An important clarification
29th December 2006
L. has found out that only one of the two Swedes living next door plays the guitar. The other just plays with it.
But as if to make sure that we do not lack for guitarists, the universe has given us another one - a Russian in the flat on our other side.
And the other night, I heard someone playing the trumpet.
At times like these, I think of my fiddle and my decision to leave it in Singapore because I thought it would disturb the neighbours.
I do not think these thoughts with bitterness, nay, not even a smidgen of it.
After all, I can always play my DVDs - the ones with gunfire and histrionic actors - at top volume.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
May the forcing be with you
8th December 2006
And then the mid-term exams were upon us.
Mine began on a Friday; L's on the Monday after that. On Friday evening, she was in despair.
'I can't go out because all my friends want to study!' she cried. 'I don't care - tonight I'm just going to relax. I'll start studying tomorrow; it's going to be a very stressful weekend for me.'
The next day - Saturday - I began studying at 9 am over breakfast and kept at it until bedtime. L's day was more varied. It sort of went like this:
- Noon. L. wakes up, putters about.
- L. goes shopping.
- Late afternoon. L. returns from shopping. She has bought Christmas decorations.
- L. puts up Christmas decorations.
- L. begins cleaning the kitchen counters.
- L. begins cleaning the stove.
- L. takes a pair of scissors and cuts up sheets of yellow plastic. She removes all the food from the food cupboard, puts in the plastic liners and rearranges the food back into the cupboard.
- L. begins lining the fridge.
- I suggest to L. that she may be in denial about Monday's exams.
- L. admits that she has a problem.
- I escort L. out of the kitchen to her room. Hopefully, this means that she will look at a textbook or two.
- I open the fridge to discover that L's fridge-lining has extended to laying a neat strip of plastic under the egg tray. I decide that while it was tempting to see if L. would have scrubbed the kitchen floor and cleaned the bathroom and toilet if left undisturbed, I was right to intervene when I did.
Besides, the kanji for "benkyou" - Japanese for "study" - reads in Mandarin as "mianqiang": "to force". So I did the right and culturally appropriate thing.
On Sunday, L. found some friends of the non-studying variety and escaped. I carried on revising. But the crucial question is, when did I start?
To be honest, about a week before the exams - unthinkable by Singapore nerd standards.
I guess I was in denial too.
8th December 2006
And then the mid-term exams were upon us.
Mine began on a Friday; L's on the Monday after that. On Friday evening, she was in despair.
'I can't go out because all my friends want to study!' she cried. 'I don't care - tonight I'm just going to relax. I'll start studying tomorrow; it's going to be a very stressful weekend for me.'
The next day - Saturday - I began studying at 9 am over breakfast and kept at it until bedtime. L's day was more varied. It sort of went like this:
- Noon. L. wakes up, putters about.
- L. goes shopping.
- Late afternoon. L. returns from shopping. She has bought Christmas decorations.
- L. puts up Christmas decorations.
- L. begins cleaning the kitchen counters.
- L. begins cleaning the stove.
- L. takes a pair of scissors and cuts up sheets of yellow plastic. She removes all the food from the food cupboard, puts in the plastic liners and rearranges the food back into the cupboard.
- L. begins lining the fridge.
- I suggest to L. that she may be in denial about Monday's exams.
- L. admits that she has a problem.
- I escort L. out of the kitchen to her room. Hopefully, this means that she will look at a textbook or two.
- I open the fridge to discover that L's fridge-lining has extended to laying a neat strip of plastic under the egg tray. I decide that while it was tempting to see if L. would have scrubbed the kitchen floor and cleaned the bathroom and toilet if left undisturbed, I was right to intervene when I did.
Besides, the kanji for "benkyou" - Japanese for "study" - reads in Mandarin as "mianqiang": "to force". So I did the right and culturally appropriate thing.
On Sunday, L. found some friends of the non-studying variety and escaped. I carried on revising. But the crucial question is, when did I start?
To be honest, about a week before the exams - unthinkable by Singapore nerd standards.
I guess I was in denial too.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Postcards from the edge of the English language
15th November 2006
I swore I wouldn't do it.
Before coming to Japan and starting this blog, I promised myself that I wouldn't make fun of Engrish - English wrung dry by the Japanese mangler - because, for most people, it's not easy to learn another language. Besides, the Japanese should be lauded for their willingness to use English (on clothes, stationery and lunchboxes, if not actually to foreigners).
That's what I thought. And that's what I still think.
But today I went to the handmade goods fair at Chion-ji and there were these postcards and on the postcards there were these words and... Oh, hell. Look, I'll behave in some other post, all right?
For the next little while, let me remember some of the postcards I bought today and laugh again:
1) Bamboo shoot caught in morning
I will be tall bamboo at once, too.
If I'm not eaten by human...
2) KYOTO
Town enclosed by Mt. Hiei and Mt. Daimonji
The japanese-style confection is delicious.
Scenery in Kyoto is delicious too.!
Let's enjoy it until becoming a full stomach.
3) (Postcard shows two white rocks connected by a red string.)
Dose my feelings reach him?
Love prediction
This is game to confirm love
4) This is a mysterious small bag.
Please enjoy the various smells and colors.
(Postcard shows mysterious small bag.)
5) KYOTO
Machiya knows various things.
6) Ichijyouji
Fierce battle district of ramen
Let's go to eat ramen this evening!
7) OZOUNI shiromiso
Delicious that melts!!!
You will also eat at the New Year.!
8) The face of Kyoto peeps.
(Postcard shows... God knows what the postcard shows. There's a vista of some kind and a bit of snow falling.)
9) Arashiyama Chikurin
Road of light enclosed by tall bamboos.
Let's feel the minus ion.
And the answer to your questions is: http://www.tomide.com
Let's feel the minus idiom.
15th November 2006
I swore I wouldn't do it.
Before coming to Japan and starting this blog, I promised myself that I wouldn't make fun of Engrish - English wrung dry by the Japanese mangler - because, for most people, it's not easy to learn another language. Besides, the Japanese should be lauded for their willingness to use English (on clothes, stationery and lunchboxes, if not actually to foreigners).
That's what I thought. And that's what I still think.
But today I went to the handmade goods fair at Chion-ji and there were these postcards and on the postcards there were these words and... Oh, hell. Look, I'll behave in some other post, all right?
For the next little while, let me remember some of the postcards I bought today and laugh again:
1) Bamboo shoot caught in morning
I will be tall bamboo at once, too.
If I'm not eaten by human...
2) KYOTO
Town enclosed by Mt. Hiei and Mt. Daimonji
The japanese-style confection is delicious.
Scenery in Kyoto is delicious too.!
Let's enjoy it until becoming a full stomach.
3) (Postcard shows two white rocks connected by a red string.)
Dose my feelings reach him?
Love prediction
This is game to confirm love
4) This is a mysterious small bag.
Please enjoy the various smells and colors.
(Postcard shows mysterious small bag.)
5) KYOTO
Machiya knows various things.
6) Ichijyouji
Fierce battle district of ramen
Let's go to eat ramen this evening!
7) OZOUNI shiromiso
Delicious that melts!!!
You will also eat at the New Year.!
8) The face of Kyoto peeps.
(Postcard shows... God knows what the postcard shows. There's a vista of some kind and a bit of snow falling.)
9) Arashiyama Chikurin
Road of light enclosed by tall bamboos.
Let's feel the minus ion.
And the answer to your questions is: http://www.tomide.com
Let's feel the minus idiom.
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