Learning Japanese

I am trying to learn Japanese but I haven't found a single textbook I enjoy learning with! So I have more or less given up learning in a traditional way and concentrate on listening to my colleagues speaking all day. Recently, I have started watching more Japanese movies...I can't say I understand everything, but I understand enough words to follow the stories.

I watched Kamome Diner tonight (with English subtitles!). It's the story of 3 Japanese women who end up working together in a small Diner in Helsinki. They are convinced Japanese food is the best in the world and that Finnish people will rush in to try onigiri (rice ball). The movie is a bit slow at times, but I enjoyed it all the same. Maybe also because I am hoping to move to Finland next year...

Naruto is famous for....

All towns and cities in Japan are famous for something. Don't ask me why!

I have been thinking about my hometown, Querrien, there really isn't anything unique about it...but I am sure a Japanese tourism office could find the winning formula!

Here are a few things Naruto is famous for:

its whirlpools;

wakame (sea weed)...

Naruto Kintoki (sweet potato that taste more like chestnut)

Otsuka Museum (pay €25 to see 3000 reproductions- not one painting is real!!!)

And last but not least, Naruto is famous for being the first place in Asia where Beethoven's 9th Symphony was played! Naruto had a German POW camp at the end of the 1st world war and somehow, German prisoners managed to get enough instruments to play it...

New Neighbours

The bell rang at 8h45 yesterday (Saturday)morning...Joy! It was a young woman offering me a big box of tissue. Although I repeated 'iranai' many times, she wouldn't let me not take it. Then she excused herself profusedly for waking me up so early and making noise.

I only put two and two together when I looked at the box and realised what was happening in the car park. Now, if you were working for a moving company and about to make a little bit of noise outside someone's apartment, would you make sure you'd wake the entire building up by ringing their bells to offer them a box of tissue? Please say NO!

Later that evening, my new neighbours followed the Japanese custom of new comers and came around with a small gift. I'd try to do the same when I moved in two years ago, but didn't find anyone at home. Anyways, here is what I received...

五月病 gogatsu byou

(May desease/la maladie du mois de mai)

One of my colleague told me that this is like what foreigners feel around xmas time when they aren't with their family. But I think there is more to it and that foreigners who have lived in Japan for a while are likely to suffer from it in May too!

In Japan, a lot of things seem to change in April: new fiscal year, school year, staff, etc. So when things don't run so smoothly and you let stress build up for weeks, in May, you end up suffering from some form of 'adjustement disorder'. I guess it didn't hit me until the end of May..and I am still finding it tough to get motivated for work. Rokugatsu byou or lazyness on my part?

too many dishes

You might wonder why I chose to call my blog 'too many dishes'.

 In Asia, we tend to use a lot of small plates for different side dishes, pickles, etc

...so when I have friends over for dinner, it sometimes looks like this:

which means my sink very quickly looks like that ^^

 

But that's not all! The first time I went to a restaurant with my colleagues in August 2007, I got really confused because people were saying my name all the time although they didn't seem to be talking to me nor about me. It turned out this chinese character '皿' means plate or dish and is read [ sa ra]. 

Since then, I often introduce myself to Japanese people that way:

'My name is Sarah. I like cooking and eating. Remember me as 皿.'

where I live (3)

Si vous avez un peu de temps et que vous voulez comprendre la societe dans laquelle j'evolue en ce moment, je vous recommende de voir le film Okuribito (Departures) qui a recu un oscar l'annee derniere. Le sujet du film est un peu particulier, mais les relations entre les personages sont tres realistes.

Pour avoir une meilleur idee de ce que c'est de travailler dans une ecole au fin fond de la campagne Japonaise, je vous recommende le livre Botchan de Natsume Soseki. C'est un classique Japonais, ecrit en 1905. Le personage principale Botchan est un jeune prof originaire de Tokyo et envoye sur l'ile de Shikoku pour enseigner les maths. Il raconte son experience dans le village et a l'ecole. C'est un peu particulier, mais mis a part quelque details, mon experience et celle d'autres assistants de langue ici est TRES similaire a son recit. 100 plus tard! 100ans!

La ou je vis (2)

Have you heard of Tadao Ando 安藤忠雄? Probably not, but he has built museums, places of worship and apartment complexes around the world. If you want to know more about him and his work, check this page www.designboom.com/eng/interview/ando.html

T.A. about his work "In all my works, light is an important controlling factor, I create enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete walls. The primary reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself within society. When the external factors of a city's environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be especially full and satisfying." 

I happen to live in one of his building ^^!