Germany

Well hello, and yes, I know I said I would be posting in a couple of days last time and yes, I know that was two months ago, but I'm here now, alright?!

I'm writing this blog post in my flat in Leipzig, which I'm sharing with Ash, looking out over Grünau, the suburb in which I live. It's fair to say that Grünau is the grimmest place I've ever lived. Just watch any episode of Shameless (which is nearly over for good now, wahh) and you'll get a good idea of my area. Just add East German communist buildings. I'll give a proper run down of my flat and area (with photos) in a later blog post, but I'll say now that although this isn't the nicest area, and although I have to get a tram for 25 minutes to get to university every day, the fact that this place only costs €160 (£135) per month, as well as there being some great people living in the same block, definitely makes up for it.

Today is the day that I receive the first part of my Erasmus grant. As with my flat, I'll do a proper blog post about this soon. As this blog was originally designed to be helpful for people wanting to study abroad, and the process is pretty complicated (too complicated actually...), I think Erasmus deserves its own post.

Moreover, soon I'll do a proper post about the university too. I like it now that I've settled in and everything has worked out fine, but believe me, there's plenty to moan about regarding the whole registration and orientation process. Trust me, this does need its own post.

I know these days I only ever seem to publish posts promising more posts, but I really am going to be doing one a day for the next few days. I've been meaning to get back into this blog for a while, and I've had a fair few people asking me to start again (I never realised you lot cared!), and due to the fact that I'll have plenty of time, with me only having one class tomorrow, and then Thursday and Friday off, I'm going to do one a day! Here's the list:

Wednesday 8th: My Flat & Grünau

Thursday 9th: Leipzig

Friday 10th: Erasmus

Saturday 11th: Universität Leipzig

I look forward! I've not really posted any decent posts since the Autumn of 2011, when I was settling into life in Tokyo (crikey that seems a long time ago now), but watch this space!!

James

Getting Back into Blogging

Crikey, it's been a while since I've been here.

So yes, my hectic life in Japan got the better of me and my blog towards the end of the last term at ICU, but as I'm going to Germany to study for a term at the University of Leipzig in just over three weeks, I thought I ought to get back into the habit of writing this!

In the next few days I'll write a sort of summary post for my year abroad in Japan, and then after that I'll get cracking with all things German...stay tuned!

James

Leeds Exam

Goodness, it's been a while since my last post...sorry! I've been really really busy recently, and to be honest will be busy until I leave Japan (which is in three and a half weeks...blimey!)

Something definitely of note to blog about is the Leeds exam, which I sat on Monday, 7th of May. It's the biggest assessment of our year abroad in Japan, and it was compulsory that we pass it if we were to go onto the third year at the University of Leeds.

For the exam, we had to learn hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kanji compounds (words made from various combinations of Chinese characters), as well as a fair bit of grammar. The exam itself was pretty hellish. For the first section we had to write the kanji for various readings, and then write the readings for different kanji compounds in the second section. Each of those was worth 20%. After that, we had to translate ten Japanese sentences into English; worth 30% overall. The final section, also worth 30%, was an essay which we had to write in Japanese (we could choose from three titles).

If I'm honest, I left the revision a little late, but after a few weeks of intensive cramming, I managed to scrape a pass. Most people seem to have passed, but a few didn't quite make it. They'll have to study pretty hard over the summer, and then they'll have one more opportunity to pass it in the resit in September. If they don't pass it then, they won't be able to progress to the third year, and will have to drop out. I was really worried about not passing, so it was such a relief to find out that I had made the grade. Even so, as I  didn't exactly do spectacularly well, I'm going to have to study a fair bit over summer anyway, just to make sure I stay on top of everything. But anyway, my resounding thought after the whole Leeds exam ordeal is just....phew!

In other news, this Sunday my friend Rachel, with whom I used to live during the first year of university, will be flying out to visit me in Tokyo! I'm almost wetting myself with excitement (this is hyperbole; my actual bladder control remains uncompromised). She'll be staying with me for nine days...and only leaving Japan a week and a half before I do...the end is very much in sight!

James

P.S. I'm aware that my comment on bladder control sounds extremely Alan Partridge-esque. I can only apologise.

Money Problems

Er, yeah, I don't have any of it. And I'm ill. Oh dear.

James

ふぐを食べた! - I Ate Fugu!

First of all, I know the formatting and fonts are weird in this post, but it won't let me fix it for some reason, so I'm sorry about that...

Last week my friend Matt and I were in the pub in Kichijoji, and we thought it would be an excellent idea to get some drunken munch on the way out. Not in the mood for a kebab, ramen or gyoza, we headed up the street to a fugu restaurant.

For those of you who don't know what fugu is, it's a fish. But not just any fish; it's notorious for being fatally poisonous when not prepared properly, and known as Pufferfish in English. For a brief overview of the consequences of a chef incorrectly preparing it, I've taken this delightful extract from fugu's Wikipedia page: Fugu contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the organs, especially the liver, the ovaries, and the skin. The poison, a sodium channel blocker, paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious along with causing paralysis. The victim is unable to breathe, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is no known antidote.

Lovely.

Waiting for the fugu to arrive

After being seated at our table, we waited anxiously for our first course to come. Whilst generally the only people who die from eating fugu are untrained fishermen who catch and eat it without realising what is, and we knew that really we'd be fine as fugu chefs have to go through several years of tough training to be allowed to prepare it, we couldn't help but be a bit nervous, what with it having such a reputation. 

The first thing to arrive was a large plate of fugu sashimi (thin raw strips). I didn't take a photo of it as we'd already devoured most of it before I even thought to, but I did get a couple of photos of Matt and I  about to tentatively take our first bites.

It was really really delicious. I definitely recommend it! It's hard to describe the taste, though. The texture is like most fish, maybe a bit tougher, and the taste was light at first, but strong in the aftertaste (but not like mackerel). See how it's hard to describe? That's not helpful at all, is it. Moving on...

The second course was some more fugu meat (some of which was still twitching on the plate...), fugu skin (remember how apparently that has poison in it..?) and lots of vegetables and mushrooms to put into a hot pot which had been placed on a heater in the centre of the table, as well as other salad-y bits on the side. Along with that we got some different dipping sauces, and even deep-fried fugu!

Eating the skin made my lips tingle a little bit, which was a worry as I'd heard that that was one of the first effects of poisoning, but it turns out that apparently that's the intended effect. Yay. Everything was really delicious, and not as expensive as I'd heard. Matt and I split all of that, and it was under 2,000 yen each. I really do recommend it. If anyone's interested in going there, I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but if you leave from the Park Exit of Kichijoji Station and turn right, it's a couple of hundred metres up that street, on the left. You can't miss it; there's a huge tank of fugu swimming around on display outside. Even if you don't live near Kichijoji, there's bound to be somewhere selling fugu near to you. If you're reading this from the UK, sorry but fugu is completely banned in the EU!

Next time I eat something strange and delightful I'll be sure to write another blog post! The next one will be about my travels this Spring break, I'll hopefully get it done soon, but I'm very busy with revision at the moment; my big Leeds exam is in three weeks today!! D:

James

Registration for my Third and Final Term at ICU & Cherry Blossom Viewing

Yesterday I cycled into ICU for the first time in what felt like ages to register for my spring term classes. Having taken Japanese level 4 last term, I took level 5 for this one. I was originally planning to take Intensive 3, which combines levels 5 and 6, and takes up twice the amount of time, but as I need as much time as possible to study for my upcoming Leeds exam on May 7th, I opted to take level 5 instead. This also has the advantage of meaning that I'll be able to resume my job after the Leeds exam, as I would have finished too late every day to have made it to Shibuya in time for work, had I picked Intensive 3.

I had to take another course in order to have the required number of credits for my student visa, so I decided to study Middle English! This was the language spoken in England between roughly 1100 and 1500, and the precursor to early Modern English. It's something I've had an interest in for a while now, so it's great to finally get a chance to study it properly! It looks really interesting in its grammar and structure, and you can definitely see more Anglo-Saxon and Norse influences than are left in the language now. Below is a sample of Middle English, from Wikipedia.

Forrþrihht anan se time comm
  þatt ure Drihhtin wollde
ben borenn i þiss middellærd
  forr all mannkinne nede
he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn
  all swillke summ he wollde
and whær he wollde borenn ben
  he chæs all att hiss wille.

So I should have some fun with that! Another thing worth mentioning about going into ICU to register for courses yesterday is that we are currently slap bang in the middle of the cherry blossom season, so yesterday was a great opportunity to take loads of photos on campus, as there are hundreds of sakura trees on ICU's grounds. I've put the best ones below. Today I start my last term at ICU...wish me luck!

James

5 Things I Miss, and 5 Things I Will Miss

It's dawned on me recently that I really don't have all that much time left in Japan. I don't have an exact date in mind yet, but I'll be returning home at the end of June or the beginning of July. That's only about three and a half months. I've been here six and a half months already, but it really doesn't feel like it's been that long. This got me thinking about the things I appreciate or even take for granted in Japan, which we don't have in the UK, and that I imagine I'll miss once I've left. Whilst considering these I started thinking about the things I miss back home, and because it's been a while since I last blogged, I thought I'd turn this into a post.

Things I Miss

1. People

I suppose this is an obvious one, but I really do miss lots of people back home; my parents, friends and relatives. I also miss my dogs a lot, too! I know that they'll all be there when I get back though, so I don't really get down about it. Thank goodness for Skype, though! And going back at Christmas to see everyone really did work a tonic.

2. Yorkshire Grub

Oh dear. Whilst Japan's culinary peculiarities are varied and delicious, there are times when I could positively murder some roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding. However, I think giving up the diet of northern stodge for that of the Japanese is a big reason for me having lost so much weight since coming here, so I'll have to be careful not to indulge too much when I'm back home!

3. Being Able to Understand Everyone

Don't get me wrong; my Japanese has definitely improved a lot since coming to Japan, and I'm perfectly capable of holding down a conversation, but it's just not the same as a mother tongue. I've had to make a fair few phone calls in Japan, for things such as post redelivery or sorting out my (sometimes astronomically high) mobile bills. The fast-paced, high-level honorific language used by the people on the other end of the line makes such calls virtually impossible for anyone who's not Japanese. These calls are naturally much easier in the UK, even if everyone I speak to seems to be from Belfast, Newcastle or Mumbai.

4. Cheap Drinks

£2 doubles, £1 bottles, £2.30 pints, £15 cases. Oh Japan, why is 500 yen a cheap pint?!

5. Not Being Racially Profiled by the Police

Just because I am riding a bike does not mean I stole it.

Things I Will Miss

1. Konbinis

Ah, anything you would ever need right outside your front door. They're sort of like Spar, One Stop, or the shops you get attached to petrol stations back home - only much better. In the UK I'm a fan of shopping locally at independent shops, but I certainly wouldn't mind the odd konbini knocking around for emergencies.

2. Trains That Run on Time

To the minute. Except when someone's decided to throw themselves in front of one of them.

3. People (again)

I've made many, many friends at ICU and in Tokyo generally, from all corners of the world, and I'm dealing with the fact that it's extremely likely that I won't see the vast majority of them ever again after this year's up. Come to the UK, yeah?

4. Clean Streets

I hadn't thought that the streets of the UK were particularly bad until I came back to Leeds over Christmas; all I could see were thousands of pieces of gum, fag ends and dropped litter...come on, England!! In Japan every street seems to be spotless, despite the fact that there are hardly any litter bins anywhere. Japanese people take pride in the appearance of their country and cities, something which we're sorely lacking in back home; it's quite depressing.

5. Just Living in Tokyo

I will miss being here full stop. Tokyo is the most amazing, interesting and unique city I have ever been to. I'll miss all the different places you can go to, the things you can see and the people you can meet. It has an amazing vibe which is totally different to anything I've experienced before, and I'll really miss it. I can't see myself living here in the future, but I look forward to coming back as often as I can afford.

James