One of the students in the doctoral program in my department wants to go on exchange to Sweden next year. He has realized that trying to learn Swedish in Japan is going to be difficult and besides, to be allowed on exchange the major requirement is a score above a certain level on the TOEFL exam. So he's focusing on English. I offered to help him out sometime and ended up getting roped into free weekly lessons. We had our first lesson yesterday and it did not go the way I had expected.
The student in question is younger than me but because he's in the doctoral program he's above me on the totem pole, he's my sempai. We had a couple of courses together last year, and continue to do so this year. We've chatted a bit at department parties. But we've never gone beyond the school-acquaintances level. I know only a few non-school things about him, things that our prof (who is the guy's advisor) teases or asks him about. He has never volunteered information himself.
Imagine my surprise, then, when we sat down for our first "lesson" and suddenly were talking about how his girlfriend is upset about him going, and long-distance relationships in general. Having a bit of (not so successful!) experience in this matter myself, I was able to give him some advice, and we ended up having a great chat. I'm not sure how useful it will be for his TOEFL studies, but he seemed much happier with free conversation time rather than some sort of structured lesson. Since I don't have the time to prepare proper lessons I'm just as happy with it too.
But it did get me thinking. This isn't the first time that I've had an English student start talking about things that they wouldn't talk to me about in Japanese. I had long thought it was just the separate space of the English classroom - a sort of what happens in Los Vegas stays in the English classroom kind of thing. Or maybe it was my foreignness - I was different and thus normal issues of what was polite to talk about didn't apply. But neither of these work with my sempai. We were sitting in a common space in the university - in the middle of a room surrounded by tables of students working on group projects, napping, and eating. So I'm wondering if it has more to do with the freedom of speaking in a new language, and the resulting breaking down of inhibitions.
We had a good time chatting, he got some worries off of his chest. I'm just not sure about how much of a "lesson" it was. I'm guessing the only thing he actually learnt was the second meaning for "score." I couldn't help but explain it to him after I corrected him (after I stopped giggling) when he said "I want to go to Sweden and score TOEFL." (I was having a hard time fighting off visions of the stereotypical tall blond Swedish beauty with a hello-my-name-is Toefl badge on her ample chest) He was at first embarrassed, but then greatly amused. I have the feeling that no matter how many times he'll need to be corrected for making the same mistakes over and over again, he'll never forget that one...!
Friday, 1 May 2009
Sunday, 19 April 2009
The Blanket Lady Striketh Again
The wife of a good friend from grad school had a baby boy last month, so I spent most of March largely ignoring my thesis to knit the new little one a blanket. While it turned out much smaller than I had hoped (I used cotton while the pattern called for a heavier weight acrylic), I am still left wishing that my thesis would turn out even half so pretty! This time around, instead of a knitted border (just the thought of having to pick up all those stitches was enough to give me nightmares) I decided to stitch on a ribbon. I like the silky-ness, and it had the added bonus of hiding all the yarn ends and saving me from massive amounts of weaving in yarn ends - yay!
Every stitch of the blanket was made with the hope that the little one will grow up with the same sense of humour, the same kindness, and the same intelligence as his proud papa.
Every stitch of the blanket was made with the hope that the little one will grow up with the same sense of humour, the same kindness, and the same intelligence as his proud papa.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
White Day - A belated update
I've gotten a number of emails and I realized, somewhat belatedly, that I really should get something out in the open...
Despite a promising Valentines, I didn't get anything for White Day. In fact I was cancelled on at the last moment due to work committments. Shortly thereafter the guy in question left the country and I haven't heard from him since. Ah well... More fish in the sea and all that.
Despite a promising Valentines, I didn't get anything for White Day. In fact I was cancelled on at the last moment due to work committments. Shortly thereafter the guy in question left the country and I haven't heard from him since. Ah well... More fish in the sea and all that.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Hasami
I have a pair of scissors that I love. They were a present to me from the mayor of Nishinoomote City, on the island of Tanegashima, off the coast of Kyushu in southern Japan. The island is famous for being the arrival point for the first Europeans to Japan, and for the guns that those men brought with them. The iron sands of the beaches of Tanegashima were once used to make guns but are now used to make scissors, knives, and other products.
I was given my pair of scissors, as I already mentioned, by the mayor of the island's only city. I was spending two weeks in a home stay program on the island, and was turned into a minor celebrity. The southern point of the island, home to the country's rocket launch pad, has plenty of foreign scientists, but there aren't so many non-Japanese faces on the rest of the island - in fact there were just two of us, myself and the ALT who visited my host father's elementary school about once a month. My arrival on the island was documented by a newspaper (I was amazingly incoherent for the interview given that the boat ride over from Kagoshima had been very choppy and I get seasick at the best of times), and had random people come up to me and say "Ah! the girl from the paper!" throughout my two weeks there.
The best part of my time on Tanegashima was the family I stayed with. I was part of the family right from the first night, when we all settled around the dinner table in our pjs after having had our baths in order of seniority (otosan, the father of the family went first, then me as oldest daughter, then my two "sisters" in birth order, and then okasan went last). I've been back to Kagoshima prefecture many times since to visit my Japanese parents and grandparents. Okasan constantly bugs me about when I'm going back for my next visit and sends me Kagoshima soy sauce - which is much sweeter than the strong flavoured Tokyo stuff that I really don't like.
The scissors the mayor gave me have been a reminder of the warmth of Tanegashima and of my Japanese family. I took them with me when I went back to Osaka and finished out my exchange there. I took them back with me to Canada, and they made it into my suitcase when I moved to a new university. I then took them with me to the US for grad school. They finally found their way back to Japan a few years ago. In the 10 years since I was given them they've been used many many many times and they'd definitely seen better days. The edge was no longer so sharp and they weren't even closing all the way. For months now I've been wondering where I could get them sharpened. My wondering ended this afternoon, when I spotted an elderly man perched on a stool with a whetstone and a hand-made sign proclaiming knife/sword/scissor sharpening for Y500. I raced home and got my scissors. A half an hour later the delighted man demonstrated that my newly sharpened scissors could slice plastic into thin slivers, and that they now closed all the way. I was equally delighted. And all for only a bit more than a pricey cup of coffee. Not a bad exchange for the refurbishment of a lovely instrument and the holder of such memories!
(pictures courtesy of Made in Japan)
I was given my pair of scissors, as I already mentioned, by the mayor of the island's only city. I was spending two weeks in a home stay program on the island, and was turned into a minor celebrity. The southern point of the island, home to the country's rocket launch pad, has plenty of foreign scientists, but there aren't so many non-Japanese faces on the rest of the island - in fact there were just two of us, myself and the ALT who visited my host father's elementary school about once a month. My arrival on the island was documented by a newspaper (I was amazingly incoherent for the interview given that the boat ride over from Kagoshima had been very choppy and I get seasick at the best of times), and had random people come up to me and say "Ah! the girl from the paper!" throughout my two weeks there.
The best part of my time on Tanegashima was the family I stayed with. I was part of the family right from the first night, when we all settled around the dinner table in our pjs after having had our baths in order of seniority (otosan, the father of the family went first, then me as oldest daughter, then my two "sisters" in birth order, and then okasan went last). I've been back to Kagoshima prefecture many times since to visit my Japanese parents and grandparents. Okasan constantly bugs me about when I'm going back for my next visit and sends me Kagoshima soy sauce - which is much sweeter than the strong flavoured Tokyo stuff that I really don't like.
The scissors the mayor gave me have been a reminder of the warmth of Tanegashima and of my Japanese family. I took them with me when I went back to Osaka and finished out my exchange there. I took them back with me to Canada, and they made it into my suitcase when I moved to a new university. I then took them with me to the US for grad school. They finally found their way back to Japan a few years ago. In the 10 years since I was given them they've been used many many many times and they'd definitely seen better days. The edge was no longer so sharp and they weren't even closing all the way. For months now I've been wondering where I could get them sharpened. My wondering ended this afternoon, when I spotted an elderly man perched on a stool with a whetstone and a hand-made sign proclaiming knife/sword/scissor sharpening for Y500. I raced home and got my scissors. A half an hour later the delighted man demonstrated that my newly sharpened scissors could slice plastic into thin slivers, and that they now closed all the way. I was equally delighted. And all for only a bit more than a pricey cup of coffee. Not a bad exchange for the refurbishment of a lovely instrument and the holder of such memories!
(pictures courtesy of Made in Japan)
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Manners Schmanners
Tokyo Metro has apparently decided to continue on with their "Please do it..." series.
Meh... No comment...
******
The Tobu's fairy tale themed manner poster had me at a loss. I couldn't figure out the story behind the picture. A guy with a crown and huge brown ears, two old-fashioned looking elderly train passengers, and a guy with a work apron and... scissors?! Was he going to chop off the big ears of the guy who was being rude and talking on his phone on the train? That seemed a little gory for me and for the polite company of elderly passengers who frequent the train I ride. What do you think?
The poster reads "Dear Prince, your conversation while riding the train is more noticeable than your donkey ears."
I was intrigued, so I turned to my good friend Google and in put "donkey ear" thankfully everything I came up with was clean, but nothing looked promising. So I switched languages and after a few clicks found a Japanese site of Aesop's fables, listing one that roughly translates as "The Kings Ears are Donkey Ears." A few more clicks and I found this, a animated version of "The Ears of King Midas."
The Internet is a wonderful thing!
Meh... No comment...
******
The Tobu's fairy tale themed manner poster had me at a loss. I couldn't figure out the story behind the picture. A guy with a crown and huge brown ears, two old-fashioned looking elderly train passengers, and a guy with a work apron and... scissors?! Was he going to chop off the big ears of the guy who was being rude and talking on his phone on the train? That seemed a little gory for me and for the polite company of elderly passengers who frequent the train I ride. What do you think?
The poster reads "Dear Prince, your conversation while riding the train is more noticeable than your donkey ears."
I was intrigued, so I turned to my good friend Google and in put "donkey ear" thankfully everything I came up with was clean, but nothing looked promising. So I switched languages and after a few clicks found a Japanese site of Aesop's fables, listing one that roughly translates as "The Kings Ears are Donkey Ears." A few more clicks and I found this, a animated version of "The Ears of King Midas."
The Internet is a wonderful thing!
Monday, 13 April 2009
Signs of the New Year- sono 2
One of my courses this term is at a different campus from my usual stomping grounds. So, one day a week I'll be jetting off to the "newbie" campus, where first and second year undergrad courses for arts and humanities are held. The main campus is full of over stressed grad students, apathetic undergrads, and undergrads in suits attempting to find jobs while they supposedly finish off their last year of university.
The newbie campus is in general much softer, more user friendly. It isn't in downtown Tokyo, has big gates, and plenty of greenery in between the buildings. This time of year it is also full of fresh-faced happy, relaxed first year students. They've finally gotten through all the years of studying, especially the last crunch of the hell that is university entrance examinations. They are now university students, at a well-known and prestigious univerisity. Some of them may be living on their own for the first time, but even if they are still at home, they are experiencing a large amount of freedom for the first time in a long, long time. They sit in the sun on benches laid out around campus and chat with their friends.
And, just so you don't think that ALL Japanese university students are apathetic, that there are no serious and motivated students, I present you with exhibit A - two young women who all but ran me over (which is no mean feat, I walk QUICKLY and have a big stride) and then dodged around me and a few others who had the temerity to walk at normal human pace. The two girls then pelted up the escalator, shouting out to each other "room 403 - that's the FOURTH floor!!!" The look of abject horror on the face of one of the girls as she looked at her watch and realized that she either had to teleport herself immediately to the 4th floor or face having to enter the first class of the term (before most students have actually registered for any of their classes) an astonishing one minute late!! Ohhhh, the horror! (this contrasts sharply with the large number of students who have no problem sauntering in 45 minutes late for a 80 minute class...).
One thing, however, I'm going to have to recant my statement that this negates that not all Japanese students are apathetic - I'm fairly sure the two girls were foreign students because they shifted into what sounded like Chinese to me as they raced up the escalator to the fourth floor. Whatever their nationality, the earnestness of the two had me smiling like and indulgent granny at a toddler's antics.
The newbie campus is in general much softer, more user friendly. It isn't in downtown Tokyo, has big gates, and plenty of greenery in between the buildings. This time of year it is also full of fresh-faced happy, relaxed first year students. They've finally gotten through all the years of studying, especially the last crunch of the hell that is university entrance examinations. They are now university students, at a well-known and prestigious univerisity. Some of them may be living on their own for the first time, but even if they are still at home, they are experiencing a large amount of freedom for the first time in a long, long time. They sit in the sun on benches laid out around campus and chat with their friends.
And, just so you don't think that ALL Japanese university students are apathetic, that there are no serious and motivated students, I present you with exhibit A - two young women who all but ran me over (which is no mean feat, I walk QUICKLY and have a big stride) and then dodged around me and a few others who had the temerity to walk at normal human pace. The two girls then pelted up the escalator, shouting out to each other "room 403 - that's the FOURTH floor!!!" The look of abject horror on the face of one of the girls as she looked at her watch and realized that she either had to teleport herself immediately to the 4th floor or face having to enter the first class of the term (before most students have actually registered for any of their classes) an astonishing one minute late!! Ohhhh, the horror! (this contrasts sharply with the large number of students who have no problem sauntering in 45 minutes late for a 80 minute class...).
One thing, however, I'm going to have to recant my statement that this negates that not all Japanese students are apathetic - I'm fairly sure the two girls were foreign students because they shifted into what sounded like Chinese to me as they raced up the escalator to the fourth floor. Whatever their nationality, the earnestness of the two had me smiling like and indulgent granny at a toddler's antics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)