Summer highlights 2011

Back to work tomorrow after a fabulous summer! Here are some of the highlights

• Bangkok

I have always loved Bangkok, but it was great to spend an extended period there this summer. We rented an apartment near Phloenchit station (Sukhumvit) for a couple of weeks which was great. I had quite a lot of work I needed to finish over the summer, but it didn't get in the way of the fun. I got up early and did 3 hours work and then took the rest of the day off. That way I was able to chip away at my "to do" list without it ruining my holiday. We went to some famous, beautiful sights, had lots of fancy cocktails, tea at the Mandarin Oriental, shopping opportunities and wonderful wonderful food. I really got a taste for Thai food this time - more than ever before and crave spicy soups, wontons and noodles in particular.

• Seeing people in Thailand
  

We spent lots of time with Kevin and Dawn in Bangkok and Koh Lanta and had a wonderful time. When we are with K&D, in addition to enjoying just hanging out, we always hatch plans and business ideas. I hope at least one of them will become a reality.
We met up with Wilailuck in Bangkok a few times which was great. Having a close Thai friend in Bangkok made me feel like I was really living there.
We ran into Michael B a few times as coincidentally, he was also based in Bangkok - in the apartment building next door! We saw more of him in BKK than we do in Tokyo.
We also had lunch with Pat as he was passing through BKK on his way to the beach.

• University visits
  

Before I left I had arranged a couple of university visits (I was actually invited to give some talks to staff and graduate students). When the time came, I started wondering why I would do that to myself when I was supposed to be on holiday - who does that? But, actually, I'm really glad I had done it. The two institutions were quite different, but the staff and students made me feel very welcome. My talks were well received, I learned a lot about self-access and language education in Thailand, and I think I might be invited back. I would love more professional visits to Thailand.

• Koh Lanta

We rented a gorgeous private villa for the week with its own pool. Between the 4 of us (Dawn & Kevin came too) it worked out to be quite economical as it was low season. They do get rain during that time, but our week was perfect. Some of the shops and restaurants close during low season, they don't clean the beaches and the nightlife is non-existent, but none of this bothered us. We went to a lovely beach club affiliated with our villa and found plenty of nice places to eat at. It was the perfect break. I recommend Koh Lanta if you want something a bit different and away from the main tourist areas in Thailand. Krabi province is really beautiful.

• Beijing

I could easily have stayed in Thailand, but I was presenting at a conference in Beijing in August, so off we went. The pollution was hideous and the city was fairly ugly, but the experience was generally a good one. Seeing the Great Wall of China, Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City were really unforgettable. The conference was very good and all the talks I went to were high quality and very academic. My own talk was reasonably well attended and (I sensed) well received. It was good to see my learner autonomy/conference friends. I loved meeting up with Ash and Helen and hearing about their life in Beijing.

• Dublin

I was in Dublin for 36 hours. I actually hadn't planned to go at all as I had so little time, but I'm glad I did as at least I got to spend some time with David's mum and dad, have lunch with Landy and buy a pair of boots (can never find my size in Japan).

• Cardiff

How many times have I turned up in Wales sick and have my parents look after me? Too many. This was another one of those occasions and my parents still take me in! I must have picked up a bug on the Beijing metro which wiped me out for a few days, Ugh!

• Nottingham

Even though I was ill, I was presenting at a conference in Nottingham, so off I went again a day after arriving in Cardiff. I had booked my first train class tickets and I was determined to enjoy the trip. Actually, looking back, the whole trip to Nottingham was a total waste of time as I was too sick to remember much about it. I missed the conference almost entirely and spent 2 days in my room in the student halls of residence sleeping. Luckily my colleagues carried our presentation and I went back to Cardiff early to try to recover before the weekend.

• Back to Cardiff

Last 2 days in Wales and the rest and Beecham's products had kicked in. I felt better - hooray! This is very fortunate as mum had lots of things planned....My brother and his family arrived on Friday night, we picked up David from the airport on Saturday and then drove to Cosmeston for a birthday picnic for my mum. Lovely day! The next day all the family were coming round for tea, so we spent the morning making sandwiches and baked treats, icing cakes, tidying up and rearranging furniture. The weather was great so we were all able to sit in the garden. Great day. The next day, a car picked us up to go back to Heathrow where we boarded our BA flight to Tokyo.

• Back to Japan

It was great to come back almost 2 weeks before we had to be back at work, so now we are well rested and over the jetlag. I have worked pretty much all the time at home as I have so many deadlines coming up. Ah well, that's just the way I roll. Will that ever change?

Another April, another cherry blossom picnic season

Another April, another cherry blossom picnic season. How nice. Not quite as freezing as last year either.

I am surviving. Reading back over my blog reminds me of the nice things that I do in Japan. It's easy to forget them when I am drowning in work. I spend most of my time working really hard and the rest of the time feeling guilty that I should be working on something. When will this cycle ever end? Once the book is finished maybe? But I actually like working on that, but it's always last on my list after admin-type tasks.

So, I must record more nice things in Japan on this blog. Last weekend we enjoyed a lovely hike in Tanzawa followed by a hot hot onsen and bowl of soba noodles. Hiking is still my favourite thing to do in Japan.

I'm trying to decided whether to take a class at Temple University again this semester. I am already busy, but one night a week doesn't make that much difference. I like going into Tokyo once a week and getting to know new people. There are some psychology classes that look quite interesting. I have a few weeks to decide.

Almost the holidays

I just noticed that I haven't posted a blog entry since May, but that is no surprise given how busy I have been this semester. Finally, the end is in sight. Just two more days of teacher workshops and then I'm FREEEEEEEEEE. Well, kind of. Free to work on my other projects in any case. I have been doing just that this weekend. Yesterday I worked for 12 hours with short breaks for lunch and dinner (and a 45 minute nap in the afternoon). During that time, I edited ten articles and made a website for a conference in April. It was a very productive day. On Friday we are going to the Philippines for 3 weeks and I am not taking a computer. I have loaded my Kindle with fiction and I'll buy some notebooks for scribbling in preferably as I swing in a hammock. Oh yes, I am taking a well-earned break.

I started Japanese classes on Tuesday lunchtime. The teacher is a lovely lady called Nakamura-sensei and she came armed with textbooks, videos, flashcards and loads of patience. She needs it. My Japanese is pathetic. It's just Tim and me in the class and it's quite fun. I find myself in the silent phase again. My head knows what I want to say, I build up to it and out comes a splutter and a couple of Spanish verbs. Ugh! Talk about rusty. I feel like an old Cortina that has just been pushed out of the garage after a very long, cold winter. It's a strange feeling being mute. I understand what is being said, but I can't remember how to respond. I know I can't speak in English, but I'm bursting to express myself. I want to say that I can do this, just let me warm up a bit. I remember this grammar function and I used to know all these verbs and adjectives. Just give me time. My teacher thinks I'm in the wrong class and starts looking for a beginner's class to send me to, but I want to stay where I am - I can do this.

I wrote an email to Tim after the class saying that I can find a lower class so that I don't hold him back, but he's really sweet and tells me to stay. I didn't intend to study much, but I find that just going to this one class has encouraged me to do just that. I wrote to Nakamura-sensei telling her that I enjoyed her class and I would like to stay. I am even going to dust off my flashcards.

Nihongo kantan? GILL

Just in case I don't have enough things to do this semester, I registered for Japanese classes at my university. I haven't studied one little bit in almost 2 years. I work in an English bubble, shop at Carrefour, come home to my Irish husband, watch LOST and read books in English. Apart from the odd run-in with the dry cleaning lady, when do I need Japanese? I have enough basic Japanese to manage my daily interactions and when I don't, 3 lovely ladies at work help me. So why am I bothering? Guilt mostly. You've heard of computer-assisted language learning (CALL)? Mine is guilt-induced language learning (GILL). I took the quiz that we give our students at the university to see whether they are mainly intrinsically or extrinsically motivated language learners. Both my scores were zero. I need to re-write the quiz with the following items for people like me:

- Do you think it's lame that you haven't learnt any new words in 2 years?
- Are you embarrassed that people who have just arrived in Japan know more kanji than you?
- Are you sick of miming every time you try to speak?
- Do you feel yourself cringe as you have to point at the pictures on the menu in the restaurant?
- Do you realise how pathetic it is to talk to students everyday about their language learning when you aren't applying the strategies to your own learning?
- Do you break out in a sweat when someone asks you for your phone number?

Yes, yes, yes. Full marks. I am starting a course in GILL.

Daytrip to Yokohama

There are some nice things about living in Japan. The trip to Yokohama with Chantal was lovely. We saw an excellent exhibition on Pompeii, dined at the curry festival and ended up singing Clash songs at a karaoke place behind Sakaragicho station.





This last picture isn't Yokohama - it's Baytown where we live. Pretty nice, eh? I always feel like this park has been modeled on Port Meirion in north Wales.

Stressed out at the dry cleaner's

So it's May. How did that happen? Seriously, I have been so busy I didn't even notice it creeping up or the fact that I have neglected my blog! I won't bore you with the million things I have going on, but be assured that they are all fun things - there are just a lot of them! None of them involve hiking unfortunately.

Anyway, time to blog about Japan....Can I complain please? Sorry to be such a whinging Brit, but blogging about annoyances ought to be therapeutic, let's give it a go....

I have a phobia about dry cleaners in Japan. There, I've said it. I feel better already!

My Japanese is terrible, but I can usually manage and make myself understood in most day to day situations. The dry cleaner's is an exception and I dread having to go to the damned place. I put it off as long as possible which only makes it worse when I eventually do get there with a bag full of whiffy clothes. What is it with the questions??

Q1: "Do you want a crease up the front or flat ironed?"
OK, reasonable question given our experience in Mexico (Mexico blog), but sometimes it's just bloody obvious
Q2: "Are these men's or women's"
Kind of insulting. Annoys me every time. I feel like they really saying "These massive, giant, enormous size 10 (gasp!) trousers have to be men's ones". Um, no - they are mine actually. This argument works well if David is with me as they can see that my trousers would never fit my 6ft 5 husband, but when I'm on my own, they just think I'm trying it on to save 20 yen).
Q3: "Do you want this dry cleaned?"
Do I have to explain why this annoys me?
Q3: "What fabric is it, I can't read the English label"
Oh god, this one really gets on my nerves. I regularly take linen trousers in and the label is in English and I tell them the Japanese. This is totally unnecessary because it is SO OBVIOUSLY linen. We go through this charade each time where I say "linen" and they repeat back (it takes 3 people) "rayon"? "polyester"? aaggghhhh!!!!
Q4: "Do you want the $%@**^$%*^*$%E% treatment?"
I have no idea. Please take pity. A foreigner struggling with basic Japanese is not going to know specific dry cleaning terms. Stop asking questions, just stop it and take my stuff.
Q5: "Do you want the %^&%^E^TE%^E@@$&** service?"
Will I ever be able to function properly in Japan?
Q6: "Do you have your member's card?"
Damn! I forgot it again. This means I have to answer more questions... what's my phone number again? No I don't have Chinese characters for my name. Can't I just write it down in English? katakana is too hard!

Finally, they take my stuff, my money while they continue to talk non-stop. I follow nothing. NOTHING! I walk away with a receipt (which I always seem to lose) a hand full of tiny 5 yen off discount vouchers (which I never seem to be able to refuse even though they are worth next to nothing and I will throw them away as soon as I get home) and a damaged sense of self-efficacy.

Today David had to drop some of his suits off and I was going to wait outside as 2 visits in one week is just too much. Then I thought, maybe I'll just go in and observe and get some more material for my blog, but I was very disappointed. No questions, no hassle, nothing! Why do they pick on me? I think in future I'll either send David or take my chances and stick the things in the washing machine.

Glad that's off my chest.