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tammaiyaBut before I begin, I'd like to make some random observations about Japanese vegetables.
1. Cucumbers: They are long, skinny, and knobbly, and bear only passing resemblance to Australian cucumbers. Although they do taste the same.
2. Carrots: Directly inverse to the cucumber thing, they are short and fat. Unlike Australian carrots, which tend to be long and skinny. Bwah?
3. Capsicum: There are normal capsicums too, but I bought a plastic container of what I thought were snowpeas but turned out to be small, pointy, skinny green capsicums. What? I am basically baffled by this. O.o;
4. Spring onion: Again, normal spring onions exist, but the one I bought LOOKS LIKE A LEEK, WTF?
5. Onions: cheap! But I have yet to see a spanish onion, so at this stage I'm using them for frying purposes only.
6. Fruit in general: bananas and pineapples are imported from the Phillipines. The pineapple, particularly, is DELICIOUS. There are also mangoes from Thailand which are not as ridiculously expensive as the other mangoes I've seen. I don't know how it tastes because I haven't eaten it yet, but from what I can tell it seems good. Apples and strawberries must be genetically modified; I buy the normal ones, but some of those apples are so big that I'm totally afraid of them. They're like the size of melons. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT.
Okay, now that's out of my system.
Tuesday I had class starting second period again, only this time I made it to class before the teacher arrived. VICTORY. Also, I was one of like two people who'd already bought the textbook. VICTORY!
Anyway, this was another Japanese class-- the way the system works is once you've gone past the beginner levels, you have your basic compulsory Japanese class 3 times a week, and then there are a bunch of supplementary classes running once a week focussing on various areas of language skill. You have to take at least one. I'm taking the grammar class and the kanji class, because I'm an enormous nerd and I want to. << The grammar class is the one I have second period Tuesday.
The thing that's always the hardest for me is making sentences up, as previously mentioned, because I can never think of anything when I have to--
OH CRAP, TOMORROW'S HOMEWORK.
~~~~***~~~~ (insert interlude where Siobhan writes lines for her integrated japanese class) ~~~~***~~~~
Hooraaay, imminent fail averted.
Now what was I saying? Oh yeah, grammar class. It looks like it'll be fairly enjoyable, at least to a grammar nerd such as myself. I don't like making up sentences off the top of my head, but after 8 years of studying a language, you learn to just deal with it. (In my experience, NOBODY likes that bit. It's like being told "say something!"; you can never think of something to say.)
After grammar class, there was the lunch break, and I finally went and ate with Brendan and Debbie (also from NY state) and a guy called Steven at the cafeteria. By which I mean we bought the food at the cafeteria, since we actually sat outside on the grass. (I had kariage udon and milk tea in a bottle, which I am becoming TERRIBLY ADDICTED TO. it sounds like it should be awful, but it's so nice.) Kathleen also ate with us, and at one point, Steven's tutor joined us. I wish I could remember her name; she seemed really cute and friendly and added -chan to people's names. It seems she knows Kaori, too! Which is pretty awesome. I've seen her in passing on campus once since Tuesday; hopefully I'll see her around again.
After lunch, I went to another ISEP class which I'd been tossing up about taking but eventually decided in favour of. It's a class on ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock printing) as an information media in the historical context of the Edo period, and it's aimed at the exchange students but it's one of the classes that's taught in Japanese. Also, almost half the students were Japanese undergrads and I was the only non-Asian in the room. XD; I wonder why? Maybe the other caucasian students were scared off by it being in Japanese; the Asian exchange students tend to have better Japanese. Or maybe the other caucasian students just have no interest in ukiyo-e, who knows.
The lecture was an overview for the course, which has the potential to be very interesting, although my attention span wandered (seriously, 1 hr 30 m TOO LONG) and I ended up drawing an ukiyo-e style woman in traditional Japanese garb on the back of a piece of paper which it turned out I had to hand in at the end of the lecture with my name, country, and email address on. The teacher noticed it on the back and commented on it being very good, and I was like, ahahaha sorry. << Hazukashiiiii. Although that happened all the time in high school, so I'm not sure why it feels more embarrassing now. Maybe because I'm older. I haven't really done it as much since hitting uni, either, because a. the pace of the lectures is often faster, b. I'm often using my laptop rather than pencil and paper, and c. if it's a lecture theatre there's not really ROOM. (Trust me. I tried in Legal Theory when I got really bored and all my stuff fell on the floor.)
One thing I learned from the preliminary lecture, btw, is that there was a huge earthquake that almost destroyed the city of Edo (AKA Tokyo), and that earthquakes are symbolised in ukiyo-e as catfish, which were blamed for causing them because of the way they burrow into the mud.
That was my last class for the day, so I went back to my dorms, where I stayed until I tried to go to that stupid computer orientation lecture you HAVE to go to if you want to be able to use the campus computers or wireless network (although I still have yet to discover proof of this wireless network, I've never picked up a signal), but I was five minutes late because I have, like, a genetic inability to be on time for anything EVER-- and also the main building is a lot longer than I thought it was-- and they closed the doors. The guy at the door was all, come back the day after tomorrow, in a totally unsympathetic way, and I was all "sumimasen" (excuse me/I apologise), by which I meant "I hope you DIAF. >O"
Then I was all sullen and grumpy and stomped my way around the uni grounds for a bit, which were bigger than I'd initially thought once you account for the sports grounds, the club building, and the length of the main building, but still nowhere near as big as the ANU. I watched some club practices-- eventually I intend to join one, although I was too shy to go ask for information right then. I won't join archery, though, because as cool as their traditional uniforms are, they're intimidatingly good and I have no upper body strength. Not that I was thinking of joining the archery club anyway, for that very reason, but the conviction was reinforced. XD;
After that I sulked off towards the station, but I went a different way (since I was leaving the university from a different point) and took a wrong turn and got lost for a bit, which made me MORE grumpy. But I found my way back to the combini, and of COURSE even tiny local shops are still open at 7 at night in Japan. Of COURSE. <3 So I checked out the supermarket properly while I was there (omg, they have big bottles of diet coke! \o/ which... I can't fit in my fridge. ><), bought some fruit (bananas, apples, strawberries, and mandarins, for a total of just under 1000 yen), and then hit up the combini, where I got some more milk, despite not having any cereal yet, and got a carton of milk tea, a small carton of orange juice, and a box of individual icecream tubs. Then I bought dinner from the bentou place, where I ran into Kathleen again, and slunk off home to hang out with my internet and eat icecream for supper, which made me feel better, and do homework, which didn't so much, especially since I did 4 sentences more than I had to due to misunderstanding what (1)(a)(b)(c) referred to. XD; (I think I mentioned this in Monday's post, but part of the homework was to write two sentences for each structure. I thought 1)(a)(b)(c) referred to the different usages of ni yotte, and it wasn't until I'd finished that and went to check what 2 was that I realised (a)(b)(c) referred to ni yotte, ni taishite and ni oite respectively, which for some reason had been grouped together into one grammar point. >< So I wrote 6 sentences for ni yotte when I only needed 2.)
On an entirely unrelated note, today I posted FFIV fic! \o/ I feel all accomplished even though all I did was write, like, the last two paragraphs and edit it. XD I wrote the rest of it weeks ago and then stalled. It feels good to post something, though; I haven't in so long.
And I was tachi-yomi-ing (standing around reading, english just doesn't have an equiv) X16 in a used bookstore yesterday, which reminded me of the fact that CLAMP are evil and strengthed my already niggling desire to work on boyband!X, so there's been some progress on the planning front for that one. (Don't expect anything soon, though, finding time is easier said than done.)
1. Cucumbers: They are long, skinny, and knobbly, and bear only passing resemblance to Australian cucumbers. Although they do taste the same.
2. Carrots: Directly inverse to the cucumber thing, they are short and fat. Unlike Australian carrots, which tend to be long and skinny. Bwah?
3. Capsicum: There are normal capsicums too, but I bought a plastic container of what I thought were snowpeas but turned out to be small, pointy, skinny green capsicums. What? I am basically baffled by this. O.o;
4. Spring onion: Again, normal spring onions exist, but the one I bought LOOKS LIKE A LEEK, WTF?
5. Onions: cheap! But I have yet to see a spanish onion, so at this stage I'm using them for frying purposes only.
6. Fruit in general: bananas and pineapples are imported from the Phillipines. The pineapple, particularly, is DELICIOUS. There are also mangoes from Thailand which are not as ridiculously expensive as the other mangoes I've seen. I don't know how it tastes because I haven't eaten it yet, but from what I can tell it seems good. Apples and strawberries must be genetically modified; I buy the normal ones, but some of those apples are so big that I'm totally afraid of them. They're like the size of melons. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT.
Okay, now that's out of my system.
Tuesday I had class starting second period again, only this time I made it to class before the teacher arrived. VICTORY. Also, I was one of like two people who'd already bought the textbook. VICTORY!
Anyway, this was another Japanese class-- the way the system works is once you've gone past the beginner levels, you have your basic compulsory Japanese class 3 times a week, and then there are a bunch of supplementary classes running once a week focussing on various areas of language skill. You have to take at least one. I'm taking the grammar class and the kanji class, because I'm an enormous nerd and I want to. << The grammar class is the one I have second period Tuesday.
The thing that's always the hardest for me is making sentences up, as previously mentioned, because I can never think of anything when I have to--
OH CRAP, TOMORROW'S HOMEWORK.
~~~~***~~~~ (insert interlude where Siobhan writes lines for her integrated japanese class) ~~~~***~~~~
Hooraaay, imminent fail averted.
Now what was I saying? Oh yeah, grammar class. It looks like it'll be fairly enjoyable, at least to a grammar nerd such as myself. I don't like making up sentences off the top of my head, but after 8 years of studying a language, you learn to just deal with it. (In my experience, NOBODY likes that bit. It's like being told "say something!"; you can never think of something to say.)
After grammar class, there was the lunch break, and I finally went and ate with Brendan and Debbie (also from NY state) and a guy called Steven at the cafeteria. By which I mean we bought the food at the cafeteria, since we actually sat outside on the grass. (I had kariage udon and milk tea in a bottle, which I am becoming TERRIBLY ADDICTED TO. it sounds like it should be awful, but it's so nice.) Kathleen also ate with us, and at one point, Steven's tutor joined us. I wish I could remember her name; she seemed really cute and friendly and added -chan to people's names. It seems she knows Kaori, too! Which is pretty awesome. I've seen her in passing on campus once since Tuesday; hopefully I'll see her around again.
After lunch, I went to another ISEP class which I'd been tossing up about taking but eventually decided in favour of. It's a class on ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock printing) as an information media in the historical context of the Edo period, and it's aimed at the exchange students but it's one of the classes that's taught in Japanese. Also, almost half the students were Japanese undergrads and I was the only non-Asian in the room. XD; I wonder why? Maybe the other caucasian students were scared off by it being in Japanese; the Asian exchange students tend to have better Japanese. Or maybe the other caucasian students just have no interest in ukiyo-e, who knows.
The lecture was an overview for the course, which has the potential to be very interesting, although my attention span wandered (seriously, 1 hr 30 m TOO LONG) and I ended up drawing an ukiyo-e style woman in traditional Japanese garb on the back of a piece of paper which it turned out I had to hand in at the end of the lecture with my name, country, and email address on. The teacher noticed it on the back and commented on it being very good, and I was like, ahahaha sorry. << Hazukashiiiii. Although that happened all the time in high school, so I'm not sure why it feels more embarrassing now. Maybe because I'm older. I haven't really done it as much since hitting uni, either, because a. the pace of the lectures is often faster, b. I'm often using my laptop rather than pencil and paper, and c. if it's a lecture theatre there's not really ROOM. (Trust me. I tried in Legal Theory when I got really bored and all my stuff fell on the floor.)
One thing I learned from the preliminary lecture, btw, is that there was a huge earthquake that almost destroyed the city of Edo (AKA Tokyo), and that earthquakes are symbolised in ukiyo-e as catfish, which were blamed for causing them because of the way they burrow into the mud.
That was my last class for the day, so I went back to my dorms, where I stayed until I tried to go to that stupid computer orientation lecture you HAVE to go to if you want to be able to use the campus computers or wireless network (although I still have yet to discover proof of this wireless network, I've never picked up a signal), but I was five minutes late because I have, like, a genetic inability to be on time for anything EVER-- and also the main building is a lot longer than I thought it was-- and they closed the doors. The guy at the door was all, come back the day after tomorrow, in a totally unsympathetic way, and I was all "sumimasen" (excuse me/I apologise), by which I meant "I hope you DIAF. >O"
Then I was all sullen and grumpy and stomped my way around the uni grounds for a bit, which were bigger than I'd initially thought once you account for the sports grounds, the club building, and the length of the main building, but still nowhere near as big as the ANU. I watched some club practices-- eventually I intend to join one, although I was too shy to go ask for information right then. I won't join archery, though, because as cool as their traditional uniforms are, they're intimidatingly good and I have no upper body strength. Not that I was thinking of joining the archery club anyway, for that very reason, but the conviction was reinforced. XD;
After that I sulked off towards the station, but I went a different way (since I was leaving the university from a different point) and took a wrong turn and got lost for a bit, which made me MORE grumpy. But I found my way back to the combini, and of COURSE even tiny local shops are still open at 7 at night in Japan. Of COURSE. <3 So I checked out the supermarket properly while I was there (omg, they have big bottles of diet coke! \o/ which... I can't fit in my fridge. ><), bought some fruit (bananas, apples, strawberries, and mandarins, for a total of just under 1000 yen), and then hit up the combini, where I got some more milk, despite not having any cereal yet, and got a carton of milk tea, a small carton of orange juice, and a box of individual icecream tubs. Then I bought dinner from the bentou place, where I ran into Kathleen again, and slunk off home to hang out with my internet and eat icecream for supper, which made me feel better, and do homework, which didn't so much, especially since I did 4 sentences more than I had to due to misunderstanding what (1)(a)(b)(c) referred to. XD; (I think I mentioned this in Monday's post, but part of the homework was to write two sentences for each structure. I thought 1)(a)(b)(c) referred to the different usages of ni yotte, and it wasn't until I'd finished that and went to check what 2 was that I realised (a)(b)(c) referred to ni yotte, ni taishite and ni oite respectively, which for some reason had been grouped together into one grammar point. >< So I wrote 6 sentences for ni yotte when I only needed 2.)
On an entirely unrelated note, today I posted FFIV fic! \o/ I feel all accomplished even though all I did was write, like, the last two paragraphs and edit it. XD I wrote the rest of it weeks ago and then stalled. It feels good to post something, though; I haven't in so long.
And I was tachi-yomi-ing (standing around reading, english just doesn't have an equiv) X16 in a used bookstore yesterday, which reminded me of the fact that CLAMP are evil and strengthed my already niggling desire to work on boyband!X, so there's been some progress on the planning front for that one. (Don't expect anything soon, though, finding time is easier said than done.)
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 01:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 01:26 am (UTC)SO COOL -- !
no subject
Date: 2008-05-03 12:08 pm (UTC)Last week we learned the process for how they're made and it's kind of INSANELY INTRICATE. I do not want to try. And not just because I have a phobia of woodblock printing ever since I cut my hand really badly doing it at an art programme when I was 10.
Also, they had to go through a censor. Like movies now. Which is why there aren't that many dirty ukiyo-e. XD