Jonathan's Japan Journal (ジョナサンの日本日記)

今日、４時間目の授業が終わって１時間の休みが始まったら、外で座って囲碁の本をまた読み始めた。読んでいる時に、クラスメートのローださんとカクさん（マップちゃん）に話しかけてもらって一緒に２０分ぐらい座って話していた。カクさんにいい東京の観光地を教えてもらった。いつもと同じ、面白いカク弁も教わった。

帰ってから金曜日の放送の準備を（やっと）始めた。今週、ちょっと遅いよね。オンさんとカクさんの先週の放送はアップしてあるよ。

勉強はいい～～～～！力がだんだん戻ってきたようだよ！

担任の廣江先生にＹＡＭＡＳＡ第１５回スピーチコンテストの文集のＧクラスの表紙を描くのを頼んでもらい、この絵をコンピューターで作りました。シンシアさんはＧクラスの代表としてコンテストに出てくれまて一番大切な人ですよ。どう思いますか。

I was asked by Hiroe-sensei to draw a class photo for the recent speech contest's speech anthology book. Using my computer, I created this. Since Cynthia participated in the contest as our representative, she's the focus of the image.



頑張りましたよ。（でも先生をちょっと待たせちゃったです。）先学期の友達と先生の写真も入れるのが大切だと思って入れました。

シンシアさん、おめでとう！

Shoot, man. I intended to get a good bit of work done tonight, but I was invited by a Japanese family that I know to go to karaoke at eight tonight. I've been waiting for this, and I do like karaoke, so I intend to go. But it's going to cut into this evening's productivity.

無視してもいいよ…



In my Special Jutsu class, I was finally able to complete a rasengan. But I couldn't get it on my own so I got some help from a more skilled classmate.

特別忍術という選択授業でやっと螺旋丸を形づくったけど、一人でできなかったのでクラスメートに助けてもらった。

(And people wonder why I take pictures like this. And, yes, I tried to fit as many kanji into the title of this post as possible.)

Just got home and feeling pretty good. I felt kind of blah in the morning but I started feeling better from lunchtime. After the fourth hour ended, I realized that I forgot my Knoppix Live CD and, thus, was unable to play Go. Crud. So I decided to sit outside in the sun and read about Go instead. (A number of schoolmates chatted me up too, including Ruru, my competitor on Friday, and James, a nice schoolmate with whom I've been chatting with more recently.) The warmth of the sun rejuvenated me and my last class with Hada-sensei went swimmingly. Tonight, I have to work on my class's picture for the book of collected speeches from the speech contest Friday.

帰ったばかりなんで元気だよ。今朝はそんなに元気じゃなかったけど、昼ご飯を食べてからどんどん元気になってきた。４時間目の授業が終わったらＫＮＯＰＰＩＸというＣＤを忘れたのに気づいた。忘れたので、ＹＡＭＡＳＡのコンピューターで碁ができなくてがっかりした。だから、囲碁についたの本を読むのにした。ＹＡＭＡＳＡＩＩのビルの前で太陽の暖かさに抱きしめられて読んでいた。気持ちイイ！

読みながら、いろんなクラスメートに話しかけてもらって楽しかった。金曜日の碁の勝負の相手のルルさんも近づいてきて僕が碁の本を読んでいるのを見たら、とてもびっくりして緊張し始めたって。ルルさんはもう１８級だそうだから、やさしくしないつもりだよ。ジェームズという男性学生にも話しかけてもらったんだけど、彼は碁を打ったことがあるって。そっかー。覚えとく。（笑）

太陽の力で元気がいっぱいあって、羽田先生との生き生き会話の選択授業はうまくいった。そんなにうまくいったのは初めてで、うれしかった。

今晩、スピーチコンテストのＧクラスの表紙を完成しなければならない。頑張るぞっ！

金曜日、ＹＡＭＡＳＡのスピーチ大会が岡崎シビックセンターで行われていた。「２，３時間ぐらいずーっと座って１６人のスピーチに集中するなんて、絶対にできない！」と思ってしていたのに、期待していたよりも面白かった。（この間、ある友達に「たくさんスピーチを聞くのは面倒くさい」と言ったら、「それはみなさんが作ってくれたスピーチで、面白いと思う」と言われた。ちょっと感動だった。）

Ｇクラスのシンシアさんがクラス代表として出てくれて、上出来だった。日本のステキな携帯電話について話していた。僕の小さい役があった！シンシアさんのスピーチが始まるすぐ前に、僕はシンシアさんの携帯に電話することになっていて、その計画はうまくいったよ！シンシアさんは特別賞をもらったんだよ！すごい！（おめでとう！さすが、シンシアさん。）

学生のみなさんのスピーチはよかったんじゃないかと思う。特にＡクラスのアビエールさんのスピーチに楽しみにしていたけど、突然に何かテストの準備で出られなくてしまったそうだ。

スピーチが全部終わったら、すごい演奏（えんそう）をしてもらった。楽器の名前を聞かなかったけど、すごかった。演奏もあるなんて、びっくりした！僕は来年まだいたら出るかもしれないと思う。興味があったから。

残念なことに、その後、ある出来事に気分がすごく悪くなったから、家に帰って昼寝をした。囲碁も打たなかった。初めて囲碁のレッソンをサボったけど、その時に集中できなったし、やる気もちょっとなくなってしまった。その後、ボウリングパーティーに誘ってもらったので、行こうとした。行ってよかった。今、お金があまりないけど、見るのも面白かったと思う。それから、一緒に「なんふう」というレストランで食べたりしゃべったりして楽しい時間を過ごした。

Ｇクラスのケルビンさんも顔を出してくれた。ケルビンさんは月曜日帰国する予定で、最後の出会いかもしれなかった。これからも頑張って、ケルビンさん！

Summary: Yamasa's 15th speech contest was held on Friday and it was much more interesting than I was expecting it to be. Cynthia, our class representative, gave a fine speech and won an award for it too. After that, I returned home for a while then out for watching some friends bowl and going to a restaurant for dinner. A nice day overall.

今晩、僕が行ったことがあるインド料理で韓国人の友達のボヨンさんとヨンミョンさんのためにさようならパーティーが行われていた。僕はナンしか食べなかった。ボヨンさんとヨンミョンさんのすばらしい日本語が聞けなくて残念だね。

Tonight, a group of us said goodbye to our Korean friends Bo Yong and Young Myeong. We went to an Indian restaurant.

So the Naruto anime series has finally, after over a year, returned to the actual story, as symbolized by the new name, Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles (as it's been translated). I watched the premiere and, except for the opening, which included a lot of filler-like silliness, ended up fairly pleased. Akatsuki, too, was introduced. The music in the show, though, was new and felt a bit strange to me.

Interestingly, they started the series with the discovery of Sasuke, which comes a good deal later in the story. Some pretty heavy baiting there, eh?

I miss seeing Kabuto. I hope he's as important to the series as the manga seems to indicate.

月曜日テストを受けたんだけど、今日成績をもらって期待していた通りだった。聴解試験はとても難しかったのにクラスの平均の少し以上だった。それに、筆記試験もよくてＡをとった。今回あまり勉強しなかったから、うまくいって安心できた。

We took our second test of the term on Monday and received our grades today. The listening test, in particular, was truly difficult but I managed to be above the (very low) class average (which is basically my goal in that test, since I'm weak in it) and I got an A on the written test too. Good. Tests aren't that important but they definitely are in terms of moving up to higher classes.

このグラフを見ると…



…今日の不思議なことがわかるだろう？授業が始まる時にかなり元気だったが、昼ご飯が近づいてきたらエネルギーがだんだんなくなってしまった。最近の毎日と同じ。ところが、昼ご飯の後はどんどん元気になってきて帰った時に久しぶりにチョウ元気だった！信じられなかった！今でも信じられない。どういうわけかな？

部屋のドアを開けて風を通して台所をきれいにしたり洗濯をしたりすることにして気持ちがすごくよかった。今日の天気はちょっと春みたいに暖かかったので、最近の病はいわゆる『冬ブルース』に関係がありそうにみえると気がする。春が近づいてくると元気の体調に戻ってこられると有り難いんだけどね。

僕がグラフを作ったのに笑わないで！

Summary: I got really exhausted around lunchtime and, for some reason, started feeling really good in the latter half of the day. Really good. By the time I got home, I was feeling utterly fantastic. For the first time in a long time, I opened my door and let the wind blow through my room. I cleaned my kitchen, did laundry—it was awesome. I wonder if it had anything to do with the improvement in the weather. (Yes, I made a graph!)

先週の金曜日、クラスメートのアッティラさんは僕のために新しいあだ名を作ってくれた。「マジックジョンさん」って。ぴったりでしょう！で、アメリカのバスケットボールの選手の名前と似ているので、冗談にもなる。

ところで、クラスメートのヨウさんは「掃除機君」と呼ばれている。どうしてかというと、because he sucks.　ハハハ～！ (My classmate Yo's nickname is "Soujiki-kun." Why? That's why.)

My classmate Attila created a new nickname for me the other day: Magic Jon-san. I'm not sure if he gets why it's so amusing or not. But I like it.

Okay, I know that there's been a lot of Go talk here recently, and I'm sorry if that's abhorrent to you.

That said, I gave my first Go training session online the other day at KGS. After watching a new player make a few mistakes during their game, I offered some tips and it ended up being a one-on-one training game between us. I was mutually beneficial, I think. Then a player of a higher level than me appeared and gave both me and other player some tips and I played a couple of handicap games. Good stuff. KGS is a pretty good to play to go.

But, really, the Go talk will subside a bit, I expect.

Probably.

By the way, I just got a comment on my old blog post about the kanji "姦".

僕の生き生き会話授業は役に立つと思うけど、毎回あるネガティブ影響でとても困っている。そんな状態で生き生き話せないし、集中もしにくくなってしまう。その影響はどうしようもないから耐え忍んで頑張らなきゃ。でも、今日クマザキ先生と小さいテストがあって思っていたほど悪くなくてちょっとうれしい。やっぱり、僕の会話はもう少し生き生きになったような気がする。

ところで、僕がＹＡＭＡＳＡに入学した時、クマザキ先生と山田アヤ先生が僕の入学面談をした。その時から、クマザキ先生に会ったことがあまりない（山田先生も同じだ）けど、先生の性格がとても好きになった。じゃ、この授業で羽田先生もクマザキ先生もいるから、楽しくしよう！

その影響以外は選択授業の宿題や勉強をするのをよく忘れてしまう。それは自分の直さなければならない問題だけどね。ごめんなさい！

土曜日、三河おっさんと一緒に彼のマンションで映画を見た。その晩、Ｐｅｐｐｅｒ’ｓというレストランへ中国のお正月（正しい言い方じゃないと気がする）パーティーへ行く予定だったから、早く岡崎に帰った。予定は１７：３０にＤａｉｓｏの前で会って自転車で行くことになっていたが、その時のすぐ前、駅から家に帰る途中で電話をかけてもらって雨で予定が変わって１７：３４のバスに乗っていくことになってしまったそうだ。日本のバス代が高いと思うし、自転車に乗るのも好きだし、雨が降っていてもフードがついているコートを着ていたので、問題じゃないと思った。でも、Ｐｅｐｐｅｒ’ｓへ行ったことがあるのに場所を忘れてしまったので、バスで行かなきゃならなくなった。それに、急いで家へ自転車を止めに行ってバス乗り場へ走って行った。バスの椅子はすごく狭すぎたし、ちょっと頭に来た。

降りてから、元気になってパーティーに入ってよく楽しんでいたよ。廣江先生も来てくれて、皆さんは一緒にしゃべったり飲んだりしていた。廣江先生はある「After Death Sauce with Chipotle」というタバスコ（「XXX Hot」も書かれていた）を食べてみたら、すごい汗が出て顔も赤くなってきてとても死にそうに見えた。三十分ぐらい、その状態だったと思う。先生はヨウさんに食べさせられちゃったかもしれない！

後で、先生は毎日遅刻しているヨウさんとカクさんとローダさんに「これから必ず遅刻しないようにします！」と約束させた。ローダさんは「必ず」の代わりに「できるだけ」と言ってみたけど、ダメだった。本当に遅刻しないかどうか、わからなかったが、意外にも、昨日カクさんが、今日カクさんとローダさんが授業に間に合った！ヨウさんは…さあ、どうしようもないね。


これからも頑張って間に合うように！

先月のＹＡＭＡＳＡ通信というニュースレターに『しゃべり場わいわい』の情報が載っているよ！それに、この間、ＦＭ岡崎のチーフディレクターの長野さんにインタビューされて、僕の放送についての感想も載っている。

Well, there's information about Shaberiba Waiwai in the latest Yamasa newsletter, but apparently there is no English version of the newsletter online, though there is one in print. Still, there's a pretty picture. Also, we have a logo? Who knew!

Today was awesome. Go-wise, at least.

I arrived at Kurashi no Gakkou at about 2:05 and sat listening to the presentation about different methods of capture (shichou, utte-gaeshi, and geta). It was pretty interesting but there were a number of points that I already knew and I sat, fidgeting, thinking, "I wanna plaaaay." Eventually, I got to play the older gentleman that I played before and, alas, won the game. But I had a four-stone handicap and he guided me a bit during the game, so it wasn't a pure win, but still, I did well enough on my own that I feel that I can accept a certain amount of credit for the win. (No camera so no picture, though. Shoot.)

After the game, I discovered that that gentleman is a 3 dan-level player. Awesome. Another gentleman from the Go volunteer group came and explained a few things about the flow of our game (thus making me late for Lee and Ling's "Shaberiba Waiwai" radio broadcast, but it was hard to care after this opportunity arose). He suggested that I was about 30 kyu but my opponent disagreed and said that I was at least 20 kyu. All right! Progress! (For the record, 40 kyu is the lowest. Interestingly, I'm rated at 19 kyu at the KGS Go Server.) I feel that I'm improving. I'm making progressively fewer really stupid mistakes. I'm making better stupid mistakes.

When the explanation ended, I went over to the radio station to listen to the rest of the show, then returned to Kurashi no Gakkou with Lee, Attila, Yo, and Kaku. I played a 13x13 training game with Attila, as it was about his third or fourth game ever. Then we played his first game on a 19x19 board.

It was a fantastic match. After seeing that he understood the principles of the game pretty well (and losing the previous game a bit more than I wanted to), I decided to play pretty hard. Things were going decently well when suddenly Kanda-sensei came in and gave an explanation of one huge glob of Attila's stones that I was trying to capture right in the middle of the board. It was informative, but Attila ended up surviving my deadly attack and things got a bit tougher for me, and it ruined my concentration too. But I managed to get a doomed-looking set of stones on the left living and things looked up for me.

The most interesting part of the game, though, was the lower-left area. Toward the beginning and most of the middle of the game, this was solidly Attila's (black) territory but I tried a desperate attempt at an invasion and actually succeeded in reducing his territory and brought things to a standstill by inadvertently invoking the power of a seki. I'm quite pleased that I was able to pull this off and decrease his territory. It's a fairly complicated situation and we showed it to Kanda-sensei, who explained it all to us.

In the end, the final score (komi included) was 48.5 moku for my white and 46 for his black. I was pretty surprised about that. Even though I allowed a few move undos for the sake of practice and the loss of the capture of the black in the middle, my strategy was sound enough for me to win. I was playing as fiercely as I could, but given all of that, I expected to lose. Well, w00t. Attila played very well, I think. He's a shougi 7 kyu and plays a lot of chess, so I figured he might be pretty good.

Next week should be interesting, at yet another student, my buddy Chin-san, known as Ruru, told me tonight that she's 18 kyu. Choudo ii. (Just right.) We were talking trash to each other over a group dinner at Seiyu tonight. She wants to make me cry a river, people. That's right, a 川. She said that. Oh, it is so on. Man, I'm looking forward to that.

Here comes a new challenger! (Oh, this looks useful.)

（後で日本語もタイプするつもり！）

I played my most awesome Go game yet today online at The KGS Go Server.

I got home a bit late after meeting with my English student and meeting with Hiroe-sensei for a while and decided, as I've been doing more and more recently, to see what was happening at KGS. (I've been more interested in watching higher-level games after seeing two very good games the other day at school.) I saw an invitation to a teaching game and, after inquiring, was told that anybody could join.

So I ended up being tutored by a very skilled player by the handle "moffy." It was utterly fantastic—easily the best game that I've ever experienced and the best instruction that I've ever received. We played with a number of variations (the site uses great software) and I got a lot of good explanations for why certain moves and ways of thinking were beneficial and detrimental and such. I lucked into that one. (I did fairly well apparently. After 15 moves, "moffy" told me "So far you play much stronger than [a] beginner." After another move, "Good! Very good. A pro would probably play this move." Giggity! I made a number of weak moves too, but I'm told that my instincts are quite good.) All in all, an excellent experience that will only serve to feed my little growing addiction.

For those interested in exploring the game, download Drago (in Windows) and check out the game.

I just got home several minutes ago. It's very late and so this will be short. Basically, I woke up feeling almost blissfully good for some reason. The first two hours of class went well, but we started presenting our speeches in the third hour and that was ... quite painful. (My own speech was quite the disaster, too.) I played Go during lunch to raise my spirits, which actually helped (though I wasted time with a jackass who kept trying to undo his moves and eventually abandoned the game when I said that I didn't have time to keep allowing him to do so) and I entered the second round of speeches with a much brighter disposition.

Later on, I was invited to karaoke, which was great, and to dinner, which was likewise good (even though I ended up trapped into paying twice what I wanted to pay, thereby forcing me never again to get in on group orders because they always end up being more than I expect). After that, I stopped by the house of nearby Japanese acquaintances and chatted with them until ...well, not too long ago. I have a very long day tomorrow, so I need to get to bed.

Man, I felt great during the first hour of class. Better than I've felt in a while, perhaps. But by the second hour, that energy had already dried up, despite being interested in the lesson. By the beginning of lunchtime, I was so exhausted that I felt ill (I was up late last night, but only until one or so) and so returned home to take a nap. I was about 10 minutes late for the fourth hour of class but felt pretty good from then on. What the heck is going on with me?

Well, there's hope for my slump, I think. I'm feeling more optimistic about it. I met with Hiroe-sensei today and we went over a taped conversation that I made with classmates Cynthia and Attila the other day. Outside of an apparent lack of any verbal response from me during Attila's talking about aikido at the beginning, he said that I did quite well. He said that, in terms of conversation, my strong points are that I make long sentences, I use recently-learned grammar well ('cause I don't want to forget it!), and I do well at using the right form of speaking depending on whom I'm speaking with (that is, I use casual-speak with friends and polite-speak with sensei). (A surprisingly number of students don't speak to the sensei politely, actually, but the sensei seem used to it.) My weak points are that I think about what I'm saying—or rather, how I should say it—too freakin' much and so my speaking speed is comparatively slow and I need to use certain speaking techniques (「んですけど」とか) to make my sentences flow better be become a bit more alive. (He says my "Lively Conversation" class should help with that last one.) Thursday, we'll be meeting at length to discuss my progress and such. Should be interesting.

I played one match of Go today (during my break during the fifth hour) that went well (though I lost, largely due to one major oversight); and after class, I watched a couple of high-level games while studying my Go book. Felt pretty good. I was going to start a quick 13-by-13 game but the computer room was closing just then. Time got away from me.

今朝は元気だったが、午後には元気や力が全部消えてしまった。４時間目の授業が終わったらコンピュータールームのコンピューターで囲碁を打ってちょっと元気になったが、すぐ後にある学生の暗い会話で気分が悪くなってしまった。それに、その選択授業の宿題も忘れちゃったし。その選択授業には最初からいろいろな問題が重なってきたみたいだと思う。

スランプだね。こんな状態はスランプというね？それなのに、頑張っていきたいけど！前の僕のように…

なんとくなる…だろう…

きっと…

It's official. I'm in a slump. I'm getting burn-out. I've heard of this phenomenon here before—the deep exhaustion coupled with the feeling of a lack of progress in immediate-level studies (for me, of course, mainly in conversation abilities). I'm working on recentering myself, though. (Chrono Trigger's been helping, I think.) I'm really looking forward to my mother's visit next month. More and more.

よく夕方が始まるから寝る時間にかけて勉強をするやる気は何となく増す。今晩、やる気が消えないうちに復習をしたり予習をしたりちゃんとするのに決めた。予習するのは大切だと思う。ちゃんと予習すると授業がうまくいくから。

前のやる気の多い僕を戻っていると思う。もう少し…。

From David Chart: According to the U.S. Government, Japanese is the toughest major language to learn if you're a native English speaker (of "languages taught at the Foreign Service Institute," at least). Well, dang. I guess if I choose to study anything after Japanese, it'll likely be a smoother experience.

Today, it was recommended (by Shuu-san) that I study Chinese because it's "not that hard" and "there isn't much grammar." I guess I've got a head start with Japanese, at least, if I do choose Chinese. (Elddonnemar, yoroshiku onegaishimasu! Ha!)

金曜日、原田先生の授業の間に授業練習として滝川先生のお母さんに電話して伝言を頼んでみた。する前に教室で練習していたけど、すぐに教務室へ電話してみに行きたかった。たまにそんな本当の電話をするチャンスが来る。とても好きな練習だ。電話はかなりうまくいったので満足している。それに、お母さんはとても優しい。敬語を頑張って使ってみた。僕について、何か面白い感想があるかな？

I called Takikawa-sensei's mother during Harada-sensei's class the other day. As part of a class exercise, that is. (Sounds a bit weird without that context, doesn't it?) I really like that sort of practice and couldn't wait to head downstairs to call. The call itself went well enough and her mother was perfectly kind.

Just got back from Aeon where I met with a few schoolmates for coffee at Starbucks. It was a very pleasant diversion for me. After Yo and Joaquin decided to head back, I stayed behind with Rhoda and Shuu, as I had a bit of shopping to do myself and they wanted to window shop some. After a while, I decided to let them window shop in peace and I came home. I was fun, though. (And of course, it was nice walking around with two nice-looking ladies. フフフ…)

今日、バレンタインデーについての話が流れてきた。僕にとってはバレンタインデーをあまり構わない（本当のロマンスじゃないから！）けど、何か愛情に関するいいことが僕まで来てくれるといいなぁと静かにニヤニヤして思っている。

Not too many posts for the past few days, eh? Well, I wasn't feeling too well this week and I was busy preparing for Friday's wonderful Shaberiba Waiwai show about how studying Japanese is different depending on one's native language. We had a Korean guest with us, as Korean-speaking folks are fantastic at picking up Japanese and speak most excellently.

After the show, there was a Go party at Kurashi no Gakkou. Well, not a party per se, but for the first time, five of us went to play: Lee, Tik Ka, Zoe, Attila, and me, of course. Lee taught Attila how the game works and I played Zoe in her first game. I played a wee bit rougher on her than I did on Tik Ka—to the point that when Kanda-sensei came in, he playfully scolded me for not going easy on a lady. (I ain't even lyin'!)

Later, when Lee and Attila finished their training game, he took to giving Zoe a Go lecture in Taiwanese as we played. Attila looked like he could use an opponent on his 9x9 board, so I started playing him in another game. That's right: I was playing two games of Go at the same time. Man, I felt hardcore. And things were going well—for about ten minutes until Lee actually took over for Zoe. At this point, things got tougher. You don't mess around with Lee, so I got pretty serious, especially once he got a large mass of stones that I wanted dead to be living safely.

Eventually, my match with Attila ended and I could focus exclusively on my match with Lee. It was a good match. I'm making fewer stupid mistakes these days, I think. But once six o'clock arrived, Lee had to leave (with Attila going soon after him) and Zoe took over. Soon thereafter, Zoe let Tik Ka take over. In the course of that one game, I played Zoe, Lee, and Tik Ka. Hardcore, baby.

I didn't take any pictures of the board, as I didn't have my camera.

Now ... Ninpou! Nihongo ni suitchu no jutsu!

先週、ポストはちょっと少なかったよね。ごめん。先週中あまり元気じゃなかったし、金曜の『しゃべり場わいわい』の準備でも忙しかったし。先週の話題は「言語を学ぶ」だった。母国語によって日本語を勉強する経験は違うので。特に韓国人は日本語がすごく上手だから、韓国の短期学生のヨンミョンさんをスタジオにゲストとして誘った。ヨンミョンさんは僕たちより上手で「ピチピチ」なのでいい勉強になるはずだと思っていた。

放送の後で暮らしの学校で囲碁パーティーが’行われていた。まあ、パーティーというより、むしろただの碁の金曜日だったけど、友達は大勢着てくれた。ティカさん・ゾーイさん・リーさん・アッティラさん！アッティラさんは碁を打ったことがなかったから、リーさんは九路盤で教えた。同時に僕は初心者のゾーイと１９路盤の勝負を始めた。先週のティカさんとの勝負と比べると、ほんの少し厳しくしたような気がする。かんだ先生が来てたわむれて「女性に優しく」ってちょっとしかられたほどだったけど。（笑）

リーさんとアッティラさんの勝負が終わったら、リーさんはゾーイさんに台湾語でいろいろ碁についてのアドバイスをし始めた。僕はアッティラさんが相手がほしいみたいなぁと思って一緒に新しい勝負を始めた。そうだよ！同時に２つの勝負をしていた！すごい！うまくいっていたけど、１０分後リーさんはゾーイさんの代わりに勝負をし始めた。それから、真剣にしなきゃならかった。

でもリーさんは何か予定で６時にやめなくちゃダメなことになったから、ゾーイさんがその勝負に戻ってきた。それなのに、後でティカさんがゾーイさんの代わりに勝負に入った。その１つの勝負で３人と戦ってきたよね。すごい勝負だよね。

残念だけど、デジカメを持って来なかったので、写真がないんだ。

一時間以内、ＮＨＫの囲碁の番組が始まる。フフフ・・・
ところで、今日またヤキモを買った。おいしいよね。

I'm up very late working on the script for this Friday's radio show. In place of text, I offer this view of a street near my school.

遅くまでラジオ放送のスクリプトを作っていた。眠いから、この写真だけを見せられる。学校の近くの道だ。また！

今日、初めて授業を休んじゃった。週末中、気分が悪くなってしまっていて、ずーっとのんびりしたり寝たりしてばかりしていた。今朝、起きたらまだ元気じゃなかったし、３０分ぐらいベッドで行くかどうか考えていて１時間目と２時間目の授業を休むことにして、もう１時間ぐらい寝た。瀧川先生の授業なのに。もう一度起きるともっと元気に感じたから、速く学校へ行った。

教室に入ったらみんなが手を叩いてくれてちょっと感動した。僕が遅刻するのは珍しいから、みんなに心配させてしまった。ごめんなさい。

その授業が終わったら滝川先生に出会った。先生は僕を見るとすぐ冗談として突然に泣き出したように見せかけた。「先生、すみませんでした！」と。小柳津先生もいて苛め始めた。だから小柳津先生の上司に文句を言うつもりだ。（笑）

今日の『生き生き会話』という選択授業も面白かった。先週、学生はどのぐらい話せるのか計るために先生とできるだけ生き生きを作るように話していた。じゃ、先生は学生の会話をタイプして今日渡した。僕の会話では「あのう」がすごく多かった！２分半の話で３５回言っちゃった。だけど、羽田先生は言葉や文法を探している時、「あのう」と言うのは問題じゃなくていいと言ってくれたけど、言いすぎるのはちょっと問題だね。

最近、韓国人は日本語が上手に話せると気づいた。韓国語の文法とかイントネーションとかは日本語ととても似ているから、他のみんなより日本語が上手に話せるそうだ。それで、とてもうらやましくなっている。だって、今、会話能力は僕の一番気になっている問題なんだもん！

気になっているので、今週の『しゃべり場わいわい』ではアメリカ人と台湾人と韓国人の日本語を勉強する感想や違いなどについて話していきたいと思う。楽しみにしてください！

この写真をアップロードするのを忘れちゃった。ゾーイさんの誕生日パーティーで僕が撮った写真なんだ。フォトショップでエディットされなくて長い露光の結果だ。ちょっとこわいじゃん？

I forgot to upload this picture from a couple of months ago. This image is the unexpected result of a long exposure.

「あなたはほとんどの日本人より日本人みたいだ」と言われたことが２回ある。日本語がなかなか話せないのに。

I've been told that I'm more Japanese than many Japanese people. I'm not sure how to take that, though.

Friday afternoon, things looked grim for me because Lee and Kaku had appointments after the radio show and Yo was out of town on a business trip. All of my Go friends were unavailable. However, I received an interesting request from Tik Ka and Zoe: they asked me to teach them the rules of Go! Yatta!

金曜日のラジオ放送の後、僕はガッカリさせられた。リーさんもカクさんも予定があったし、ヨウは出張中だったし、碁の相手がみんな碁を打ちに会えなかった。ところが、ティカさんとゾーイさんに碁の打ち方を頼んでもらったから、特別な日になった。やった！

So we got to Kurashi no Gakkou (this means "the school of living," by the way) and set up a table and board. I explained as best I could, but after a certain point, decided that the best way to instill those rules in their minds was to actually play a game. So we played a game. On a 19-by-19 board at that.

暮らしの学校へ行って碁盤などを準備（？）してその２人に囲碁の基本的で大切なポイントを説明してみた。それから、碁を習うのには直接に打ったほうがいいと思ってティカさんと一緒に簡単なゲームを始めた。初めてなのに、１９路盤【ろばん】を使った。

So my rival was Tik Ka. Zoe chose to watch. During the beginning of the game, I played pretty softly because it was essentially a training game. I tried to explain certain basic strategies and things to look out for and what I was thinking when I played certain places. But Tik Ka—he picked it up fast. Quite fast. After a while, I saw that he basically knew what he was doing and I got bit more serious against him. But after a while, after he captured a good chunk of the board on largely his own, training time pretty much ended and we entered a real match. (He has experience in strategy board games, which apparently worked to his advantage too.)

相手はティカだった。ゾーイさんは見ることにした。実習のゲームだったので最初からやわらかく打っていた。打ちながら僕の考え方を教えたりいい一手を指したりした。でも、ティカさんは速くわかってきて自分の陣地をだんだん広げた。僕はティカさんの速い上達を見てもっと真剣に打ち始めた。それで、実習をほとんど終えて本当の勝負に入った。ティカさんは作戦を使わなきゃならないゲームをしたことがあるのは役に立つようになった。

It was a great game. I fought, he fought, soldiers died. Despite that being his first game of Go, he played quite well and showed quite respectable strategical prowess. I hadn't expected him to pick it up so fast. (I must be a great teacher, huh? Ha!) I knew that if I messed around with Tik Ka, that he'd mess me up good. (Reminded me of a little video of another first-timer too.)

いい勝負だったけど。僕が戦ったし、彼も戦ったし、戦士が亡くなってしまった。初めての勝負だったのに上手に打った。作戦能力が強いようだ。（というか、僕はすばらしい先生だぜ！）真剣に打たなくちゃダメだった。（あるビデオのような勝負だったかも。）（笑）

So who won?
でも誰が勝ったのか?


Tik Ka played black. ティカさんは黒。

Kanda-sensei came in toward the end and declared that that huge glob of stones on the left-center of the board was black's territory. I couldn't read whose it was and was looking forward to playing it to see what happened, but Kanda-sensei declared that my white stones were already dead and explained why. D'oh! So Tik Ka controlled the entire lower-left corner, spreading out into the center.

勝負が終わるすぐ前にカンダ先生が来て、僕の真ん中の白石がもう死んじゃったと言った。碁盤のあの辺は分かりにくかった。それで、ティカさんは黒石で広い陣地をコントロールしていたと気づいた。

But who won? Kanda-sensei rearranged the board for easy counting.
でも～、誰が勝ったのか？カンダ先生が不思議で魔法みたいな数え方を使って…


どうやってやるか、まだ分かってない…

Fifty-four moku for black and forty-seven for white. Dang. Guess I lost. But wait!
黒は５４モクで、白は４７もくだった。しまった。負けたなぁ。あっ、待って！


数学で勝った人が決められる！

With komi of 6.5 (komi is essentially a handicap against the person who goes first), I managed to lose by only half a moku. Which instills the importance of the small things in the game.

コミで０．５モクだけで負けた。やっぱり細かいことも大切だね。

So Tik Ka won! Congrats, man. Next time, Zoe needs to get some practice. Besides, Tik Ka's clearly too much for me to handle. (Heh.)

ティカさんが勝った！おめでとう！次回、ゾーイさんが実習しなきゃ。だって、ティカさんは僕にとって強すぎるかもね！（笑）



That now makes five people that I've dragged into Go. Count Moku's machinations proceed as planned!

ところで、先週の金曜日の『しゃべり場わいわい』を聞いたの？カンフーのカクさんとＥクラスのオンさんが初めて出てきて放送を上手にできた。カタカナ語について話していた。


カクさん：「オンさんの長い話の間に水を飲んでもいい？」

お疲れさま！来週、僕はヨウさんと一緒に放送する予定なのでお楽しみにして！

Every now and then, you'll see some slightly off-kilter sentences in Japanese dictionary example sentences.

「She is smelling at roses」という文は変でちょっと不自然なのだ。特に「Smelling at」は問題だ。それはアメリカ人にとって全然言わないので。「She is smelling roses」のほうが自然だと思う。

By the way, the more I use this dictionary, the more I come to like it. Likewise, the more Japanese I learn, the more useful the dictionary is to me. It's more powerful and accessible that I thought I would find it when I first received it.

ところで、この貸してくれた電子辞書は使えば使うほど好きになる。それに日本語を勉強すればするぼど辞書は役に立つようになる。期待は思っていたよりも叶われてよかった。

僕は今月のスピーチコンテストのテーマを誤解してしまったと思う。思っていたほど範囲が狭くない。日本語に関する話題を選びたいけど、今週ラジオ放送の準備をならなきゃならないから、できないと思う。さ～、やる気が改めて見つけるとすぐできなくなってしまう。大丈夫だけど。今週の『しゃべり場わいわい』を作るのにヨウさんと力を出して頑張りたい！よろしく～！

コンピューターを使ったりしながら『演歌の女王』というドラマを始めて見ているところだ。僕は話がよく分かるから、楽しめる。ストーリーは面白い。女優の天海祐希（あまみ・ゆき）は好きなのでもっと面白くなった。でも、このドラマでは天海さんのヒマワリというキャラクターが殺したがっている女性がいて、いろいろ大変なことをしている。それに『瑠璃の島』の成海璃子（なるみ・りこ）の若い女優も出ている。

ところで、僕へ演歌が好きなのに聞いたことがあまりない。

Al Gore is on a Japanese variety show right now. For some reason, this rather blows my mind. As he talks, a Japanese translation is played over his voice and he has an earpiece in his ear as well. He seems to have some popularity with the guests. Why does this feel so surreal, I wonder.

The show ended and he said "doumo arigatou" himself.

Heh. Now there's a Japanese PC/Mac commercial on. The Japanese ones are just like the American ones.

Update: By the way, today is setsubun. My schoolmate Andy explains it a bit as well.

I watched X-Men 3 for the first time last night. Good enough to sit through and, as a fan of the X-Men series, enjoy; but not a good movie by any means.

There were a good three times during the movie that I felt were notable deviations from the established characters' personalities. Of course, the movies are just based on the comics, and the comics themselves are a terrible mish-mash of hundreds of writers and continuities and plot/character inconsistencies such that worrying about these sorts of things is rather pointless. But some qualities are pretty inherent to the characters across the board. For one, I don't think Magneto would have simply abandoned Mystique like that. And, yeah, the way they offed Scott, and then proceeded to turn it into something of a Jean/Logan love story, was indeed ridiculously lame. (Well, at least Jean didn't faint when she used her powers. Do you know what I'm sayin'?!)

Anyway, I give it a one-point-five out of four.

On a related note, I found, not one, but two videos of Japanese X-Men animated series openings. The quality of the animation is clearly superior, but the construction, especially the music, is so laughably stereotypically "anime" that I extend to these videos an insane sort of adoration. The American theme song is much better. (Oh ho, a bonus: combine the best of both worlds!)

Cry for the mooooooooon!!

I've been pretty busy this week. We had our first test yesterday and we got the results back today. I got 88% on the written test and a 66% (I believe) on the listening comprehension test—and to give you an idea of how tough this listening test was, my score was above the class average. While the score is low, I'm pleased to be above that line. In truth, my listening comprehension seems to have improved a bit recently, and I've been performing well in the class with the exercises too. Despite the grade, I'm pretty satisfied. (A curve would have been nice, though.)

I met with my English student today and he is incredibly pleased with our sessions. ("I'm really looking forward to seeing you next week!" he said to me eagerly.) He wants me to be a bit stricter about correcting him, though. I can understand that. I like to be corrected when my Japanese is incorrect (most of the time—especially in academic settings.)

今週は何となく忙しいようだ。昨日は今学期の初めてのテストだった。今日、成績をもらった。僕は聴解テストは８８％で、聞くテストは６６％だった。低くてがっかりしたけど、その６６％ってまだクラスの平均以上だよ！成績が低くてもクラスの平均成績以上ってうれしい。実は、最近の聴解練習はうまくいっているから、聴解能力が少し上達したような気がする。でも、みんなが自分の成績を見ると教室雰囲気がちょっと暗くなってしまった。今日、廣江先生は「継続（けいぞく）は力（ちから）なり」という表現を教えてくらた。「続ければ、力になるという意味です」って。能力が上達し続けるように！

今日、英語の生徒に会って１時間ぐらい話していた。彼は僕にとても満足していると言ってくれたから、僕がヤッターって感じてちょっと安心できた。（来週は本当に楽しんでいるよ！って言ってくれたよ！）でも、生徒はもっと厳しく英語の間違いを直してもらいたがっているので、僕はこれからその頼みに応えていこうと思っている。僕も日本語の間違いを直してほしいから、生徒の気持ちがよく分かる。