July, 30th
One of my fears when I came to Japan was that I wouldn't be able to record everything that happened in the form of a blog. Turns out I was exactly right. My blog sort of stopped around week 1 although I do have spotty blog posts ready to be posted relating to single days I thought were worthy to write about right then. I had really hoped to blog about most of the stuff I did, though there was so much I did and because of that I hadn't time enough to write them all down.
Today marks my 6th day left in Japan. I'm both sad and over joyed about the fact that I'll be leaving Canadian farm, all it's oddities and all the misunderstandings that were had there. I'll be heading into Tokyo with my friend Derek on the 2nd who I met at Canadian farm. It's pretty ironic that we're both leaving Japan on the same day with the same airlines even at the same time yet we aren't on the same flight. It would have been a much more comfortable flight if we were traveling together but I guess coincidence wasn't strong enough this time, maybe next trip.
As I write this I'm in the car with Yuuki, Aya, Travis and Derek, we're heading to Fuji san. The big plan is to start our climb at 11:30 at night and arrive at the top at 4:00 in the morning to watch the sun rise over Japan. We're being a little rebellious in doing this considering that the weather reports have foretold rain the past week. As long as the top of fuji isn't all clouds I'll be happy since it's not very interesting looking at pictures within a cloud. I'm not currently very optimistic about my chance at good pictures but even If I come out with a nice group picture I'll be good. Anyways, Fuji san is 3700 meters which is I don't know how many feet but it's alot, maybe 11,000'. Haseyan expects us to be back sometime around lunch on Friday. That's what I told him anyways. I hope our attempt at Fuji works out with little to no rain but that seems like alot to ask for considering the circumstances.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Japanese with Joshua: part 2
hotaru - firefly/lightening bug
kora wa sageru iidesuka - is it okay if I take that?
shitsureishimasu - excuse me (polite)
daigaku - university, college
donata - who (polite)
dare - who
kasa - umbrella
keitai - cell phone
tokei - watch
kagi - key
shimbun - newspaper
hon - book
nan ji made desuka - what time do they close?
mo ichi do onegaishimasu - one more time please
kono, sono, ano - this, that, there, respectively.
kono - this. used when referring to something that's not physical, "I like this song"
yubinkyoku - post office
ginko - bank
supa - supermarket
hiru-yasumi - lunch break
yasumi - break
hiru - afternoon
asa gohan - breakfast
asa - morning
gohan - meal/rice
eiga - movie
irasshaimase - may I help you?/ welcome
____ mita? - have you seen _____? example, have you seen Joshua?
pasokon - personal computer
eigo - english
jisho - dictionary
dochi ga ii desuka? - which way is good?
dochi ga hayai desuka? which was is fast?
suru - do
watashi wa mosugu onsen ni ikimasu - I'm going to the onsen soon.
onsen e ikimashyo - want to go to onsen?
karasu no gyouzui - crow's bath
suki - like it
daisuki - love it
shiteru - do you know?
gurai - about
atarashi - new
wazato - on purpose/delebritely
momo - peach
kome - rice
asoka - I see
Meeting "Aussie meat"
I've been learning more about life here at Canadian farms and making a decent amount of mistakes along the way. My cell phone hasn't been helpful as a cell phone or even an alarm... you wouldn't think that would be too hard to mess up huh? I accidentally got up an hour passed everyone else one morning since my cell phone can't correctly tell time and missed breakfast because of it. I felt like a jackass waking up that late and not even helping with breakfast or anything. I'm not trusting my cell phone anymore, my internal clock I find works better.
Bokemaru still doesn't like me but that's not stopping me. I'll keep on trying to befriend him till I leave. He doesn't like almonds or cranberries. I need to get some better snacks that picky dogs might also enjoy.
I'm pretty sure but not positive that Matt, my first Aussie friend got to Canadian farms on the 16th, 4 days after me. First time I saw Matt he was decked out in a camouflaged jacket with a large straw hat and tall rain boots. He looked pretty serious about WWOOFing minus the large straw hat which look kind of silly. It was really nice having Matt there because I finally had someone who was a native English speaker that I could get my thoughts out onto which feels so nice after a few days of no one understanding what you actually mean. Matt turned out to be a great friend and also shared many of my interests. He taught English in Hokkaido for a year and a half I think. It was interesting learning from his past teaching experiences and all the other things he's done. He's been counting all the different onsens he's been to and he's up to 60ish I think which is quite a few. I have, since meeting Matt, taken more of an interest in Australia. Hopefully I can go visit Australia sometime and hang out with my "mates" again. Sohei and I have become pretty good friends. We play chess pretty often which is almost always a good game yet he beats me nearly everytime. Our record is something like 12 games him, 3 games me lol.
Bokemaru still doesn't like me but that's not stopping me. I'll keep on trying to befriend him till I leave. He doesn't like almonds or cranberries. I need to get some better snacks that picky dogs might also enjoy.
I'm pretty sure but not positive that Matt, my first Aussie friend got to Canadian farms on the 16th, 4 days after me. First time I saw Matt he was decked out in a camouflaged jacket with a large straw hat and tall rain boots. He looked pretty serious about WWOOFing minus the large straw hat which look kind of silly. It was really nice having Matt there because I finally had someone who was a native English speaker that I could get my thoughts out onto which feels so nice after a few days of no one understanding what you actually mean. Matt turned out to be a great friend and also shared many of my interests. He taught English in Hokkaido for a year and a half I think. It was interesting learning from his past teaching experiences and all the other things he's done. He's been counting all the different onsens he's been to and he's up to 60ish I think which is quite a few. I have, since meeting Matt, taken more of an interest in Australia. Hopefully I can go visit Australia sometime and hang out with my "mates" again. Sohei and I have become pretty good friends. We play chess pretty often which is almost always a good game yet he beats me nearly everytime. Our record is something like 12 games him, 3 games me lol.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Learning Japanese with Joshua
These are all words that I have used around here and seem to be pretty practical. Well maybe they're practical, I don't think many people will be talking about sweet potatoes in Japanese though.
kochira koso yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Nice to meet you (said when leaving)
sochira koso - you too (more polite then anata mo)
kochira koso - me too (more polite then watashi mo)
masugu - straight (left, right, straight)
tambo - rice field
hatake - field
zenbu - all, everything
sentou - hotbath
onsen - natural hot spring
majide - really?, are you serious? (slang only used by people under 40 yrs)
satsumaimo - sweet potato
mecha mecha - very very (like totemo but a younger word.)
doko kara kimashitaka? - where are you from?
omizu kudasai - water please
sumimasen ocha kudasai - excuse me tea please
kakkoi - cool
____ wa itsu modette kimasuka - when will ____ come back?
denwa okashite kurimasuka - can I borrow your phone please
dakara - so, cause
tanoshii - fun
okashi - funny
chigao - different
onaji - the same
hi wo tsukete kudasai - please make a fire
mata ai mashyou - see you again
kochira koso yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Nice to meet you (said when leaving)
sochira koso - you too (more polite then anata mo)
kochira koso - me too (more polite then watashi mo)
masugu - straight (left, right, straight)
tambo - rice field
hatake - field
zenbu - all, everything
sentou - hotbath
onsen - natural hot spring
majide - really?, are you serious? (slang only used by people under 40 yrs)
satsumaimo - sweet potato
mecha mecha - very very (like totemo but a younger word.)
doko kara kimashitaka? - where are you from?
omizu kudasai - water please
sumimasen ocha kudasai - excuse me tea please
kakkoi - cool
____ wa itsu modette kimasuka - when will ____ come back?
denwa okashite kurimasuka - can I borrow your phone please
dakara - so, cause
tanoshii - fun
okashi - funny
chigao - different
onaji - the same
hi wo tsukete kudasai - please make a fire
mata ai mashyou - see you again
June, 13th>
I spent a lot of my first week in Canadian Farms just trying to learn how things are done and made a decent amount of mistakes along the way. First thing I think was Bokemaru (Bo-K-Mah-Ru), he's the dog around here, I'm not a stranger to dogs so I knew not to be too friendly with a new dog. My caution came in handy when Bokemaru tried to bite me after I'd called his name lol. He's a small dog about the size of my dog Milo but he's got some "shyness" issues, that's what they tell me anyways. My goal for before I leave Japan is to befriend the Bokemeister.
Some of my other goals are learning Japanese while I'm here and making a lot of new friends and contacts. Learning Japanese so far has been pretty interesting and at times not so easy... most the time not so easy. I've made quite a few good friends so far. I hope that they can come and visit me when I get back to the states. I'm starting to miss some of the food we have in the states that they either don't have here or they do have but isn't as good as the real thing like pizza for example, don't eat it here. Of course sushi, udon, rice, sweet potatoes (I prefer Japanese sweet potatoes now), various kinds of pickled things and so many more foods are way better here. Things in Japan haven't changed too much that I can tell, still have all the bizarre things I loved the first time only now I understand things better. There are these hilarious Boss commercials with Tommy Lee Jones in them for whatever reason. Boss is a kind of drink made by Suntory.
The first work I had at Canadian Farms was sweeping up maple seeds which seemed like it would take forever especially since a few hundred new ones fell everyday. Turned out it didn't take forever and now there are no more maple seeds falling. At some point during the week Haseyan and I went to the rice paddy and we planted edamame along the edge of the water. It amazing to see how fast the plants grow. I feel like they're my children except they don't speak, are green and are fantastic to eat. That's awesome since kids are easier when they don't talk, green is my favorite color and I love to eat. Anyways... yeah I've been very impressed by the power of plants and rain. It's rained everyday I've been here so far which also explains the growth of our plants. When it rains we can't work in the field which means after a few days of rain we have to do some serious weeding.
July, 5th. If I don't get to bed now I wont have energy enough to go hoe weeds tomorrow so sayonara.
I spent a lot of my first week in Canadian Farms just trying to learn how things are done and made a decent amount of mistakes along the way. First thing I think was Bokemaru (Bo-K-Mah-Ru), he's the dog around here, I'm not a stranger to dogs so I knew not to be too friendly with a new dog. My caution came in handy when Bokemaru tried to bite me after I'd called his name lol. He's a small dog about the size of my dog Milo but he's got some "shyness" issues, that's what they tell me anyways. My goal for before I leave Japan is to befriend the Bokemeister.
Some of my other goals are learning Japanese while I'm here and making a lot of new friends and contacts. Learning Japanese so far has been pretty interesting and at times not so easy... most the time not so easy. I've made quite a few good friends so far. I hope that they can come and visit me when I get back to the states. I'm starting to miss some of the food we have in the states that they either don't have here or they do have but isn't as good as the real thing like pizza for example, don't eat it here. Of course sushi, udon, rice, sweet potatoes (I prefer Japanese sweet potatoes now), various kinds of pickled things and so many more foods are way better here. Things in Japan haven't changed too much that I can tell, still have all the bizarre things I loved the first time only now I understand things better. There are these hilarious Boss commercials with Tommy Lee Jones in them for whatever reason. Boss is a kind of drink made by Suntory.
The first work I had at Canadian Farms was sweeping up maple seeds which seemed like it would take forever especially since a few hundred new ones fell everyday. Turned out it didn't take forever and now there are no more maple seeds falling. At some point during the week Haseyan and I went to the rice paddy and we planted edamame along the edge of the water. It amazing to see how fast the plants grow. I feel like they're my children except they don't speak, are green and are fantastic to eat. That's awesome since kids are easier when they don't talk, green is my favorite color and I love to eat. Anyways... yeah I've been very impressed by the power of plants and rain. It's rained everyday I've been here so far which also explains the growth of our plants. When it rains we can't work in the field which means after a few days of rain we have to do some serious weeding.
July, 5th. If I don't get to bed now I wont have energy enough to go hoe weeds tomorrow so sayonara.
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