Darlo’s World

So I officially have a new place in Leeds which means I can crack on with my Japanese studying; something that’s been close to impossible most of the time here in Shropshire. Today me and Simon took the first lot of things over to my new house, aswell as set up the gas, lecky and water.

After freaking out Simon in the cellar (that does sound pretty bad doesn’t it) when we were looking for the gas and electric meters, we headed to Swedish superstore Ikea where he stunned me with this line.

I feel like we are in America being in this Ikea.

After getting back home I tuned into good old Mock the Week (on Dave) where of all the jokes, one of Hugh Dennis’s one liners really stood out.

These Korean meatballs really are the dogs’ bollocks.

So while sitting at home faffing about, randomly on the telly pops the Mr Bean cartoon. Not really paying too much attention to it as I was killing time googling pointlessly random sentances such as “Mike’s reading a menu” and “Screw you Webber”, something grabs my attention in the distance. It was Japanese … but it was in Bean-style.

In a particular episode called “Gadget Kid”, Mr Bean meets a (somewhat) stereotypical Japanese boy at a museum, with neither of them speaking each others language. So folks I present to you (because not much else has happened lately worth blogging about (aka still looking for a house in Leeds)) the episode via youtube.

Since coming back to the UK I’ve felt my life has been missing something. A sense of Japaneseness? The chance to speak the Japanese language? Being able to talk and hang out with a Japanese person? Well I’m happy to say that today I has been my most ‘Japanese’ day since I came back home.

It started with me getting up at about lunchtime. Admitadly this isn’t something typically Japanese, but most if not all of my Saturdays would start with me awakening in my Osaka dorm room at about this time. I also didn’t get woken up to the sound of a little boy playing Animal Crossing on the Wii, but the nice warm weather coming through the window was reminiscent of an Umeda morning.

I started the day watching NHK World TV on Sky (channel 516) and enjoyed shows such as Science Zero, Earth Watcher, Newsline, My Private Tokyo, Four Seasons In Japan and Exclusive Gardens of Kyoto. Most of these shows were very short and in dubbed English, but still gave me a bit more insight into various aspects of Japan. I know that there are some shows aimed at learning Japanese language and culture, but I didn’t see those today.

This was followed by a trip to Shrewsbury to a shop called Setonaikai. Setonaikai is a specialist Japanese food shop with a wide range of oriental goodies. My family has been wanting to try takoyaki ever since I’d mentioned it in my blog, so we went here to get some ingredients. When there I was thrilled to have the chance to speak in Japanese again, something I’ve not been able to do since coming back (with the exception of when I saw my one teacher in Leeds). I can only compare it to being rescued from starving and being given a nice hot meal.

The speed at which these packages I sent from Japan never ceases to amaze me. I looked at my receipts from them today and looking at the dates sent and how quick the first box came, I came to the conclusion that it’d be another two weeks or so before I saw the next box.

That was until this afternoon when a Parcelforce van came by with not one, but two of my boxes. These two (the second and third sent packages from Japan) were sent on the 11th and 12th of May, arriving in just 1 month and 15 (and 14) days, half the time of the 3 months I was told when I sent them off. The next package I sent was two days later on the 14th of May, but because I’m incredibly pesimistic (and because it’s the weekend) I’m not expecting it to arrive in two days time. The next package is my Osaka version of Monopoly.

I’ve added another load of photographs from my time in Japan to the blogspot site and still have loads more to come (hundreds, possibly thousands) so be sure to keep checking them out.

Now if you think back my new year’s post I mentioned a very kind woman on a train who gave me and a friend a biscuit and a mandarin orange, and how if that had been England it would have been a very scepticle moment. In fact here’re my very words.

One thing I forgot to write about in the last entry is about the kindness of others here. On the train to get our hair cut, we were sitting across from and elderly woman wearing a facemask. Facemasks are a common sight here as people wear them to either try to stop the spread of any disease they have (or have been in contact with), or to try to help them avoid a common illness going around. As we were leaving the train she tapped me on the arm and held out a mandarin and a biscuit. I couldn’t translate what she said well, but she was giving them to us as a gift. We were stunned and had absolutely no idea why, but this kind of generosity back home would have caused a lot of scepticism.

Well one chap’s taken note of this act of kindness and a lot of other occaisions of people helping people on his own blog, Seeking and Sharing Stories of Kindness and I think it’s a brilliant idea. In a time where people are trying to sue each other for pointless things (I used to work in Claims Direct’s call centre and boy there were a few weird ones), it’s nice to see that there are still people about who are willing to look out for their fellow man. So far he has 6 posts of kind deeds, so if you have a story to add to the (hopefully) ever growing list, do let him know!