Jonathan's Japan Journal (ジョナサンの日本日記)

My mother's here! We'll be heading to Tokyo Thursday! I'll be in touch!
母がいる！明日東京へ行くよ！後で連絡するよ！

[Wed. at 11:23.] I don't suspect that I'll have much time, energy, or motivation for much in the way of substantive posts over the next few days, so I'll likely just update this post now and then with short blurbs. We're going to meet Brian Yamamoto and Yo for lunch soon. That'll be good (and the last time I'll probably see Brian for a long time). I haven't eaten anything in about 24 hours except for some almonds. We were going to eat dinner but we both had a very long day and ended up just crashing until this morning. I'm hungry. I've had to caution my mother already about talking loudly in my paper-thin-wall–havin' room. Dang loud foreigners. Heh.

[Thurs. at 10:49.] Yesterday, we had lunch at Denny's with Brian Yamamoto and Yo. I was quite pleased to hear that Brian will be back in the area in a couple of months so it won't be so long until we meet after all. Brian and Yo gave us a lot of useful information about Tokyo that really helped a lot (thanks, guys!). My mother and I rode to city hall to put the finishing touches on my visa extension (all done!) and, later, we actually went back to Denny's for dinner. During the day, I got a call from a friend of mine who asked if I wanted to visit Okazaki Castle that evening and check out the partially-bloomed sakura. Well, there wasn't really time but it was a good opportunity to visit the castle (by car, at that). We got to visit the inside of the castle as well, though it was pretty late, and we got a great view of the city at nighttime. The weather was perfect and it was a great visit. Now it's morning and, shoot, still not much done in terms of preparations. She wants to go to Tokyo by regular train. That's a six-hour ride. We'll see what becomes of that. (Schoolmate Julien just got back from Tokyo and offers a bit of useful information. Also, I'm glad that I'm totally legal now.) (It seems that schoolmate James and I have very similar itineraries. I saw that backwards "3" as well—heh heh.)

[Thursday at 16:02] We'll be leaving later than expected but our hotel reservations are made and we're making the final preparations. I can relax a bit, as we (understandably) had trouble finding a hotel. Tokyo, I'm comin' for you.

[Monday at 19:56] Sorry for the lack of updates during the trip. Turned out that I couldn't access many websites during the trip, including Blogger, and by the time that I thought of using a proxy to bypass that, it was time to come back. I'll write a bit more later, but, basically, the trip went well. We had a lot of fun together in Tokyo and saw a good deal. I liked it, personally. I think I could likely live in Tokyo. My mother liked it too, but would prefer to live in an Okazaki-style city indeed. Well, my mother's here until Thursday, but I'll try to update to some extent before that.

東京の旅行については後で書くよ！

I'm pretty sure that I just experienced a very small earthquake. I shall remain on alert for a while.

• Bad news: Huge quake in central Japan
  
• Cool news: Saw my first Domo-kun commercial today (I like NHK)
  
• Good news: Met with an e-mail friend for the first time today and we hit it off very well
  
• Good news: I got a library card today!
  
• Good news: My mother arrives Tuesday
  
• Bad news: Plans for our trip to Tokyo barely exist
  
• Bad news: I have to complete a radio script with Yo by tomorrow.
  
• Good news: No more homework, no more book, no more teacher's dirty looks! For two weeks.
  

Also, I just learned about an interesting type of humor often used in Japanese. It's called dajare and is a type of wordplay. (I'm pleased to note that I understood all but one of the examples right away.) This lead to owarai, the world of comedy in general (which itself led to various information). Useful stuff. You won't learn this at school.

By the way, have you ever noticed in anime how characters will hear or observe something silly or unexpected done by another character and then faint or nearly faint? Japanese people actually do this! I mean, they don't actually faint, but they'll kind of act like it or pretend to lose their balance and stumble a step or two. (A "faint response," one Wikipedia article called it.) For whatever reason, I'm totally enamored with this and have done it a few times myself. (I'm likely to bring that back home with me. I'm just saying.) Specifically, I remember Hada-sensei and Hiroe-sensei going it in class a couple of items.

明日の今学期の最後の日だ。それに、外国で１人暮らしの第１年目ももうすぐ終わる。ま～。Ｇクラスの確かに変になったが、本当に楽しかったよ。来学期で一緒に勉強できなくなってしまった。だから、来学期はどうなるかな？実はね、悩んでいる。来学期の教室の雰囲気とか。ま～、心配するにはいかないだろう。何とかなる。

Tomorrow is the final day of this term. My first year here in Japan will also come to an end soon. G class was truly a strange and wacky class but I enjoyed it a lot. We won't be able to study together again next term, it seems. For certain reasons, I'm pretty concerned about what the atmosphere in the class I'll be in term will be like. Well, no reason to worry. It'll work out.

泣！

Brian

Today was Brian Yamamoto's goodbye party. I was in one of my moods that I sometimes get in at parties and spent a good deal of time in a very small alcove chatting with a number of friends who came to visit. Two Japanese guys were there mingling about but I wasn't in the mood to meet new folks or make small talk in Japanese. So what happens? Yo brings them to the alcove and leaves and I'm forced to chat with them. And, you know, it worked. After that, I felt more sociable. Nice work, jackass. (Eunice told the two guys that I play Go and they asked if I played shogi as well. I replied that I never have in a way (さしたことがない) that made me trip out over my うまい (skillful) Japanese. It was amusing.)

Thank you, Brian, for a wonderful party—no, for all of the wonderful parties. Things will be that much deader without ブライーーーアンーーー！ around.

(Give Zaya and Yan hugs for me. Well, give one to Yan if she's in a condition for it. If not, please offer a suitable substitute.)

Tik Ka and Zoe

Earlier in the week was Tik Ka and Zoe's farewell dinner. We went to Festa Garden, an all-you-can-eat restaurant in the relatively nearby Aeon shopping center. Tik Ka and Zoe and I started together at the bottom and studied together for six months. For the past six months, we've been separated but we were at least able to have an elective class together this term. Soon, they'll be leaving too. Man.

Well, guys, I'm gald that we were able to study together. You're good people, see. きっと we'll meet again. Certainly, online, right?

泣！

Today was my class's trip to the Toyota factory but I opted not to go because I didn't want to part with the 1,400-plus yen that trip would require, especially when I'm attending a large get-together this evening that will cost a thousand yen and with my mother's trip right around the corner. I thought that I would go to Nagoya to complete my visa-extension process but I figure I'll do Tuesday morning before I meet my mother at the airport.

So, I did nothing here at home. I, however, did got to voice chat with my good friend SharkBait back home, which is a rare treat. (I should be working on my last schoolwork, or the radio script for Monday. Oy.) In other friend-related news, I was surprised to receive a note last night from a friend of mine here in Okazaki whom I fell out of contact with a few months back. (I hope you got my e-mail reply. Let me know here if you didn't!) Quite pleased about that.

From now, I need to prepare for this evening's shindig. That means I need to cut my hair.

この　にほんご　を　よみますか？
がんばって　ください！
すごい　です　ね？！
じゃ、またね！

今日のテストは図書室でＧとＨクラスの学生と一緒に行われていた。聴解テストはあまりうまくいかなった。朝ごはんを食べずに行っちゃったし、以外にも眠かったし、話にも興味があまりなかったし、まるで失敗みたいなぁと思っている。逆に書くテストは全然大丈夫だった。あまり勉強しなかったんだが、そんなに難しくなくてよかった。満足できた。それが一番大切じゃないかと思う。でもまた復習しないわけにはいかない。

昼休みの間、ティカさんとゾーイさんとアンディーさんと小柳津（おやいず）先生とキツツキでゆっくり過ごした。最近小柳津先生にあまり会わないのでいいなぁと思う。でもキツツキで食べるのには時間をかけなければならないので、あの喫茶店に入って誘ってもらったら「次の授業に遅れるに違いないね」と思ってみんなと座った。ティカさんとゾーイさんはもうすぐ帰国してしまう（泣）ばかりにそうした。

案の定、１０分くらいも遅れてしまった。今日は特別な茶道授業だったのに。ティカさんとゾーイさんとアンディーさんは３人のチームで教室に入れたが、僕なんて１人で入らなければならないことになっていたのでちょっとね。たが、入ったら、ところが誰もいなくてびっくりした。「Ｇクラスって、どこ？茶道授業のために、もしかして図書室で行った？」でも行ったら電気がついていなくて誰もいなかった。「えっ？！」って。３階にも、アオイホールでも探してみたが、誰も見つからなかった。４階に戻って時間割を見た。書いてなかったが、時間割を見ると「暮らしの学校！」と思い出してはやくあそこに行った。ついにＧクラスを見つけてよかったね。

廣江先生と学生のみんなは山田みほ先生に茶道の正しい仕方を教わった。暮らしの学校は僕が碁を打つ場所なのでリーさんと打ちたかった。僕たちの前回の勝負、もう１ヶ月以上がたったから。

Tomorrow is my final test of the term. Recently, I've not been studying very well so I'm a bit concerned about how well I do, but I'm comforted by two facts: (1) I'll do fine and (2) it doesn't really matter. I met with Hiroe-sensei today and we discussed what I'd been doing next term.

See, Yamasa has introduced a class level in-between the "pink book" (the second New Approach book and sequel to the one that I've been studying for the past six months) and "the other immediate-level book" (which name I don't know in English and serves as a go-between for the two New Approach books). He said that there's no problem at all with my going to the pink book and he thinks that I'd be just fine and make good grades and all, but since my reading speed is a bit slow, he also thinks that it could be beneficial to study the other immediate-level book since that class will focus more on reading. I appreciated this because he is concerned about my actual progress as a whole instead of just shooting me up the scale. So basically, he said that I could study either book and that, with everyone else in the class, he had a clear suggestion for which book to study, but with me, he had none, as either path was fine. Which is a good thing, I think.

Of course, I'm going with the pink book. My reading speed, while not particularly swift, isn't actually as slow as it appears in class and on tests and I'm not worried about it. (Everyone's reading speed and comprehension varies with their interest in the material. More so with me, I think. And goodness knows that most reading material at school is not exciting. When I'm reading my go book, for example, though, I'm quicker.) I prefer to just read more on my own. (Joaquin's been pretty inspiring for this.) I was fairly lazy this term but, in exchange, I'm ready to put more energy into my further studies. I needed a break. (Study here for about a year and you'll understand. But I'll write about all that later.) My main weakness is vocabulary, I suspect. I'm going to ramp up my kanji studies as all, as this will help my vocabulary.

So I'm feeling pretty psyched about next term. I'm going to put more energy into my studies but more intelligently and efficiently. I think I should make a study schedule as well. Besides, I can't let guys like my schoolmate James have all the fun. (Heh heh.)

I'm hungry.

Update: By the way, my listening comprehension is also rather weak. I just finished watching an episode of Full House and realized that watching it—really watching it—is excellent practice, so I'll be doing that from now on. (Takes me back, I tell you.) Before that, I saw a nice teen drama that was likewise useful. I need to use the CD that came with my textbook as well—haven't been doing that much.

Well, my five-day-straight run of get-togethers has come to an end. Good times. Now I'm faced with both an essay and a term questionnaire that I neglected to complete by their due dates. Beh. I left class early to go to Nagoya to wrap up the visa extension process, but I went to the ATM to find that a deposit made into my account hadn't posted yet, so I'll have to go tomorrow. This evening, I had dinner with my classmate Cynthia—had a fine time.

水曜日から昨日まで毎日パーティーが行われていた。勉強するのにはちょっと大変だったが、楽しかった。今、まだ書かれていない作文や今学期のアンケートをしなきゃ。（アンケートのほうは「金曜日までに出してください」と言われて時間が足りなかったが、今週も出せるのを知らなかった。）今日、名古屋入国管理局に行くために午後の授業を休んだが、ＡＴＭへ行ったら、引き出しできなかった！昨日、アメリカでお金がいれられたが、まだ引き出しできない。それで明日行こうと思っている。最後には、今晩クラスメートのシンシアさんと一緒に羽根食堂で夕食をとってとても楽しかった。

I don't think that I've mentioned this publicly yet, but my mother is coming to visit me for ten days starting a week from tomorrow. We're going to Tokyo and possibly to Nara or Kyoto as well. It'll be my first trip to Tokyo—oughta be interesting. I don't expect that I'll be posting here too much during that trip, unfortunately. But I intend to inject some life in this project for my second trip here. Look forward to it!

まだ言っていないと思うが、来週の火曜日、母がアメリカから十日間遊びに来る予定だよ！やったー！東京と奈良か京都へ行くつもりだ。東京は初めてなので楽しみにしている。それなのに、多分その間このブログのポストがないかもしれないと思うが、その後改めてこのブログを始めようと思っているよ！第２年だから。お楽しみに！

改めて、昔の伝説が続いている。 | The legend of old continues.
美少女戦士忍者カク！ | Pretty Soldier Ninja Kaku!



チャクラを集める音を聞こえた？
Did you catch the chakra-gathering sound?

全部のビデオがYouTubeで集まっている.
You can find all of the videos collected at YouTube.

Many folks are leaving next week and there have been nonstop get-togethers, dinners, and karaoke parties. I just got in a little while ago from a karaoke outing for a Japanese conversation volunteer group. (Twelve hundred yen—@#$%! I am greatly concerned about the status of my wallet.) I've have get-togethers this week every day from Wednesday until Sunday. It's fun, though. There's a dual-class outing next week that I think I'll be skipping at this point, however.

Today was a mixed bag but mostly good. I started out in a reading class having eaten no breakfast except for a banana, which was not pleasant, but I felt pretty good by lunchtime. Unfortunately, my parade was rather rained on and I spent the fourth class pretty frustrated with most of humanity.

While resting up in the computer room during my fifth hour break, I was watching a KGS go match when my classmate (and go rival) Lee approached me and inquired about what I was doing. ("Stop cheating," he joked.) We then watched the match together for several minutes, which was quite enjoyable, as it was our first time doing so. Actually, it was my first time watching a match and commenting on it with anyone. It was pretty enjoyable. (I'm suddenly thinking how awesome it'd be to have a girlfriend that enjoyed go. And Mario Kart, of course. Heh heh.) It was a mid-level amateur dan game, so we could scarcely understand just what was happening.

We watched until it was time to go to our final class. On the way, though, I ran into a friend of mine with whom it's always hard to find a good opportunity to talk, so we chatted for a few minutes until I was solidly late for class. It was our final "daily vocabulary" class and, most unfortunately for me, the topic was cooking. It was a moderately difficult assignment using a lot of vocabulary. Man, I don't like cooking. I don't even like eating all that much. I usually do it because I have to. If I could be like Juggernaut and survive without food or water, that'd be sweet. I grant that the near-invulnerability would be vastly sweeter, however.

Two links: The freakiest We Are The World performance on record (go, Ray!) and The new You Don't Know Jack's second installment. Also, if you haven't looked to the right, I have a Google Reader feed of interesting items from feeds that I subscribe to. Check it.

I really need to do at least a bit of studying now.

今晩、去年の４月の伝説のＭクラスの残っている学生と先生３人が一緒に夕食をとりにあるカツどん屋へ行った。前の比べると人の数が本当に減ってきたね。もうすぐもう３人が帰国する予定だから残念じゃないかと思う。でも今晩は楽しい時間を過ごしたよ。

チュウさんが続く予定なのを全然知らなかったよ！なんでだれも教えてくれなかったのか？！

「お茶のかわりを持って来い」と静かに（冗談として！）言ったら、新井先生をびっくりさせた。「私が知っているジョンさんじゃないです。廣江先生に伝えておきます。」って言っていたけど、廣江先生は信じられないと思う。あっ！ついついタイプしちゃったね。いけない！

今日、僕がある友達に「敬語キング」と呼ばれている話が出てきたが、新井先生に敬語で話させられたら「お楽しそうに召し上がりましたか」と言っちゃったんだよ。ダメだと言われて解説をしてもらった。そっかー。でも後で「お茶のおわかりを召し上がりませんか」と言ったらほめてもらってよかった。聞いた話によるとＨクラスのシャさんはとても敬語が上手だって。しているバイトのおかげかもと思う。いいね。とにかく、新井先生は「敬語クイーン」と呼ばれ始めていわゆる「敬語カップル」と一緒になった。

ところで、今日やっと納豆を食べたよ！新井先生の料理選択授業で作られて、アオイホールにいた時に先生にもらった。どうだってと聞かれたらどういう答えがいいかな。そんなにまずくなかったが、そんなおいしくなかったね。納豆だから上手に作られても当たり前だろう。じゃ、納豆としておいしかったと思う。

今日、僕とヨウさんとカクさんとローダさんの４人が廣江先生にあいさつに教務室に行った。その３人はずーっと先週していた『末足をなめたり胸にキスを強くしたり鼻水を食べたりする』ものすごく変なゲームについて１０分ほど話していたので、学校を辞めてから僕たちと一緒いたくなくなっちゃったに違いないと気がする。もうっ！

今日は最後の生き生き会話選択授業だった。最初いろいろな問題があったが、だんだんよくなってきてよかったと思う。今日は最後の会話録音をした。期待していたよりもよかったと思う。「とても上手ですね」とほめてもらったらちょっと安心した。実はかなりうまくいったと思うよ！やった！これから生き生き会話と作ってみていきたいと思う。

（先週の生き生き会話の授業が始まったばかりの時には先生に失礼なことがいっぱいあったよ！学生は授業中教室を入ったり出たり、遅れたり、うるさく関係がない会話をしたり、教室で短い電話をしたりしていて、信じられないほどだった。先生にしてみればさぞ大変だろうと気がした。）

この間、英語の生徒とAeonを出ようとしたらバスケットボール大会のボールを探しに来た廣江先生と羽田先生に出会った。びっくりして、「今、仕事中ですか」とバカのように聞いちゃって。４時で、もちろん！それから、めちゃめちゃに生徒を先生に紹介した。学校で紹介しかたを勉強したことがあるんだったっけ？いつかそれを勉強したいので、いつかリクエストしようと思っている。数ヶ月前、三河おっさんと岡崎駅の前で杉浦先生に出会って同じような経験がされて、同じようなめちゃめちゃな扱い方でしたんだ。

So the other day, as my English conversation student and I were about to walk out of Aeon, we ran into Hiroe-sensei and Hada-sensei, who were searching for a basketball for last Friday's basketball competition. (I didn't enter this time. Still stingin' from last time.) I was caught off-guard and, like a dummy, asked them if they were still working. It was 4 p.m.—duhh. Then I proceeded to clumsily introduce my student to them. It occurs to me that I don't know that they have ever studied introductions (of people) before and I would like to request that. Several months back, I ran into Sugiura-sensei in a similar fashion. (Looking at that text of that post that I just linked to, I couldn't help but notice that I'm saying the exact same thing about not having studied introductions as I am now. Ha! I'd better get on that.)

While the grammar is technically correct, the nuance of the wording of that sentence just makes me nervous.

さっき、Ｅメールをチェックしたら廣江先生からのメールにものすごく驚かされた。

実は、３月の末でYAMASAをやめることになりました。みなさんにとっては、今学期の最後の２週間ですが、私にとってはYAMASAでの日本語の先生としての最後の２週間になります。残り２週間ですが、最後まで頑張っていきたいと思いますので、一緒に楽しんでくださいね。

ガーン。大ショック。

信じられない。「一緒にみんなとまた勉強できればいいな」と思っていたのに。

がっかり。

一昨日テレビをつけたら以外に碁盤の作り方が放送されていて関心になってじっと見ていた。作られていた碁盤の値段は六十万円だって。高い！でも、きれいで丁寧に作られた。

Tonight, I went to Aeon with a few friends. I raced Brian Yamamoto in Mario Kart Arcade GP and won by, like, a quarter of a second. I'm the man. The four of us also did print club (super photo booth) photos which was pretty awesome, as it was my first time.

今晩、友達３人とＡｅｏｎへ行って一緒に食べたりした。山本ブライアンさんとマリオカートアーケードＧＰでレースして勝った。マリオカートでは負けないから。僕たちはプリクラへ行っていい写真をとってもらった。初めてだった、プリクラは。

最近、Igowinというフリーソフトをダウンロードして使っている。コンピューター相手の力が強いので能力が上達するようにいい基本的な作戦の原則練習かなと思う。さっき、初めて１４級レベル（２個の碁石のハンディキャップ）になってうれしいー。

I downloaded a small freeware program named Igowin a couple or three weeks ago and have found it to be a pretty good tool against which to develop my basic strategy skills. I just made it up to 14 kyuu level (two-stone handicap) just now for the first time and, oh yeah, it feels good.

ところで、碁の日本語で書かれている本の後者に入るところだよ！
By the way, I'm almost halfway through my Japanese Go book!

Update: Great day in the morning, what a game I played just now! I successfully broke white's attempt at eyes (or at least impenetrable territory) in the lower left corner and killed its stones. Killed 'em dead! I'm finally understanding this stuff. Man, what a rush. Eat that, fourteen kyuu!

修正：すごいっ！さっき完了した勝負はすばらしかった！白の左下で目を作る計画をきっぱり破った！（目というより、むしろ入れない陣地のほうが正しいかもしれないような気がする。）その石を殺した！全部殺した！作戦で！やっとわかるようになってきている！きもちいい～！１４級に勝ててちょっと信じられない。

Update 2: Uh, greater day in the morning? I just crushed 13 kyuu as well. I'm learning a lot right about now. I'm on a streak, baby! But is it skill or just what one would call luck? Whatever the case, unprecedented!

修正２：すごさが続いている！１３級に勝った！僕がだんだん上手になってきているのか、いいことが集まってばかりいる（いわゆる、ラック）のか、わかならいけど。（笑）とにかく、前人未到だぜ！

Update 3: Alas, I was finally taken down by the twelve kyuu computer but not by too much. I let it capture the upper-right—that was my biggest mistake, I think. And perhaps I concerned myself with the lower-left too much, though it is at least living. It was a pretty fierce battle. Well, that's enough of these pointless updates.

修正３： やっと１２級レベルに負けちゃった。右上を負けて（一番大きなミスかも）左下に集中しすぎた（でも生きている）と思う。はげしい戦いだった。これで、このつまらない修正がとまるよ。

この間、アンドレアさんと「まままま」・「おととと」の注ぎ方の冗談を言った時には、羽田先生は同じようなことがさっきの授業で言われたと言った。面白いのでここであのビデオを紹介しようと思う。

This is for the benefit of Hada-sensei and, of course, who ever else hasn't seen it. It's a classic.



やはり日本の文化は面白いよね。（笑）

今日、友達と一緒に駅まで歩いた。そこで隣人のリーさんと大屋先生に出会って、大屋先生に学校まで車で連れて行ってもらった。聞いた話のよると大屋先生はナルトがとても好きで、ちょっと聞いてみた。予想通り、本当だよ。でも、困ったときに、２，３回先生が「ロックリーが一番好きだ」と言ってもその名前をわからなくて４回目やっとわかった。何でわからなかったのか？恥ずかしかったよ。

今日は初めて先生と話した。後でチャンスがあればいいと思う。やさしい先生だね。

僕はこんなビデオを作りたいなぁ。できないに違いないけどね。
It would be awesome to be able to make something like this at school.



とにかく、知らない擬態語が出てきて、いい勉強になったと思う。
Well, whatever the case, I learned a couple of useful expressions.

Found via Japan Probe.

To you lucky folks in possession of a Nintendo DS, Neo Samurai presents some software you might find useful.

ニンテンドーＤＳを持っている人にはネオ侍さんが作ってくれた教育的なソフトのリストが役に立つかもしれないと気がするよ。

Today, I went to Nagoya to apply for a visa extension. I came here with a one-year visa and I have to extend it for another year. This trip was my first time going as far as Nagoya station (usually I stop at Kanayama) and my first time riding the subway alone with no guidance. Plus, I don't ride trains or subways often and I rarely go to Nagoya so every time I go, it's a bit exciting. Plus, I had to manage to get the process done successfully. It wasn't all that big of a deal, but it still felt like a bit of a trial by fire of sorts.

Fortunately, all went well. I lost some Cool Points for not taking a number for about five minutes after walking in and for blanking out when trying to say the name of the service I required (for some reason, it's really hard for me to remember), but I got a couple back from the man behind the counter who commented positively on my 100% attendance rate.

Even though I rode new rapid trains, the ride was longer than I expected. I had no problems riding the subways either. I'm getting used to figuring out those rather complicated-looking route maps. On the train back, I scooted over to allow a couple of older ladies to sit across from each other and they happily said, "Gomen nasai." I mention that because that same sort of thing seems to happen each time I ride the train.

Oh, and when I was done, I explored the street I was on and found the Disaster Prevention Center, to which I suggested my class go during a field trip that we'll be taking in a couple weeks. The center was my (and Joaquin's) proposal, but the trip proposal presentations and voting are tomorrow. The point is that the odds that I ended up there are quite low and that it's somewhat convenient that I did.

Anywho, I have a headache right now, so I'm going to sign out.

今日、在留期間更新に名古屋へ行ってきた。僕はあまり名古屋へ行かないし、あまり電車や地下鉄に乗らないし、１人で地下鉄に乗ったこともなかったし、名古屋駅に行ったことがもなかったし、それに必要な書類は全部集めてあるか、問題があればどうなるか、かなり心配していたが、うまくいった。僕にとっては、日常生活ができるか能力試験みたいに感じた。（進学率がいいと言ってもらった。）電車も地下鉄も問題なしだった。電車内、碁の本を読むのに決めて面白かった。

ビルを出ると「この道を歩こうと思って歩き始めた。数分後、防災センターを見た！２週間後、二つのクラスはあそこに見学に行くかもしれないから（僕とホアキンさんが選んだところ）、面白くて便利だった。

今、頭痛がしているので…

僕とヨウさんの先週の『しゃべり場わいわい』放送がアップしてあるよ！特に８：５０から聴くと…（笑）ところで、『ジャンル』とはちょっと言いにくかった。先週、いろいろな予定でスタジオの窓の前にいた人は以外にも少なかった。廣江先生、よこざわ先生、リーさん、来てくださってありがとうございました。

Yo and I's latest Shaberiba Waiwai has been uploaded (with BGM intact, I'm pleased to report). At 8:50, we have a bit of fun. Also, the Japanese word for genre is "janru" and I had trouble with that. Unfortunately, there were only three people outside the studio last week due to everyone having various appointments.

韓国からのボヨンさんとヨンミョンさんという友達が帰国するすぐ前、友達は９人ぐらい一緒に夕食をとりに行くことになった。レストランで僕はボヨンさんに封筒に中に入れてあった手紙をもらって、封筒の外に見ると「Jhon」と書かれていた。「え～、名前の綴りが違うけどよ」と言った。「John」と。言ったら気づいた。僕の名前に「h」はないから、「John」も違う。ちょっと恥ずかしくて笑われた。（笑）

I went to dinner with a couple of Korean friends that were returning home the next day. While at the restaurant, one give me an envelope with a letter inside. On the envelope, my name was written as "Jhon." "Hey," I said, "my name's spelled wrong" (not that I cared). It's "John." Then I realized that there is no "h" in my name. An amusing and mildly embarrassing experience.

日本語のバージョンが遅くなってしまってごめんなさい。

金曜日のラジオ放送の後、リーさんにＡｅｏｎの中のＬｏｆｔという店で小さくてどこへでも持っていける１９路盤が売られているということを聞いた。最近碁盤を買おう買おうと思っていたし、帰る前にどこかへ行きたかったし、それで早速自転車に乗ってＡｅｏｎへ行った。

Ｓｅｉｙｕの前の交差点の歩行者赤信号で止めた。そしたら、１１歳の女の子が僕の右に自転車に乗って来た。一緒に青信号を待っていた。待っているうちに、向こうの横断歩道から変な歩き方をしていそうな男の人が女の子に近づいてきた。男の人はいわば女の子が知っているように女の子を叫んでいたが、女の子の横に止めたら女の子は僕の右から左に逃げた。つまり、僕は女の子と変な男の人の間にいさせられた。それに怖くなっていた顔をしていて、何も言わずに男をじっと見ていた。。女の子はその男が知らなかったに違いないと思った。

男は精神障害者 【せいしんしょうがいしゃ】だったか、酔っ払っていたか、今でもわからないが、危ないかもしれないので必ずこの少女を守らなきゃって思った。それからどうなるか、ちょっと考えてみた。けんかになったら警察がいるかどうかとか、周りの運転者は手伝ってくれるかとか、本当の殴り合いの経験がないので少女だけではなく、僕自身を守れるかなぁとか。

考えているうちに、男が向こうの歩道を歩いて行って安心できた。問題なし。

それから、女の子に振り向いてやさしく「怖いですね」と言いました。僕を見てちょっとうなずいた。僕がもって言えばよかったと思っているのに（たとえば、「大丈夫ですよ。何かがあったら僕は守ってあげますから」とお兄さんのような感じとか）、女の子はその時に知らない人と話したがっていないかもとの感じだったから、僕も何も言わずに待っていた。やっと青信号があって一緒に交差点を渡ったが、女の子は左へ行った。僕はまっさぐ続いて行った。

あの女の子はその時についてどう思うかなと好奇心だ。

その後、Ｌｏｆｔへ行って、小さな碁盤を買って帰った。



ステキだろう！
This is the miniature go board that I purchased. Sweet!

After the radio show yesterday, my classmate Lee told me that they sold miniature go boards at Aeon (the local mall) in the fourth-floor store named Loft. I decided to immediately head there, both because I've been seeking Go boards (not necessarily miniature) and because I felt like going somewhere. Thus, I hopped on my bike and headed there.

I got stopped by the light at the large intersection in front of Seiyu and so sat waiting. As I did, an 11-year-old–looking girl appeared on her bike, waiting to cross, a few yards (er, meters) to the right of me. As we waited silently, a odd-looking man came running toward the girl from the crossing perpendicular to us. His gait was odd, perhaps as if he had a slight limp, but I wasn't paying much attention to him. Until he started yelling at the girl as he approached us. I thought that perhaps he knew the girl and was trying to flag her down. But, no, I think not.

I didn't understand what he was yelling, but he ran straight up to the young girl and started speaking to her rather loudly. He looked mentally retarded to me. Or, looking back, perhaps quite inebriated. (It sounded like he might have said something about an abacus, which would seem odd enough to be the ramblings of either, I would think.) Regardless, the young girl stared at him in silence for a couple of seconds as he hovered over her, then she suddenly rode over to the left side of me, effectively putting me between the man and herself. I turned to look at her and saw her staring at the man with a distinct fear in her eyes. At this point, I understood that this situation could be serious and glared at the man to see what he'd do next.

Fortunately, he decided to amble down the sidewalk away from me. I turned back to the girl, who looked up at me, and I said, "Scary, huh?" I'm not sure if she nodded very slightly or anything, but she said nothing, still looking a bit rattled. Unfortunately, I said nothing more to her and, for whatever reason, I felt that maybe she didn't feel like talking to strangers and that I could make her uncomfortable too if I started chatting her up too much. But I really wish I'd said something else, like "Don't worry. If anything bad had happened, I'd have helped you" or something. Ah well. I'll be ready next time.

We crossed the street and she rode off to the left. Me, I bought myself a magnetic portable go board.

今日は本当にかなりいい一日だったよ。授業も放送もうまくいったし、エネルギーも出せたし。
It was a good day for me. Class and the radio broadcast both went well.


案外！とんでもないことだろう！
Rhoda was the first to class today. Saints alive!



This banana was fat enough for the skin to break. And, boy, was it good.
破れるほど太かった。それにおいしかった。