February 28 - Sleep...
February 27 - Aaron-cha and other things green
February 26 - Ramen with the office
February 25 - Last practice
February 24 - Busy Day
February 23 - Calm day
February 22 - I have to do what?
February 21 - Rest day
February 20 - Party
February 19 - Hooray, the weekend is near!
February 18 - Tired
February 17 - Kanji test
February 16 - Slow Tuesday
February 15 - Get the list
February 14 - Dictionary Day
February 13 - Matsumoto
February 12 - Friday #2
February 11 - Final Fantasy 8
February 10 - I work too much
February 9 - Thursday is a holiday?
February 8 - The way of the Samurai?
February 7 - An afternoon with Takata-san
February 6 - sadou class
February 5 - Busy as usual
February 4 - A Certificate from Karate
February 3 - They just don't get it
February 2 - Study day
February 1
Slept in (in my new room), after which I woke up to stash the rest of the stuff in my room, and I took off to Matsumoto, because I was so sick of moving, I had to get out. I picked up a nice "Nagano in Four Seasons" photo book, and enjoyed a KFC lunch, before returning home to do laundry, and then, after toying with my Playstation,
just went to bed. I am so tired...
Aaron-cha is one of those "Japanese-only" jokes that make no sense when translated, but basically, there is a type of tea called "uulong-cha", and in the kana writing system, my name and the tea name is one character off, and almost
is pronounced the same. In Japanese, this is hilarious, in America, people say "What?" Ah, but to the point, Tea class was wonderful, and I got to make tea for my sensei. Every move is defined, so I messed up in a lot of places, but my punishment is getting to eat food, so I am not
complaining. After three and a half hours sitting on my knees, I got Hida-san to drive me to Murai where the Karate test was being held (I brought my Karate doogi to tea class). Geez, over 70 8-year-olds and 8 older students. A little lopsided, but we are in different sections, so it really didn't matter. By the
time I finally got to do my test, it was a room of almost 80 Karate students, 7 black belt instructors, and Furuhata-sama (8th dan black belt, rater 4th in the last Japanese Karate tournament, I mentioned him before, etc.) all looking at me. I did my Heian-nidan and Heian-sandan with no real problem (no show-stopper anyway), as well
as did my Kumite (sparring demonstration), and ido (basic movement display), and was given my green belt at the end of the night, meaning I skipped a grade. Great! Now I can sleep. zzz.
Finally got the report back from those Tokyo people. Unbelievable. They pointed out nine errors which they classified as "critical", even though three of them turned out to be meaningless (suggestions as to how we should write a manual section, even though I had very specific specs to follow, and Tanaka-san backed me up on these). So then
I had six problems left to tackle, of which 4 were simply asthetic. Geez. These people should get a grip. It is like everyone in Tokyo is stressed out of their mind. Oh wait, they are. Ah, after lunch, I took off the afternoon to move my stuff, and it took all afternoon. Around 7, I went back to my office, because some of the ladies from the office wanted to go
out for Ramen, and invited me along. We had some Chinese ramen, and as such, it was VERY spicy, but tasty none the same. I was a little bit disturbed at what kind of meat they topped the ramen off with, considering the Kanji I read on the sign was "inu" (dog). Oh well, I will just pretend that it isn't, even if it was. No more on this topic please.
Work was unusally slow again. Made me feel pretty guilty, with not much on the platter until those Tokyo people give us back their reports (now late). I worked some more on my work report, but even with some ideas, I really haven't written anything concrete on my work report yet, though I did
photocopy Mendel's co-op books which, unlike me, he remembered to bring. I hope my English hasn't deteriorated to the point that I can't write a valid work report anymore. Ah, afterwards, it was time for the last Karate practice before the test. We did exercises (kumite sparring, etc.), but never really
worked on a lot of the material for the test, so I was a little concerned. Oh well, if I didn't know it by now, odds are I wouldn't know it for Saturday anyway.
Today was one of those "I have so much to do but no time to do it" days. Lots of little odd jobs to do today, and to top it off, I had a pile of laundry to do when I got back home, and I never got to move anything. Oh well. On a slightly brighter note, I made friends with some guy "Sven Blomsterberg" from Germany, of whom I
have been in touch with over our "stuck points" in Final Fantasy 8. He speaks pretty good English actually. I find it funny in the dicussion forums that the minute people find out I actually live in Japan, they comment on how lucky I am to live in such a "free" country. Well, I would consider Japan a lot of nice things, but I question
"free", especially by a foreigner. Oh well, my opinion, I guess.
With the online team waiting for the analysis of the conversion tool I made by the Tokyo people, there was not a heck of a lot to do but wait (and study Kanji). I looked at my source code and pondered how to do things differently, but I had
better not touch anything until I get my source code back with it's review, I guess. Worked a bit on my work report (finding out what the heck I should do), but after that, I just moved stuff from my old room to my new one (joy!).
Work was awfully quiet. Perhaps too quiet. Ah, well more time for me to wind down, I guess. The real shock was coming back to the dorm to find a red tag in front of my name (here, if you find a red tag in front of your name, it is something serious, and the obaasan wants to talk with you). Well, due to the wishes of the landlady and her husband, all "foreigners" are being moved into the same area (presumably so
she can both keep an eye on us, and to also keep us isolated from the Japanese populace in the dorm. What a nice lady... I have until Saturday to move everything. Ash (another co-op) is in Osaka this week. I wonder how he would move by Saturday... Ah well, used the frustration on that good old punching bag at Karate. We practiced very hard for the test coming up on Saturday. I hope I can do the two levels. The colour yellow really bothers my eyes, especially, the one
used on the belt.
Basically, I did the same old "clean up everything" routine and relaxed for today. Ippei and others went snowboarding today, of which afterwards (6PM) I met up with them at the dorm, and we all went to Denny's for some dinner. I had the tonkatsu with Miso-soup and rice platter. It was very tasty.
Well, first thing I did today was to head to Yamada Denki and try to find a pocket Kanji guide like I wanted. I found one at a real good price (2000 yen), though it is meant for native Japanese speakers learning english. Still, at that price, I couldn't complain, so I picked it up and
quite enjoyed playing around with it. It doesn't have some of the slang people sometimes talk in, but it has everything else from what I can see, and even variations on words for special cases (i.e. look, have a look at, look about, look at, etc.) Well, after a long day running around Minami-Matsumoto, I finally found my way to Shiojiri for that party. From the
station we used people's cars to drive there, and we had an "all-you-can-drink-and-eat" shabu-shabu and sukiyaki fest. Great stuff, except for the fact that the nihonshu and shouchu everyone toasted with was exceptionally strong. Afterwards, we all went to Karaoke for a while, at which the "newer" co-ops sang songs that I guess are popular in Canada, but I never heard them before. Of
course neither did anyone else, and this upset the singees in question, but oh well.
I have never had such a slow week in a long time. At least this weekend we (the co-ops) are throwing a party tomorrow and better yet, I get to sleep. Watched the cartoon "Tonari no Totoro" (my neigbour Totoro) tonight. What a wonderful movie. Too bad I didn't get to see more Totoro. I mean, you didn't see
him for the first 45 minutes, and then only a few times for the next 45. Too bad. He was amazing. Better still, everyone spoke simple Japanese, so I was able to follow this no problem. Easier than Nausica (sp?) anyway.
That about sums up today. Work was the usual (busy), and now that a new printer is being released, it is getting even more crazy around here. Oh well, as long as I can keep the conversion tool running, then it should not be too hectic for me (I hope). I think Karate finished me off for today though.
I managed to translate the instruction sheet for 7-kyu and 6-kyu (the two levels I am doing), and the instructors worked hard on them with me, and even got me to do Heian-yondan (the next kata). Makes it possible for me to go another half level and get a
purple belt, but I think that is too much already. Had some nikuman and tea afterwards, and headed to bed.
Well, we all (Ash, Peter, and I) got our results from the Japanese test, and we all failed, oh well. It was the grammar section that killed us all, but seeing as that was weighed twice as heavily as everything else, we really didn't stand a chance. Hey, I got an 89% in the Kanji section though, and that makes me happy at least. Actually, to tell the truth, out of all the EPSON
gaijin (foreigners), there was only one person that passed, and he took the easiest level, so, needless to say, it was not a good year at all. Maybe next time. Anyway, on to today, Honma-sensei gave us another Kanji test today, which was considerably easy, so that was one good point today. That reminds me, I could really use a pocket Kanji guide for travel purposes. My book is amazing, but it gets a little
cluttery to carry it around all the time.
Everything seemed to be in a void today. It was like I was watching TV or something, but it was not as funny. Well, hearing Hiranuma-san complain (to others) is always amusing, but it just couldn't save the day. I used my time to look up more Kanji. After all, being inspired to actually be able to read the text in my new
Playstation game gave me the incentive to study more (albeit some are practically useless in everyday life...well...maybe poison). Ah well, I am pretty sure at this point I can identify over 1000, even if I can not read them all, and in some cases, not know the exact meaning. Oh well, better than nothing I guess.
As usual, I came back to work to a boat load of email (another 60 or so) plus a new batch of work, so I went into one of those "just do it" modes and lost all track of time and space just doing everything until the 5:15 dinner "moment", when I ran out of there. Still a little dazed, I made it to karate. I devoted myself to photocopying the karate list (i.e. what I actually have to do). With so many conflicting orders, I thought I had better get it. After all, for 4000 yen to take the test, I would like to know I am doing it right,
especially when I am doing two levels.
Seeing as today was pretty boring otherwise, I went to the Joy 401 and picked up some food, and then came back and though I should cook it. I tried a strange recipe out of my cookbook which involved green beans, sesame, and some strange paste. It tasted alright, but I still don't know what that paste was. After all that, I though I should study some more Japanese, so I did it
in the most entertaining way, and play on my Playstation. Hah! And people said these machines were no good for anything but rotting your brain. Shame on them. I learned verbs and kanjis for running (hashiru), swimming (oyogu), singing (utau), and too many others which would fill the rest of this page, but needless to say, it was a lot.
Went to Matsumoto (again) and bought some breakfast (buttered toast with coffee) and picked up an extra coffee for later. Geez, the coffee is so good here. I wish I could get some of this in Canada. Went shopping in Parco, and picked up the latest culture magazine, and debated on picking up the Les Miserables soundtrack (in Japanese of course), but it was 5000 yen, so I thought not (for now). Thought about some other things too, like that weird shell-like instrument you play like a flute. Ah, I just saw too many things that caught my eye. I saw a 250000 yen watch today (the G-Shock Silver Bullet). Why
it is so expensive I will never know. I liked the one that lit up exceptionally bright when you hit the front button. Better than indiglo (and twice as expensive). There was also the one that stored web page addresses, but that seemed a little tacky, and it was just huge. I saw they were selling train pins at the station (commemorating ## years of JR service). I will wait until the Shinkansen pin is released (one at a time it sais). Who wants a local train?
Wow, two Fridays in one week. So much for company productivity. Anyway, I just got to touch up some work and wrap up the week pretty nicely. I was really tired today, so I did not get to do much other than...well...eat and sleep I guess.
Yes, today was the "grand" day for all of Japan, the day the Sony Playstation game Final Fantasy 8 was released to the public after much hoo-haw. I could not believe the line-up though. I mean, 120 copies all sold in 40 minutes (except for my
reserved copy from a few months ago (he he he)). Since today was a holiday (and it was snowing, though none of it stuck) I got to play for a while before heading to Karate. Unfortunately, the roads were icy, and no-one made it, so I ended up waiting outside for
near 20 minutes before I gave up and went home, picking up a nikuman from Lawsons on the way. It shocks me to know the Japanese do NOT know how to drive in the winter. They drive like they would in the summer, and can NOT grasp the idea that they can not stop, or will
skid, etc. I saw 3 accidents on my way to Karate, and another on the way back. What? I assume they know what ice is, but geez, this is ridiculous. Even Ippei drives the same way. I think all foreigners fear for their lives when riding in a car in the winter
driven by any Japanese.
No, really? Seriously, I had to prepare a few Chinese documents for our affiliate in China along with some programs I wrote for them and such. Geez, I feel sorry for them reading my chinese (considering noone here knows anything
about the language and Mendel can only help me so much). The day literally flew by though, especially with people taking today and Friday off to make a very long weekend. I rented two movies after work to wind down on my home grand-theater entertainment
centre (a 14 inch TV stacked on 2 VCRs and audio via $8 headphones, just like a theater in Matsumoto I hear). Seriously, I rented Fifth Element and Star Trek: First Contact. The Fifth Element had Japanese subtitle, but I forgot to
notice the Star Trek was all in Japanese (spoken). At least I caught that "resistance is futile" line. Actually, I could make out quite a bit. I should watch more movies that way.
They never tell me these things in the office. I have to find out from the other foreigners at lunch (at the ever popular gaijin table). I think Hirasawa-san's goal is to have me there
24 hours a day on-call type of thing. Well, I practically live there during the week anyway, but I DO need a little time off. Oh well, today was pretty much a nothing day as far as entertainment value
goes. I studied more of my Japanese though, and that was worth it. Phrase of the day : "teikou wa muimi" (resistance is futile).
It was a local joke today. You see, in order to become a samurai, you have to be a master of both combat and of elegance, of which at work they associate me
with Karate and Sadou (tea ceremony). Also on a side note, I was told by Ippei that in Germany, the teriyaki burger is called a samurai burger. Just thought everyone should
know... Ah, if there is one thing I need, it is sleep. Going to karate tonight only made me more tired, despite the fact I was instructed on most of what to do for the next test.
Well, this morning I packed and wrapped another package I will mail off tomorrow (this is getting expensive, but I have no alternative), and cleaned my room, did laundry, etc. before heading to Hirooka station to meet Takata-san. She lives in Hirooka too, though a little farther that I (she said 5 minutes more by bicycle).
We headed to Matsumoto, where along the way me picked up one of her friends at Murai station (she would kill me if she heard this, but I forgot her name). All the same, once we arrive in Matsumoto, Takata-san lead us around to some of her favourite spots, including the castle, her favourite library (with some foreign books even), some schoolgrounds,
and one of Matsumoto's park's. The library was interesting, as you are allowed to get food and drink from the third floor, and have it while reading books in the library. Anyway, after that, we made our way to a yakitori restaturant (meat on a stick type-thing), and partook in the local
delicacies. It was very delicious, and cheap too, so we were all very happy about that. Afterwards, we picked up a cooking book (for me) for "living alone person", and it has some good recipes in there. True, it is all in
Japanese, but I was able to decipher most of it. I will have to ask Takata-san for the rest sometime. After that, we finally made out way home, to which we both walked home. At this point, I just went to sleep, as tomorrow is another work day.
Hida-san picked me up from the dorm around 12:30 and we drove to some place in Matsumoto (wayyyy on the fringe). It was an old traditional temple style place where we had class. I was politely reminded that speaking English would insult the
sensei, so I had better speak Japanese as much as possible, even if it makes no sense. So, formalities aside, we spent 3 hours on our knees making and drinking tea (and eating the snacks with it). Very weird - i.e. "that was bad! Here, have some more tea". For
the most part I simply did the hankerchief routine (proper folding, handling, and usage). Geez, every step is a defined move. I made out some of the sensei's orders to Koyama-san (who has been studying for almost two years). Things like "No no, you enter the room on your
RIGHT foot, take three steps, and kneel starting on your LEFT foot, and your third step was too large, shorten it". Very technical, this, but Karate is really no different in its strictness. Afterwards my legs were total butter, but I had some nice food and drink.
Worked on all my major projects today, though by the end, I was just ready to collapse. This "work harder not smarter" ethic still confuses me. Good thing I have a ready supply of maccha at my
disposal (green tea powder). The vitamins and minerals in it offset the extremely high caffiene level, but all the same it keeps me going, and has a great (albeit bitter) taste. That reminds me, I have tea class tomorrow with
Hida-san and Koyama-san. Ah, the evening came much too late, but it did, and I actually got to eat and rest.
Well, work was the same as yesterday, so I doubt I will have anything substantial to give China on monday, but hey, I was ordered to do other things, so it's not my fault, and I am sticking by that reason (they could have easily gotten someone else
to talk to the guys in Tokyo). Ah well, on to the special news. Seeing as I have finished 9 (okay 10 with tonight) lessons with Furuhata-sama (the Karate master), I received a certificate which shows I have studied under him (and it said my kyu-ranking as well -
hakkyu (8th kyu or blue belt). A nice neat official looking thing I can frame (later). The weather has been very good lately. I am surprised that I didn't really need a winter jacket all winter (though I am told the "winter" is going to continue for another month or so yet).
I don't understand the work priorities here (still). I mean, they want this Chinese stuff done for Monday (perfectly, though that is rarely possible in situations where the data is likely to change drastically), and yet they pull me off
to do more vital work, like explaining the conversion tool to some guys in Tokyo who have no immediate reason to know all about it. None the less, I had to do as ordered, so who knows what will happed with China? On a brighter note, someone finally cleaned the
kitchen at the dorm, so I can cook without scrubbing down the stove and sink before using it. Wow, how I haven't contracted some incurable disease from there, I will never know.
I have another Kanji test tomorrow, so I had better look over some more I suppose. Don't get me wrong, it is not difficult (the ones I have to know). I spent a good 10 minutes looking over the ones for the
test, and another few hours looking over kanji I may actually see on the street. I am not saying the kanji I am learning is useless, but rather, a little harder to see outside of class. All the same, I am studying hard
trying to reach my personal goal of 1000 memorized, though at that level, I keep mixing up some of the kanji. Note: the only way I could afford to do this today was because compiling the Chinese data takes forever
and a day.
February already? Oh well, it was a pretty slow day today anyway. I made a run to the post office today to mail some of my stuff back home. It really bothers me that the only time I can go to the post
office is on my lunch break since the post office is only open 10AM to 3PM weekdays only and closed on holidays. Very inconvenient indeed. Oh well, the price is good, considering how heavy my shipments are becoming. Worked with Keith on
some Chinese data today as well. Boy, the kanji looks weird when you put it on a Japanese system (still). The section "Troubleshooting" becomes something about cutting down god. Of course, I'm sure that is not
the intended meaning.
