This still makes me laugh. I was walking down to the train station at Mikage (down the hill from my halls) on Saturday, when, as I passed by the local high school (which incidentally is one of Kobe University`s high schools), a bunch of the kids (school on Saturday I`m afraid) see me walking past. Immediately one of them shouts, and I swear I am not making a word of this up:
「オバマ大統領！！！！」
Which means...
"President Obama!!!!!"
What can I say, Japan is a weird place to be a foreigner...
That wasn`t even the weirdest part of the day... (that would be a toss-up between introducing myself as a paving slab in French (to some French people I hasten to add), or being mistaken for a drug-dealer by some fat Russians in a club...)
(For those keeping count, that`s now David Beckham, Nick from the Backstreet Boys and now Obama様 (sama, more polite, honourific version of san, for example, the emperor is Tenno-sama) for whom I`ve been "mistaken"). I think Nick is a distinct step down from the other two... If the next person is anything less than someone on, say, Will Smith-fame level I`ll be deeply insulted...
Oh, and Japan may be having a stab at challenging Scotland for the "most unpredictable weather" trophy. This morning it was 10C and sunny, 2 hours later it was snowing, then freezing but raining, and now it`s clear and relatively mild...
Oh, and most importantly, I HAD CHEESE ON TOAST TODAY!!!!!! Proper cheese on toast! Japanese cheese is a bit like the Matrix (yay for Rage Against the Machine btw), no-one can be told of it`s full horror, you have to see it with your own eyes. However, lo and behold, I found (actually, Baz showed me) a little coffee shop where they do it properly! Now if only I could find a real Pizza and a lawn to sit on... Funny what you end up missing.
Finally, I`ll just mention why I`m typing this right now, here in the faculty library. I was walking back to Rokko train station to get the train back home when I decided to call Kaori-san in Tokyo for a catch-up. At the end of the conversation I realised I`d actually managed to walk all the way to campus, about 15 mins past the train station... oops.
Oh, and I did mean to talk about the surreal Second Language Acquisition class here (though to be honest, surreal has been the norm for the past 3 months now...). Oh well, there`s always next time...
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Monday, 14 December 2009
Hi again
I havn`t posted for a while, I know. I`d like to say that`s because I`ve been really busy with loads of stuff but as Japanese University is a complete joke (to the extent that even the lecturers admit it) , I can`t really use that as an excuse...
I had a slightly odd Saturday last weekend. I went back to Osaka for another look around, got ABSOLUTELY lost once again (in Shinsaibashi this time, I sort of know my way around Umeda now). While I was there, I had a quick look around a few shops, inside one of which a brave shop assistant asked me in English if I needed any help. After reassuring him that I could understand Japanese, he then pointed to the jeans I was looking at and said "コレクッションじゃなくて、ジーンズです” ("These aren`t part of the collection, they`re jeans.") Oh well, at least this time they though I was a JAPANESE SPEAKING idiot...
Anyway, after wandering around Osaka for the day, I went back to Kobe, got changed, went to a bar in central Kobe with some other exchange students (where, in the middle of me ordering drinks and food, my Dad calls me... doh). Anyway, after going outside to speak to Dad I get stuck in this massive people-jam on the way in, where about 15 people are trying to go to other floors through the entrance elevator (the bar was on the 4th floor), another 10 are trying to get into the elevator to leave, and another 20 people are hanging around in front of the elevator waiting for seats in the bar. Just so you know, the entrance lobby of this place is about the size of the average public toilet... Anyway, while squished in there, the Japanese people squashed in beside me decided I looked like... wait for it... Nick from the Backstreet Boys... what the hell? (I want to say "Is it coz I is white?" but I know that is exactly the reason). I felt bad about having to break it to them that nobody in the UK has heard anything about the Backstreet Boys for the last 15 years or so, but they were too busy serenading me with "Azu rong azu yuu rabu me"...
Later on, we all went BACK to Osaka to find a club, after which nobody really remembers much else... There are however unfortunately photos, WHICH WILL NEVER EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF THE INTERNET.
I do however remember us all lying in a heap on a train bench at 0600 (maybe?) on the Sunday morning on the way back to Kobe, getting laughed at by two Japanese high school kids (Yea, they go to school on Sunday)
Oh, and I realise I`ve said this many times, but being a tall, very white foreigner sort of makes you stand out obviously. Sadly, this means a lot of people remember you from random places, even when you havn`t the faintest idea who they are. We all just get used to saying hi back to random people on an hourly basis. Unfortunatly, this backfired on my today when the person I gave a really obvious "Who on earth are you?" look to yesterday turned out to be my supervisors assistant...
Oh, and Second Language Acquisition teacher just goes from strength to strength in terms of totally surreal conversation topics... more on her next time.
I had a slightly odd Saturday last weekend. I went back to Osaka for another look around, got ABSOLUTELY lost once again (in Shinsaibashi this time, I sort of know my way around Umeda now). While I was there, I had a quick look around a few shops, inside one of which a brave shop assistant asked me in English if I needed any help. After reassuring him that I could understand Japanese, he then pointed to the jeans I was looking at and said "コレクッションじゃなくて、ジーンズです” ("These aren`t part of the collection, they`re jeans.") Oh well, at least this time they though I was a JAPANESE SPEAKING idiot...
Anyway, after wandering around Osaka for the day, I went back to Kobe, got changed, went to a bar in central Kobe with some other exchange students (where, in the middle of me ordering drinks and food, my Dad calls me... doh). Anyway, after going outside to speak to Dad I get stuck in this massive people-jam on the way in, where about 15 people are trying to go to other floors through the entrance elevator (the bar was on the 4th floor), another 10 are trying to get into the elevator to leave, and another 20 people are hanging around in front of the elevator waiting for seats in the bar. Just so you know, the entrance lobby of this place is about the size of the average public toilet... Anyway, while squished in there, the Japanese people squashed in beside me decided I looked like... wait for it... Nick from the Backstreet Boys... what the hell? (I want to say "Is it coz I is white?" but I know that is exactly the reason). I felt bad about having to break it to them that nobody in the UK has heard anything about the Backstreet Boys for the last 15 years or so, but they were too busy serenading me with "Azu rong azu yuu rabu me"...
Later on, we all went BACK to Osaka to find a club, after which nobody really remembers much else... There are however unfortunately photos, WHICH WILL NEVER EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF THE INTERNET.
I do however remember us all lying in a heap on a train bench at 0600 (maybe?) on the Sunday morning on the way back to Kobe, getting laughed at by two Japanese high school kids (Yea, they go to school on Sunday)
Oh, and I realise I`ve said this many times, but being a tall, very white foreigner sort of makes you stand out obviously. Sadly, this means a lot of people remember you from random places, even when you havn`t the faintest idea who they are. We all just get used to saying hi back to random people on an hourly basis. Unfortunatly, this backfired on my today when the person I gave a really obvious "Who on earth are you?" look to yesterday turned out to be my supervisors assistant...
Oh, and Second Language Acquisition teacher just goes from strength to strength in terms of totally surreal conversation topics... more on her next time.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Osaka, Himeji and Green Coffee
I went to Osaka!!!!! Finally!!!! It was really big. Like really really really big. Totally unlike anything in Europe, it`s just overwhelming. It took me 30 minutes to find my way out of the train-station and then I just wandered about in a daze for a while... Oh, and Osakan accents are hard to understand...
I went to Himeji as well, which is where Japan`s most famous/best preserved castle is. The castle was amazing and really beautiful, but to be honest Himeji as a town is really really dull. Funny moment on the train there as well, when Chris mentioned "Wow, it`s really rural out here..." by which he meant you could see a field (singular). I guess that counts as rural after 2 months in the Kobe/Osaka/Kyoto metropolis....
All this getting around to other cities makes me realise how nice it is to live in Kobe; it`s not crazy big like Osaka, has better weather than Kyoto (even though Kyoto is a nicer city hands down), but is still pretty and interesting. And the view is nice.
Anyway, just to make a comment, Stevie, little ray of sunshine, said it was difficult to tell if I was enjoying Japan based on my blog. Just to let you all know, I`m having a great time here, don`t worry.
Oh, I was in Starbucks down in Central Kobe having coffee with a Japanese friend, when some random guy walks past and really really really obviously stares AT HER. Haha, welcome to my world lol. Oh, and while we`re on the subject, don`t let the spectacular green colour of Starbucks matcha frappuccinos`s tempt you, they`re terrible (I don`t know if I`ve mentioned this before but Starbucks, or Staba as it`s called for short has different food and drinks here)
I went to Himeji as well, which is where Japan`s most famous/best preserved castle is. The castle was amazing and really beautiful, but to be honest Himeji as a town is really really dull. Funny moment on the train there as well, when Chris mentioned "Wow, it`s really rural out here..." by which he meant you could see a field (singular). I guess that counts as rural after 2 months in the Kobe/Osaka/Kyoto metropolis....
All this getting around to other cities makes me realise how nice it is to live in Kobe; it`s not crazy big like Osaka, has better weather than Kyoto (even though Kyoto is a nicer city hands down), but is still pretty and interesting. And the view is nice.
Anyway, just to make a comment, Stevie, little ray of sunshine, said it was difficult to tell if I was enjoying Japan based on my blog. Just to let you all know, I`m having a great time here, don`t worry.
Oh, I was in Starbucks down in Central Kobe having coffee with a Japanese friend, when some random guy walks past and really really really obviously stares AT HER. Haha, welcome to my world lol. Oh, and while we`re on the subject, don`t let the spectacular green colour of Starbucks matcha frappuccinos`s tempt you, they`re terrible (I don`t know if I`ve mentioned this before but Starbucks, or Staba as it`s called for short has different food and drinks here)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
