Week 7 & 8: Cancelled/rescheduled

Last week's blogpost is (largely) cancelled due to sickness and dehydration, and this week's post will disappear in the amassed workload; the groupwork assignment took a new twist while I was sick so now I have to start all over on something I wasn't really prepared to write (that much) about. 

Um, yeah, to briefly explain last week:

I just had the time to be "well" again for about 2 days, and then I ate something that didn't agree with me. After a heavy nausea on Wednesday I've been dehydrated and feverish throughout the weekend, slowly rehydrating and getting gradually better closer to Monday (food helped a lot), and I was back at school today Tuesday...

But on a nicer note, the Monsoon is here and temperatures are getting comfortable! I love the heavy rains and thunderstorms, it gives me a good autumn feeling. I've started reading stories with a friend at the rooftop in the evenings to hold onto this atmosphere.

People are getting restless here. It's the ten-week-crisis looming I think, assignment stress, and travel giddity. A lot of people have started talking (increasingly) about their after-Pondi-travels or about the return home. My plans are still not fixed, I'm still checking out the options as they appear, I've had about 6-7 ideas I've decided and then decided against. This time I've started asking for possible dates and price options etc. Looks like it'll turn out nice in the end...:)

Week 6; behind on blogging again...

(Warning: Long post!)

Yeah, another 2-in-1 update, the post for week 5 is here. 

The last post weren't posted earlier due to illness; I haven't felt too good/borderline sick, and then finally giving in I redefined my 'cold' to 'having a small flu'. I missed out on a great workshop on the topic of the Kashmir issue because I didn't have the energy to benefit from being present. The workshop was held in Auroville, and though I tried to go the first day I decided not to go the second day. I felt dizzy and tired by lunchtime and decided to go home, and instead of going to Auroville the second day, a friend and I went out to the study center, ate proper food, relaxed, and talked to the staff. 

Towards the end of the week I felt better, stating that I'm getting better but still not 100% back to normal. I decided not to join in on the Children's Day (taking a bunch of village children to an amusement park for a day) even though it sounded fun; I knew it would've drained me for all remaining energy leaving me reduced for another week or so. Not worth it. I did go to the costume party Saturday night, dressed as a Colonial times British lady. (I'll try to see if anyone got a picture of me...)

Sunday, went out for brunch with a friend and afterwards we roamed the warm streets of Pondi, enjoying the bright sunshine and the nice temperatures (which has dropped to a mere +30 Celsius), and the sounds and life in the streets occupied by the Sunday market. 

Despite illnesses (not just me) our group assignment was in on time. I felt quite accomplished when I had sent it. Friday became much better after 5 pm (the deadline), and in the evening me and Lina went to Banana Café - one of our alternative regular spots, where we sat talking with the chef (whom is also working at our study center) for almost an hour after eating.  

As for regular spots/hang-outs; we're up to 4 regular spots now; 
* Surguru - the best restaurant in town, both for food and prices 
* Banana Café - the best western food in town, and the cleanest (or: only clean) kitchen in town 
* Rick's Café - the best ice coffee and chicken baguette
* Coffee.com - internet cafe with nice atmosphere, tasty food, and wonderful tea.

In the beginning I lamented my friend's lack of interest in trying out new places, but by now I've accepted that these are the places to go, and attempts at going other places has resulted in bad restaurant experiences, leading me to believe we're not going to find better places than we already have found. 

Me & Lina has been talking increasingly with the staff at the study center, always exchanging greetings with the chef, talking with the manager's assistant and always greeting the other staff members with a smile when we meet them. Apparently we're more sociable than earlier batches of students. Makes me wonder what kind of people that must have been... But looking around at school, there's not many of the students that actually talk with the staff, although there are a few more than Lina and I.

Point of pride, come Monday morning; make sure to talk to the staff I danced with on Saturday to prove I'm different from the earlier batches - that apparently became (stereotypically) social when drinking, and then reverting to Scandinavian arrogance the following monday... Heard it before? (I have at least; same, but different.) Lina also voiced her relief that the Indians we danced with danced at a comfortable distance - in contrast to previous experiences.

So, in a week where I didn't do much, even skipping significant event like the P&C workshop and the Children's Day, I ended up having quite a lot to say anyway... even after 5 weeks in little Pondi!


ADDITION:

I forgot to mention the trip to the Cinema!

We had spent a day talking to Kavitha at the study center, and Thursday she brought me and Lina along to the cinema when se was taking a group of school children! Watching a flim (yes, that is how they say it here...!) in an Indian theatre was Absolutely, Fabulously, Fantastic Fun! 

We had a small "box" in the theatre to ourselves in the back of the theatre hall itself, and it was me, Lina and Deborah, Kavitha and her daughter, and her 15-20 school kids (all girls, in the age range of 10-14 I guess) in the box. The music was loud, the hero was popular and the heroine was beautiful, the romantic scenes was vividly graphic for being that decent (I don't know if I managed to get the correct impression into words here...), the girls sang along to the love songs, *squealed* when there was a scene with the hero and heroine together, and a fountain of confetti flew around our ears after an especially climatic (romantic but not sexual) scene. Definitely an experience in it's own right...

Week 5: Change of plans (backdated)

Power cut. And I feel small streams of sweat form up as soon as the ceiling fan stop working. Yes, ceiling fan, not air condition. No air condition in this apartment, no-no. Aircon makes you sick. I’ve had a cold for a week now, just because of an encounter with mild air conditioning. 

The power returned quickly today, after just a couple of minutes. Lucky, lucky. But it can also mean that the systems are instable and the power may be cut again at some point today. But we’re lucky here; I think it’s more than a week since we last had a power cut. 

My plans keep being changed. (Usually by me, fortunately.) This weekend I had planned to go to Kerala, but as I still have a cold I decided it would be too intensive for me to travel that far and that much with that many people at once at such a limited time. And thus, the first change of plans. So Lina and I were thinking of going to Ooty – until we learned we would need at least 4 days for any Ooty-trip frm Pondi. Second change of plans. We decided to stay home in Pondi for the weekend, perhaps take a daytrip somewhere, but mostly study. 

We’ve had an intensive week at school this week, up until Wednesday which was the last day before our long weekend. 

• Monday – lecture and then field trip to a Dalit village (village of people from the "caste-less" caste in India; the “untouchables”).

Dalit woman and her grandchild dressed up for having their picture taken:

 

• Tuesday – seminar for the whole class (usually we’re split in groups), then double lecture. Plus a lot of readings weighing on a student’s conscience. And errands in the evening, and a dance class I didn’t go to because of 1) errands making me late, and 2) still not well from the cold.

• Wednesday – Another day on double lectures, and lots of people leaving for Kerala. I wore khaki shorts and a casual t-shirt to school, and received the comment “Oh, how unusual to see you in Western clothes!” … has my wardrobe turned that much Indian? I hadn’t realized…

• Thursday – Went out for a morning walk with Lina at 5:45, we snuck out early to avoid the yoga instructor in case she came and admonished Lina for not going to the yoga class at 6:00. We walked to the beach promenade, had chai and watched all the people, including a weird French guy walking his marionette (“Ernesto” we were told) at the beach before he began his yoga exercise. We weren’t the only ones taking pictures of him, a crowd of locals had also gathered around. After returning home we meant to go to school and study, but lack of proper sleep brought about a slight change of plans, so we ended up staying home. 

Ernesto out for a morning walk at the beach:

• Friday – Actually went to school to study, and studied! In the evening there was a movie night at Kamachi, but I ended up changing my plans again, and chilled back home– surfed the net ‘til I slept.

• Saturday – slept long – café – blog/study evening – in my own company.

• Sunday - ..studying!!! Let’s hope this plan won’t change…

Missing Japan, listening to Jp. goodfeel music – genres changing with my mood. 

To Bangalore and back again

I haven't blogged (properly) for 2 weeks now. Why? First week I was too busy, so I assembled a picture-post in order to have something to post (see back-dated blog post here)

The next week I spontaneously joined a group going to Bangalore - forgetting to finish and post my blog post in the packing process as we left on my "blogging day".

Bangalore

Journey & Accommodation
I spontaneously joined a group going to Bangalore one evening before departure, ending up hurrying through necessary packing ad wrapping up stuff that needed to be done before departure. We travelled by night bus, a nice one, and arrived early at the guesthouse – 05:00… There had been a slight misunderstanding of when we were to arrive, so when we showed up at 5am our rooms were unprepared and quite dirty… We managed to arrange some mattresses and clean sheets and slept a couple of hours, and then we went into the centre of Bangalore for the day.

When we returned to the guesthouse in the afternoon the moods was much lighter and the experience was considerably better. We got the rooms cleaned, talked some more with the manager (whom turns out to be really nice), and the wonderful staff unexpectedly offered chai (tea) brought up to the room – free of charge!

Happy people!

Downtown Bangalore 
Shopping started in a mall, and then we walked up and down the main streets checking out the stores, ending up in a bookstore searching for useful literature to our group assignments in Pondi. I even managed to find an adapter/converter for my camera recharger (– which has Japanese prongs, and a suitable adapter; back home in Norway…), so now I’m finally able to take pictures again! (Happyhappyhappy!)

We had various experiences with the autos (remember the auto-rickshaws?); teaching us that over-eager drivers accepting low prices right away is not to be trusted. They take detours to stores they are affiliated with (tourist traps) to earn more money. At the shop they tried to sell me a nice pashmina shawl – incidentally an identical one to one I already had – and a quick question of the price revealed it to be 5 times the price of what I bought it for in Pondi.

Other experiences, always agree on the price first, and ask some locals to arrange the auto and the price for you if possible; they get much better prices than us obvious and oblivious tourists are able to arrange for ourselves. It might have a background in the poverty and high levels of competition in all areas in India, most Indians we come across in everyday activities (outside of the Study Center in Pondi) are opportunistic to various degrees. (Yes, this is a generalization and a very broad one at that…)

Safari
The second day in Bangalore we decided to go to a nearby Safari. Our guesthouse staff arranged two autos for us (and haggled the price for us), and off we went. It was almost an hour driving to the Safari (can’t remember the name of it, sorry), and then we arranged with the auto drivers that they would wait for us and take us home after a couple of hours –for the same price. Inside the safari we chose to take the Grand Safari bus ride (1hr) and climbed into the safari bus (not as exciting – nor as cute – as the safari buses in Beppu (Japan)). When we entered the bus the driver’s assistant placed us in the front seats, and while driving he took our cameras and took pictures (good ones) for us – for an expected tipping, of course. (We felt a little uncomfortable with the obvious difference in treatment, but as we –the girls in my group and I– believe everyone else in the bus (all Indian) assumed the assistant to do this for extra profit, the discomfort changed to a feeling of …apathy?) Anyway, the safari was really nice, and we were all relieved to see that the animals in the Zoo/Safari looked hale and healthy.

Bangalore (left) vs. Beppu (right)

 

Safari pictures, mine (left) and the driver assistant's (right)

 

New friends
Later the last night in Bangalore Lina and I went out to dinner with Lina’s friend Rohini and Rohini’s mother. They are the sweetest people on earth!! I fell so in love with the two of them. Even though it was the first time we met they asked if I would come along and visit their family in (some place I can’t pronounce) when Lina is going to, and when we said I would not be coming they asked us why! I hope I will get the opportunity to meet them again some time, they were absolutely lovely.

Return 
Even though we didn’t want to leave after meeting with Rohini and her mother, after only such a brief time, it felt good to be on the night bus back to Pondi when we finally settled in our bunks. We arrived home at 5am, good and tired, and slept away most of the day. 

3rd Week in Pondi

(back-dated due to late posting and multiple posts)

3rd week in Pondi. Noticeable in several ways; I'm starting to feel at home in Pondi, and at the same time I miss home, and I miss Japan (and terribly so!).  

I received a question of why I didn't write last week. Several reasons I guess. I missed having some photos on my blog (1), and was too tired to write anything coherent (2), and when thinking of what to write I had no idea where to start (3). 

Last week & weekend I was busy reading up on the readings for this week’s lectures, being social, research group work and finding group members for the group assignment. I spent mot of the Sunday reading, but in the evening Amali, Odilia and I went to the beach promenade to see the Ganesh Puja; a festival to the god Ganesh, where they throw the Ganesh figures in the sea on the festival’s last day. 

 3-week’s crisis, exhaustion, more pictures, travel desires, extracurricular courses, still haven’t fixed my saree, or bought Punjabi. Slow. Discoveries in town – everyone discover things close to each other’s houses. Daydreaming, missing Japan, feeling gradually more academic – feels wonderful, still no idea of what I want to do when I get home (for a job, that is), Mr. Gecko –our pet lizard that eat flies (flies that bites us!). We love him.

I'm still overwhelmed by all the impressions we get all day everyday here. 

Just riding the bus to school every morning is an adventure in itself, all the sounds, all the images that flies by as we fly by them, the different routes are getting a little familiar, but still challenges every sense of direction you (I) had to begin with. Children going to school, groups of teenage girls bicycling, auto-rickshaws full of 6 year old school boys, long lanes of children of all ages walking to their school bus, in the narrow zone between parked motorbikes and the rushing traffic. Safety in numbers applies even here. Wandering buffaloes seem to mind the traffic even less than the school kids and wander about ignoring the honking cars and autos. (Auto = auto-rickshaw, which is not the same as a rickshaw – the manual bicycle with extra seats)

One of the streets today was covered in posters and banners and ribbons in the colour of one of the local political parties today. We could hardly see the sky through all the decorations.
 
Bollywood dancing – sooo much fun! Not so much bollywood yet, but we have started learning some basic steps used for opening any dance performance. I think we did well the first class for being 100% beginners.

---

I left my blog post here and forgot it in the middle of packing my bag for a spontaneous weekend-trip to Bangalore. That story continues in the next blog post. :)

Picture post!

the study center & scenes from the study centre:

 

  

queueing up for breakfast nice lunch at school

 

 

Ganesh on "Ganesh Day" (Ganesh Puja?)

People preparing for the Ganesh festival 

 

group sightseeing & guide 

 

beautiful settings

 

back in the quiet street outside my building

  

was overjoyed to find this at out local store:)

 

another happy moment for a Japan-starved mind:

 

Peace

 

Blogging på overtid… / Wohoo India!!

(Note 1: Warning! Long post.

Note 2: writings from my short stay in Norway will be announced when posted. )

I dag er det fjerde dagen min i India – et land jeg endelig har kommet meg til! Dette høres vel ut som jeg har slitt med å få til å komme hit, men slik er det altså ikke. 

I’d better write in English I realize… After a year in Japan speaking English almost everyday I thought I would automatically start again in English here in India, but that is not the case. I don’t have the exact numbers, but we’re about 80% Norwegians, a handful of Swedes, a Dane, a German, an Indian and a Sri Lanka. (And I think about 90% of the students are female…) Among the staff there are many Indians, a Swede, and a Briton. …So, I guess my point is that since we’re sooooooooo incredibly many Norwegians together, it’s almost impossible not to speak or think Norwegian. (We’re getting better at speaking English together whenever any non-Scandinavian is present, but I’m embarrassed that we actually had to *think* about it the first two days…)

I can’t tell you much about India, and probably never will; “We Indians are still trying to figure out India” my first guest lecturer tells us in our first class. Our guest lecturer for these introduction lectures is Dr. Sudha (Ph.D), a very nice and highly intelligent woman from Bangalore. We’re having introductory lectures about India this first week here in Pondicherry, preparing us for our next 2 months here. 

There has been some culture shocks already, but none too big as of yet, seeing as we all expected them from the beginning since everything seems slightly alien or dreamlike to us. I’m guessing that the culture shocks are smaller (read: less severe) here than in Japan, because in Japan everything was more similar to home and culture shocks thus became less anticipated. 

Our first major culture shock came as soon as we left the airport in Chennai. There were people everywhere, even at 4am, and the traffic…. The traffic. The traffic is a chapter in itself, and due some deeper analysis in its own right at some later point. But I conclude from the traffic – the amount of it, the traffic behaviour, etc. – that Indians are brave people, just by daring to cross the road. 

Due to its extreme complexity of cultural/social/ethnic systems within democracy Dr. Sudha described India as a “functioning anarchy”, and today we concluded this applies to India’s traffic as well.

Incidentally, today I took my first ride in a rickshaw. Originally the rickshaw was a bicycle with a comfortable (?) passenger seat, now most of Pondi’s rickshaws are small, yellow-painted, built-in mopeds with space for 3 people (or an Indian family of 5*).There are small margins in the Indian traffic, the rickshaws constantly, narrowly avoids pedestrians, cars, bikes of all kinds, other rickshaws, cows, etc. I read in a book before going to India that you need to be confident, and I believe that is 100% true –especially in the traffic. You have to be confident, or project (prosjektere?) confidence to be able to cross streets. 

(* I would have loved to say “Indian family of 8” but I decided the exaggeration of the rickshaw’s size, and/or an Indian family’s ability to invent space, would be too big…)
(*EDIT: apparently the limit is 7 Norwegian girls + the driver....)

You also need confidence in bargaining with the locals when shopping. In some stores there are set prices and that is no problem, but in the street shops and market places the traders and peddlers and salespeople raise their prices tenfold whenever they see a foreign (usually Western and/or white) face. The most extreme case of bargaining I’ve heard of from my group so far (i.e. after just 4 days) was a girl that was shopping for necklaces and bargained down the price 70% (from 1000Rps to 300Rps) and still the saleswoman was happy when she left. 

300 Rps is not much by Norwegian standards nowadays; it is 8 Rps to 1nok I’ve been told, and by comparison a pair of trousers (loose, baggy trousers fitting for the local climate) cost me 220 Rps (tourist price, of course), while they would have been cheap in Norway for 200 NOK. Here, a 1 litre bottle of water costs 15 Rps, and ½ litre bottle of water in Norway costs 16 NOK (Imsdal, last time I checked at least). Dinner at a nice restaurant, 100-200 Rps here in Pondi, a cheap meal at a restaurant in Norway would be 180-250 NOK. It’s not a problem for us to pay without bargaining, but it is proportionally ridiculous compared to other local prices and the products’ actual price etc. We have to bargain down, and since they’re much better at bargaining they’ll still get a good profit compared to the local price levels. I’m just fine with not being good at bargaining just yet, but I’m going to practice with clear conscience knowing that I won’t have out-bargained anyone until the day a salesman does not smile as he shows me the door. 


I’ve been writing about an hour now, I think it’s about time to sleep. I’m one hour late according to my new day-rhythm the last couple of days, but that’s another description for another time. 

Good night!

In Transit

Or so to speak. I'm in Osaka now, waiting for the final day of departure. I've had 2 already; 1 from the dormitories in Beppu, and 1 more from Beppu itself. The extra days in Beppu were spent in the company of various friends, and the days in Osaka has been spent spending the last of my money (don't worry parents; it's not as bad as it sounds! :p), re-pacing the suitcase, go sightseeing, wrap up various things in Japan, and then do some more re-packing.

The days home will probably be as busy as the last few weeks, but I promise to *try* to post an update before I leave for India. I will write more coherently about the experiences of the last few weeks - as soon as I have the time to sit down with it for at least half an hour.

Yes, India.. I don't think I've mentioned it before on this blog, but I'm coming home briefly enough to empty my suitcase, wash my clothes and then fill my suitcase again. Then I'm headed for India from the end opf August until November. New adventure stories to come!

See you around!

An update!

Wow... more than a month since I blogged last... Seems the blog went on hiatus in June and the beginning of July; sorry 'about that.

At least I'm a little better than a friend of mine whose last blog posts were named "Long time no Blogging", "Innlegg schinnlegg" and "Hisashiburi" (japanese equivalent of "long time no see!") before the long silence... When I no longer intend to keep this blog I will announce it, I promise.

Since last post I've been in Okinawa for a week (which was great!), occupied with new classes, and then hit by an apathy-spell lasting the rest of the rain-season (which is June). First of July came and went, and the sunshine returned about the same time, hopefully to help me I kicking the apathy away now that it's just 3 weeks until the final exams (eeeeek!).

I guess I could write some words about Okinawa and my first Karaoke-experience (after living 9 months in Japan...), but apart from that June/rain season was nothing but curtains of rain and fog. You didn't miss much.

July so far has been lovely, but is now turning into living he**. The sun is shining, temperatures usually lies around 28-30 degrees, and the humidity from 50% to 80%; making everyday life a list of priorities revolving around finding shade, getting enough fluids, air condition, etc. Temperatures and high humidity makes it hard to focus on the upcoming exams, even though, or perhaps just because it's only 3 weeks left. The end is near.

This sounds very ominous, but it's true; It's just a month until I'm back in the mother country. My mind is (unfortunately) more preoccupied with what has to be done (packing, traveling, socializing, etc.) before departure rather than cramming for exams...

I foresee few (if any) blog posts the next month; I will try to post once more before I'm heading home, but I cannot promise anything. When things start to happen here everything happens at once...

Djaa ne!

From the Forum of High Entertainment Value

Topic: Brand names (& economy):

1) "These days, a number of Japanese tend to buy brand name staffs including me."
This surprising fascination with staffs...
(English is difficult; staff, staff, stuff...all the homonyms and apparent homonyms...)

2) "Subject: There Will Be Blood.
Baffled by the title? No worries, it is just a movie,(...)"

3) "We prolly can make difference in our life style and every one will be happy too."
A real live person using "prolly" in a serious discussion!


Topic: Disney (& cultural hegemony):

4) "Mulan, A brave girl from china who is willing to sacrifice for her father Aladin, A thief in Arab who in the end becomes the hero who saved the kingdom Toys story which describes how a person values his toys,(...) "

Whoa.. Comma mistakes make new interesting interpretations...; Mulan, daughter of Aladdin the hero of the kingdom that describes, the kingdom called Toy Story....

5) " when have you ever seen a disney character wearing an eg. chinese / indian costume." Mulan? Pochahontas?

6) " so my essay is disorgainzed, but it`s up to our choice and our action."
who writes essays on a discussion forum???

7) "oops~sorry for reply at wrong topic"

8)
"I am probably one of people who didn't grow up with Disney. Of course, my parents showed me almost all disney films."
(...)
"That was why I stopped watching Disney although I still keep watching some films like Mulan, Pocahontus, Toy Stories and Nimo."
I think this person is deceiving him/herself...

9) "One more obvious example, Aladin, did anyone find something about American in his film? It mostly show Indian society and culture, is not it?"
Disney knowledge revealed! (I hope people know I'm still being sarcastic...)

10) "It yearned for Snow White after all as Mickey liked it. "
...some sentences just don't make sense, even when they're clearly on the topic...

11) "Ariel is the hottest disney character ever, period. (...) Wish she was for real, oops!"
...We did *not* want to know that.

12) "hakuna matata, what a wonderful phrase, hakuna matata,
ain't no passing craze...

It means no worries for the rest of your days It's our
problem free.. philosophy...

hakuna matata...."

this is the entire post....!


13)
"Oh!

I am so sorry for some misspelling.

T____T "

this is the entire post....!



---


I might still have missed some golden ones, I haven't read trough all of the forum yet, so theres a chance there might come some updates at a later point.

New quotes!

All quotes from the Sociology class forum again. The first part from a discussion board about Art.

1)
"Just like some western people is thinking why Japanese can't wait till the fishes to get cook and eats it straight after cutting, and Japanese are willing to splash their cash on those raw things. This so maybe eating raw fish is a kind of art, is just that some people in this world don't appreciate it."

My favourite part: "...and Japanese is willing to splash their cash on those raw things." Hahaha! This certainly reveals the writer's opinion of sushi!

2)
"As we know, in ancient time, there was Edvard Munch. One of his works, there is "The Scream". "

3)
"But still I’m a Traditional Art Maniac. I love PICASSO!!"
Dear Traditional Art Maniac, Picasso is Cubist, not traditional...

4)
"Make up, graceful movements, fashion styles, coke can bottles, flyers, and even the squash-up papers we throw in the rubbish bins...these are all forms of art."
So I'm accidentally an artist every time I throw away one of those annoying flyers...?

And the last part is on the topic of music, discussions about downloading etc.

5)
(...)"But i have to say i would rather spare my time and easily download my music off line :)"
...Download offline?!?

6)
"(arguments). On the other way, (... more arguments.)"
um... on the other hand...?

"I think downloading is an inevitable future for film and music industry, it is like a mission impossible which would take more than 10 Tom Cruises to solve."
That's at least 9 Tom Cruises too much for the world...

8)
"In my country if you walk through the pedestrian of the capital or the big city (...)"
Poor urban pedestrian!

ADDITIONS!
(topic: 'Internet restrictions' & 'cellphone use on the train')
9)
"In rash hour, salary man is reading newspaper or sleeping actually."
I certainly don't want to take the train in rash hour...

10)
"I have been residing in many online communities since I was 10 (...)"
...

11)
"It's like ridiculous the people who are controled by High-tech staffs."
Yes, hilarious!

12)
"By reading with a mobile in the train is not a problem. It makes to become quite and relexed to people in the train and any disturbance on someone."

13)
"However, it is difficult for people to restrict the use of cell phone, as well as me."
Some people can be quite unruly.

14)
"Don't you feel that the world is flat now? the border itself doesn't seem real."

post-17th celebration update

The Norwegian Constitutions Day was May 17th, properly celebrated an' all - blog post coming.
Plastic Tree Concert Review is still being postponed, due to ... well... life.

At the moment I have 2 reports, a Final Exam and a Japanese Midterm Exam looming on the horizon over my head, of course in addition to regular classes (luckily not more than 2 per day) and their homework (not so lucky) and my non-APU readings and writing projects...

+ what social life I can manage to squeeze in between it all!

たいへんだよ・・・・・

But, on a brighter note, there are nice things here too; tea & chat time with the girls, going to ofuro, the occasional dinner with various people, etc.

And in the QuarterBreak I'm going to Okinawa with a small group of friends
(but unfortunately at the same time as a horde of other APU students..)

Yay!

short update

I'm mostly repeating the same old routine up here on the mountain, so there's not that much to say. A few changes though; I've joined a circle (a student group or club or association or whatever) for practicing Japanese, and I've gotten involved in a collaborations for designing a t-shirt for my floor for a "World Festival" we're going to perform at in June. I did say "we", but I'm only contributing to the performance in off-stage activities, like (helping) designing the floor's t-shirt. The artistic challenges that this t-shirt project will let me play with will be a nice break from my other school work.

I've picked up again my Plastic Tree Concert review project, and I will finish and post it at some point. This is as much a promise to myself as to any of you out there, because you've probably lost interest already since I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I really want to write it. It's become my favourite procrastination activity - but I can't afford to procrastinate that much nowadays unfortunately...

other things;
The weather is shifting, awful, windy and rainy yesterday, and today the most beautiful sunshine and pleasant temperatures around 19-22 degrees (a bit cool, almost chilly actually, compared to last week). The view was clear enough that we could see to Shikoku - a fact I find very romantic. The view is one of the major things I'm going to miss from APU.

Middle left: The Kunisaki Peninsula,
Center Background: the tip of Sadamisaki Peninsula, Shikoku

And here are some more or less random pictures from Campus - taken with my phone so please excuse the quality...

1-2: Daffy and Donald (Look Aunt B! Donald in Japan!)
3-4: The invisible man, and alternative vases at the Osaka Ferry
5-6: Cake, and how to make animal figures out of sausages
7: Another proof there are fancy things in Japanese supermarkets
8: The Exoticness of APU - an Asian performance the amphitheater, lacrosse practice in the sports field in the middle background, and then view of Beppu and Oita
9-10: Random cool car in Beppu, and how APU teach hirgana to new students
11-12: Fantastic flowers blooming outside AP House
13-14: Sunset view from the APH bridge, and Christina noticing the price of pasta screws.
(100 yen ≈ 1 USD or 5NOK, you do the math...)

Majimena-mode strikes back

I'm cancelling all non-homework activities this weekend, even tonights' party plans that I confirmed yesterday. I feel bad for doing this again, but I have to prioritize what is important. Socializing is important too, and might be just as, or even more, important than mere tests; the social life here is the foundation of close friendships and future international contacts.

But: I have 2 tests, a presentation and a mid-term next week... And when I got back my last Japanese test, my teacher commented "this is not so good..."; Implied meaning; this is bad (≈ you suck). Good results for the next test (kanji, kanji, and more kanji) will be the foundation of good results of the 2nd test (text with a lot of kanji), and studying for both will aid my preparations for my presentation. And then there's the mid-term exam...

The presentation is an interesting piece in itself; "Present a product your hometown is famous for!"
Cecily - "Can I make my presentation about the Vikings?"
Sensei - "No, it has to be about a product."
Cecily - "But, how about the boats the Vikings produced?"
Sensei - "No, that's still history."
Cecily - "... There's a silverware factory...?"
Sensei - "Good! Present how they are famous, and why they're in your hometown!"
Cecily - "...There's really no reason why they chose my hometown..."
Sensei - "Please look it up."
Cecily - "..."

I really have to study for my Japanese tests, and for that I'll have to cancel (my appearance at) tonights party plans. If I went to the party I'd only be thinking of the lost study hours (and there are enough of them already!) and not have fun; resulting in no point in going to the party at all, but spend the time constructively and be happier tomorrow (or possibly next week when I get my tests back).

I have a complete set of arguments and reasons for this, but I still hate cancelling again.. I've been doing this too much lately, but I can't really help it. I hate letting people down.

Do anyone have a cure for the "Good-Girl Syndrome" ? Please call me if you do.

I'm way too serious about school these days, but I am going to deal with it - after I've finished my homework. Then I have quite a project ahead; learning how to find and maintain a good balance of schoolwork, motivation, restitution and social life.

Wish me luck.

---
Majimena (Jap. adjective) = serious, earnest, sincere, honest, sober, solemn, but in everyday use it has slightly negative connotations to people being (a little) too serious as opposed to fun-loving.

Random recent quotes (restructured)

"It's yon-ji o'clock"
- 'Yon-ji' means '4 o'clock'. It's four o'clock o'clock then...

"I’m interested in this class, and especially, I’d like to learn how to create HIPHOP music. "
- this quote is taken from the forums of a Sociology class

More from the Sociology class' forum:
Posted by X on -day, at 5:00pm : "Dear sir and everybody, (...)"
Posted by X on -day, at 5:28pm :"Hey! How strange! I found myself answering my own question huh?"

And my favourite so far:
"I don't think it's dangerous, it's just pesticide"
- after spraying down the whole kitchen and half of her neighbour's dinner with said stuff...

"Tourism is a knife which is sharp at both end." - ... ... ... yep... the Sociology class' forum again.



...will be updated as new quotes appear!

Concert review and related stories – Part 1: Prologue

Alternative title: “2 obvious aliens, a circus worth of Goth Rocker fangirls, Jelly Fishes – and Plastic Tree”; a concert review of Plastic Tree’s “Alone Again – Wonderful World” tour concert in Osaka Namba Hatch, April 10th 2008, and related stories.

The decision of going to Osaka was made on impulse upon learning about Plastic Tree’s concert 3 days later.

Wednesday, arrival in Osaka, the day before the concert. Main Activity; Handshaking Event.

Tickets for the handshaking event were sold at a record store morning the same day as the event.

We were early and the store hadn’t opened (calculated, on our part), so we decided it would be more comfortable to wait in the nearby park.

Rounding the corner we saw, not a group, but a row, of people in unordinary clothes standing side by side. This neat, but apparently unorganized (and perhaps spontaneous?) line was to us a very puzzling phenomenon. There were no signs or markings and no apparent people “in charge” to organize the line, and the people waiting were all an interesting contrast to the regular park visitors. They were just hanging about, either reading, staring into the air, talking in small groups of two or three – but still clearly in line, even within their small groups – and they were all girls. (Ok, perhaps some guys too, they’re not that visible (or discernible) among the girls here, but the guys were certainly underrepresented.)

Since we weren’t 100% sure if it was an actual (or official) line for the ticket sale, we sat down on a bench a little distance away and observed the whole phenomenon. At 11 (when the store opened) the line started moving so we got up too, and timed so we “accidentally” fell into pace behind the back of the line.

CD singles and tickets were bought, and then we just had to fill time until the actual event 7 hours later.

---

The handshaking event itself

The queue was back in the park again, but bigger and flashier. There were girls of all kinds of (at least slightly gothic or rocked up) styles; Punk girls (modern & moderate ones), Rocker girls, Goth, and a surprising number of Lolitas of different kinds (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_Fashion). We felt really out of place – even with heavy make-up.

We had early numbers on our tickets so we got in with the first batch of people even though we came only just in time for the opening.

We were ushered into a room about half the size of an average classroom, into a new queue waiting for the band. Surrounded by nervous whisperings high expectations and giddiness from the crowd in general, I got caught in the mood too. I didn’t really care if I met them or not; I was there for the music, and to them I’d only become a fleeting impression at best – one of hundreds of fans they’ve met. (Nika cared though.) Still, since we were there and all, it was kind of fun being the only westerners/white people there. Especially when it was out turn to greet the band (well, the vocalist and the bandleader); to most of the fans they shook their hands and thanked them (for their support I assume – they said mostly just “arigatou gozaimasu” - meaning "thank you"), but Nika and I received longer handshakes and a “thank you very much, please continue to listen to our music”. I have to rely on Nika for the translation; because I didn’t expect them to say more than “thank you” I was quite baffled when the vocalist kept holding my hand while saying stuff in Japanese…

And then it was finished. The girls were so happy, one couldn’t stop smiling, and the other had to dry away a few tears. Segments of the line was still waiting in the park, waiting for their turn, new people were ushered inside in small groups, and the people coming out from the event was asked to move away to avoid crowds (everything was nicely organized, very Japanese).

Afterwards we went to the Dotonburi in Namba and ate Okomiyaki, and talked and talked and talked about the evening’s experiences, and how they were perceived, or possibly perceived, by us and all other people possibly present, etc. before heading back to our hotels.

Part 2 coming soon (hopefully).

Status report

Writings:
Concert review and related stories - part 1 - is now in a process of editing. Will be posted by Monday.

School:
So-so. I was a really, really, good student last week, but not so much this week. Hope to remedy this next week. My courses are still interesting (even the seemingly boring one), but I have to study better for my next kanji quiz.

Social life:
I'm way too social, and yet not social enough.

Other:
I still have many half-finished (or half-started) projects. I still want to do everything - including sleeping in on Sundays.

I'm making Norwegian rice porridge on Sunday, partly for my Norwegian classmate's birthday, partly because I want it myself, and partly because I cooked way too much rice here the other day and need/want to get rid of it...


Comments still appreciated yo!
("yo" here: Japanese sentence suffix indicating a sense of imperativity in the general meaning of " (...) I tell you!" def./expln. by Cecily)

A little Plastic Tree, and how I decided to go to Osaka

I have several windows of YouTube open now, acting as improvisory music station, enabling me to listen to all the Plastic Tree songs I didn’t know about until last Thursday. I have to buy all their CDs so I can listen to all their songs… It’s "only" twelve albums… Oh, where to start…

We were sitting in my room, me and my friend. We were trying to choose a CD to listen to, when my friend said he had a burnt CD with some J-Rock band he’d found on the ‘net. Maybe I’d like it, Japan fan & rock music fan as I am. As I liked the band, and my CD collection at the time was rather limited, he told me to keep the CD; Plastic Tree, unknown album name, all tracks named “track 01”, “track 02” etc.

4 years later, still, none of my Japanese friends have ever heard of Plastic Tree, at least until I mentioned them.

Last weekend I passed on my minimal collection of PT songs to a friend in the dormitory (Goji), in order to give him an alternative band to listen to other than just Asian Kung Fu Generation (which I also like, but… not *every* day…and not *only* AKFG).

Later the same evening, Goji, and another friend of mine (Nika), had a conversation along these lines:

Nika: I’m going to Osaka to see a band called Plastic Tree
Goji: Yes, I’ve heard of them
Nika: Yes, I gave you some of their song earlier on a mixed CD.
Goji: No, Cecily gave it to me today…
Nika: Whuh?!? Another Plastic Tree fan? Here in the dorms? Are you serious?!?

The evening after I met Nika by accident and Nika revealed that she too is a fan of PT, and during our conversation about the rarity of PT fans (or apparent PT fans), she mentioned that she was going to their concert in Osaka on the coming Thursday. I immediately decided that if there was concert tickets left I would go too –a decision I do not regret.

I got my ticket Monday, and took the night ferry from Beppu to Osaka Tuesday, arriving I Osaka 6:30 Wednesday morning. And returned home to the dorms this morning -tired, but too happy to stop smiling.

Coming soon:
Review: Plastic Tree, Osaka Namba Hatch April 10^th 2008
Other Stories from Osaka

Back in Beppu

Back in Beppu, back on campus, 45 days after start.

Writing this blogpost took me longer than I expected. It was harder than I thought it would be too. The last week has featured exhaustion, emotional turbulence, strong impressions, stress, and then I caught a cold – which escalated when I finally had time to sit down to breathe. I guess I'm lucky I mostly get sick at times when it's most convenient (or least inconvenient)... I think I’ll be able to throw it off quite soon though, thanks to Shannon's cough syrup – it was a relief to realize I could breathe normally again this afternoon.

Since Kyoto, the Family and I had 2 half days and a night in Hiroshima & Miyajima. We stayed at a really nice Ryokan on Miyjima, which wonderful cedar tree bath. Shame I was the only one that actually used it. We had ordered the stay at this Ryokan to experience a traditional Japanese accommodation, but the only Japanese thing we did was eat... But the food was just as wonderful as the cedar bath. Oh, and we slept on futons in tatami rooms, but... I'm kind of used to futons by now, so that experience wasn’t that big a deal for me…

In our 2 half days (one half day on either side of our stay at the Ryokan) we split up and did our preferred activities. The first day I took Mom & M to what I think is the most important sight in Hiroshima; the A-bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum. The 2^nd day we had planed to take a stroll around the nearby sights of Miyajima before we left, but that morning it was raining so hard that we decided against it. We headed directly for the station where we hung out at Starbucks until it was time to get our luggage and get onto the train.

Arriving in Beppu with my family was the most tiring part of my whole journey. I had mixed feelings about going home at all in the first place. I had a good time travelling, and would have liked Beppu to just another stop on the way to somewhere else, and at the same time it would be nice to be back with my friends again (and to study again, to actually look up and re-learn all the Japanese I’ve noted I lacked along the way). And then, upon arriving in Beppu I was "home", but not "home enough" to be allowed to relax. Add the general tiredness & impatience in the group and you get a good portion of emotional turbulence, but in the end we had a nice last day together in Beppu when I took them to the Jigoku Meguri (or in English "The Hells' Tour").

Accepting the fact that I was going home; it was really nice to come back to campus, to all the people that had begun to drift back into the dorms from where ever they have spent their break.

Since coming back to campus I've intensely socialized with a lot of people, got up at 5:45 to help Shan with her luggage down to the waiting car and to see her off, done my course reg., paid my bills and arranged my post re-delivered, eaten at a tabehoudai (all you can eat) with new and semi-new people, and spent a day and a half in bed after fixing everything important that had to be done. *phew*

Projects for the next week or so is to e-mail all the wonderful people I won't be seeing for a while (regardless of where I know them from), updating the blog (post pictures to previous posts etc.), start reading Peace & Conflict Studies and sort through misc. related administrative info (autumn sem. prep.), review kanji (spring sem. prep.), write my travel report to my sponsor foundation, etc. etc.

There are plenty of things to do, but foremost of them all is recuperation.

Kyoto in the Rain

I’m at our hotel room in Kyoto, airing feet and drying socks and trousers and jackets etc. I’m looking forward to posting a bigger update and post a direct blog-post for once, since there’s free internet connection on my own pc with the hotel room’s LAN cord. Yay! The only downside is that I’m exhausted after today’s excursions; we’ve been on a one-day bus tour of Kyoto, having about 40 minutes at each stop – most of them places where I could’ve spend hours on my own.

It’s nice to travel with my family, even though there are some challenges. Having spent a month practicing independency and travelling in my own pace it’s a big change to suddenly travel with 4 companions with different needs, wishes, desires, ways of thinking and different ways of communicating.

We arrived in Kyoto yesterday afternoon, but didn’t do much except relax at the hotel, and then go out to eat in the evening. Aunt and Uncle went out to dinner earlier, so Mom, M and I grabbed the opportunity to go to a sushi restaurant (A&U can’t/won’t eat raw food), and explored the local area around the hotel on our way home.

Today we had vouchers for a tour bus tour of Kyoto, like the one we had in Tokyo on Sunday. We’ve seen a lot, but we have no understanding of half of it or less because we had to rush through each stop and then from one stop to the next, rinse and repeat. I have no real sense of where the places where we went are, I’m not used to navigate from a bus seat, especially when I didn’t need to research ‘where from, where to, and where to stop’. Everything came sort of out of sequence since I just followed the flow of the tour bus program without knowing anything of it in advance. We saw Nijo Samurai Quarters (or something), the Golden Pavilion, the Imperial Palace (disappointing, so much stress & security for such a desolate place), had lunch at Kyoto Handy Crafts Centre, and then continued to Heian jingu, Sanjusangendou (with a 1001 kannon statues), and Kiyomizu-dera where Mom, M (my brother) and I dodged umbrellas while jogging through the temple area’s paths – three people, one umbrella and one very wet jacket.

It still ended up being a nice day, despite the rain. The rain (and following wet shoes, jackets, trousers etc.) wasn’t nice, but it definitely gave the tour a different character.

I won’t write that much more now, we’re soon heading out for dinner/supper, and then I’m updating some missing blogposts, and pictures will come later.

Tokyo Summary (backlogged)

I never got so far as to write about Nikko, and I guess I won’t be able to do so either, until I return to Beppu.

This is my 5^th day in Tokyo, and my first with time/energy to write. I had an entire evening to myself in Shiho’s apartment before my family came, but I was too tired to collect my thoughts long enough to even get out my pc.

Tokyo Day 1, March 12^th.

I arrived earlier than I bothered to tell the girls (Shiho, my hostess, and her friend Yuko – as not to worry them with my early arrival etc.), found my way to Shinjuku and then to Eifukuchou, stashed my luggage in a coin locker and returned to Shinjuku to meet Hans, a classmate from UiB. We walked around Shinjuku for a while, had lunch, took a train to Shimokitazawa where we walked around a little more, taking our time looking at all the fun little shops and all the people. After Shimokitazawa Hans took me to a big book store in Shinjuku to show me the international section before heading off, but we met another Norwegian there and ended up chatting. Hans finally had to go, but Mathias (the random Norwegian) and I took a coffee at Starbucks before I had to go.

I met up with Yuko at Eifukuchou station at 6 o’clock, and from there we walked to Shiho’s apartment, where I was to camp until my family came on the 15^th. I noticed Yuko was nervous of how to entertain me (and/or how to communicate with me) until Shiho came home from work (some 4 hours later), but communicating in (halting) Japanese helped a lot, and I managed to take the initiative on the entertainment bit by asking if she was interested in seeing some of my travel pictures. We ended up looking at pictures until 9:30 pm, and then realised that we should get out getting some food before everything closed. We were at the restaurant when Shiho joined us. It was a bit awkward at first, but it eased up easily enough. After eating Shiho convinced Yuko that she should camp for the night too since it was getting so late, so the three of us occupied the entire floor of Shiho’s 1 room, Japanese style apartment.

Tokyo Day 2, March 13^th.

After sleeping in, and socializing with Shiho before heading out at around noon, I walked around Shinjuku and Shibuya on my own, enjoying a window seat at Shibuya’s most famous Starbucks in the afternoon, eating a Banana Caramel Crepe on a street bench in the dusk-fall and then returned to Shiho’s apartment in the a little after dark.

Shiho gave me a spare key to her apartment since she had a night shift at work (she’s a nurse) and would be staying there for the night, so I was all alone. I had been given free access to everything in her fridge and cupboard, so I made my first home made meal in a month. I was a little hesitant at first, but it would be just as impolite to not take anything as to eat everything, so I went for the middle ground; make a meal of what I found, and replace the expensive stuff. (good food, sleepy, not managing to do anything of what I planned, etc.)

Tokyo Day 3, March 14^th

Planned to go to Kamakura, ended up staying in the apartment all day, until Shiho returned from work, we socialized until Yuko came over after work and then went out to dinner, out into the pouring rain.

Tokyo Day 4, March 15^th – Family arrival

Breakfast w/girls, train w/girls to Shinagawa, good timing at the hotel, Lunch w/fam, Shibuya w/fam, nighty-night.

Tokyo Day 4, March 16^th

Tokyo by tour bus tour, Asakusa in the evening, then returned to hotel.

Tokyo Day 5, March 17^th

Mom, M & me -day. Shinjuku; book store & shopping mall, lunch at One Half Café, then to Akihabara, hunt for a bookstore near Tokyo station, then return to hotel; joined Uncle & Aunt for a drink in the 39^th floor bar. Packing & stuff…

Closing in on Tokyo

Since I wrote last, from Sendai, I’ve travelled a day, from Sendai to Nikko, gone sightseeing in Nikko with C.G., and travelled yet another day. (I should write about Nikko too, sightseeing with C.G. for a day, and describing the YH I stayed at, but tonight Saitama was closer to the surface.)

I make a lot of plans, and I change some of them myself, others, like this one, was changed for me. I had planned to stay in Nikko two full days in order to get rested before entering the metropolis. Unfortunately for me, the youth hostel I stayed at in Nikko could only house me 2 nights, forcing me to change my plans. Since I had to find new accommodation I felt I could just as well move on, even though I’d love to stay another day or two in Nikko’s fresh air and peaceful scenery, though the town is a tad too touristy (wow, lots of T’s!).

Waking up this morning, I had no idea what so ever where I would be heading, so the only plan I had was to head down to the tourist information centre, buy some internet time and research what options I had. I wanted to go closer to Tokyo, but not all the way in to the city itself. Since I’m staying with Tommi’s sister its no good appearing a day too early, and if I went all the way into Tokyo I could just as well stay, find accommodation, and then it would have been much easier to book accommodation for all of the days until my family comes, but I can’t really cancel my arrangements with Tommi’s sister either, because both she and Tommi has gone through some trouble (fixed this whole arrangement) for me. And it would be *really* short notice if I cancelled now too.

So, having researched miscellaneous train schedules and other tourist information on the net, I decided to go to Saitama, even though my Lonely Planet says absolutely nothing about the ‘ken* at all. (*-ken = Prefecture)

(Another option I considered was to go out to the coast to Mito, in Ibaraki-ken, and see the famous garden and the plum trees (which are blooming at the moment) but I decided it would be too long to travel out there since I wouldn’t be able to spend any time there to go sightseeing since I have to be in Tokyo tomorrow; Mito was too far to travel to, just to return without seeing anything. Zannen desu ne…)

Not having a real map of Saitama, and only a slightly misleading ‘YH of Japan Map’ and no guiding from Lonely Planet I decided to go to Saitama City –which is on my YH-Japan map, but I realised after a while that Saitama City isn’t really a place, but rather an area consisting of several small/medium sized cities. Tokyo is the same (I’ve been told) but at least you can go to a station ticket office and buy a ticket just to “Tokyo station”.

When I tried to tell people I was going to Saitama they looked at me sideways, over the brims of their glasses, etc, and asked me; “where in Saitama are you going?” Me being clueless answered “Saitama-shi” –whereupon they kept their gaze level and asked “Saitama-Shintoshi?” …“Yes? ... (I assume so since it’s called Saitama-something)”. And when I got there and asked the tourist info for a cheap hotel; they sent me to Omiya-koen –which took me back exactly the way I came from, and then onto a sideline into the suburbs.

I got to my tiny hotel, where the staff asked me to forgive the “oldness” of the building and it’s facilities, but coming from a rather interesting YH in Nikko, tatami rooms and spacious (shared) baths and toilets seemed a luxury (still does 8hrs later). I was able to check in early, stash my luggage in my room and walk to the park where I spent the rest of the afternoon, walking around the various paths, teasing the ducks (by hanging about their regular feeding area without feeding them), smelling the plum flowers, playing with photographic challenges (light, noisy backgrounds etc.), watching the other park visitors (and their dogs or families or both).

Now I should re-pack my backpack again, leaving possibly useful changes of clothes on top… 22:47… I’d better get going if I want to get any decent amount of sleep…


(Anyway, even if Saitama-ken is not even mentioned in Lonely Planet, there is touristy stuff here too. I concluded that Saitama and surrounding areas fall in the shadow of Tokyo in areas like tourism, and but they try to keep up with the competition, at least on a local scale. Saitama-ken is known in Japan for making the most traditional Hina-dolls, and there’s a Cartoon museum and a Bonsai garden among other sights. Saitama-Shintoshi (lit. Saitama New-City) is marketed as “the new modern face of Saitama”, with bold modern cityscapes and architecture. There are pretty places and museums of new or old things like most places have. In Saitama-Shintoshi they even have a “John Lennon Museum”, isn’t at least that worth a mention in Lonely Planet? )

Yo!

4 new blogposts, including this one!

I'm in Sendai at the moment, cheap internet at the YH; 200 yen per hour. I'm leaving for Nikko tomorrow morning, staying three nights, meeting a friend while I'm there, and then Tokyo next...! Just about a week until the family gets here! Tanoshimi!

Looks like I'm staying with Tommi's sisteer in Tokyo, but I'm so nervous about writing her!
I should have done so a long time ago, even with Tommi e-mailing her for me too, so now I just have to. And it's so difficult! How to phrase oneself correctly, and to do so in Japanese! ohmgh! The pressure...I'm sure it's not that important, but I still can't help caring about it....

Anyway (2), I'm looking forrward to arrive in Nikko, if not so much to the journey there...

Sendai & Matsushima

(Wohooo! I’ve reached the opposite side! Well, I’m not all the way north, but at least I’m on the east coast now! Yay! )

A traveller’s work is never done. You have to get early up for the breakfast you’ve paid for, and be early out in order to get time enough to cover all the sightseeing, and then there are restaurants to be found and food to be eaten, and they you go out and see whatever you haven’t seen already or research the next stop; how and when to get there, what to see, contact friends in the area, find maps, find accommodation, actually get there, unpack necessities, update maps and sightseeing/travel plans, get to sleep, get early up for breakfast – rinse and repeat. Phew. And then there is the problem of finding time to describe everything; all the impressions, all the interesting and otherwise remarkable people, the funny food, what sights were seen and which weird areas was visited. And so on and so forth.

I have developed a lot of small projects while travelling; I’m marking my travel routes on the maps in my Lonely Planet and on my small (youth hostels in -) Japan map, and I’m drawing in my walking routes on the tourist maps I get (if they are suitable at least) after each day, I’m keeping track of my daily expenses (I’m cutting a little slack on my temple offerings since I don’t bother keeping track of every 1-yen I’m using) in a little book and making regular summaries and average use pr/ (day, week, month, total). And of course I’m trying to write about my travel experiences regularly too, but it is a bit more difficult to manage because it takes a little more preparations to get started, and when I first start I usually keep on writing for a while. It would be ideal to type while I’m on the train – if my pc wasn’t buried in my backpack. It’s easy enough to get it out, but to put it back in without re-packing the whole backpack is quite impossible. Imagine trying to do that while you’re on a train announcing that next stop is your stop, and you have to get off here and catch the train leaving on an unknown platform 5 minutes after your arrival. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Another ideal “spending train time” –activity would be to study. Except that the studying I need to do is writing kanji, but writing is not easy on trains in motion, and practicing (i.e. writing) kanji is more or less impossible. Zannen desu ne.

I don’t know how many times I’ve written “today (or yesterday) I was planning to get early back and write…”, but it proves that there’s never time enough for everything. And although I want to write about as much as possible, I’ll gladly admit there’s times when I’ve prioritized not writing. At those times I’ve usually spent the time being with other people, like playing Chinese checkers with the girls in my dormitory room in Nagoya, or I’ve stayed out longer to socialize or just go People Watching. Usually the time has been spent on more experiences, rather than ignoring life in just to describe places that I just as well can show you my pictures of.

Today has been such a day. The plan was to go sightseeing in Matsushima, and then return to the YH to relax, write and go early to bed.

I LOVED Matsushima (well, Matsushima-Kaigan anyway, I wasn’t in Matsushima proper). I’ve explored two small, but extremely beautiful, islands in Matsushima Bay; Oshima and Fukuurashima. I had a great time walking in the sunlight and perfect temperatures; around 5-8 degrees, warm in the sunlight and a bit chilly in the shadows, but for walking around it was perfect. (I would love to describe these places, but I think I would spend too much time and would do a much better job of it showing pictures simultaneously, so I’ll move on.)

I walked around these two wonderful nature spots for about three hours (choosing al the small paths, taking me through brambles or pools of dry leaves to interesting views that only the most interested will be able see) before deciding to move on to the other sights, and then walked around Matsushima-Kaigan. I walked to all the other sights but decided they were too expensive this time around. My map obviously wanted me to enter into the Zuiganji temple; flying out of my hand and whirling playfully in the air just outside human reach, for a long time and to many people’s amusement (my own included, it was pretty AND hilarious even though I was in the centre of it…), before it finally landed just inside of the entrance/exit area – and still out of reach. Divine intervention as good as I’ve ever seen, but I decided that paying 700yen to see a temple is something I’ll have to save for next time I’m in the area. Some youths retrieved the map for me on their way out.

I decided I was finished for today and headed for the station even though I had half an hour before the next train. I ordered Oyster soup at a small street-side …kitchen/shop and was sat down on a bench on the sidewalk (yes the girl told me to sit there) where I ate my soup. How many places can you find Oyster soup for 200 yen? (200 yen = 2 USD / 10 NOK) It wasn’t big, but it was oysters in it. Oishiiiii!

While eating the other people on the bench moved on and was replaced by a guy chatting with the shop girl for a sec before cautiously starting a conversation with me. Turned out that the guy had sat next to me while waiting for the Matsushima train at Sendai Station, him noticing the obvious Westerner, and me being not noticing him at all – him being Japanese looking, but Korean. We didn’t talk at the station in Sendai, but he, upon recognising me in Matsushima, decided to make contact. Being able to answer in Japanese led to conversation on the train, and then we went to dinner; which he treated me to since Korean guys are supposed pay for girls. That would never happen to me in Norway.

Youngho (youn-gho) laughed a lot, and laughed hard, at a lot of things I said, but I have no idea what was so funny about it… I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I’ve said similar things to other people before, and none of them laughed…Nor was it meant to be funny. Now I wonder if that’s because they were too polite to laugh, or if it just wasn’t funny.

He laughed really hard when he asked me to read kanji, and I demonstrated exactly how much I could read of the kanji combinations he chose. Mostly I went like this; “sound/reading, meaning, no idea, no idea, meaning, no idea, no idea, still no idea, sound”, resulting in a guessed meaning, that may or may not be close to the correct answer.

Youngho chose kanji from warning signs and other official looking things too, which are always difficult to read. Usually I don’t even try to read them; I know the kanji are too difficult for me. Perhaps I should be able to recognise one or two, but… I suck at kanji (I know this and I admit it readily), and I haven’t been studying the last 4 weeks.

I played along with this game of his although it was annoying. It grated on me later though. It wasn’t really embarrassing, because I know approximately what kanji I should be able to know, and I know I can’t read all those I should be able to read etc., but the way he chose difficult kanji without regard for what Japanese level I might have learned, and how he laughed… It became humiliating, and it grated on me as I made my way back to the YH. Being able to have short basic conversations doesn’t automatically enable me to read difficult kanji. (Reading this again I realise it seems like my pride got a punch, but that's not the case. My pride would have been hurt if I thought I was better than I really am. I felt more ridiculed, really.)

After dinner we exchanged e-mails (although a bit annoying with the whole kanji thing, he was otherwise nice and seemingly harmless), and then I made my excuses being tired, returning to the YH glad to have wriggled my way out of his invitation to go sightseeing together tomorrow.

….And then there was time to get to the showers before they close them for the night….
Oyasumi!