My language materials from CLAIRE came in the mail today. Beforehand I had been doing a bit of review here and there from my old course materials and reading some of the books left behind from previous ALTs. Still, my grammar continued to disintegrate, though my vocabulary grew.
If anything good came from my monitor being down for a month and a half, it was that I watched a lot of Japanese TV. While low in nutritional and entertainment value, most of Japanese television is subtitled in one way or another, which means that you get the benefits of listening and reading. I picked up a lot of combinations of kanji I already knew as well as common words.
There are free Japanese lessons offered in Kaibara out of a volunteer's home. I went to a lesson yesterday. While the material is review for me, well, I need it desperately, as well at the listening and speaking practice. I do a bit of speaking at the school with the office staff and some neighbors, but not often enough.
Hopefully everything combined will show some results. I signed up for the intermediate course materials with CLAIRE, which may or may not have been a mistake. Before signing up I looked at the material covered in the beginner course and it seemed like I wouldn't have any problem skipping it. However, there is a fair amount of vocabulary and some grammar that I didn't learn at university, so I'm playing super catch-up with this course. I guess it'll just be like an excelerated course.
My next step is to maintain my German! I know of one German speaker in the area and hopefully I can get in contact with her sometime soon.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Kyoto 京都
昨日は先生と京都へ行きました。京都はふるい首都。やっぱりたくさん神社と寺があります。京都へいったことがあります。でもたくさん所みたことがありませんでした。
さいしょに京都東寺へ行きました。この寺は日本の一番の高いパゴダですと。このパゴダは国宝。
Yesterday I went to Kyoto with one of my JTEs. Kyoto was the former capital city of Japan until it moved to Tokyo (Edo). Naturally there are a lot of shrines, temples, and palaces. I'd been to Kyoto before, but I didn't get to see any of these places. You can visit a temple every day in Kyoto and not see them all.
First we visited the Touji Temple, which has the largest pagoda in Japan. It's a National Treasure.
Main Hallの中ではYakushi Trinity (click!)
Inside of the Main Hall is the Yakushi Trinity.
沢山 Fudo があります。 There were a lot of Fudo statues. Praying to him will protect you (especially from car accidents).
---
次は三十三間堂です。この堂は立っているの観音千一体とすわているの観音一体が持っています。
The next place we went to was Sanjyuusangen-dou. Inside of the hall there are 1,001 Buddhas. In the center is a large sitting Buddha, Kannon (who can be either male or female), who is flanked by 500 standing Kannons on the right and 500 on the left.
とても長いです！
---
次は西本願寺です。
The next place we visited was Nishi Honganji Temple. It's a large hall somewhat comparable to a sanctuary, I guess. You enter, sit on the floor, contemplate, or listen to the monks. I'm not expert on Buddhism, so don't go quoting me here. I'm just sayin' what I saw.
本願寺は一番の大きいな木で作られているの寺です。
This is next to the largest wooden lecture hall (I think).
---
次は二条城でした。
Then we saw Nijou-jou, which was started under Ieyasu Tokugawa. By his time the capital had been moved to Edo (Tokyo), but there were still a lot of official residences and offices in Kyoto.
Nijou-jou is well-known for its nightingale floors (they squeak to alert guards of intruders). There are also some lovely painted and gold-plated walls. As my JTE said, "mottanai!" or "what a waste!"
In front of the gates.
Looking over the complex.
---
次は金閣寺はでした。
The next was Kinkaku-hi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Very nice and picturesque, but not much else. We visited in the evening around 5PM when the sun was low in the sky and shining off the gold walls.
さいしょに京都東寺へ行きました。この寺は日本の一番の高いパゴダですと。このパゴダは国宝。
Yesterday I went to Kyoto with one of my JTEs. Kyoto was the former capital city of Japan until it moved to Tokyo (Edo). Naturally there are a lot of shrines, temples, and palaces. I'd been to Kyoto before, but I didn't get to see any of these places. You can visit a temple every day in Kyoto and not see them all.
First we visited the Touji Temple, which has the largest pagoda in Japan. It's a National Treasure.
Main Hallの中ではYakushi Trinity (click!)
Inside of the Main Hall is the Yakushi Trinity.
沢山 Fudo があります。 There were a lot of Fudo statues. Praying to him will protect you (especially from car accidents).
---
次は三十三間堂です。この堂は立っているの観音千一体とすわているの観音一体が持っています。
The next place we went to was Sanjyuusangen-dou. Inside of the hall there are 1,001 Buddhas. In the center is a large sitting Buddha, Kannon (who can be either male or female), who is flanked by 500 standing Kannons on the right and 500 on the left.
とても長いです！
---
次は西本願寺です。
The next place we visited was Nishi Honganji Temple. It's a large hall somewhat comparable to a sanctuary, I guess. You enter, sit on the floor, contemplate, or listen to the monks. I'm not expert on Buddhism, so don't go quoting me here. I'm just sayin' what I saw.
本願寺は一番の大きいな木で作られているの寺です。
This is next to the largest wooden lecture hall (I think).
---
次は二条城でした。
Then we saw Nijou-jou, which was started under Ieyasu Tokugawa. By his time the capital had been moved to Edo (Tokyo), but there were still a lot of official residences and offices in Kyoto.
Nijou-jou is well-known for its nightingale floors (they squeak to alert guards of intruders). There are also some lovely painted and gold-plated walls. As my JTE said, "mottanai!" or "what a waste!"
In front of the gates.
Looking over the complex.
---
次は金閣寺はでした。
The next was Kinkaku-hi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Very nice and picturesque, but not much else. We visited in the evening around 5PM when the sun was low in the sky and shining off the gold walls.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Aki Matsuri 秋祭り
This morning I managed to drag myself out of bed. As an aside, I didn't sleep well because I had a mad headache and neck ache. I considered several times driving to the 24-hour convenience store (or コンビに konbini) in my pajamas to get some Advil or similar product, though I doubted my abilities to drive or read katakana at 2AM on little sleep.
Anyhow. I got myself all prettied-up and drove over to Kaibara for the aki matsuri or fall festival. There was food and fun. I had an okonomiyaki (a sweet pancake-omelet type deal) and then bumped into some Kaibara ALTs and their Japanese friends and watched a taiko drum performance and then the procession.
Taiko performance. They were really good.
Procession.
Messengers in the procession. Ah, the days before e-mail were tough, weren't they?
I met some volunteer Japanese teachers and bought a little messenger bag that I sorely needed from a woman and her husband that had worked in Bangladesh for 25 years and got to practice my Japanese a bit.
I also picked up some cosmos flowers to throw into my yard. I need to pull out more of the crab grass. Everything else, while a bit weedy, actually produces some neat little flowers.
Some of us headed to Miwakare Park (水分れ), where mountain runoff is directed to the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean and played some frisbee. Then it was off to dinner and some second-hand shops for some deliciously cheap manga (Kaze Hikaru and Slayers).
It was a nice three day weekend and I'm looking forward to the week ahead.
Anyhow. I got myself all prettied-up and drove over to Kaibara for the aki matsuri or fall festival. There was food and fun. I had an okonomiyaki (a sweet pancake-omelet type deal) and then bumped into some Kaibara ALTs and their Japanese friends and watched a taiko drum performance and then the procession.
Taiko performance. They were really good.
Procession.
Messengers in the procession. Ah, the days before e-mail were tough, weren't they?
I met some volunteer Japanese teachers and bought a little messenger bag that I sorely needed from a woman and her husband that had worked in Bangladesh for 25 years and got to practice my Japanese a bit.
I also picked up some cosmos flowers to throw into my yard. I need to pull out more of the crab grass. Everything else, while a bit weedy, actually produces some neat little flowers.
Some of us headed to Miwakare Park (水分れ), where mountain runoff is directed to the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean and played some frisbee. Then it was off to dinner and some second-hand shops for some deliciously cheap manga (Kaze Hikaru and Slayers).
It was a nice three day weekend and I'm looking forward to the week ahead.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Arthropods!
Japan is a land of many, many things with exoskeletons. When I first got to my house one of my tasks was to go through all the cabinets and see what past ALTs had left. I found a veritable arsenal of insecticides and traps in one cabinet. I had heard stories of fierce mukade (centipedes) that roam the countryside, looking for innocent JETs to terrorize. It seemed that my house would be the battlefield on which I met the horrible, hundred-foot foe.
First Encounter: a rainy day
It was raining, but the house was muggy and I wanted to let some cool air in. I let in more than that. I walked into my eight-tatami room to find a mukade on the inside of the screen. I got some spray and hot water to back me up and then swept it outside. It was pretty long, but not all that terrifying. Only half as big as I thought it would be.
Before you get the impression that I go through my house spraying every thing that moves, know this: mukade are venomous and it's recommended that you go to the nearest hospital or clinic if bitten. While not deadly (to most), it's rather painful. I do have a rather Wizard Howl-like appreciation for the spiders in my house (and they're kind enough to stay out of my blankets).
Second Encounter: the futon
I've gone through spells of sleeping on the futon on the floor and sleeping on the bed. I had another encounter with a geji geji, a smaller centipede that isn't nearly as venomous earlier, which moved me from the futon to the bed. But after a while I was back to my comfy comfy futon.
One night, around 3AM, a mukade crawled across my face. Thankfully, my little prehistoric critter brain clicked on and knew what to do; pick it off my cheek, throw it down, jump up, turn on the light, wait for eyes to adjust, find it, and kill it. I was pretty buzzed on adrenaline and didn't sleep well the rest of the night.
The next week I was gifted with some insecticides (er, arthropodicides) from a JTE (Japanese Teacher of English). It's the gift that keeps on giving.
Future and current JETs: you have been warned.
But now for some neat bugs!
A cicada. On a hot day your eardrums almost burst because these guys sing so loudly! They're called semi or セミ in Japanese.
A hitchhiker! This guy is green, but I've seen dark and light brown praying mantises as well.
Over the course of a week two of these caterpillars ate the vine outside of my kitchen window. I wonder if these guys turn into the giant black and blue butterflies I've seen (unfortunately difficult to capture with my camera).
I was biking along the Kakogawa River when I saw the sidewalk covered in these little guys.
Looks like some sort of long-horned grasshopper, but don't quote me on that.
I passed this spider everyday on my way to work. She's got real gorgeous, bright markings. The spiders here are huge. You can see them in their webs on the telephone wires from your car.
That's all for now! I wish I had some pictures of the Asian Giant Hornets I've seen, but alas! I usually run from those (two inches long and venomous) before thinking of taking out my camera.
First Encounter: a rainy day
It was raining, but the house was muggy and I wanted to let some cool air in. I let in more than that. I walked into my eight-tatami room to find a mukade on the inside of the screen. I got some spray and hot water to back me up and then swept it outside. It was pretty long, but not all that terrifying. Only half as big as I thought it would be.
Before you get the impression that I go through my house spraying every thing that moves, know this: mukade are venomous and it's recommended that you go to the nearest hospital or clinic if bitten. While not deadly (to most), it's rather painful. I do have a rather Wizard Howl-like appreciation for the spiders in my house (and they're kind enough to stay out of my blankets).
Second Encounter: the futon
I've gone through spells of sleeping on the futon on the floor and sleeping on the bed. I had another encounter with a geji geji, a smaller centipede that isn't nearly as venomous earlier, which moved me from the futon to the bed. But after a while I was back to my comfy comfy futon.
One night, around 3AM, a mukade crawled across my face. Thankfully, my little prehistoric critter brain clicked on and knew what to do; pick it off my cheek, throw it down, jump up, turn on the light, wait for eyes to adjust, find it, and kill it. I was pretty buzzed on adrenaline and didn't sleep well the rest of the night.
The next week I was gifted with some insecticides (er, arthropodicides) from a JTE (Japanese Teacher of English). It's the gift that keeps on giving.
Future and current JETs: you have been warned.
But now for some neat bugs!
A cicada. On a hot day your eardrums almost burst because these guys sing so loudly! They're called semi or セミ in Japanese.
A hitchhiker! This guy is green, but I've seen dark and light brown praying mantises as well.
Over the course of a week two of these caterpillars ate the vine outside of my kitchen window. I wonder if these guys turn into the giant black and blue butterflies I've seen (unfortunately difficult to capture with my camera).
I was biking along the Kakogawa River when I saw the sidewalk covered in these little guys.
Looks like some sort of long-horned grasshopper, but don't quote me on that.
I passed this spider everyday on my way to work. She's got real gorgeous, bright markings. The spiders here are huge. You can see them in their webs on the telephone wires from your car.
That's all for now! I wish I had some pictures of the Asian Giant Hornets I've seen, but alas! I usually run from those (two inches long and venomous) before thinking of taking out my camera.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Food
Hey! First of all, it's been a while since I posted due to my laptop being likely somehow sensitive to foreign voltages. The monitor hasn't been working, so I've only just purchased a new external monitor. But that's another (month-long) story.
Today I'm here to tell you about my colorful adventures in the world of food.
As you may or may not know, Japan has different foods from those in the USA. I was well aware of this fact before departing, but I had no idea (outside of seafood) exactly what was different. What would I find in a little countryside スパー (supaa or supermarket)? What would I not find?
My first week was a pretty cautious one. I could have spent hours in those three aisles, slowly and audibly reading the katakana script, but instead I opted for fruits and vegetables, which are readily recognizable, and noodles. I ate a lot of Italian pasta with onions, garlic, and mushrooms.
Adventure Number One: ika shoga yaki (ginger Cthulu)
Recipe from Recipe Zaar
This one was fun, because I got to dismantle a squid, which I had never done before. I got two squid at the market for about 200 yen. There are some handy instructions online for taking apart a squid. Suffice it to say, they are some slippery guys and it took a while to get the skin off. The end result was not bad, though it was recommended to try the same with pork, which is much tastier. Squid doesn't really offer much in terms of taste; it's pretty plain.
Adventure Number Two: Chicken, soumen noodles, and onion
Recipe from some TV show.
Wish I could remember just got to make this 'cause it was tasty! Slice the chicken, dip it in some egg, and roll it around in some flour. Throw it in a pan and indiscriminately toss in enough water and mirin to let it boil and make some tasty tasty gravy. The chicken turns out delicious and moist. Chop up some spring onions or whatever they're called.
I know. This isn't very helpful, is it?
Adventure Number Three: goya (bitter melon)
Recipe: none
I had never seen goya (bumpy green with a yellow inside and red seeds) before. A neighbor of the school brought in some eggplant, peppers, and goya, and some were given to me. I asked what I should do with it and tempura was suggested. It makes an okay tempura, though it's not the best. Chop up, soak in egg, dip in flakes, toss (carefully) into pot of oil and quickly take it out with a pair of chopsticks without dripping any oil on your bare feet (your feet are bare because your socks were feeling tight and your slippers are alllll the way over in the other room and this is a good idea because why?).
Goya tastes a bit crisp and peppery and is okay in small amounts, but after a while you realize why it's called bitter melon. (Because it's bitter.) I hear if you soak it in lime the bitterness goes away.
That's all for now! Stay tuned.
Today I'm here to tell you about my colorful adventures in the world of food.
As you may or may not know, Japan has different foods from those in the USA. I was well aware of this fact before departing, but I had no idea (outside of seafood) exactly what was different. What would I find in a little countryside スパー (supaa or supermarket)? What would I not find?
My first week was a pretty cautious one. I could have spent hours in those three aisles, slowly and audibly reading the katakana script, but instead I opted for fruits and vegetables, which are readily recognizable, and noodles. I ate a lot of Italian pasta with onions, garlic, and mushrooms.
Adventure Number One: ika shoga yaki (ginger Cthulu)
Recipe from Recipe Zaar
This one was fun, because I got to dismantle a squid, which I had never done before. I got two squid at the market for about 200 yen. There are some handy instructions online for taking apart a squid. Suffice it to say, they are some slippery guys and it took a while to get the skin off. The end result was not bad, though it was recommended to try the same with pork, which is much tastier. Squid doesn't really offer much in terms of taste; it's pretty plain.
Adventure Number Two: Chicken, soumen noodles, and onion
Recipe from some TV show.
Wish I could remember just got to make this 'cause it was tasty! Slice the chicken, dip it in some egg, and roll it around in some flour. Throw it in a pan and indiscriminately toss in enough water and mirin to let it boil and make some tasty tasty gravy. The chicken turns out delicious and moist. Chop up some spring onions or whatever they're called.
I know. This isn't very helpful, is it?
Adventure Number Three: goya (bitter melon)
Recipe: none
I had never seen goya (bumpy green with a yellow inside and red seeds) before. A neighbor of the school brought in some eggplant, peppers, and goya, and some were given to me. I asked what I should do with it and tempura was suggested. It makes an okay tempura, though it's not the best. Chop up, soak in egg, dip in flakes, toss (carefully) into pot of oil and quickly take it out with a pair of chopsticks without dripping any oil on your bare feet (your feet are bare because your socks were feeling tight and your slippers are alllll the way over in the other room and this is a good idea because why?).
Goya tastes a bit crisp and peppery and is okay in small amounts, but after a while you realize why it's called bitter melon. (Because it's bitter.) I hear if you soak it in lime the bitterness goes away.
That's all for now! Stay tuned.
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