Notes to Myself

Language Swap

When you are a foreigner trying to learn the local language you can run into a strange situation. Let's say you are at a fast-food restaurant, trying to use your stuttering language skills to order a burger. Then, sometimes, the person at the till replies in your own language.

So, in my situation, I've tried to order in Japanese, only for the reply to be in English: "Is that all?" etc. Then, I answer "Hai," thereby strangely kind of swapping languages. This feels very weird when it happens. Though the till person is trying to be helpful, this can be a little frustrating when you are trying to improve your language skills.

Yawn to Yawn

Don't you find yawns interesting? Especially how one person can induce a yawn by someone else simply by yawning? I once heard that this response may have originated from social behaviours before speech - "I am tired, (so you must be too)"? Anyway, I think it's intriguing.

Why am I writing about yawning? Well, because instead of the yawn induced yawns I mentioned above, the other day, I yawned at exactly the same time as the person sitting next to me. That is bizarre. Have you experienced this variation?

Source of info below - yawning webpage info for kids!

"It is possible that yawns are contagious because at one time in evolutionary history, the yawn served to coordinate the social behavior of a group of animals. When one member of the group yawned to signal an event, all the other members of the group also yawned. Yawns may still be contagious these days because of a leftover response (a "vestigial" response) that is not used anymore. None of this has been proven true and yawns are still one of the mysteries of the mind."

Mannish Style

This is from a hair salon's flier, and mannish, intelligent, orthodox, is one of the fab styles the ladies can choose!

Health Trick

At school today there were health check-ups in the morning. I agreed to participate, just for the ol' once over.

Last week I was told that blood might be taken, which to be honest, worried me, as I am not fond of needles. Then I was told that at my age the test wasn't necessary. So, on the form that was filled out the blood test box wasn't checked.

After the blood pressure test I was shown to the blood removal zone, if you will. I said, "but it's not ticked on the form." The nurse pointed to a tick mark next to some Japanese writing. Oh. Someone tricked me! When I find out who...

Anyhow, it was the first time I've had blood taken and I was a little nervous. However it didn't hurt at all. My mum used to complain about her blood tests and says that sometimes it hurts more than other times. Maybe I had a good nurse - and a small needle.

Lately I've been feeling overly tired, even with sufficient sleep. It's probably related to my diet. I wonder whether they will find anything wrong.

Pay for Nothing

To pay some bills in Japan you can go to the nearest 'convenience store'. Last night I went into Lawson's, which is similar to 7-11, to pay a bill and to grab a snack.

At the counter two pretty female cashiers were serving together on one till, presumably because it was quiet. One was taking money while the other was bagging items. I placed my bill and my chocolate bread on the counter.

First the girl on my left pointed out that I couldn't pay the bill there, which was embarrassing enough. Ok, just the bread then. I paid and while trying to put the change back in my wallet I was being indecisive about whether to throw away the receipt into the little receipt bin in front of the counter. "No," I thought, and started walking out. When they giggled I realised that I had walked off without my purchase. How stupid! I think the bill part got me in a tizz. Well, I think they'll remember me from now on.

Winamp Pessimism

Today I am listening to mp3s for the first time in ages. Winamp is playing classic Destiny's Child tunes with a very pretty 'Aqua X' skin, clashing beautifully with my clunky XP interface. Let me add that Winamp 3 is incredibly sluggish on my new laptop so I am sticking with 2.x.

When I install winamp I always change the timer to count down instead of the traditional counting forwards. Why do I do this? I wonder whether it is to do with my pessimistic thinking patterns. I.e. I am concerned with how much is left of a song. Maybe I have it the wrong way around - is the glass half empty, or half full. Half empty! But the difference there is that you can see both states at the same time. Well, enough of confusing myself for today. You?

Does your winamp timer go fowards or backwards?
Is your glass half full or half empty?

[mini note to myself - you took the picture with the timer going forwards!]

Designer Scarf

If you see any high school girl wearing a scarf, then I'll bet it's made by Burberry. Everyone seems to have the same scarf, although there are a few colour varieties. Initially you may be fooled into thinking that it is part of the school uniform because it is so common.

Also, the way to wear a scarf here is to have the two ends over your shoulders, preferably, I imagine, with the label face up.

English Tennis

I went to have a few hits with the tennis club at school the other day. Of course, I was pleased when they started shouting a few English words about. True, 'gay,' was one of the more common ones, but anyway!

My rusty tennis skills meant that I made numerous mistakes during the drill they were doing. Returning to the baseline, I heard one of my students say to the others, 'how many... times... you... fucked up.' Everyone laughed. Well, I was so proud that he created an English sentence, it's just a shame that I had to be the subject of his critisizm!

Saved From Hell

When I went to the loo, I noticed a smallish spider treading water - ok, on the surface - trying in vain to escape the confines of the squat. Feeling like a super citizen, I crafted a piece of toilet paper into a makeshift ladder to save the poor beast. Well, it was more like dangling a piece of toilet paper over the water, but that doesn't sound as good does it? So, he - men's toilets... - climbed on to the lifeline I provided and I blew him far away into the next cubicle. I saved him but there was no need to be friends.

So, I really did save a spider - and not in the, "I am not going to kill it, so it is saved." Does this mean I will be saved from hell? I now have a useful get of of jail, er hell, card.

Coridoor Talk

A student walks towards me along the coridoor. He is casually chatting on his mobile phone. Drawing level to me, he stops, puts his feet together and bows. I say "hello," and we walk away. He continues his phone conversation. Strange, but that's how it is sometimes.

Sleepy Keitai

Ok, it is time to present the evidence I have been carefully collecting with my mobile phone. If you missed my post about keitais, then you had better go and read it! Just to recap, it can take pictures and small video clips, which is pretty nifty ;) Also, maybe you should have a look at the posts I made about sleeping on trains. Go!

  
  

The guy on the bottom left was probably drunk. It was taken quite late at night on the second to last train. The sleeping couple made a cute picture, don't you think? My favourite, though, is the man sleeping with his head on his knees! Classic.

Sniff & Spit

Sorry to go on and on about the same thing, but I have to record a couple of things here. The first is sniffling. I had to listen to a guy sniffling the same piece of horrible snot for about half an hour on a busy train the other day. Surely that is disgusting? Go on, be rude and blow it. Give us peace for 5 minutes I thought.

Again, regarding the spitting subject, I have been surprised by how people are not afraid to gob where they like. True, they are mostly men, middle-aged and upwards, but even so. The other day, again on the trains I was amazed to see a man lean out of the doors at a station and to let his spit drop through the gap in between the train and the platform! Euggghhh...

Other Machines

While I am on the subject of vending machines, and as Ming rightly raised in his comment to my last post, there are some other more surprising types of machine on the streets.

Do you think it is strange to be able to buy beer and cigarettes from vending machines on the high road? Well, yes, you can do it here! Worried about your kids buying these types of things so easily? I think I would be, but there you go.

Actually, the other week I was riding towards a station and I noticed some kind of porn machine by an amusement centre! Are there no limits to what you can buy here in vending machines...?

Drink Machines

Have I mentioned the drinks machines that are on practically every street in Japan? What a fantastic idea! I guess it wouldn't work in the UK due to excessive vandalism, which is a shame. Before you say it, no, I don't think the alarms would deter some people in London.

During the summer months I was very thankful for the beautifully cooled drinks, including coffees, teas, pepsis and so on to cool me down. Now, since the colder weather has started to set in, the same drinks machines now dispense hot drinks! Ah, the joys of a warm can of coffee in your hands on a cold night. I imagine these will become a lifeline when the real Winter hits.

Flavoured Kitkats

I was happily surprised to find a variation on standard kitkats the other day. I admit, normal kitkats are delicious as they are, but the banana one is great!

There are probably other flavours out there to find. Have you seen these in the UK, or anywhere else?

Early Christmas

Considering Halloween wasn't really celebrated here, I was surprised by the amount of decorations, especially popular in shops and some restaurants. As soon as Halloween finished it seemingly turned into Christmas season - that would be November 1st. It feels like the shops just ride whatever season or festival is coming up, regardless of how much it is actually celebrated.

The other day I went to a school festival and was fascinated to see some of the students playing in a band on stage, wearing Santa outfits to complement their loose socks. What do you think of Santa making okonomiyaki?

J-Com Guy

Over the last few days or perhaps the last week I've received two similar letters from JCom. It is totally undecipherable to me, I'm sure, but to be honest I didn't try too hard. At school I asked one of the teachers and got a somewhat vague description about a questionairre or something. It just didn't sound likely. Was it anything to do with the fact that I cancelled the previous tenant's JCom cable account? Anyway, the teacher phoned up a number on the letter and I thought that was the end of the matter. I threw away the letters.

When I arrived at home a tiny little car was parked by my block of flats. It didn't look familiar and when I walked past it I saw a JCom symbol. Ack. Of course, the guy got out and started knocking on the door next to my flat. No-one was in and he started talking to me.

So, it was another one of those frustrating chats at my door. I guessed it wasn't just about wanting cable, because after I said I didn't need it he kept on talking. Also, he was pointing at dates and days so I think he wants to come back. I think he mentioned a white box, which I now see in my wall. But isn't that just the normal aerial? I can't be bothered to look at the wires. My current guess is that they are wiring up the whole block for those who want cable.

I'm fed up with my lousy Japanese! Sometimes you realise how helpless you can be when you are in certain situations without the power of communication.

Bread Types

When I went into the supermarket at first I was surprised by the interesting variety of breads. I am often just looking for a plain French loaf, which is surprisingly rare at my, ahem, 100 yen shop. Instead there are all sorts of chocolate-filled breads, fruit-filled breads, interesting hot-dog style breads, cheese & bacon breads, nutty breads... you name it, it's probably there. Of course there is plain bread loafs, but that is just plain boring ;-)

Fuji-san

Today I got very excited because I got my first glimpse of Mount Fuji! Yes, I've already been here 3 months and you can even see from places in Tokyo, but until today I had never seen it!

In my area there are a range of mountains in the distance that block of the view of Fuji. However, if you travel further into Kanagawa, you can see around one of the taller mountains and... there she is! I could only see the top half and most of it was covered in snow. To look so quite big from so far, I can't imagine what it looks like up close.

My friends were not so impressed, as apparently they can either see it from their homes, or from their schools. I think I'd just stare at it all day if that was the case for me.

I've been told Mount Fuji is closed through the winter for climbers, but I hope to go next year. I can't wait!

Sink Gobbing

I, and other ALTs, have been surprised by behaviour at the staffroom sink. It seems that sink spitting is acceptable in front of others; something we are a little horrified by. Well, of course, I'd do it at home, but not in front of other teachers who are waiting to wash their cups! I have yet to witness a female doing it, but... my mind is now programmed to accept all possible situations and cultural differences (if possible). Sometimes I wonder whether this attitude will lead me to forget what is considered acceptable back at home!

Heaters Arrive

Things are feeling decidely chilly. Thankfully my jacket arrived just in time from England, and it has already been put to good use. However, is it that cold? Apparently, things turned cold unusually quickly this year, but this is still only early November. The teachers and students continuously moan about how cold it is. I don't really understand the teachers saying how cold it is all the time, but I accept the comments from the girl students with their bare legs. Do they go all winter like that? I think so. Girls in my school would no way have done that.

Some time this week huge contraptions were moved into the staffroom. What...? They... are the... heaters?! Standing in the middle of the walkway are two large pre-historic looking kerosene heaters. Fumes escape up pipes that lead to a small holes high up in the walls.

Today the fires were lit for the first time and staff and students immediately ran towards the warmth! I went to have a look, of course. I was half expecting to see a soot-covered kid shovelling coal into these machines when I saw the flames...

'We don't have that much money,' was the excuse I was given for this heating situation. Um, but you have a swimming pool. Doesn't every school in England have central heating? I think the priorities are different here. Before I left for Japan I would have been surprised that such a high-tech society, makers of -this- beautiful PC would have schools with merely a few scattered kerosene heaters for winter!

Spiders

Either it is spider season or spiders are simply more visible for some reason in Autumn. Often I am riding along and I am suprised by huge webs hanging across my path. Of course, there are big spiders (about 6cm long?) occupying these large webs and plentiful supplies of big flies waiting to be eaten.

Ok, well normally in the UK we have little spiders, so it is interesting to me to see these large things everywhere! Do you have spiders like this where you live? Or how about bigger, more dangerous ones? Well, I am assuming these ones are not dangerous!

Sleepy Trains

On the trains people sleep so much. I must admit that I have started to become very sleepy on the shortest of train journeys. Perhaps it is something they put in the 'soft-air' conditioning. Once you start getting sleepy it seems to happen every time you get on a train; much like when your body seems to go into sleep mode during lectures at university. Of course, now there is heating, which makes things all the worse.

What interests me is how people wake up at their stops. I know people who travel long distances on trains, sleeping, and yet they still never miss their stops. How do you think that is possible? Are people in such a light sleep that people are listening to the "the next stop is..." announcments; is it because of the same timing day after day; or something else.

I remember when I used to nap on the Underground back in London. Normally I was half-asleep and I'd check what stop I was at now and then. Maybe that is cheating ;)

100 Yen

Have you been to a Hyaku-en shop in Japan? It is an amazing place where prices are mysteriously much lower than they should be - everything is 100 yen. Forget those cheap, low quality shops in the UK; these shops sell good items for no more than 50 pence or so! The only slightly annoying thing about these shops is that they are not really '1-coin' shops after you add on the tax! Unless you have a 105 yen coin...

Take a look at these products which I bought the other day (yes, I have tatami mats!). How can you get an umbrella so cheaply? Hmm, I should try those hand grips one day. There seems to be almost nothing you can't buy at these shops. In one bigger hyaku-en shop I even saw a purikura machine!

A little further down the road fromt the 100 yen shop is the 99 yen shop...!

Tissues Boxes

Of course, the free tissues being handed out continues unabated, but this is different. I hope someone can tell me what exactly happened. Well, my doorbell rang. I answered and there was a man holding 3 boxes of tissues wrapped together in plastic. He proceeded to start talking Japanese to me. Most people get the hint if you look in the least bit foreign and you say (in Japanese or not) "sorry, I don't understand." But this guy just kept on speaking at full speed in Japanese! Strange. After about a minute of him talking he gave up, and said "present," giving me the 3 boxes of tissues!

So, anyone know what this was about? Was he some kind of ganster, and by accepting the tissues in a moment of confusion I have given him control of my life? Hm, I hope not.

Halloween

As yesterday was Halloween - "Happy Halloween!" by the way - I had some Halloween related lessons. During the lessons I gave out some sweets as prizes (they were lovely strawberry milk sweets!). After one of the lessons some of the more enterprising students waited outside the class say "trick or treat" to me. I said OK, and gave them a couple of sweets.

Later in the day I went to the school tennis club to see if the students were any good. Of course, they were. What a training regime they follow! It soon got dark, and the girls started walking passed. Lots of them said "trick or treat," but were obviously unprepared when I said, "hmm, ok, trick." They just stopped and looked a little confused... it was quite funny, even for them!

I've seen quite a number of shops with Halloween decorations here, and the students have all heard of Halloween. However, apparently Halloween wasn't well known here until fairly recently.

There is a shop near my place that was selling huge pumpkins - incredibly, or not, at the end of the night there were still loads of pumpkins sitting just waiting to be carved! Maybe I could get one today for 100 yen?!