So . . . where was I ?
The internet at the Kaikan went down over the weekend so I never had a chance to finish what I'd started . . .
I think I'd got to the excitingness that was Wednesday evening . . .
Following on from the unhappiness of msn convo during the day I decided that money be damned I was going to try and call home . . . Julie and I went to the yellow box building that sells things of a cardly nature and with some difficulty and dictionarying we managed to almost procure what I wanted . . . Then Karl happened along and was able to assist us further - what a champ! Of course, the word for phonebox in Japanese would be 電気ボックス (denki-bokkusu - quite literally 'phone' plus a Japanisation of 'box')
After Julie and I had done the little bit of shopping we intended at Fresta I returned with the precious card that had cost me the last of my money (luckily, it was money day on Friday last week - tee hee - literally! I only just realised what I'd written . . . To explain . . . the kanji for Friday is 金曜日. The second two kanji appear in all of the day names and pretty much just signify the word as a day of the week, but it's the first kanji that changes for each day . . . Friday or 'kinyoubi' literally translates as 'money day', as the kanji is that for gold or money - funny ね？- I love puns!)
I then checked and translated the instructions and headed to the nearby phonebooth to make my surprise call . . . Needless to say it was great . . I knew that a certain person happened to be eating their most-beloved curry items with others certain persons 'as whot are' related to me . . . it was great to hear there voices after two and a bit months . . . but it was really hot in the phonebooth!
Thursday was the usual Japanese Society class, followed after lunch by Music History. I'd only remembered at the last minute that the teacher had asked me to sing the theme of Beethoven's Ode to Joy in the class . . Some quick practise and nervousness later and I was up in front of about 200 students singing and leading them in their practise . . . it's the first time I've had to sing in the style in front a big group like that for almost a year and a half. 'Well, that seemed to go pretty well' as someone I know would say, though in the case, it's not so facetiously intended . . .
The rest of the week is a bit of blur now . . .
We had a new Chinese girl come to the first of our Friday Japanese classes.
At Art club I was just putting the finishing touches on a biggish bowl I'd been working on when I suddenly poked a hole through the side as I didn't realise how thin a particular section had become . . . arggh!
Then Karl taught me how to make えび丼 (Ebi-don - battered prawns on rice with a special sauce) It was a mixed success, as the sauce was far too salty and I didn't have enough rice to balance it.
Then, despite being very tired, I stayed up til about 3am talking to Wizard on the intermanet - and I mean talking!! Where I could actually here his voice . . .
Which segues so perfectly into the events of last night that I'm going to skip the weekend . . .
Last night I was up til almost 2am talking to that individually named, Thebarton-adjoining suburb dwelling zinester we all know and love. It was the best, Jerry, I mean, Aliese. And it mainly in thanks to Wiz that we could do so at all! So here's a big bloggy hug for Wiz!!! Also got to speak with the parenticles for a good hours or so . . . how much did that beat having to type a whole of stuff!
It's amazing to me how much the medium through which one communicates can so entirely affect the course and outcome of a conversation/communication. Until I was forced to rely solely on the written word for communication with my loved ones, I hadn't realised how much verbal and visual communication meant to me. I know that tone of voice is very important to understanding meaning, but I think that I might also be a person who is particularly reliant upon these forms of communication. Maybe it's also the influence of growing up with television and the telephone so readily accessible . . . also transport . . travel, these days, from one part of, or entirely separate, country is entirely different to what it used to be. Maybe this is shaping society to be less capable of dealing only in a written format, because we now give precedence to verbal and visual forms of communication . . . anyway . . .
It's like my lady P so recently attested. The future is now!
Back to the weekend . . . truly in brief! as my tummy's hurting and I want to go home . . . I think we're congregating to watch Grave of the Fireflies tonight. A Studio Ghibli affiliated film, though not by Miyazaki, which first screened as a double feature with となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro - translated to English as My Neighbour Totoro. This is the movie I have to give a presentation about next week)
Saturday, I recovered from the late night talking, posted and tried to do a little homework before the Nomihoudai with the English language speaking kids. It was a great night . . . and I am finally finding myself pretty much able to carry on the majority of my conversations in Japanese! Yay! Sure, the conversations aren't that advanced but I am starting to be able to branch out into different areas of conversation! Much drink and food was consumed - some really nice traditional Japanese stuff. Then a large group of well-inebriated youngsters hit a karaoke joint. I had a great time and even managed to get in some Japanese songs that I'm trying to learn, plus the ubiquitous Blondie, ELO and other assorted classics. Monday's Japanese teacher has been teaching us some songs in class and so we sang one of them, to the delight of our Japanese companions. The other songs I did were all anime theme songs . . . Jpop here I come!
Sunday afternoon Julie and I did some lovely wandering in weather that was just verging on too warm. Went to the English-language Peace Park Library, I got some photos developed, we had a late lunch of sushi and checked out the
English-language books at Kinokuniya - Oh! there was this oh-so tempting tofu cookbook, but I think such a purchase it hardly likely to encourage me to reduce my already excessive intake of the substance!
Today in International Relations we had to spend the class taking some American Fulbrights around the campus . . . I arrived a little late and . . . oh the bus!
must dash!
Suspense!
I think I'd got to the excitingness that was Wednesday evening . . .
Following on from the unhappiness of msn convo during the day I decided that money be damned I was going to try and call home . . . Julie and I went to the yellow box building that sells things of a cardly nature and with some difficulty and dictionarying we managed to almost procure what I wanted . . . Then Karl happened along and was able to assist us further - what a champ! Of course, the word for phonebox in Japanese would be 電気ボックス (denki-bokkusu - quite literally 'phone' plus a Japanisation of 'box')
After Julie and I had done the little bit of shopping we intended at Fresta I returned with the precious card that had cost me the last of my money (luckily, it was money day on Friday last week - tee hee - literally! I only just realised what I'd written . . . To explain . . . the kanji for Friday is 金曜日. The second two kanji appear in all of the day names and pretty much just signify the word as a day of the week, but it's the first kanji that changes for each day . . . Friday or 'kinyoubi' literally translates as 'money day', as the kanji is that for gold or money - funny ね？- I love puns!)
I then checked and translated the instructions and headed to the nearby phonebooth to make my surprise call . . . Needless to say it was great . . I knew that a certain person happened to be eating their most-beloved curry items with others certain persons 'as whot are' related to me . . . it was great to hear there voices after two and a bit months . . . but it was really hot in the phonebooth!
Thursday was the usual Japanese Society class, followed after lunch by Music History. I'd only remembered at the last minute that the teacher had asked me to sing the theme of Beethoven's Ode to Joy in the class . . Some quick practise and nervousness later and I was up in front of about 200 students singing and leading them in their practise . . . it's the first time I've had to sing in the style in front a big group like that for almost a year and a half. 'Well, that seemed to go pretty well' as someone I know would say, though in the case, it's not so facetiously intended . . .
The rest of the week is a bit of blur now . . .
We had a new Chinese girl come to the first of our Friday Japanese classes.
At Art club I was just putting the finishing touches on a biggish bowl I'd been working on when I suddenly poked a hole through the side as I didn't realise how thin a particular section had become . . . arggh!
Then Karl taught me how to make えび丼 (Ebi-don - battered prawns on rice with a special sauce) It was a mixed success, as the sauce was far too salty and I didn't have enough rice to balance it.
Then, despite being very tired, I stayed up til about 3am talking to Wizard on the intermanet - and I mean talking!! Where I could actually here his voice . . .
Which segues so perfectly into the events of last night that I'm going to skip the weekend . . .
Last night I was up til almost 2am talking to that individually named, Thebarton-adjoining suburb dwelling zinester we all know and love. It was the best, Jerry, I mean, Aliese. And it mainly in thanks to Wiz that we could do so at all! So here's a big bloggy hug for Wiz!!! Also got to speak with the parenticles for a good hours or so . . . how much did that beat having to type a whole of stuff!
It's amazing to me how much the medium through which one communicates can so entirely affect the course and outcome of a conversation/communication. Until I was forced to rely solely on the written word for communication with my loved ones, I hadn't realised how much verbal and visual communication meant to me. I know that tone of voice is very important to understanding meaning, but I think that I might also be a person who is particularly reliant upon these forms of communication. Maybe it's also the influence of growing up with television and the telephone so readily accessible . . . also transport . . travel, these days, from one part of, or entirely separate, country is entirely different to what it used to be. Maybe this is shaping society to be less capable of dealing only in a written format, because we now give precedence to verbal and visual forms of communication . . . anyway . . .
It's like my lady P so recently attested. The future is now!
Back to the weekend . . . truly in brief! as my tummy's hurting and I want to go home . . . I think we're congregating to watch Grave of the Fireflies tonight. A Studio Ghibli affiliated film, though not by Miyazaki, which first screened as a double feature with となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro - translated to English as My Neighbour Totoro. This is the movie I have to give a presentation about next week)
Saturday, I recovered from the late night talking, posted and tried to do a little homework before the Nomihoudai with the English language speaking kids. It was a great night . . . and I am finally finding myself pretty much able to carry on the majority of my conversations in Japanese! Yay! Sure, the conversations aren't that advanced but I am starting to be able to branch out into different areas of conversation! Much drink and food was consumed - some really nice traditional Japanese stuff. Then a large group of well-inebriated youngsters hit a karaoke joint. I had a great time and even managed to get in some Japanese songs that I'm trying to learn, plus the ubiquitous Blondie, ELO and other assorted classics. Monday's Japanese teacher has been teaching us some songs in class and so we sang one of them, to the delight of our Japanese companions. The other songs I did were all anime theme songs . . . Jpop here I come!
Sunday afternoon Julie and I did some lovely wandering in weather that was just verging on too warm. Went to the English-language Peace Park Library, I got some photos developed, we had a late lunch of sushi and checked out the
English-language books at Kinokuniya - Oh! there was this oh-so tempting tofu cookbook, but I think such a purchase it hardly likely to encourage me to reduce my already excessive intake of the substance!
Today in International Relations we had to spend the class taking some American Fulbrights around the campus . . . I arrived a little late and . . . oh the bus!
must dash!
Suspense!
posted by Eleanora Martinez at 11:33 AM
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