dry throat (air conditioning all night completely stuffs me up and makes pretend, temporary flu symptoms in my body)
OR
Go to sleep without air conditioner and possibly die of either heat stroke or drowning in my own sweat.
Decisions, decisions...
(Why I am up at 3:02 am before my busiest day at work blogging instead of peacefully asleep)
Go to sleep with air conditioner on and possibly die due to lack of oxygen and dry throat (air conditioning all night completely stuffs me up and makes pretend, temporary flu symptoms in my body)
OR
Go to sleep without air conditioner and possibly die of either heat stroke or drowning in my own sweat.
Decisions, decisions...
(Why I am up at 3:02 am before my busiest day at work blogging instead of peacefully asleep)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Back and forth and back again.
My brain is having a serious identity crisis. What I mean by that, is in 2 months (and that will mean I will have been in Japan for SIX MONTHS) I will need to decide whether or not to renew my contract for an extra 6 months or not (that is if they ask me to renew haha). I know 2 months away seems like a while to go, but I have already started seriously thinking about this. Japan is a great place, but I know it is not the "right" country for me to live in for a long period of time. In fact, I am slowly realizing how happy I was back home. It's funny it took me moving across the world to a different culture to see this, but I am grateful. I mainly came to Japan to "find myself" and I really am starting to see who I am (and it isn't super shocking either). And who I am involves The States, I think. If I stay an extra six months that will give me more time, and a bit more money to see things, and by things I mean travel. How many things realistically, I do not know. I know I will be spending about 80% of that six months at the office. So would it be worth it? I am not sure. I am mainly having a difficulty in deciding this right now because I am getting quite homesick, and I know an extra six months isn't that much longer but I don't know, being away makes it sound like eternity. I miss all of you so much! My life really isn't the same without you (well "you" know who you are anyway) =). I also *think I might have discovered what to do with my life as well. So, in that respect, I am kind of eager to get that going...yeah I really don't know what to do. I was having a roughish week and so ready to go home in April, but once again my "you can do it!" attitude has surfaced and at this very moment writing this, I think I could handle the extra time here? So I decided to keep an ongoing pro/con list until October. Any positive thing about staying will be recorded as well as any negative thing, and hopefully by my "decision time" I will have a more clear view of what I should do. Well, I think it is a better plan than just making a decision based on my current mood of the week anyway. =) The list is open to suggestions, so if you think there should be anything on either the pro or con side, let me know. Of course a lot can change in two months. Maybe I will get engaged to a Japanese man! No but seriously, I think the final product of the list will make it a bit clear where my heart is and what the smart choice would be. I really appreciate all of your support though, especially during my homesick "episodes" (once again you know who you are).
On a more upbeat note, about 11 days until Okinawa!!! YYYYEAH.
*Disclaimer-what I will do with my life is subject to change any moment, so don't hold me to anything I say =)
On a more upbeat note, about 11 days until Okinawa!!! YYYYEAH.
*Disclaimer-what I will do with my life is subject to change any moment, so don't hold me to anything I say =)
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