Party in Odawara last night - my ex-hometown in Japan. Omoshiroi. Met a whole bunch of people I've now known for, hell, almost 18 months - my ex-students at a language school, many of them even older than me. A reminder of the ties that one can and needs to build up in a community - and the contrast with our relationship with our students at university, mainly - by the end of term we have finally got all their names (up to 35 in a class) and maybe have some idea of what they are doing here, but then they are gone, back into the milieu/morasse (?) of the 6,000, perhaps to bob up again somewhere along the line.Today was spent largely in a wet suit and often in the sea, snorkelling off Izu. Sugoi tropical fish of all shapes, colours and sizes, as were the snorkellers and divers; voyeurs who seemed to be attempting to outnumber the voyees, it being a long weekend at the end of July.
Amongst us were a small group of large Finns, yes, wearing fins, who work at that Finnish telephone company.......... you know - Nokia? Omoshiroi that there are 400 or so company employees in Tokyo, only 30 or so of whom are Finnish, but they all communicate by email in English - even Finn to Finn (the rest are Japanese). An email in Finnish may later have to be translated (plus the back-up) into Japanese, so to make it easier they just write everything in English - the common world tongue.
By the way, yesterday I had to endure/enjoy a listening test invigilation (the correct term)/ proctoring (American), which was entirely US culture-based/biased, so I raised this with someone responsible later with the hope that the next test, and teaching materials in general, move quickly away from the presupposition that 'English' is American. During this excruciating endurance test I spotted and noted with mild interest the curious slogans on the students' T-shirts:
"Pleasant the beauties of nature passing fancy live in a world fantasy"
"It's a sick world and I am a happy girl"
The above-mentioned test was multiple choice - choose the best answer, A, B, C, or D, eg.
1. Someone takes you to an art exhibition of post-19th century painting. Is your response most likely to be:
a. It's just a load of squiggly lines.
b. A child could have done a better job.
c. It's kind of interesting but I have no idea what it's about.
d. Isn't it amazing how someone can produce such a fresh reaction to life?
2. Someone takes you to a jazz concert. Is your response most likely to be:
a. Sleep.
b. Bloody awful noise.
c. I liked the bits at the beginning and the end when I could tell what the tune was.
d. Isn't it amazing how some people together can produce such a fresh reaction to life?
3. Someone plays you a Springsteen concert. Is your reaction most likely to be:
a. Can't stand American men.
b. Can't stand Americans in general.
c. Actually he's got some good tunes.
d. Actually if you take the time to listen to what he's saying you'll realise he's a great artist.
4. Your partner says they want to go away for three days hiking in the mountains with a friend.
a. Good riddance. Break your neck.
b. Good riddance. Thank God I'll be able to do what I want for three days.
c. That's cool. I respect you and I know you love me. Enjoy!
d. That's cool, but I wish you'd invite me along.
5. A friend suggests you go to the ballet next weekend. Do you say:
a. Actually I'm thinking of proctoring something/one that day.
b. Swan Lake? Seen it before.
c. Omoshiroi - but how about the latest Rambo movie?
d. Why do you need to ask?
6. You are given a book of poetry for your birthday. Is your reaction most likely to be:
a. Poetry is a series of meaningless random words.
b. Great! I'll give it to Oxfam.
c. I quite like the one about stopping all the clocks in that Hugh Grant movie.
d. Omoshiroi.
7. Someone suggests you go to a Radiohead concert:
a. Their music is a series of random notes - what happened to good old fashioned tunes?
b. Why does he seem to be in so much pain?
c. I'll have to check my diary...
d. Bloody marvellous - very omoshiroi bunch of artists.
8. You win a ticket to a post-19th century classical music concert:
a. Can't stand modern classical music - it's just a series of random notes.
b. It always sounds like they are in such pain.
c. People just pretend to like it - they'd all much rather hear some proper music.
d. Great! I don't always understand it, but it sounds omoshiroi.
9. You are given an Amy Winehouse CD. Your reaction is:
a. Didn't she train dogs? Sit!
b. She's the one who's always in the news for taking drugs.
c. Mind you, Louis Armstrong smoked marijuana every day.
d. Once in a generation they come along, thank God.
10. Your partner tells you you are going to a family get-together. You do not speak your partner's language, and the rest of the family do not speak yours. You know from previous experience that this will involve sitting extremely uncomfortably for up to 5 hours in a room full of people who may or may not be talking about you, but will every now and then turn to you and say "Isn't that right?", and when you are unable to respond will then laugh in your face as you are such an imbecilic token foreigner, and then carry on talking to each other. Do you:
a. Refuse, with the proviso that you will go once you have learnt the lingo.
b. Tell your partner you regrettably have to proctor an exam that day.
c. Go along with it but insist that your partner translates every 5 minutes.
d. Go along with it as you know that they don't know what it's like to be in your shoes.
etc.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9616
