I've not really been very faithful to blogging lately and November seems to have disappeared rather quickly!
Well, first things first. I'm still loving life in Japan and feeling very much settled into a routine. I've fallen behind with my OU studies, but as yet, not waved the little white flag of defeat. I was just about keeping up with it for the first month, but then I had five days without access to the course website. Then I changed my schedule which mean't that I worked eight days without a day off and when I did have a day off, I had to catch up with other things.
I've finally had a couple of days off and thought I'd catch up with things, but yesterday I felt like I needed a day to recover from working eleven days out of the last fourteen days. Today was supposed to be the day I'd give myself a kick up the backside and get cracking again; but I found plenty of other things that needed doing - doing my another online training activity (I had to do some online study before I go into Tokyo next week), getting my haircut, shopping etc. Anyway, when I finally bit the bullet and logged into the website; it was down for maintenance!
Anyway, other than the OU course, life is good. I went out for a meal with some friends in Tokyo earlier in November. One of the dishes was roasted lily bulbs (see photo below). They tasted just like roasted sweet chestnuts. Utterly delicious; or 'oishii' as they say in Japan.
Roasted Lily Bulbs
The autumn leaves have been stunningly beautiful in Chiba Park. I went out with my camera last week and took a few photographs. Rather than upload lots of photographs though, I've put them together as a slideshow video.
In summary, after two months in Japan, I'm happy here. On the one hand, yes I'd love to have more time off to do my OU studies, see more of the country etc etc; but then on the other hand; I keep feeling like I may be here for the long-term and so why burn myself out by taking on too much. The more I think about things, whenever I read about people's experiences of Japan, I think, "Yeah, when I was younger I would probably also be in a hurry; but now I'm a bit older, I'm much more content to let things happen in their own timescale." The most important thing is, I'm having fun!
Now that it's been a month since I moved to Japan, I thought I'd take a little time to reflect on things. It's been a very busy time; getting settled in to my apartment, starting a new job and also starting a new course with the Open University.
I love my apartment, it feels slightly bigger than I'd imagined it would. This is probably because many 'life in Japan' bloggers are from the USA and talk about how small apartments in Japan are by comparison. Sure, my apartment in the UK was quite a lot bigger than my apartment in Japan, but my apartment has, a kitchen/diner, a bathroom, a toilet and a bed/living room. I've also got a loft that I slept in during the first week, but decided to move my futon onto the western style bed instead. Chairs are not the normal thing in Japanese apartments and sitting cross legged on a cushion wasn't really ideal for me ... so I decided my bed would act as a sofa during the day.
I'm doing fine with my teaching job. You get rated by the students and from time to time your lessons are observed by the manager. So far so good; I've taught about a hundred 40 minute lessons now and only had one negative evaluation by a student. That one taught me to write new vocabulary in a different colour so the student can identify where the new vocabulary is much more easily. Since then, I've had almost all my student evaluations scoring the top score. Anyway, my evaluation average is above the required standard and as I teach more, I'm getting into the swing of things.
I'm just about managing to stay on top of my OU studies. The course is interesting (at the moment) but with a busy work schedule, living in a country where I really want to explore and enjoy the culture ... plus learning the language ... I've almost got to push myself to get the study out of the way before I allow myself to enjoy living here. If I was to let up on my studies, I could see myself quickly being swamped by having to catch up with it. So far so good, but it's really stretching me to keep afloat.
Anyway, this is just a short post because I made a couple of videos yesterday.
I've been wanting to write a blog post for a while, but have been doing so many things that it would take me the best part of a week to sit and write about it all. So, this is going to be more of a highlights post.
Tokyo, Shibuya Crossing
Just over a week ago I went to see Broken Doll at the JPU Records Party in Shimokitazawa. I was delayed slightly and walked in just as Broken Doll were finishing their set. It was still great to see them and meet lots of other great people.
I also went to an office Halloween party a couple of days later which was also a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my students and speak Japanese with them - as much to practice my Japanese as to show my students that I make lots of mistakes when I'm speaking Japanese but will just keep talking away regardless. I'm trying to encourage my students to speak English without fear of being grammatically correct. Easier said than done, but by blabbering away in Japanese and missing a particle here, buggering up the sentence structure there ... but still managing to be understood and have a jolly good laugh ... I think I made a very good point to my students!
Sunset from my office on my first day at work.
On the whole, I've made a good start teaching English in my first couple of weeks. I've now taught 70 lessons (40 minutes each) with a five minute break between students. I'm changing my schedule in November because there is a technology company that are sending a lot of engineers to the studio and with my background, I'm able to provide a lot of technical IT language that gives me a good USP (oh dear, I'm using marketing lingo!!!!)
Other than work and parties, I've been getting to grips with day-to-day doing things in Japanese. One of the things I couldn't figure out initially was my washing machine. I could read a couple of the instructions, but not wanting to convert my clothes to action man costumes, I harnessed the power of Skype and my language partner to work out where to put the detergent and where to put the conditioner.
Chiba Monorail - Outside my Office
I seem to be doing OK with most things, but my microwaving skills are somewhat lacking. Yes, indeed, I recently managed to set fire to a pan-o-chocolat and set the smoke alarm off in my apartment. In the midst of a frantic dash to air the kitchen of billowing choco-smoke, I opened to my kitchen window, saw a Japanese lady staring at me and the smoke coming from my kitchen window ... said, "konnichiwa" glanced over to see that she'd put her washing out on her balcony (and thus probably not appreciating the choco-smoke venting from my kitchen window ... apologised in Japanese and promptly shut my window.
But it hasn't all been high octane chocolate fires. I've actually been out for a walk around Yoyogi Park and Harajuku.
Candy Girl in Harajuku
Kazaridaru - decorated sake barrels wrapped in straw at shinto shrines.
These are outside Meji Shingu, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo.
Today, I went to get my haircut. Walking into the barbers was fun, the barber looked terribly anxious about a 'gaijin' (foreigner) walking in ... but the moment that I started speaking to him in Japanese, the air of anxiety completely transformed and I chatted away the whole time I was there. I'm very impressed at the service; not only do they give you a haircut, but you also get your neckhair trimmed and a head massage. Then after my haircut, the trainee introduced me to her baby. So I had my first conversation with a Japanese baby today. It was so funny thinking, "oh wow, I wonder if this baby is learning Japanese words from me" ... she definitely understood the word, 'kawaii' (cute); I suspect many-a-doting-Japanese-genki-girl has approached her before shreiking, 'kawaiiiiiiiiiiii'; so that's probably a word she knows ... she gurgled and smiled knowingly in reply.
We also played 'inai inai baa' (Peek-a-boo) ... which I learned from Japanese Pod 101 in the first few months of learning Japanese. At the time, I thought, 'yeah, great; I now know how to play peek-a-boo ... that's not exactly very practical is it'; yet as it turns out, when you're in a barbers shop and you've been introduced to a baby, the fact that you know how to play peek-a-boo impresses the hell out of everyone!
This is where I came out of Chiba JR Station - this is far less crowded
than when I arrived on a Saturday night.
I came here briefly in ’98, but coming back with a basic grasp of the language is giving me so much more pleasure. In the last couple of days, I’ve got my residence card registered at the city municipal office, started a health care account, opened a bank account, moved into an apartment and had the gasman come and connect my utilities. Also, I managed to get my internet connection set up; that was quite an achievement because my Macbook Pro doesn’t have an ethernet port or CD/DVD drive; so had to buy an adaptor … knowing the kara/made (from/to) sentence structure allowed me to articulate that I needed an adapter (which I figured would be like most modern words spelled out in katakana アダプター… adaputaa) thus said, アダプターはUSBからLANまでがありますか。/ adaputaa wa USB kara LAN made ga arimasuka … do you have an adapter from USB to LAN? And of course, got lead around the shop looking at all sorts of USB adapters, but no LAN connection.
So one guy went off to get another guy and I explained again … but they both looked a little confused … and each time I explained with more and more detail and they went off and got the more senior staff member to come along. In the end, the top tech guy came along and to my astonishment, he just asked one question; “Macbook Air ga arimasuka” … and immediately led me to where there was a whole shelf of USB to LAN adapters! Of course he then wanted me to buy the fastest one, so because it was my birthday I thought, “fine - treat myself to a birthday present.” Got home, but couldn’t get it to work because it needed a driver installed … oh dear … now I had to go back to the shop and explain that the driver was on the CD-ROM and my Macbook doesn’t have a CD-ROM drive. So today’s morning challenge was that; but managed to tell the whole story (which was now becoming like ‘the little old lady who swallowed a fly” song) in great detail and with a few questions about had I tried this … that … oh OK … and so I said I’d like to buy an older adapter because the operating system ought to support it … so once again, found myself having a technical debate about which vendor was most likely to have their adapter supported by OSX 10.9.
There was a happy ending. I came home today with the replacement adapter and ta-daa; I was all setup with broadband internet access! Sat there for a good few minutes just smiling because when I thought about it; I would more than likely have had just as many problems if this had happened in England if I'd gone to Curry’s or PC World. That was, for me, a super very YAY moment in my language learning adventure.
Then when I got home from my afternoon wander around Chiba park, there was a note from the post-office that I couldn’t read (didn’t understand a lot of the kanji) - but given the context and the information I could read, it seemed to be one of those notes that the post-office leave when they can’t deliver something. So I went off to the nearest post office to ask what I needed to do. It turned out to be that I hadn't written a name plate by my letter box and so they couldn't deliver in case I didn't live there. So we went through a form and apparently they'll attempt to deliver my mail tomorrow.
But just as important as getting that issue resolved; I ended up chatting away with most of the staff in the local post-office … and found that my local postman is a Liverpool supporter … so I said that I was a Chelsea fan, but please don’t burn my mail!!! Anyway, once more, loads of praise on my ability to speak Japanese (which, of course, you get if you can say the most basic things anyway, but for me it’s always encourages me to learn more, become more articulate, be able to have deeper, more interesting conversations) and I left the post-office feeling yet another buzz from the experience.
I arrived in Narita Tokyo at 8:02pm on
Saturday 27th September. Having pre-booked a rental mobile
phone in advance, I had 58 minutes to clear immigration and customs
before the mobile phone rental office shut. At both immigration and
customs, the officials were all very official until I responded to
their questions in Japanese – suddenly they were very welcoming and
wishing me an excellent time in Japan. Thankfully, I got to the
mobile phone rental office two minutes before it shut! Thinking about
it, I reckon that if I hadn't spoken any Japanese whilst clearing
immigration and customs; the process might have taken a few more
minutes; so in my mind, picking up the mobile phone at Narita saved
me from having to take two 40 minute train journeys the following
day. Getting from Narita to Chiba was pretty straight forward,
again, by speaking a little Japanese it was just that little bit more
reassuring to know I was heading in the right direction (also
reminded me of walking around googlemaps on the Add1Challenge) ... or
at least, smiled to myself thinking, 'yep, that practice is paying me
back with interest!'
So I got to Chiba, came up the
escalator and for just a few moments, I felt like I was in the film
Blade Runner. It was literally overwhelming to the senses; neon kanji
in every direction, an ocean of busy Japanese salarymen and waves of
fashionable teens cheerily giggling and chatting simultaneously on
their mobile phones and their peers. And there I was, dripping with
sweat on account of wearing my heaviest winter clothes to save a
couple of kilos on my baggage allowance. I somehow managed to be
about 3kg's overweight on my main suitcase, slightly overweight on my
cabin case and I was carrying enough electronics in my 'laptop case'
to shutdown Heathrow security for a bank holiday weekend! I couldn't
get my bearings at all; so for a couple of minutes I sat down and
hunted around for my map. In two minutes, I must have had a dozen
Japanese glances of “should I help this poor gaijin (foreigner)
out, or would be an insult? ... oh I don't know, I will help if he
asks ... even if he speaks English ... but he has to ask ... oh, but
maybe he doesn't want to be a nuisance ... only he shouldn't think
that, I want to help him out ... oh what a dilemma ...” I kept
smiling and saying, “daijoubu da” (I'm fine).
Eventually, having studied the map for
a few minutes, I was still perplexed. So I fired my flare gun
expression, “sumimasen ...” (excuse me) ... and rather than just
pointing me in the right direction, this Japanese guy (Yoshi) walked
and talked with me, popping into a Family Mart to ask the shop
assistant if he knew where this mysterious hotel was located! That
made me feel slightly less of a nuisance; because hey, I'm a lost
little foreign Johnny and here was a native Chiba-ian equally
confused as to where the hotel was. Mind you, apart from 'love
hotels', why would a local know the location of all the hotels in a
city!!?
Anyway, the Family Mart assistant
pointed us towards the hotel and suddenly, it was glaring out of the
street saying, “Yeah, don't you feel like a pair of idiots ... I
was here all the time and you've basically walked a big circle around
me!” So, I thanked my rescuer and was soon in a lovely hotel
bedroom. That lasted for about two minutes as I was hungry and
thirsty; so off to the Family Mart I went to buy familiar Japanese
snacks; Strawberry flavoured Koara Machi! (for those uninitiated with
such things; these are little Koala shaped biscuits filled with a
sort of strawberry angel delight-ish filling). I sat outside the
Family Mart thinking; “I could probably live quite happily on Koala
March”; but that wouldn't be very adventurous now would it!
It seems I've managed colour-co-ordinate myself with my luggage.
Hello Blog, I'm sorry you've been somewhat neglected for the last few weeks. I've been living in a nightmarish version of Groundhog Day in which I fill boxes with toot and then transport boxes to the economy storage facility ... aka, my parents loft. Originally, I thought it would spare me the small fortune that storage facilities charge and fiscally, yes, I've saved myself a fair few coins. But I'm still paying ... only the currency is guilt and sad looking parents whenever they ask, "How many more boxes are you going to bring over?" and I sheepishly reply, "maybe another two or three car loads ... er ... I don't know." Note to self: It's always two and a half times my estimate. Mind you, at one point, I thought that maybe it would just be better to buy some petrol, build a toot-fire (similar to a bonfire, yet exclusively toot), dowse with petrol and check a match at it. I suggested that, but apparently I shouldn't be stupid. I'm not sure it is stupid. I've certainly come to the conclusion that I'm not as sentimental as I used to be ... but I still have a sentimental threshold; who can discard anything created by children; I just can't throw away things like that.
My living room without quite as much toot as it would ordinarily have.
Anyway, after three weeks, the flat became clear and my Groundhog Day experience shifted gear into a new phase of pesky "to do" lists and yes, more boxes and recyling bags. Ahead of me is six more sleeps before I climb aboard the winged crystalis. One hopes I'll emerge in glorious rainbow colours, though I'm telling myself that in reality, I'm probably a moth. Consequently, I'm still not particularly excited, nor am I particularly stressed about things. It's probably the effect of Groundhog Dayism; everything is about completing "to do" lists and ironing things. I've actually started enjoying ironing; it's like respite from the tedium of putting toot in boxes. I'm half expecting to arrive in Japan feeling like a battery hen freed from my cage and feeling at a loss with my new found freedom from boxes and packing tape.
Its usually an insignificant spark that lights the touch-paper to my excitement. I wonder what it will be. The last time I was in Japan, it was the brilliance of Japanese user experience ... only at the time I didn't know it was called user experience ... it was just "hey, that's really cool ... I like the way they've really thought about this ... I love the way they've noticed this small little detail that makes the whole experience of using it joyful." In England the announcements on railway stations always perpetuate fear of exploding unattended baggage, but in Japan, announcements ring out like Christmas cheer. Of course, the last time I was in Japan I hadn't got a clue what was being said, but I liked to think that they were saying, "if you see a suspicious package left unattended, please report it to the station master ... because it might be a mysterious portal into a parallel universe in which dancing glitter bears, space kittens and paisley sugucorns."
Anyway dear blog, six more sleeps to wonderpan ... and I've missed Doctor Who tonight, so I'll watch that and go to bed.
On this latest Add1Challenge, the plan for the first 30 days was simply to get myself back into the habit of:
1. Speaking Japanese regularly
2. Expand my vocabulary
3. Revise sentence structures / grammar that had become rusty.
On Add1Challenge #3, I did a CELTA (English Teaching) course. This definitely proved to be a positive step towards securing a job in Japan, but it did cost me a 4 week outage in learning Japanese.
My spoken Japanese became very rusty, very quickly. So when I planned what I was going to do on this 4th Challenge, I knew that my priority was going to be getting back into the routine of speaking Japanese regularly. Add1Challenge #4 has been keeping me accountable to my plan, but also most importantly - maintaining the fun of the journey itself!
You see, something I began to understand during Add1Challenge #2 was that, under normal circumstances, nobody around you actually cares too much about your language learning endeavours. Honestly, that sounds really harsh doesn't it? Maybe I should re-phrase it.
OK, as much as your friends, family, work colleagues etc can appear to be supportive; unless they are learning a language themselves, at best they won't really understand your elation at certain achievements. In my experience, during the long-haul of language learning, I often find myself getting discouraged from even talking about learning Japanese. It's like this - friends and family are spectators and they're not so interested in watching your training sessions. They are however, delighted for you when they see the results. When it comes to speaking another language, they have problems understanding what you have achieved. Initially, the very fact that you are able to string some words together might impress them. But then as time goes on, you don't appear to speaking like a native; so it becomes very difficult for them to identify that you are actually making progress. It's not just them either; it's often hard enough for yourself to identify that you are ACTUALLY making progress!
A vBlogger I follow, Hikosaemon says that "in language learning, the brain is a muscle that needs to be flexed regularly in order to grow stronger." The same rules of physical exercise apply to language learning - you have to excercise every day. So in keeping with this analogy, if my exercise was running, then joining the Add1Challenge is comparible to joining a running club. You quickly find that you are not alone; your stories of struggles will resonate with others who also aspire to become stronger. Why the Add1Challenge works so well is not only the encouragement I receive from the other participants, but the accountability I feel towards the group. That's why its a challenge; if it wasn't fun it would be called an ordeal.
How have I progressed in the last 30 days. Well, I think I've done OK. I'm definitely back to learning consistently, I'm making progress (even when I don't feel I'm making progress) and my conversations in Japanese are becoming more interesting. I'm not talking with the same clickity-clackity flow of words I was able to after a month of immersion; but I think this is simply me comparing the way I could talk after a month of only speaking Japanese ... I put that down to the sheer amount of Japanese I was speaking during that month of immersion. But I am pretty much where I wanted to be at this stage. I feel that I have greater conversational range and can happily converse about quite a broad range of topics. To mark the 30 day milestone, I recorded this video with one of my italki tutors; Yuri.
To give you a rough idea on what I do in my Skype sessions with an italki tutor; I usually begin the session by talking about something that has recently happened. I bash and crash around telling a story. Essentially, I set a context in which to discover where I have difficulties. I use a text book to give myself a curriculum framework; but by providing my own context to practice; I find that more language learning "sticks" than by using the contexts provided in a book. My theory is that, unless language means something to you personally or affords you to do something you couldn't do without being able to speak it, it's easily forgetable!
So this is my video update to mark 30 days on Add1Challenge #4. Sure, I'm just bashing and crashing around; but that's because I'm pushing myself forward.
It's been an action-packed couple of weeks. Starting on Friday, 25th July at Hyper Japan, I met up with my favourite Japanese band, Broken Doll.
Right to Left: Kensuke-san, Yuu-san, Myself and Sachi-san at Hyper Japan. 25/07/14.
I heard of Broken Doll after reading an article by Tom Smith about the release of their album 'Reach for the Sky' on the Japan Underground website. Being a former skydiver, listening to the title track sent my heart giddy with delight. I also read an interview with Kensuke on RiceburnerFM which resonated pretty deeply with me and I must say I admired the sentiment of this album.
I had started drafting a book about human body flight some ten years prior; the central theme was about the neccessity to believe in fairies in order to fly. Proper grown-ups talk about exiting the aircraft, accelerating to terminal velocity and freefalling. The people I loved the most in skydiving were the ones who had a childish grin on their face - we never exited the plane, we entered the sky; we wern't falling, we were flying. I had stopped skydiving in 2003; I became something of a Captain Hook for a few years! However, after hearing Reach for the Sky, I found myself returning to the sky once more. I think Sachi is Tinkerbell-esq; she sprinkles pixie-dust on our souls and this affords us to fly once more. So I started flying again and that had me smiling a lot more too!
Freeflying with my friends over Taupo, New Zealand, 2002.
Left to Right: Herman (the German troll), Myself, Jon Williams (FO2)
"How do you go to Wonderland? You already have the key to happiness."
- Broken Doll, Reach for the Sky.
I went to the Hyper Japan After Party on the Friday night at the Comedy Pub in Piccadilly. Huge thank you to Paul Woodhead for organizing this event. As I'll be heading off to Japan soon enough, I asked a few friends to come along and enjoy it with me. I loved the fact that they were able to come along and see why I've fallen in love with Japanese culture. It was also great to catch-up friends I've made through Japanese meetup groups too; I haven't been to London for quite a while and I'd forgotten how much fun I have when I'm with this crowd!
Yana from Yanakiku, Comedy Pub, Hyper Japan After Party 25/07/14
I stayed up in London with my friend Catti on the Friday night and after a lazy morning of cups of tea and watching Yanakiku videos, we headed over to Earls Court for the second day of Hyper Japan. We had just come out of the tube station when Catti spotted Yanakiku across the road. It was so funny because we were like a couple of gushing teenagers who'd spotted their idols and ran up to them excitedly yabbering away in English and Japanese. We're not sure who the person who took our photo with Yanakiku was, but even though it probably wasn't, we like to think it was one of the girls mums.
Yana, Me, Catti and Kiku - Outside Hyper Japan, 26/07/14
Then we went and joined the long queue for tickets and eventually, after instigating something of a small queuing rebellion (to take shade from the sun) we made it through to the lobby. That's when I heard Catti say something about Broken Doll and I looked round to see that they were in the lobby. So I went over to find that they were heading off from Hyper Japan, but would be playing at the Namco Funscape in Westminster for the second After Party courtesy of JPU Records. I should have recognized Tom Smith when I saw Broken Doll in the lobby; but to be honest, I was too busy gushing that Broken Doll were in London. Later on, it occurred to me that I'd missed the opportunity to say, "Thanks for writing that article Tom!"
Meeting Broken Doll in the lobby of Hyper Japan. 26/07/14
Catti and me had a great time at Hyper Japan and afterwards, I was feeling a bit frazzled, so thought I'd go back home, have a shower and then head back into London for the after party. Only, just before catching the train, I changed my mind and decided to try out a Japanese restaurant that I've often walked past and thought, "it looks a bit expensive" so never bothered eating there. Of course, when I actually checked out the menu, their prices were quite reasonable. So I had a delicious Japanese curry and felt completely rejuvinated and ready for the second Hyper Japan after party.
Broken Doll - setting London ablaze with magical kawaii sparkle power!
Namco Funscape, Westminster, London - 26/07/14
Another top quality evening of fantastic Japanese bands, another fabulous audience and another great venue - the Namco Funscape. I loved seeing Yanakiku perform again, I think I'd got one of their songs, 'Orihime' stuck in my head the whole day; but also everytime I've seen a lettuce since the first time I saw them perform, I can't help but giggle to myself.
Broken Doll put on an absolutely superb show; any doubts that they're not poised to take the world by storm with their unique blend of pop-punk-kawaii-candy-electro-rainbow-unicorn-rock-uniqueness were well and truly put to rest that night. Having originally got into their music via the 'Reach for the Sky' album, I bought both 'Get Crunk' and 'Star Filled Night Sky' albums. They are progressing into a new sound and I've got to say, I'm loving the latest singles. Check out: I Miss You and Samishikunanka Nai - or better still, buy a signed mini album, "Kawaii Rock Anthems" that they released for their UK Tour.
Luckily, the battery for my camcorder ran out just before they played "Reach for the Sky." Not that I needed an excuse, but when they play that song, it just seems criminal for me to not jump around in utter ecstacy! So, right on cue, with a flat camcorder battery; I just had to lose myself in the sublime joy of being at a Broken Doll gig! What more can I say, having Broken Doll play in London still feels like it was all a dream; one that I hope becomes re-occuring!
Broken Doll Live at JPU Records Hyper Japan After Party
I'm going to be starting Add1Challenge 4 on Monday 21st July.
I'm really excited about finishing the challenge in Tokyo because in a city with 35 million native Japanese speakers I'm going to relish the opportunity of starting my new life by making as many friends in Tokyo as I can!
