Kylie's escapades

I've been in Japan for nearly one month now. And here in Japan, I believe I have learnt a few great and pivotal lessons.


1) That language is hilarious

To be honest, being in Japan is amazing but albeit a tad confronting and frustrating at times. You see, it is frustrating for me meeting all these great Japanese people and not being able to have deep and meaningful conversations. Or having simple conversations where you can be understood- which is why asking where the salt is placed in a supermarket can be quiet hilarious. Last time I asked where the salt was, I was shown to the womens hygiene section.

Anyway, in class a few days ago, we were discussing what kind of presents you would give to your significant other, families etc. And everyone got talking about my cream purse and who I recieved it from. Anyway... so I must've misheard. I was asked about my bag and if my boyfriend got it for me... to which i replied, onna no hito wa kaban o agemasu (a woman gave it to me). My classmates then asked me if she was my girlfriend (kano jyo desu ka?) to which I replied hai ( which means yes- note this is usually the perfect answer to anything you hear that you don't understand). So now- apparently in Japan I'm a lesbian. Or a great unintentional liar!

Another experience was last tuesday when all of us Ryugaku Love members went to climb Kinkazan (mt Kinka, the tallest mountain in Gifu). I had recently learnt the term for tired which is tsukarita. And I was tired. I had woken at 7am that morning to go for my daily 30 min run, then biked to Mt Kinka for 45 minutes and were in the midst of climbing the mountain (which takes 1.5 hours to climb up). Anyway, so why the funny language experience? Well, Japanese is quite a complex language to learn, and to my foreign ears, tsukarita (tired) sounds like tsuita (hungry) and tsukue (to make). So as I was climbing Mt Kinka, I thought to myself, 'Why not practice the term tired so I can remember it better!'. So I went around telling everyone many times how tiring the climb was, and grumbled and screamed 'tired!' all the way up the mountain. And it wasn't til I reached the top that Manaka Chan told me that what I was saying for the 1.5 hours was not 'tired' but 'hungry'.

However in my defence, after the 1 hour climb and 45 min bike ride back home following the climb, I could safely say I was now both tired and hungry.


But the hilarity of language does not solely involve me.

Brooke told me a story tonight about meeting a new person in Tokyo. The fellow gaijin was trying to ask where she was born. Instead he asked Brooke 'how she was born into the world'. Like there is any other way?

Another was a story Scottie told me over dinner of how they were learning in class how to say, 'if you do ____ then __ happens'.
He was testing out how to say, if you press this button then ___ will happen. Anyway, I forget what he was trying to say with my memory like one of a goldfish, but basically what he said that had his teachers in stiches was 'if you press this button then the whole world will explode'.




2) Bike riding in the

Nagoya city
Nagoya city- gorgeous!

rain with an umbrella is a very very very dangerous experience.

As you all know, bike riding is not my strong point, though I have improved recently to the point that I can pretend to hold an umbrella whilst riding (meaning, one hand on the bars) and not fall down. Yet, when it comes to the cut, I have fallen sadly, by the side of the road. And please excuse the pun not, as I managed, in torrential rain, to nearly ride myself off the bridge into the river out the front of Gifu University. So I have decided for my sanity and the safety of poor Japanese people around me, that everytime it rains, this gaijin shall have to walk everywhere. Bike riding has been a hilarious experience for me here, but there is a goal for me right there- to conquer riding in the rain! I think it is funny though, as my bestie My pointed out....I can balance in very high shoes for extended periods of time but a bike? Bah!! I miss my car.



3) Karoke is a must-do in Japan

So us gaijin Chrystrian, Peter, Daniel, David, Scottie and I decided to head to Karaoke one late friday afternoon, fed up with uni and our crazy timetables. And Scottie decides to make ub40 shots (ub40? as in the band? or maybe Im typing this wrong perhaps), and David, Chrystian, Scottie and I end up having a very interesting time biking the 25 minutes to karaoke. Karaoke in Gifu is horrendously cheap compared to Nagoya, we ended up paying 700 yen (thats right $7.50 aussie dollars), for 7 hours of Karaoke goodness. Being the only girl with the boys yet again, I and the boys got to indulge ourselves great drink and snacks and great hits such as Tatu's 'Not gonna get us', Madonna's 'don't cry for me argentina' and the best song ever, the 'Phantom of the Opera' with David doing a great rendition of 'sing! sing! sing! sing for me or I'll kill you. Sing!'.



4) Mobile Phones and Doryokushyos (Alien registration cards) are harder to obtain than gold

Its a funny thing here in Japan that you can't open a bank account, a mobile phone account or obtain any form of official documents until you get your alien registration card. And you can't get your alien registration card for a good 3 weeks after arrival. So here we aussies were, stuck with no means to contact people, do any banking or have any formal form of identification (yes, apparently Australian licenses or passports don't really make the cut as forms of identification here). Thankfully I got it and on the same day, Scottie, Jo and I managed to get down to Malera shopping centre by the kindness of dear Takano Chan, and obtain mobile phones. And it was great too! In Japan, when recieving mobile phones, the phone providers like to give you gifts. Chrystian and the past students managed to score Softbank pillows. We on the other hand scored two bottles of washing detergent, one disinfectant and one laundry liquid bottle. Living in a International House, these things are in more demand than water in a desert so I was ridiculously happy.



5) Being a gaijin allows you to do many things out of the ordinary

Its a common joke between us gaijin (foreigners) that we can do stupid things and justify it because we are foreign. Im sure the japanese people think we're strange but because we don't know we are being weird or don't really care its accepted.
Actually, I'm currently writing a cultural essay for the University of Techology Sydney, about the concept of foreign-ness and the japanese behaviour divide but I'll post that up on another night.

Anyway so back to my point... so here for me especially, I've found I really like to hang on poles. So here we were on Friday night going to Nagoya, and I decide to swing like a monkey from the pole rafters of the Japanese trains. Cue to a few many weird stares but lets sum up Nagoya as a night of many happy snappies for all. We ended up at a club called steps in Sakaei swinging on poles and having David falling off chairs. Was a hilarious night!




On a final note ...

It is currently Golden Week here in Japan which means I have the next four days off.
So I am off to Tokyo from Sunday for a much needed break from UTS/Gifu university assignments/work/proposals/reports/research methodologies!
Yay! Copious happy snappies shall be taken- will be in touch with you all soon minna san!

Love you all! xxxx

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