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Monday, May 31, 2004
family matters
I had such a chill weekend, some good Me time before Laura comes. Saturday was Osouji Day as usual, and managed to air-dry three loads of laundry, woohooooo! I finished repainting the washroom by mid-Sunday, and am really happy with the result. Hopefully my successor(s) won`t be in a rush to paint over what I`ve done. Also, cleaning up pigeon poo is really humbling. Mendokusai.
While driving back from dinner, Yukio oji started telling me about the original word for department stores (hyaku somethingsomething). This was because the Japanese borrowed the same Chinese characters, and so kept the “same” pronunciation. That was interesting, but THEN he breaks into theatrics, and starts saying all of these random Cantonese words in the funniest Chinese accent ever! Hahahah it was hilarious!!! He ended his one-man show by exclaiming, “Chinese! Sounds like fighting!!” hahahaha…too funny. I`m going to learn some Mandarin so I can yell a string of those swooshy-sounding words and then exclaim, “Chinese! Sounds like fighting!” (For some reason, when spoken, Mandarin irritates me more than Cantonese does, but the former sounds nicer when sung).
I`m beginning to suspect that I`m more like Kazuko oba than ever before. Every Ishiguro says I look like her when she was my age, and we both have the Ishiguro nose (shakes fist). I think she too is tennenboke, because according to both uncle Yukio and Ots, she didn`t share their love of the Beatles/English cuz she wasn`t too bright (she didn`t participate in their joint sing-a-longs… which is freaking hilarious in its own right…Adolescent versions of Yukio and Ots singing “Yellow Submarine”???? ahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!) She doesn`t work, but hasn`t visited with people for a while. Aunt Yu says she is definitely NOT isogashii. She likes the eating, and the family, and dogs, and the shopping, and the shade of black. Hmmmm.
It was strange to hear Yu oba mispronounce Matt`s name, because she`s never made that mistake before. He is slowly fading from their memory, which is a bit sad.
I asked mom to send me an English-Indonesian phrasebook, so I can practice a bit before I go. It`ll be really weird to have to suddenly switch from struggling in Japanese to struggling in Indonesian. And I`m sure it`ll be more frustrating too, since I can understand and read some Indonesian, but can speak shockingly little. Mottainai!!!
Only 7 and a half more weeks till JET is over. Then I`m coming home. Whether you like it or not =)
I had such a chill weekend, some good Me time before Laura comes. Saturday was Osouji Day as usual, and managed to air-dry three loads of laundry, woohooooo! I finished repainting the washroom by mid-Sunday, and am really happy with the result. Hopefully my successor(s) won`t be in a rush to paint over what I`ve done. Also, cleaning up pigeon poo is really humbling. Mendokusai.
While driving back from dinner, Yukio oji started telling me about the original word for department stores (hyaku somethingsomething). This was because the Japanese borrowed the same Chinese characters, and so kept the “same” pronunciation. That was interesting, but THEN he breaks into theatrics, and starts saying all of these random Cantonese words in the funniest Chinese accent ever! Hahahah it was hilarious!!! He ended his one-man show by exclaiming, “Chinese! Sounds like fighting!!” hahahaha…too funny. I`m going to learn some Mandarin so I can yell a string of those swooshy-sounding words and then exclaim, “Chinese! Sounds like fighting!” (For some reason, when spoken, Mandarin irritates me more than Cantonese does, but the former sounds nicer when sung).
I`m beginning to suspect that I`m more like Kazuko oba than ever before. Every Ishiguro says I look like her when she was my age, and we both have the Ishiguro nose (shakes fist). I think she too is tennenboke, because according to both uncle Yukio and Ots, she didn`t share their love of the Beatles/English cuz she wasn`t too bright (she didn`t participate in their joint sing-a-longs… which is freaking hilarious in its own right…Adolescent versions of Yukio and Ots singing “Yellow Submarine”???? ahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!) She doesn`t work, but hasn`t visited with people for a while. Aunt Yu says she is definitely NOT isogashii. She likes the eating, and the family, and dogs, and the shopping, and the shade of black. Hmmmm.
It was strange to hear Yu oba mispronounce Matt`s name, because she`s never made that mistake before. He is slowly fading from their memory, which is a bit sad.
I asked mom to send me an English-Indonesian phrasebook, so I can practice a bit before I go. It`ll be really weird to have to suddenly switch from struggling in Japanese to struggling in Indonesian. And I`m sure it`ll be more frustrating too, since I can understand and read some Indonesian, but can speak shockingly little. Mottainai!!!
Only 7 and a half more weeks till JET is over. Then I`m coming home. Whether you like it or not =)
// posted by naomi @ 1:04 a.m. 
