So the last blog was written without much of a second thought, I just wrote everything I experiences in Japan that came into mind at that moment. As I've been in Japan about a month longer now and got to know more about the things I wrote, well, here the second thought about the last blog.
Cold weather
Yes, it got cold. Very, very cold. I thought I was very lucky the whole time, because Belgium should be far worse right now. Then I checked it and it turned out that it was 9 degrees today, about the same as in Belgium. Who would have guessed?
Anyway, it's 9 degrees and I'm acting as if I'm trying to survive wintertime in Siberia. Did I get used to the weather in Fukuoka so much? Or I'm just kind of a wuss when it comes down to cold weather. I wonder how I'm going to survive a 5 days holiday to Seoul this January. It's only 1 degree there!
Me worrying about my Japanese and Korean skills
Oh, I'm still worrying. I'm doing fine when talking and am picking up some new ways to talk informal, but at the same time I'm forgetting kanji and am sometimes not sure in how to conjugate verbs.
The interesting thing though, is that I have days in which I can talk Japanese well and days I completely suck. Some days I only want to talk Japanese, I want challenges and people to correct me and to teach me new thing. At other days I think "Oh, whatever. English is just fine". Or the worst days are the days something happened that makes me feel like I'm really bad at what I'm doing. I wrote this speech about genetic engineering. It's something that isn't much of a problem to talk about in English or Dutch and I was in the challenge-mood, so I thought "let's check my Japanese level!".
It did not go well.
The page was completely red with corrections and the teacher pointed out that 'my grammar isn't that good'. He basically just told me that I suck at the basics. I avoided to talk Japanese at all costs that day. And when I did talk, all that came out was some kind of incomprehensible stutters.
To give a good ending to this story; when I met the teacher again for a check-up on my speech, I managed to say most of it by heart and pointed out that his corrections sometimes made no sense, as he just didn't understand what I was trying to say. In the end, I just said it in English and he racked his brain about how you could possibly translate it to Japanese. It took him a loooong time and I felt pretty pleased with myself. If the Japanese teacher can't do it easily, then how am I supposed to?
About students not being studious. Well, it's quite true. I asked about this, and I was told that it's hard to get into a university, but once you're in, it's a piece of cake to graduate. In a sense, it's the opposite of Belgium, where you don't do anything (well, I didn't anyway) in high school, but when you go to university, there's where the real work starts. I'm not sure which system is the best.
I should, however, apologize to the local library. I've been complaining to everyone about how inefficient they work and how it's impossible to study, as girls will just gossip and squeal out loud in the study room. It turned out it's actually a quiet and nice place to study and I was just unlucky the two first times I went there. And the way things are organised.... well, I still think filling in a paper ànd showing your student card ànd getting a computer card thingy etc. is a waste of time, but you can print for free and copying things is very cheap, so I shouldn't complain. Besides, you can't enter the library in Leuven either without your student card.
The library got its revenge, it closed on me during winter holidays.
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| You win this round, library |
Shaving girls
I was slightly shocked by this one. But after talking with several Japanese about it, I calmed down.
Girls don't shave every day. It's all about the few hairs that grow above your lips. Plucking the small moustache hairs is very painful, so I understand why you'd rather use a razor.
I asked three Japanese guys at a party (a nomikai; which means as much as 'let's meet up and drink together) what they thought about it. They all agreed that plucking would be better than shaving, but also thought that it's better to have a girl shave the small hairs above the lip than to have her do nothing about it at all. "But it grows back and then it get's worse" I said. At which one answered "That's ok. At least she tries."
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| Picture I took in Tenjin |
About the women who shave their faces... That only happens on rare occasions. Your wedding, to be precise. You have hair about everywhere on your body, but most hairs are too small to see. Apparently your face becomes very pretty and 'radiant' when even the fluffy little hairs are gone. Is it true? I have no idea. I honestly can't say I've seen a lot of brides here
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| Well, I did see one, but I was rather distracted by the amazing dress |
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| Just look at it! |
Talking about strange things girls will do, there's this certain way of walking some Japanese girls have, with their knees and feet pointed inwards. And I've seen it very often, once I even mistook a girl for having a handicap for a split second, because of the slow and clumsy way she stumbled forwards (oh yes, I felt very bad about it). I said something about it out loud to a friend, who pointed out she was probably on a date, she was following a boy, sometimes holding hands. Maybe she exaggerated her cute walk because of him?
There's the saying that you should suffer if you want to be pretty, but it's a bit incredible to me to take it as far as not being able any more to walk at a normal, human speed. Or maybe there's just another reason behind it that foreigners as myself do not understand.
I've asked about it. And what I've been told is that there's no specific reason to walk like this, beside the fact that it's terribly cute. Another thing I heard is that it might be because of wearing heels that are too high far too much. The clumsy way of walking with these shoes became their natural way of walking. And again, it's cute. That's one of the small differences with Belgium. When I was in high school and a girl walked by clumsily on high heels, people would snort "Look at her, wearing shoes she can't even walk in".
Partytime
The Japanese way of partying is definitely different. The focus here isn't on drinks, like in Europe. It's food.
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| Lots and lots of food |
To end this blog, enjoy this Engrish sign I saw on a train.
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| It was not necessary! |
Lots of love from Japan!
