友達へ感謝の書き込み

感謝している事について少し書きたいと思います。たぶんちょっとドラマチックと感傷的かもしれませんが、一人で日本に引っ越して来て、一人で住んでることは時々難しいと感じます。着いたとき東京に友達は一人だけいましたね。早く友達ができたことに感謝しています。でも、東京で皆さんが忙しくて、時々お互いからちょっと遠いところに住んでいるので、遊んだり会話の機会があまりありません。教会で毎週活動や集会が行われているけれども、あまり二人で会話ができません。だから、私は楽しく会話ができたりどこかに誘ってくれた時には、本当に嬉しくなります。心があたたかくなりますね。本当に感謝しています。そのことは私にもの責任があるのを分かっているので、私も頑張っています。じゃ、これからもよろしくお願いします！たぶんこの日本語がちょっと変だと思いますが、意味を分ってくれることを望みますね（笑）。終わりまで読んでくれたら、お疲れ様でした！

A Little Mission Memory

Today I remembered a funny experience I had during my time as a Mormon missionary at Temple Square, Utah, and thought I would share it with you all.  I should probably write all of my memories on here, but I confess I didn't keep a very good journal as it was just so busy.  Besides, we met and talked to so many people that every day was really just a blur of faces and names.  But there are some experiences that I still remember clearly, and perhaps I'll share more with you another time.

This experience occurred one morning, when my Brazilian companion, Sister De Almeida, and I were walking through Temple Square to get to the North Visitors' Centre.  As the buildings hadn't opened for the day yet, there weren't many people on the square, but there were often people who would cross through on their way to work in downtown Salt Lake City, and we would say good morning as we passed people on the square.  Sister de Almeida has a bit of a cheeky sense of humour, so on this morning she said "The next person we see, I am going to say 'Bom dia!'" (Portuguese for 'good morning').  Just to see what they would do!  We assumed whoever it was would probably be at least a little bit surprised or confused.

Soon enough, we saw a young man coming towards us, who seemed in a little bit of a hurry as he briskly walked through the square.  So, true to her word, as he approached us Sister De Almeida said "Bom dia!".  Without even the slightest bit of hesitation the man confidently replied "Bom dia!" and kept on walking.  Well, turns out my companion and I were the ones surprised!  What was that?!  He didn't even blink!  We stood there stunned a little while afterwards, before we recollected ourselves and kept on walking.  But soon we were having a little laugh to ourselves, as I said I'll bet that a few moments after walking past us, that man probably stopped and thought, "Wait a second - how did she know I can speak Portuguese?!"

Yoga...it works!

Oh. My. Gosh.  I just finished a 10 minute yoga routine, and noticed I was feeling a bit more flexible than usual.  So to test this theory I bent down with my legs straight to see how far off the ground I could reach. 

Well, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I can bend and touch my toes quite comfortably with straightened legs.  This has never happened before!!! Not even in all the years of gymnastics I did growing up (I could do the splits, but I couldn't touch my toes).  I am shock-ED and amaze-ED, people!

I've never really been into yoga.  I guess I always thought it was all about relaxation and meditation and funnily-named poses.  But the first time I actually tried yoga, I realised it's actually hard work, and it works muscles you didn't even realise you had.  It left me feeling a little sore and rather tired!  So I have since been "enlightened" and realise that it's more about working all the muscles in your body, and a yoga routine is simply a means of achieving that end.  

So after trying yoga I am no longer a skeptic, but I actually haven't been doing it for very long.  Earlier this year, after a minor back injury, my physiotherapist recommended I try some yoga or pilates to build up my core strength to help prevent future injuries.  So I had a look on YouTube and tried out a few routines, and soon found The Yoga Solution - Beginner series with Tara Stiles.  

And so for a few weeks, here and there, I've been doing her routines.  I admit she goes through it a little fast, but I figure with more practise I'll be able to keep up a little better.  The last couple of days I decided to try and do one every day as they are only 10 minutes long.  Possibly even morning and night if I have time, because I'm always so stiff and it seems to help.  So yesterday I did it twice, and today after work I did the "Building Balance" routine, which must be pretty funny to watch as I wobble around and try unsuccessfully to steady myself as I tumble over yet again, and concluded it might be a while before I had this yoga thing down.  But I persevered! 

At it was at the end of this routine when I noticed this sudden flexibility and then made the amazing discovery regarding my new talent. And so...it works!  I'm already so much more flexible.  It may be a temporary thing for now (because the body is just like that), but hopefully with regular yoga it will be more ongoing and I will feel more loose and relaxed.  

So, will I be continuing with this daily yoga thing?  Heck, yes!

*(In hindsight I should probably add that tonight I first got halfway through an advanced flexibility routine before I realised it wasn't the beginner one and was out of my capabilities!  So I guess that may have had something to do with my ultra-flexibility)

Here's the routine I did today, but I recommend all her beginner videos:

3 Brilliant Websites

Recently I came across three websites that are brilliant for anyone learning Japanese.  In fact, the last one is brilliant for anyone learning ANY language.  Interested?  Read on.

The first is LinguaLift.

Funnily I found this site by clicking on a Facebook ad - something I don't do very often.  A great thing about this site is that it has a free 14-day trial, which has plenty of study options available to keep you busy during those 2 weeks.  If you follow their advice and study 30 mins a day during that time, you could learn a lot just from the free trial.  

Their features include an e-textbook (admittedly I haven't looked at this much yet), vocab learning lab (I use this a lot!), kanji learning 'academy', and worksheets and cheat sheets, and my favourite - games!!  

The vocab lab is divided into categories.  You either go from start to finish or pick and choose from the categories.  The vocab learning sessions are broken up into little bite sizes of a few minutes so you don't get brain overload.  You can choose to keep going or move on to something else.  

When you're ready to take a break, choose from one of two games.  The one shown above is a fun space-themed game where you get to shoot the incoming words by typing them on the keyboard.  Not as easy as it sounds, my friends!  Somehow reading the hiragana, converting it to roman characters and then associating that with which keys to press is a little difficult.  I'm a pretty fast and accurate typer in English, but in Japanese I somehow forget where my fingers should be going!  Plus my brain works much slower.  So I have a lot of fun getting better by playing this.  Plus, it has super-serious intense music, so you kind of feel like you are saving the world!

Unfortunately after the 2 week trial it does cost to use this site, but I'm seriously considering buying a years subscription, as there is plenty of helpful stuff there.  But there is some generosity going too - the next two (free) sites I am going to introduce were actually suggested to me by LinguaLift.  Gee, thanks!

One of these is NHK Easy News. 

This is a website designed specifically for foreigners and children, presenting simplified news stories with furigana, easy definitions and also the option to listen and read along.  A great way to learn new vocabulary in context and familiarise yourself with kanji, whilst keeping up-to-date with current affairs.

And lastly, and possibly my favourite, Lang-8.com.

This site is great for anyone learning almost ANY language.  It's basically an international language exchange site.  Recently I had been practising my Japanese writing skills, and wanted people to check and correct them, but wasn't always successful in that endeavour.  Well on this website you can post "journals" or basically write a post about anything, either several paragraphs or even one sentence, and native speakers will correct it for you.  In my experience, I have always received corrections the same day I post, which is awesome.  Several people can correct the same post, so given that there is often no "one right answer", you can get several opinions or ways of saying things.  You can see each correction clearly and compare at your leisure.

As well as having your posts corrected, you can also correct journals written in your native language, thus returning the favour.  You can even add friends and send messages to other users, another chance for that language exchange.  I've got a new Japanese friend now who moved to Perth a couple of months ago to study English, and it's fun hearing about his experiences and impressions about Australia.  We usually write to each other in English and Japanese, so both of us can practise our foreign language each time.  

What can I say, this website has filled a void in my language learning journey!  It's great to know I can always get quick answers to questions I have by writing a posts and having it corrected.  I highly recommend this FREE site!  All you've gotta do is sign up (you can even use your Facebook account to sign in if you like) and start posting.

So there you have it: 3 Brilliant Websites.

Personal Space

One thing that has been redefined for me since moving to Tokyo is the concept of "personal space".  My native home of Australia is a pretty big country with relatively few people, so we are all about the personal space over there.  We luxuriously bask in having a generously comfortable vacant area around us at all times.

I'll tell you what it's like in Tokyo.  You're on a train before 8am.  It's already so packed you're making physical contact all around.  The doors open and 6 more people get on.  You wonder if this is really how sardines feel lying neatly in their little rectangular tin, or if they get more personal space than you do. 

You go to a soba noodle bar for lunch.  You're sitting so close to two people you've never met that you're almost touching arms, both of them slurping loudly in your ear.  You suddenly realise that slurping is not bad manners in the west because it's rude.  It's because it's darn annoying.

Tokyo has a whole lot of people and relatively little space.  So, the Japanese have gotten pretty creative with the use of space.  For example, fast food restaurants often have the ordering counter on the ground floor, and then you go upstairs to the one of the floors above to eat, with sometimes even three floors, depending on if it's a busy area.

Today, I confess, I made a less healthy choice for lunch, and went to Burger King.  I ordered my whopper and sundae, with the intention of eating in, and took them upstairs to find a place to sit.  Only it turns out that every table was taken, except in the smoking room, and there was no stinkin' way I was going in there.  Now, I could have just gone back down stairs and asked to have it "to go", but I'm a little stubborn and wanted to eat it there.  So I decided to do what I've seen others do, and have done myself before - ask someone if I can eat at their table.  

Now, in Australia this would be considered pretty bad manners.  I mean, if someone has claimed the table, then you let them have the table and you don't intrude.  If there's no spare tables, well, bad luck.  But not in Japan.  They realise here that space is limited, and sometimes you just gotta share.  So as long as someone asks nicely and the other seat is not being used, you let them sit at your table.

So here I am, holding my tray and looking around, ready to select my victim.  I see a man at one of the larger tables and move towards him, hoping it's actually two tables together.  But as I get closer I see it's just one table and not such an easy target.  Next, I head towards the small tables with only one person.  I approach one with a young woman sitting there.  But last moment I notice her umbrella hanging off the other chair, and wonder if she's expecting someone.  Plus she's wearing headphones and I might not hear me ask, and hasn't looked up even though I'm sure she knows I'm there. 

I look at the table next to her, where a young man is seated, next to the wall.  But as I'm about to ask, I notice that he's actually asleep.  (You're probably picturing a guy slumped over with his face on the food tray, but this is Japan and he's having a siesta Japanese style - arms folded, leaning back with his head down.)  I look around nervously and see a middle-aged man watching me with interest, waiting for my next move.  I look back at the table with Mr Sleepy Head.  I slowly approach.  No movement.  I place my tray down, feeling a little rude for not asking, but he's asleep and I don't want to disturb the poor guy.  I sit down.  He stirs a little, but still no sign of full consciousness.  Well, if he wakes up I'll just sheepishly ask him then.  I begin eating my burger.

About 5 minutes later  I notice a small table nearby becoming vacant.  I consider moving to that table, but figure I'm doing okay and someone else will just end up in my predicament.  I might as well leave the free table open for the next person.  Besides, I'm starting to be pretty entertained by the thought of whether I can finish my burger before this guy wakes up.  I'm already halfway through.

A couple more minutes later, out the corner of my eye, I notice someone sit at the vacant table.  Well, there goes that option anyway.  Or so I thought. 

"Mari-Anna?"  I look up.  It's my trainer, who I'd just been with at the office about 15 minutes earlier.  "Want to come sit here?" she said, as I started picking up my tray.  "Why were you sitting over there, anyway?" she asks.  I replied "There wasn't any space before.  And I know I could have moved to this table earlier, but hey, I was having fun making new friends!"

Soon I notice him wake, and am suddenly relieved I didn't have to awkwardly explain why I was sitting at his table.   A short time later he gets up and leaves, none the wiser.

外国語を学ぶこと

外国語を学ぶときに間違うことは必要です。間違いを通して何が正解なのかを学べます。時々、新しい言葉を読んだ時に覚えにくいと時々感じますが、もし間違って、その間違いに気づいたら、たぶんその正解の単語をよく覚えると思います。

When learning a foreign language, it is necessary to make mistakes. Through making mistakes you can learn what is correct. Sometimes I when I read a new word it is hard to remember, but if I make a mistake and realise that mistake, I will probably remember the correct word very well.

Random Thought of the Day: Traffic Lights

Tonight as I was riding my bike home, waiting to cross a highway at the traffic lights, I saw not one, but two long freight trucks and a motorbike go through the same red light one after another.

It seems that here in Tokyo, the orange light means 'speed up' and the red light means 'fang it!'

Crepe Art - A New Creative Outlet!

Yesterday I was making my famous pancakes, which I haven't made for a while.  They are pretty thin and are really closer to crepes than the general idea of "pancakes", but my mum has always said she loves them.  As I was cooking, I pondered the physical properties of these crepes as they hardened in the pan, and decided to experiment a little.

And so I ventured to make a "hollow" crepe, just to see what it would look like.  Well, it was a lot of fun!  When I was finished, I looked for something familiar in the shape, and saw a big bee.  So I named this creation "Bumblebee", and thus "Crepe Art" was born!

Well that was a lot of fun!  I decided to try to make some other shapes.  I didn't start with an end in mind, but merely had fun "playing" with the batter after pouring it in, and often midway decided what image I was going for, kind of like Mr. Squiggle.  

Here are the rest of my breakfast creations:

"Funky Spider Web"

"Plane With Paratroopers"

I wasn't really sure what to call this one...but decided on 

"Indiana Jones Wrestles Giant Squid Thingy"

Although I don't always realise it, I can be pretty creative sometimes, and I also love any kind of novelty, so I really had a lot of fun!  Pretty sure next time I'm making crepes I will have another go at "Crepe Art" to expand my repertoire.  What can I say, my kids are gonna love me :)

Why don't you have a go next time you're making crepes?