Darlo's World

So as I mentioned in my entry on Tuesday, my only real plan for today was a trip to Nishinomiya Gardens to listen to Rie Fu performing. Something I’d forgotton about though was that the dorm had planned a little bit of a lunchtime party for us as a welcome to the large group of students who’d recently moved in. I could only stay for half an hour, which was enough time to have a little food, do an introduction to the group and pick up a very generous gift of some snack foods from our dorm manager. It seems a lot of the new guys go to an entertainments school in the area, and the one guy goes to that anime university I found not too long back.

Perfect weather meant that there were lots of families enjoying their time in the garden area of Nishinomiya Gardens, the spot that “Nishinomiya Live” was (and has been) taking place. Kids were running through the fountains drenching themselves head to toe, older couples enjoyed spots in the shade, and even the litter pickers seemed to have a non-forced smile. As I made my way to the stage area and the sitting spot I could hear Rie Fu and the crew doing last minute sound checks to make sure everything was on and up to scratch. I took that time to whack out a sketchbook and started doodling. After a while I started to think more about the locations that I’ll be using in Lotaku, and started to try and draw pictures from my old school. My crappy memory aside, the weird shapes and layout of the buildings didn’t help much when trying to make a birds eye view pic.

As expected, Rie Fu’s set was awesome. I don’t see live acts very often (buskers being the obvious exception), so whenever I do go it’s normally a real treat. She opened with my favourite song of hers, Life is Like a Boat, which coincidentally was the first song that I sung at karaoke since coming to Japan. I did take a video of it, but was told off (I didn’t know you couldn’t film >_< ).

After the performance she was signing copies of various CDs, so I picked up a copy of her newest album, Urban Romantic, which also came with a DVD. When I was getting mine signed I hit a bit of a snag. In the few seconds we had to talk, rather than say something meaningful or anything relevant, I say the one thing that I myself always hate to hear; (in Japanese, and for me substitute one language with another) “Your English is really good”. Like a pro though she responded positively “you gotta keep trying, right?”, whether or not this is one of her song names I’m not too sure though. Either way I went and sat down feeling like a right plonker. After wards one of the camera guys asked me a few questions and although I tried to answer in my mangled Japanese, I don’t think I answered any of the questions the way he wanted.

As the second set (she was performing twice) was going to be the same as the first I headed off earlier. I’ve just had a look on Rie Fu’s blog and there are a few pictures up. In one you can see me looking like a plank, camera in hand, but seriously it was a great show. So to sing us out with a song from her new album, it’s Rie Fu and Present.

Yesterday was our last Japanese oral exam which was done as a two-tier speaking contest. We had to write a speech detailing our most {insert emotion of choice}al moment about our time in Japan. The top two speakers (as voted by the class as well as marks) would then go onto Monday’s “final” where the top two from all five classes do their speeches. I have no idea how those will be marked, but judging from the fact that the five classes are at completely different levels of competency, us lower level students wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. For this reason (amongst others including but not limited to the fact I should be spending as much time as possible revising kanji) I’d made a promise with a friend that if (by some miracle) I was in the top two from our class, the second lowest competency group, I would ask not to participate in the “final”.

Strangely enough this is what actually happened today, as I was announced to be in the top two from my class (my speech follows this entry). I waited for the break to inform my teacher of my decision for minimal disruption of the class, though it came as a bit of a shock for her and the couple of students still in the room. One girl said that I’d be letting the class down after they’d “voted me in”, but this was quite ironic and funny for me to hear from a girl who’d spent the vast majority of that period asleep on her desk after arriving late.

On the way home I stopped off at Nishinomiya Gardens with a friend to pop into a book shop. According to a sign near the front of the lavishly expensive shopping centre, one of my favourite Japanese singers is due to make an appearance. On Sunday (19th April) Rie Fu will be making an appearance from 2pm to 4pm. Whether or not this is a free event I have no idea (didn’t have time to fully read the sign/ask my Japanese friend about the kanji I couldn’t understand), but either way I’ll be making a trip there this weekend. So to sing us out here’s Rie Fu with Tiny Tiny Melody (you can here my favourite of her songs, Life is Like a Boat at this older post). For my speech, just pop past the video.

ダーロのスピーチ (for those who don’t understand Japanese, there’s a very funny Google translation of this page available here).

母。 イックさん！朝御飯ですよ！起きなさい。
(Ikku-san! Asagohan desu yo! Okinasai.)
イックさん。 はい、行きます。
(hai, ikimasu)

ビンさん。 ちぇっ、目覚まし時計のばか。私を起きさせなかった。
(che, mezamashi tokei no baka. Watashi o okisasenakatta.)

イックさん。 お母さん、おはようございます。
(okaasan, ohayou gozaimasu)
母。 ほら、イクさん、おはよう。あのさぁ、昨日お母さんにマヨネーズが食べられないように言ったので、今からマヨネーズを使わないつもりです。
(hora, Ikku-san, ohayou. Ano saa, kinou okaasan ni mayoneizu ga taberarenai you ni itta no de, ima kara mayoneizu o tsukawanai tsumori desu.)
イックさん。 本当ですか？どうもありがとございます。とても嬉しい。
(hontou desu ka? Doumo arigato gozaimasu. Totemo ureshii.)

ビンさん。 今日も、朝御飯はマヨネーズでいっぱいだったので、焼いたパンしか食べなかった。明日食べ物をもらわない、大変。
(kyou mo, asagohan wa mayoneizu de ippai datta no de, yaita pan shika tabenakatta. Ashita tabemono o morawanai, taihen.)

母。 ところで、今は週末ね、予定があるの？
(tokoro de, ima wa shuumatsu ne, yotei ga aru no?)
イックさん。 まぁ、今日友達と三宮に遊ぶ事にしたんです。
(maa, kyou tomodachi to sannomiya ni asobu koto ni shitan desu)
母。 そうですか。明日は？
(sou desu ka. Ashita wa?)
イックさん。 明日は暇です。
(ashita wa hima desu)
母。 実は、家族の皆はUSJに行きますが、私達と行きませんか？
(jitsu wa, kazoku no minna wa USJ ni ikimasu ga, watashi tachi to ikimasenka?)
イックさん。 あっ！あの、私にご馳走しなくてもいいですよ。
(a! ano, watashi ni gochisou shinakute mo ii desu yo)
母。 知っていますが、日本人家族がいるのは、今年くらいかもしれません。それに毎年皆Host Familiesは留学生にご馳走してあげるんですよ。
(shitte imasu ga, nihonjin kazoku ga iru no wa, kotoshi kurai kamo shiremasen. Sore ni maitoshi minna Host Families wa ryuugakusei ni gochisou shite agerun desu yo)
イックさん。 そうですか？それじゃ、どうもありがとございます。
(sou desu ka? Sore ja, doumo arigato gozaimasu)

ビンさん。 じゃぁ、何をするかな。皆は三宮に遊ぶようですけど、私にとって三宮は遠くて、高すぎるもんですから、別に行けない。毎週末梅田に歩くことになっていたようだ。
(Jaa, nani o suru kana. Minna wa sannomiya ni asobu you desu kedo, watashi ni totte sannomiya wa tookute, takasugiru mon desu kara, betsu ni ikenai. Mai shuumatsu Umeda ni aruku koto ni natte ita you da.)

イックさん。 お母さん、質問があるんですけど、
(Okaasan, shitsumon ga arun desu kedo,)
母。 はい、何でしょう。
(hai, nan deshou)
イックさん。 この文法について、全然分かりません。私を説明させていただけないでしょうか？
(kono bumpou ni tsuite, zenzen wakarimasen. Watashi o setsumei sasete itadakenai deshou ka?)
母。 はい、もちろん良いですわ。
(hai, mochiron ii desu wa)

ビンさん。 この文法は全然分からないくらい難しい。どうすれば！寮に人がいないし、インターネットで日本人友達はOfflineだし、一番近い日本人友達は他の県に住んでいるし、絶望した！
(kono bumpou wa zenzen wakaranai kurai muzukashii. Dou sureba! Ryou ni hito ga inai shi, intaanetto de nihonjin tomodachi wa Offline da shi, ichi ban chikai nihonjin tomodachi wa hoka no ken ni sunde iru shi, zetsuboushita!)

皆さん、実は、寮に住むことはいい点があります。例えば、電気を気にしなくても良いです。でも、留学生はHost Familyの悪口を言うのを聞くたびに、私は怒ってなります。ある時、わがままな留学生は私に文句していました。彼のHost Familyは一緒に東京へ旅行してほしかったですが、その代わりに彼は神戸に友達と酔っ払って行きました。全く。
(minna-san, jitsu wa, ryou ni sumu koto wa ii ten ga arimasu. Tatoeba, denki wo ki ni shinakute mo ii desu. Demo, ryuugakusei wa Host Family no warukuchi o iu no o kiku tabi ni, watashi wa okotte narimasu. Aru toki, wagamama na ryuugakusei wa watashi ni monku shite imashita. Kare no Host Family wa issho ni Tokyo e ryouko shite hoshikatta desu ga, sono kawari ni kare wa koube ni tomodachi to yopparatte ikimashita. Mattaku.)

つまり、私にとって日本にいる一番イライラものは、Host Familyの努力を評価してくれない人です。
(Tsumari, watashi ni totte Nihon ni iru ichi ban iraira mono wa, Host Family no doryoku o hyouka shite kurenai hito desu.)