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August 09, 2005

adventures in japanese... only

today has started as any other really; grab either the 7:40 or 8 am bus to school, sit down, and begin surfing the web heh. yes, sorry i don't post pictures up while i'm at school, my excuse is that i use the school's computer when i'm at school, and i use my own at home. but they're all ready to be uploaded and what not, honest heh.

my supervisor and yamaguchi sensei were away at a tennis tournament today, so i was pretty much left to my own fruition. and being that everyone is on summer vacation, i'm usually the only one there... anyways. today was japanese dictionary hunting day (i remembered the website you showed me ito sensei, and it's still half off - kainasai~^^) and started asking my other sensei friends if they can help further explain to me if it explains anything in english.

this took at least 30 minutes, in addition to 10 sensei's.

as 11:30 rolls around... still not many sensei's at school, and the vice principal thought it might be a good idea to take me to the 'fry's' of japan, yamada denki ya, to search for a dictionary. ozawa sensei offered to take me (the one with the world record in the 50m breast stroke AND the city record of the 50m backstroke! /applause), and i of course with nothing to do (mike wu) went along with.

now what would you suspect a world record holder to listen to in her isuzu suv? rock? trance? rap? oh no no no my friends.

the phantom of the opera. and not just the phantom of the opera... no no no. in japanese.

anyways... when i got back, i needed to make a phone call. but before i used the phone, i asked the vice principal if i could use it (i felt it was appropriate).

so there's something you have to know about the vice principal.

i never get his name right.

and this is very bad.

i've called him kyoto sensei, akito sensei, akyoto sensei, akimato sensei, akimamoto sensei just hoping that maybe i'd get it right, and he's just simply smile and nod and acknowledge that i'm right (for once :P).

so.

this time i start walking towards him with a questino in hand, and as soon as he sees me he begins writing on a post it in front of me. without looking upwards at me, he hands me said postit and resume working. now i thought this postit was something to do with my orientation. or perhaps advice i was looking for throughout the day. or maybe even a great recipe for curry. oh no.

as i take the note. it had one thing written on it. and you guessed it. akimoto .

thankfully at that time, goto sensei was leaving for the day, and as he told me 'i'll see you tomorrow.' i corrected him in saying i won't be here. so he said 'day after then.' corrected again telling him i won't be here then either. he finally stopped and turned to me and said, 'well why not?' i told him i had another orientation to go to and that it was mendokusai (troublesome as i understand it best). a group of four sensei bursted out laughing saying that it was very well said, and i sounded like a true japanese person.

and then they said i shouldn't say that, not to a superior anyways lol. so now i said in english, 'orientation is a pain in the ass.' this struck a cord amongst the four sensei's. they asked me to teach them what 'pain in the ass' meant. this was my poor attempt: oshiri no itai, oshiri ni itai... oshiri ga itai etc etc. (i'm sure i got it wrong ito sensei, and yes i know 'iwanaide' to imasu). so i think what ensued had to be the best. keep in mind.. this is all in japanese, except for the first part of the last line.

sensei 1: ohhhh i know what that is! it's when you fart right (hand motions and everything)?
me: not.. quite...
sensei 2: oohhhh that's when you have bad gas!
me: um... not really...
sensei 3: is it when you have to poop?
me: um... no
sensei 4: so.. it's pain.. in.. the... oshiri?

i had to laugh. that was just comedic gold. you have to remember that these are grown adults. but it was a lot of fun. i tried telling them it was similar to uzai (annoying), one even started to move like a fly, to show me what it was. yeah... fun stuff. i told them it was a very colloquial phrase that you can use among friends and not to your superiors. right as i said that the vice principal smiles and yells from his desk across the room, 'what're you all talking about?'

all five of us: betsuni! (nothing special)

after work i spent some time with another jet, susie (from the uk), trying to get a cell phone (which was way over our heads), as well as ramen at the tenchijin ramen shop (the people of heaven and earth... i think) and had a beer chilling in her apartment (30 min walk away). and yes she has a bf, and no she's not my type.

so as i said earlier, i'll be away for the next three days at another orientation, yipee /sarcasm. i'll see you all on saturday the 13th, or friday the 12th. ja. supposedly there's a big party friday night in shizuoka city.

Posted by Jeff at August 9, 2005 10:07 PM

Comments

Posted by: ano kirin no onnanoko at August 10, 2005 01:50 PM

Posted by: serj at August 12, 2005 10:28 AM

Posted by: Dickson at August 13, 2005 01:44 PM

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