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.)

Well I’ve been back at Uni for three days and in turn my New Years Resolution has gone to squatt. Yeah I could claim that covering new Japanese grammar points or learning a new kanji character counts, but sod that, they’re boring. Except for the takoyaki onigiri, that was pretty sweet. I guess I’m just trying to get around to the fact that life in Japan is mainly now consisting of a combination of trying to learn, matched with my trait of forgetting everything … and commuting.

One of the main problems with living in a dorm compared to a homestay is the lack of information you are given or have access to. Had it not been for a lesson on popular Japanese religeon yesterday, I wouldn’t have known that there was an Ebisu Matsuri at the Nishinomiya Shrine today. I didn’t go for various reasons, but had it not been for my own complete and utter boredom and looking for a certain 100 yen shop, I wouldn’t have found out that a shrine somewhats near the dorm was also having an Ebisu Matsuri. Why didn’t I go? Well, I walked around a little but I don’t know, I guess I didn’t really feel the mood.

It would be easy to say that if you want to experience things like this just ask around and turn up to things. Trouble is, how would you drop it into conversation? “Oh by the way, are there any traditional events or festivals coming up” I’ll say to a friend out of no where while they’re trying to work. Or walking past a temple or shrine I see activity and decide to tag along, only to realise it’s a private funeral function as I’m being ushered away. Not having ‘an introduction’ doesn’t limit itself to things like this. There are a lot of small bars and restaurants in my area but without wanting to get the skipped record effect there’s no possible way to go in. At least with a host familly, a member could go with you on your first time to help people get used to you. I have done it (gone into a random place) and at first it’s always an incredibly tense and awkward feeling. Sometimes that tension eases, sometimes it does not. I’ve yet to go anywhere a second time.

Since it’s the weekend and I have no plans that involve me actually going anywhere and/or spending money, I’ll be sure to upload some more photos.

Yesterday, after shaving the remainder of my beard some eight hours and several weird glances later, I headed off to the shop in search of munchies for today. Once again I let my eyes guide as I wandered down a new road and a new shopping area. I grabbed a few supplies and headed back home.

Breakfast (aka lunch) was at a place down the road called Matsuya. I’d been wanting to try the food their for a while, so today was the perfect opportunity. Buying food is quite simple. You go in, head to the vending machine, and buy a ticket for what you want. You then grab a seat and give your ticket to a member of staff. Just after I’d got settled (put my coat away) my food was ready and waiting. Seriously, it was fast! I ordered the Curry Rice, no shock there, and it did taste good. However I still hold out that the best curry rice I’ve had so far was when I went to Higurashi.

I made plans to get a hair cut today, thus completing my head shaving for a while. We went to QB House in Nishinomiya Gardens, the place that cuts your hair for 1000 yen in 10 minutes. Needless to say we were somewhats worried by the fact that they advertise by giving away plasters. Put two and two together and you wander what they sacrifice in order to make it in ten minutes. Ears?

Truth is QB House gave me an awesome hair cut in record time. Yeah it wasn’t an adventurous style, just my usual head-shave, but I was still amazed. The location was clean, equipment kept sterile, staff friendly … for what I wanted, everything was perfect. Oddly enough this was another location where a vending machine was used to take payment rather than a staff member. I’d definately recommend QB to anyone needing a quick cut, my friends took a mere 8 minutes. I didn’t time mine, but it was definately fast.

Tonight we’re off to a Japanese night club. We’ll let you know how that works out.

Oh, I’ve also updated various missing sections of the site, such as the manga and comics section and the Olde Darlonian Sayings. Feel free to nose around a bit ^_^.

I’ll leave you with a clip from an awesome Japanese prank show.

10:03 UK time

Today’s Armistice Day where we remember those who lost their lives during the period of World War 1, as it was on this day 90 years ago that the bulk of the fighting came to an end. Like most people back home I observed some time of silence at 11 o’clock this morning after making a somewhat’s successful attempt to explain it to my teacher in Japanese. A few moments ago I had another period of silence as it turned 11am in France, and will be having another 2 minute silence at 8pm (11am UK time) so I can still participate with everyone.

Yesterday while making poppies out of paper to wear, for both myself and some other students (Royal British Legion poppies are not-surprisingly hard to find here), I was asked by a numerous Japanese and North American students about what today was about. Now I’m the first to admite I’m not a history fan, so I explained it as well as I could whilst remembering the assemblies we’d have at school every year. Ironically non of the American’s who asked me realised that it was also their own Veteran’s Day today.

To be honest, since the bludgeoning of my new textbook on Sunday (which of course you’ll all know was Rememberance Sunday; also known as Poppy Day), not a lot has happened. Well, one little thing happened today which not only caused me to look like a complete and utter plonker in front of a couple of friends, I also confused a Japanese security guard somewhats.

On a random trip to Nishinomiyakitaguchi on the way home, we went to what I was led to believe was a large department store. As we got closer, the signs indicated that it was a shopping area and cinema. They were doing roadworks around the building, in the near vicinity as the station, so we tried to comply with the temporary changes to the path. The main door for the centre was blocked off by the roadworks, and given the option to choose left or right, we chose right.

After going round a corner and up some stairs we passed some very confused looking passers by, but kept on our way. After a few moments of walking down the side of this building we approached a door with a security man handing out security passes. I was about to ask him if he could tell us where the entrance was, but I hit a problem. I couldn’t remember the Japanese word for shopping centre. Hmm … what could I substitute it with … the cinema! So I asked him how where the cinema was and he stared back at me blankly.

“The cinema?” I reiterated incase I’d ballsed up my pronunciation the first time. He told us it was back from where we came (obviously we should have turned left instead of right), and then added some more words which at the time I couldn’t make out. I thanked him and we carried on. He looked so confused.

Heading back to wear we made our wrong turn, we then proceded on what we thought was the right path. Once again we passed wave after wave of baffled face, but I merely passed it off as “ooh look, a foreigner” syndrome. When we reached the back of the building we realised what had happened. The nice new looking building and complex was indeed nice and new. So new in fact, that they were still building the thing! It was hear I rememebered what the security chap told us at the end of directing is … “but it’s not still being built” … (ish). We headed back to the station a slightly different way, but still going past the guard at our left-right decision point for a third time in ten minutes.

On the way back to the station we headed into the Konami sports club; none of us were members there of course. One friend wanted to see if their (tiny) sports shop had martial arts equiment and one wanted to see the pool. The pool iteself is pretty amazing as it’s on the second story. Wanting to know how much it was, she was just going to check online, but I thought it be an idea to put those Nihongo lessons to use and asked a member of staff how much the pool was.

Just a tad of worry went through me when we were asked to head down to one of the membership desks on the far side … well, a fair bit of worry actually. Thankfully the member of staff realised our Japanese abilities were low so she spoke clearly and carefully (thank you ^_^). It turns out that to use any of the facilities you had to be a member, fair enough, and she produced a handout saying various prices. They do also do a student rate, but I missed where that info was.

Needless to say pricewise I’ll be sticking to the Uni gym, and a bath at home.

On that note, I WILL be moving before Christmas, but more on that next time.

I’m going to go now, and get ready for the 2 minute silence (which is 2 minutes away). Laters.