If you are reading this very first post, it would mean that I have gotten confirmation of an Assistant Language Teacher placement in Japan as part of the JET programme, and that I have accepted it. In the grander scheme of things, this set-in-stone, signed-on-the-dotted-line agreement that I have commited myself to means that there is no turning back. I’m giving at least one year of my life to Japan!
Mind your language December 3, 2010
The time is here, once again, my friends, for me to completely procrastinate and do anything and everything that is not Japanese language study. You guessed right! The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is on Sunday, 2 days from now. I have very regrettably signed up to take N3, a level which I am not at yet, even though I complacently thought I would be 3 months ago.
Actually, I have a very bimbo reason for taking N3. You see, they revamped the JLPT this year, resulting in it having 5 levels instead of the previous 4. Last year, I took old level 4, a very pussy level, so much so that if I didn’t pass it, I would have shot myself. Pass I did, obviously, and got myself a shiny level 4 certificate to show for it, which I think I have misplaced. Sigh. The old level 4 corresponds with the new level N5. So this year, the logical step up is to take N4. But, I don’t want to have 2 certificates with the number 4 on it, so I thought, what the heck, let’s skip a level and take N3 instead. Very smart, cabby.
Everything would have been well and good if my Japanese language learning had not plateaued and subsequently stopped moving. Everyone says that being in Japan would greatly accelerate the learning curve. That may be true, mine did grow exponentially in the first 8 months or so, but no one ever said that you would get so sick of the language that you would just stop trying.
Also, I have a very bad habit of losing motivation when I get bad at something, learning a language no exception. 12 years or so ago (God I’m old), I took French for a bit. The beginning was fun and interesting, and I was excelling in it. However, when it got beyond learning fun vocabulary, simple phrases and basic grammar, I found myself unwilling to make that effort and my brain shut down. But, French was a little different, I didn’t see any reason I should learn the language except to kill time while waiting to go to university. I can’t even remember French any more beyond the basic bonjour and au revoir.
For Korean, interest was definitely there. Caught unabashedly in the Korean wave that swept, and is still sweeping, across Asia, I really wanted to know what I was listening to and watching, without relying on subtitles. The interest to learn Korean held up longer than French. For 2 years, I was going faithfully every week for lessons, and I made good friends that helped motivate me. Even as I attended lessons, though, I plateaued. I stopped absorbing, and I kept asking myself, why should I learn so much of a language I’m not going to use beyond understanding dramas? I think the real reason was that it got too hard. I had to actually make the effort. It wasn’t like I could do my homework 10 minutes before the lesson and get away with it anymore. I really had to think, and I was making a ton of mistakes with the grammar, and I shut down. Having stopped Korean for Japanese, my Korean language skills are mediocre at best, way worse than someone that have studied the language for 2 years should be. I am ashamed. Is it enough to say that the desire to get back into Korean has been reignited recently? It might just be me in denial and not wanting to study for the JLPT, not that I have been.
I have a love-hate relationship with the Japanese language. It loved it in the beginning, and absorbed it quickly. It did help that I got interested in Japanese entertainment. I picked up things from TV and music. In my first few months in Japan, I would watch only Japanese TV, and it accelerated my learning. Also, knowing Chinese has its advantages. Even though I did not know how to pronounce the kanji, I could understand them (somewhat, my Chinese ability is not stellar) Moreover, in the initial few months, I really wanted to be able to communicate.
Now, I think because I can communicate adequately enough to get things done without help, not surprisingly, I lose motivation to want to improve. I go for Japanese lessons once a week, one on one with my private tutor, and during those lessons, I learn well, but it all gets thrown out the window once I get home. Japanese TV has lost its appeal. I still watch it, just not so much anymore.
It’s frustrating because I do want to try to become fluent in Japanese, but I’ve lost the push I had before. It’s annoying to be a jack of all trades but a master of none, which is essentially what I am, in language learning ability and other things in life. I wonder when it was that I began to think that being merely passable is ok? Sigh.
I’ve said so much. But very fundamentally, if you whittle it down to the bone, this post is actually a HUGE excuse post to say that I AM SO GOING TO FAIL MY JLPT N3 ON SUNDAY!!!!
Northern Sights, or lack thereof October 15, 2010
The north of mainland Honshu is somewhat of a mystery to me, particularly the Tohoku region. Other than that very embarrassing ski trip to Nagano where all I saw was snow earlier this year (which is hardly north enough), the furthest I have ventured is the Kanto region, namely Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures Chiba and Kanagawa.
If I were to give reasons, one would be simply that the Tohoku region is rather far to travel to during the weekends, unlike the southern part of Honshu which is literally at Nara’s doorstep. Another reason is that there is no cheap-ish way to travel there that doesn’t involve having your butt molded into the seat of an uncomfortable night bus. Also, I have come to realise that Japan, unless there is a specific landmark site (sight), is generally the same all over. It is this fact that curbs my enthusiasm to travel north (although Hokkaido is a different story, I DO want to get there eventually) more than the others.
However, a week dotted with public holidays descended upon us, and my two trusty travel companions and I decided to take 3 days paid vacation to make it a full week of travels, and off we went – Miyagi Prefecture and within it, Matsushima and Sendai. And what is a trip up north without a pit-stop in Tokyo?
This is going to be a rather epic post, because it’s 3 locations rolled into one. Lots of pictures, mainly of food. Someone commented that I write a lot about the food I eat. What can I say? Unlike other people whose main aim is to see the sights the places have to offer, I go to places for the food. The sights are secondary. I will endeavour, however, in my other posts that are not about travel (few and far between, I know) to be less of a glutton and more of an intellect. I will try.
Anyway, onward with this post we go.
O-okinawa-ni October 1, 2010
It’s gorgeous out today. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the temperature is at a perfect 25 – 27 degrees Celsius. Hallelujah, the intolerable summer has ended. The kids at K Senior High School are on their field trip, leaving the school quiet and peaceful. I’m sitting alone in the very big and very empty staff room, whiling away time, because, well, it’s a Friday, and it is a lovely day. Besides, my handful of readers need to be updated on my going-ons.
My subject heading is actually a pun. A play on words. Somewhat a だじゃれ (dajare), as the Japanese call it.
Now, in order for you to get the joke, I have to explain why it’s punny and funny, which will probably take the punny and funny out of the joke, but no matter.
This post is about my little jaunt to Okinawa.
In Japanese, the phrase “In Okinawa” is 沖縄に, pronounced “Okinawa ni”. Coincidentally, it sounds very close to the pronunciation of 大きいな鰐 (ookii na wani), which means a very large crocodile. Not that there are crocodiles in Okinawa, at least, I don’t think so………
I know, I’m lame. Shoot me.
서울에 가자! (Let’s go to Seoul!) September 8, 2010
Dongdaemun (All picture credit goes to ET and E cos Cabby hates to take pictures)
For 2 years, I studied the Korean language. Once a week, I would leave my office (back when I had a real job) and drive myself to the language school to sit for 3 hours, learning a language that served no apparent purpose in my daily life. I used to tell people that it was just something I wanted to do to keep my brain from rusting, but truthfully and unabashedly, I was really engulfed in the South Korean pop culture wave that swept through the whole of Asia (I exaggerate).
Going to South Korea, and within it, Seoul, is like paying homage to all the hot Korean men I drool over, and go to South Korea I did. It was a 2-week see-all-that-we-can-of-South-Korea trip with the hubby and sisters, and regrettably, we only spent 2 days in Seoul. That trip was enlightening, and interesting in its own way, but it didn’t do enough to satisfy my preconceived image of what Seoul had to offer. I was disappointed, and vowed to give Seoul a second chance.
Almost 4 years has since passed, and the Korean language knowledge that had been swimming in my cranium has been rather messily packed into a drawer to make way for Japanese (note: it’s really confusing to learn Korean and Japanese at the same time. I sometimes don’t know what is what). It was this time that I decided, with travel companions in my back pocket, that here was the second chance I have been waiting for.
Off to Seoul I went, again.
I don’t have many memories of the last time I was in this city, so I was looking at it with almost fresh eyes. If you ask me to describe Seoul, I would say that it is somewhat in between Tokyo and Beijing – rapidly developing but not quite there yet, with little gem-like nooks that oozes potential. I’m no urban planner, but I reckon it must be difficult to build a city to exude the modern charm while coexisting with the heritage of a rich and vibrant history. Seoul somewhat succeeds, and has what it takes to hone the juxtaposition to perfection.
On the agenda for this trip: Shopping, Food, a little bit of Culture, and Debauchery (of sorts) thrown in.
