May 21st-Goings On
Yes, I know, that’s a really lame title for a journal entry. It’s even possible that I’ve used it before. It’s been a long time since I updated my dandy little website so I don’t even know anymore. I’ll update the site soon…well…if you’re reading this, it obviously means that the website has been updated, eh? Heheheh…how ironic. Well, anyway, I’m not really sure what I should talk about first. As I don’t write journal entries every day anymore, it’s not exactly easy to decide where to start a journal entry. I really think I should touch on what happened last week when I didn’t write any journal entries and then I can move into what happened yesterday and today and mixed in between you can expect some random musings and thoughts and observations. I’m going to try and spare you from the two pages of stuff that has nothing to do with Japan like I did in the previous journal entry.
So anyway, last week there were midterms. But before that…wow…we’re really going into the ancient past now…the previous weekend I hung out with Chie and her parents on Sunday. We had a lot of fun and her parents are really great and apparently they like me a lot. Well, what did we do? We went to Udo Jingu (the famous shrine in Miyazaki). That was pretty cool. It’s built into the side of a cliff right on the ocean and you have to walk down some steep stairs to get to it. It’s built into a little cave…well…not really a cave…a grotto…maybe. What’s a grotto? Well, that was cool and I it was quite dramatic how the waves crashed onto the rocks there. After that we poked around at some other sites but ended up not actually visiting any of them because they weren’t THAT interesting and the parking lot costs were expensive. After that, Chie insisted on showing me her Middle School that she’s very proud of. It was a new school when Chie went there and I will admit it was pretty nice. We didn’t get to go inside because they were conducting special classes, so we just walked around the outside and poked around. After that, I went to a restaurant with Chie and her father. Her mother was occupied at the Middle School with Chie’s brother (who just turned 14 or will soon) because it was some parents’ day or something. Then we went back to Chie’s house and we talked and I ended up showing them the video I took at my school (MHS) and the video I made about New York. They were quite impressed with both and I think they got a kick out of it. Sometimes I even impress myself. Well, after that we just hung out for a bit and I met Chie’s best friend who lives practically next door but goes to another school. She was nice but was pretty clueless about English and America so Chie pulled out a map of the US and I embarrassed her for a little bit by asking her to identify places in the US. Like…I asked her to point out New York City and I think she pointed to somewhere around North Carolina….::::sigh::::. NYC is the one place that Japanese people are supposed to be able to find. That’s why it’s convenient that I come from a place right next to it! Anyway, I ended up staying at Chie’s for dinner and that was pleasant and the Haradas were nice enough to actually put my bike in the trunk of their car and give me a ride home. All right!!!
Last week was pretty quiet because as I mentioned further up the page, the kids had midterm exams on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On those days there were half days and we got out at 12:15. On Monday and Tuesday there was no boat practice because kids were supposed to be studying, but of course I didn’t study so on Monday I did boat practice by myself. It was all right, just kinds of lonely though. I couldn’t do practice by myself on Tuesday though because mom drove us to school because it was raining and I just came home at the same time as Eri so she wouldn’t have to make the drive twice. When I got home I ended up watching Rambo III on my computer here and doing various calisthenics while watching Sylvester Stallone blow up Russians all over the Afghani desert—good stuff. It was good inspiration. I didn’t have any weights of course so I just filled my school back with all the books I brought and it got pretty heavy so I did curls and shoulder raises etc with it. Anyway, on the other days, like Wednesday through Friday I had boat practice for one or two hours. After practice one day I went to a ramen (noodles) place with Ippei and Satoshi. I had wanted to get curry, but they are more the ramen types, so I went with them instead. It was good stuff, but my heart is still definitely with curry. I ended up getting my curry fix though because on Thursday I went by myself in the rain to the other side of town. I sat in the curry place for about 2 hours eating slowly and writing letters to people. It was nice and relaxing. What did I eat? I had a full bowl of chicken curry, a tuna salad, and a Coke. Then I was still a little hungry and didn’t really want dessert so I ordered a half bowl of beef curry that came with a glass of Oolong tea….that wasn’t AS good…but…there’s no such thing as “bad” curry so I still enjoyed it thoroughly. While I was munching away Chie was sending me a bunch of e-mails. She was still at school studying for one of the English tests the next day with her friends. I had been planning to go to some meeting that Mom’s friend invited me to that was for foreigners or people interested in learning English or something like that. But, I decided that it was probably more important for me to help my friends out with something I could actually help them with instead of just doing something for myself that might be lame. When I got back to school I hadn’t actually told Chie I was coming so when I showed up in the doorway and her friends saw me and she didn’t it was pretty funny. They were like, “Chie! Chie!” and she looked up and went totally nuts when she saw me and asked me about 10 questions at once. It was really funny, but I certainly think I helped them all so I felt good about that. Speaking of the tests, the only tests ended up taking were the two English tests. They were ok. One of the tests had a layout that was REALLY REALLY confusing and it took me 10 minutes to figure out where the questions were and how we were supposed to answer them. That test also had a lot of Japanese on it…like translating things into Japanese and stuff like that which really isn’t so easy. The other test was a lot easier. I understood the questions because I’d been studying with Chie so I knew what kinds of questions to expect. The questions are written in Japanese so unless you understand that, your knowledge of English isn’t going to help you at all. In Spanish class and German class, the directions were also written in Spanish and German respectively. Why can’t they do that over here?!?!?! Well…not write them in German or Spanish but write them in English since it’s an English test. Well, if they wrote them in German or Spanish that would probably help to, but if they did that I would be REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY surprised and confused. Today during boat practice I told Ippei and Satoshi that from now on I’m only going to speak Spanish to them. Then I was quiet for a while because whenever I tried to speak Spanish them it came out Japanese…DANG IT! So I told them I changed my mind and that I would speak to them in German. That took me a little farther and I could say some things but still about every third word or so tried to come out Japanese. They lost interest in what I was saying pretty quickly though so I gave up and went back to Japanese. Anyway, since I wasn’t taking a bunch of the midterms I just arranged it that I would go to the library during the other tests. The only other people there were Vadim (Wajimu) and the librarian. Yes, Wajimu is the Russian exchange student. I didn’t talk to him that much except for one day when we had a decent conversation about various things. His Japanese is certainly better than mine…but…he’s also been in Japan like 8 or 9 times as long as I have so that’s something. His English is pretty bad…especially his accent…it’s pretty sad actually….like…most of the Japanese kids have a better English accent than he does….and that’s REALLY saying something. His unibrow is SOOO impressive though. I think I’m going to bring my camera to school tomorrow so I can take a picture of him hehehe. Anyway, he and I talk to each other in Japanese because well, I don’t speak Russian except for “Thank you” and “I’ll be back” and “Yes” and “No”…words I learned from playing too much Soviet Strike (video game) and from watching Thomas Minton the little Russian kid in the Imax move two too many times…. “I’m Thomas Minton, from Russia!!!” Well, he said his spoken English is bad but he can understand it OK…I didn’t bother though and we just spoke to each other in Japanese which I think is the fairest ground for us to communicate on. I guess it’s kinda interesting though…two kids from opposite sides of the planet…born in a time when their countries were drawing towards the end of 50 years of rivalry and competition…ending up in the resort town of Miyazaki at the same time…one funny looking and immature…the other attractive and wise beyond his years (that’s me)….sitting across a table from each other in a library in a commercial high school speaking to each other in a language that neither of them grew up with. That’s sorta cool, but he can be annoying sometimes. Well, I don’t really see him that much, like I said before, because he’s in another grade and we just don’t see each other often. I saw him a lot more often this week though because I’ve started with some of the other classes. Remember how I was going to change some of my boring classes to some that wouldn’t be so tiresome and annoying? Well, I started that from this week. I am enjoying myself so far. So far this week I’ve taken classes with 38 and 39 homerooms. They are English classes so I help out sometimes. It’s nice though because I can meet some new people hopefully and I can get out of my homeroom for a little while each day….and I am also spared the agony of taking some of those murderous classes….like the ones that I don’t even know what they are….I just know they’re terribly boring.
I should probably spend these last few minutes talking about boat practice. Yesterday was a special day. I went to Tonda Hama Koen 富田浜公園 with Tanba-sensei and Ippei (my partner for the competition this coming Sunday) so we could do some more practice. Things could be going a lot better…let’s say that. I mean…we are making practice, but…we’d be a lot better off if the competition were 5 months from now. And when I say “we”…it’s the royal we. The problem is definitely not with Ippei (the “Technician”). Well, it’s not really my fault, I only started this sport…what…like 5 weeks ago? Gimme a break. I’m still enjoying it, I just wish that I didn’t have to be in this competition, it’s not my time and I’m not ready and there’s a decent chance it’s going to be embarrassing. There’s definitely been times in the past few days when I’ve just wanted to crawl under a rock or leave the country until after this Sunday so I wouldn’t have to worry about this thing. Ugh…well…yesterday’s practice was interesting. We worked on a lot of things and it was really nice. Like…the sun was warm but the air was cool, it was late in the day and the water was completely still (which makes things MUCH easier). The only things disturbing the water were the keel of our boat, the flick of our oars, and the fish that pop out of the water every few moments (catching bugs I assume). At one pointed a fish even bounced off our boat as it came down out of the air hehehehe. On the shore was Tanba-sensei running along the embankment with of those old fashioned megaphones, that is just a tube and no electricity, yelling things at us. When we got to far ahead of him, he’d run back to his tiny little car, hop in it, hit the gas and chase after us while watching us out the window. He’d zoom ahead of us, bounce out of the car, grab the megaphone and start yelling again. What makes things even better is when an airplane flies overhead…that REALLY makes it easier for me to understand what he’s trying to communicate. He’s a nice guy almost all the time and I think it’s really great that he wants to help us out. I really don’t think he has to make all this effort for us, but I guess if we look totally stupid he’d be embarrassed to, so I guess it’s in his interest to give us some extra help. When we stopped he would be telling me what I did wrong so I could try and fix the problem areas. Now…let me give you a better picture of what my situation is like. Here I am…sitting in a boat that is thinner than the width of my shoulders holding on to 10 foot oars, I can’t feel my butt anymore because the wooden seat is quite uncomfortable after about 10 minutes, I’ve got sea water all over me from the water that splashed into the boat, and ever moment or two a fish will fly out of the water and slash back in a few feet away….and over there on the short is a Japanese man waving his arms and kicking his legs in the air trying to simulate the incorrect and correct ways of rowing. He’s showing something….don’t really know what. I nod my head to satisfy him enough for him to continue hoping that he’ll say it some other way so I might understand what he’s saying. This stuff is really not that easy…I really have to overcome 2 things working against me …1) the fact that this sport is entirely new to me and I don’t really know what I’m doing and..2) the essence of explanations and instructions often escape me because I don’t really know what this guy is saying. He’s very patient though and when he can say a word or two in English he tries to do that. Unfortunately the words that he’ll say in English are words that I’d understand in Japanese, but it’s ok…it’s still nice that he tries. At times like that I start thinking about something that I’ve decided to call “The Meaning Net.”
I’m my readership (you…whoever you are) is familiar with the term “language barrier.” In my case…that’s not the case. There’s no barrier because…well…I speak some Japanese…alright…let’s hear it for me! So, instead there’s a “Meaning Net.” Basically what it is is the factor that controls the amount that I understand when I hear Japanese or am spoken to in Japanese. The reason it’s a “meaning” net and not a “language” net is because it’s very possible to not understand every word that is said, but to completely understand the entire meaning of what was said. Maybe you can’t repeat what was say, but you know what the meaning was. This is often my case. I understand the meaning and get the message and could transform it into very nice English, but if it asked me to repeat what was said, if it was complicated, I’d have a lot of trouble with it or it’d be impossible for me to do it. The reason it’s a “net” and not a “barrier” is because meaning gets through. It’s still a net though and meaning often gets caught in the net. Often times, the things that will get caught are details, shades of meaning, or possibly differences between “positives” and “negatives.” What do I mean by “positives” and “negatives?” In Japanese, verbs and adjectives change to make the sentence positive or negative instead of adding words like “no” or “not” as we do in English. I’ll give you a really basic example.
Q: Oishii desu ka? (Is it tasty?)
A: Oishii desu. (It is tasty.)
Q: Oishii desu ka?
(Is it tasty?)
A: Oishikunai desu. (It’s not tasty.)
In the above example, we used the adjective “oishii” (delicious, tasty) in a question and answer. Often Japanese people will use the same word from the question in their answer. That’s just their way of speaking. It’s it very uncommon for a Japanese people to answer a question negatively simply by saying “no.” There is a word for “no” (iie), but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used to answer a question…maybe once or twice. Instead, they use the verb “chigaimasu,” which means, “to be different.” Here’s an example:
Q: Kore wa anata no hon desu ka? (Is this your book?)
A: Chigaimasu. (No, it’s not.) lit. “Different”
Anyway, I got a little sidetracked with the lesson here, but the point is that often time Japanese people don’t speak in such grammatically correct fluid sentences. I’ll give you an example that I got in an e-mail tonight that confused me at first.
E-mail: Maikeru kyo nande jugyou kaeru baibai ittekurenkatta to?
Basic Interpretation: Michael, why didn’t you say goodbye to me after class today?
At first I thought the question was, “Why did you say goodbye to me after class today?”
The confusion came in because of the placement of “n” in “ittekurenkatta.” In full expanded more formal Japanaese it would be “…itte kuremasen deshita.” Well, anyway, the point is that things are often shortened extensively and it’s easy to miss these little things.
So, back the to “Meaning Net”…the holes in the net are anything but static. In fact, they are constantly changing. The slower someone speaks or the more familiar the topic is, the larger the holes in the net become and the more meaning gets through. If someone is speaking fast or using very informal speech (teenage guys are the hardest to understand) or speaking on a complicated topic with vocabulary I’m unfamiliar with, the holes in the net get smaller, sometimes to the extent, that all meaning is snagged in it, or the pieces that get through are insufficient to form complete thoughts or messages. Ok, I really got off topic here. Well, I guess that’s what I wanted to explain so it’s ok. Ummm…there was something else I wanted to talk about…errr…I can’t remember. Wow, it certainly did get late though! I was totally planning to go to sleep by 10:30pm like last night but as I was typing this journal entry I started drinking a Coke and then the caffeine got to me and I wasn’t as tired as I would have been otherwise and I lost track of time and now it’s 11:30pm…arggg. Ok, I think this means I should go to sleep. Hey, does anyone remember that episode of The Simpsons when Marge and Lisa go to clean up the oil spill and they leave Bart and Homer alone in the house and it turns into a total dump? And Bart is supposed to go to sleep and he asks Homer if he has to brush his teeth, and Homer says something like, “No, but at least rinse your mouth out with soda.” If I have the line wrong, just ask David Kalan about it, he’ll straighten things out. Anyway, I just rinsed my mouth out with soda so I guess that doesn’t mean I have to brush my teeth, right? Ok, I’m going to go to sleep. It’s late and I’m always tired. Good night everyone….in computer land…..
-Maikeru