関西弁勉強せんなあかん

Today instead of our usual nine o' clock class, we had a special class on dialects, specifically Kansai Dialect (the dialect spoken in the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe area) and Miyakonojou Dialect (a dialect spoken in a small town in Miyajima Prefecture in Kyuushuu).* It. Was. Excellent. And suddenly I am able to understand about 95% of what my host father is saying! (Also, I finally understand はる. It's like a keigo suffix that you can use with friends and strangers and family. CRAZY.)

Miyakonojou Dialect is seriously funky, though, 'cause it's one of the few Japanese dialects which has no tones. Plus the slang is so different that it sounds like a completely different language. (Of course, the first time I heard Kansai Dialect, it sounded like a completely different language too.) For example, let's say I want to say, "It's sunny right now, but I have to stay in my room and study. Because I have a test tomorrow.**"

Tokyo Dialect:

今晴れなんだけど、部屋にいて勉強しなきゃ。明日テストだから。

Ima hare nan da kedo, heya ni ite benkyou shinakya. Ashita tesuto da kara.

Kansai Dialect

今晴れのんやけど、部屋にいて勉強せんなあかん。明日テストだし。

Ima hare non yakedo, heya ni ite benkyou sennaakan. Ashita tesuto da shi.

Miyakonoujou Dialect

今晴れどん、部屋にいて勉強せんないかん。明日テストで。

Ima hare don, heya ni ite benkyou sennaikan. Ashita tesuto de.

どん？ Seriously, that is so weird to say.

Something else funky in Kansai Dialect is that 違う (chigau; different) is shortened to ちゃう (chau) and used as sort of a "right?" as well as a "different."

Thus this crazy conversation is possible:

A: あれ、チャウチャウちゃう？

Are, chau chau chau?

Is that a chow-chow (as in the type of dog)?

B:ちゃうちゃう。チャウチャウちゃう。

Chau chau. Chau chau chau.

No, no. That's not a chow-chow.

Confused yet?

In other news, we had the first of our student-taught classes today. It was about girls' education in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. Wednesday is when I'm teaching my class, along with another girl, whose reading is from a manga called My Darling Is a Foreigner. It looks...odd to say the least.

In other news, my host family. Have I mentioned that they are awesome? They are awesome.

Monday's the one day that my host dad's restaurant is closed***, so he actually eats dinner with the rest of us on Monday evenings. (Otherwise I usually only see him at breakfast.) Monday night dinners also tend to be めちゃおいしい (crazy delicious). Correlation?

In any case, my host mom taught me to debone YET ANOTHER type of fish (and it was crazy delicious) and she made some sort of pasta with salmon and sausage and mushrooms and there was also Japanese eggplant (which, by the way, tastes so much better than American eggplant) and edamame and cucumbers.**** YUM.

Also, my host mom keeps being surprised when I know the names of Japanese foods. Today she was shocked that I knew what komatsuna was. Maybe...most American students studying here don't cook Japanese food?

Anyway, after dinner my host brothers and I had homework so we were all sitting at the dining room table doing homework. And then when we were done we (my host brothers and I) played Uno with my host dad. And I learned five thousand new ways to complain about losing! Mwahahaha.

Let's see, what other exciting things have been happening? Not a whole lot, I guess. I gave a presentation in class today about the differences between Western religions and Eastern religions. It went okay-ish, even though certain people's eyes were glazing over. It's three minutes, guys. Really, it's not that hard to pay attention for THREE MINUTES. Oh well. I guess that's what I get for talking about one of the Forbidden Subjects in Polite Conversation.

(I find it kind of amusing that what I find really interesting makes everyone else extraordinarily uncomfortable. Then again, as anyone who has ever taken a discussion class with me knows, I am really good at making people uncomfortable. OH YEAH. Grave of the Fireflies discussion, anyone?)

In any case, I think I'm going to go read about darling foreigners a little bit and then go to bed. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which'll be nice, 'cause it's suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper hot and humid right now.

G'night!

*For anyone not in the know, Tokyo Dialect is the standard dialect taught in schools (and in American universities).

**"Because I have a test tomorrow" is a full sentence in Japanese, even though it's not in English. CRAZY.

***Unlike the U.S. where everything closes on Sundays (I would hazard a guess that this is because of Christianity), businesses will close on random days in Japan. It seems like Monday and Tuesday are the most popular days to close for some reason.

****Someone asked me about seasonal vegetables in Japan this time of year an age ago, and now I have your answer. My host mom said that the vegetables that are most often associated with summer (not necessarily the only ones in season, but the iconic ones) are okra, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, and corn. So now you know. Raw okra is delicious, by the way, even though it kind of looks like you're eating drool.

Boy scout shrine adventure story

Okay, so, first off, my boy scout shrine adventure story.

So yesterday (Sunday) I went with my host mom and my host brothers to the local shrine (Shimogamo) because both my host brothers are boy scouts, and the boy scout troop apparently meets at the shrine every other Sunday. Anyway, my host mom asked me if I wanted to come along, and I said sure, ‘cause I am always up for going to shrines. So we had a nice walk over (and my little host brother taught me the names of a bunch of bugs) and then we got to shrine where the other boy scouts were slowly assembling. Or should I say “boy” scouts. ‘cause about half of them were female. Several of the troop leaders were also female. Anyway, my host mom introduced me to a bunch of the adults who were involved in the group (including an eighty-five-year-old guy who was delighted that I understood Japanese and even more delighted that I was interested in Shinto and proceeded to tell me all about the shrine). Anyway, once everyone was assembled, we all lined up and marched into the actual shrine (we were waiting outside the gate before). And then everyone lined up in front of the area where you're supposed to pray and did the traditional two bows, two claps, one bow. But then they started chanting this thing that I could only understand about 15% of. After that they did the two bows, two claps, one bow again and then marched right out of the shrine...after which all the boy scouts went and got booklets stamped by the local shrine maiden.

This is not the sort of experience I would ever expect to have with a boy scout troop in the US.

Anyway, afterward I asked my host mom to explain it to me:

Me: That thing you were saying in front of the shrine...what did it mean? It was really hard for me to understand.

Host Mom: I don't know.

Me: You...don't know?

HM: Yes.

Me: You mean you don't know what it means?

HM: Yes. Well, it's supposed to be a prayer to the deity of the shrine, but I can't tell you what the words mean. Maybe you should ask the boy scout troop leader. He might know.

Me: Then how did you learn it?

HM: Well, when you say it enough times, you just remember how it's supposed to sound.

Me: Is it the same for every shrine? Or do you have to learn a different one for each one?

HM: I think it's the same. The other shrines I've been to have had the same one.

So then she asked my older host brother if he had the paper with the chant written on it, and sure enough, he did. And no wonder I couldn't understand what it was saying, 'cause it was written in classical Japanese, from back when を was used for things other than marking the object of the sentence! CRAZY. So I could understand about 10% of it, and the rest of it was completely incomprehensible.

So then I asked about the booklet stamping.

Me: At the end, after they were done praying...the shrine maiden stamped the boy scouts books. Is that for a badge?

HM: No. They just do it for fun. It doesn't have any meaning.

AND THIS IS WHY I STUDY SHINTO.

(Actually, there are more complicated reasons why I study Shinto, but they'll have to be saved for tomorrow when I'm actually writing my paper about Shinto.)

Anyway, that was yesterday. Today I had class in the morning and then lunch and then had to give a presentation in the afternoon comparing electronic books and paper books. We were supposed to rehearse beforehand with our other classmates, and I completely bombed the rehearsal. I have no idea what was going on, but I could not form coherent thoughts. Finally I just stopped and told the other members of my group, "I'm sorry, but I can't practice." And they didn't understand that I was saying that I COULDN'T practice and thought that I was just really nervous, and I couldn't think of a better way to explain it (seriously, I cannot practice presentations, even in English; it just doesn't work) so finally they gave up. And when the time came for me to give my presentation, they were all wincing and prepared for me to bomb it, and I didn't, so yay for that. My only comments from the teacher were that I said "um" (or the Japanese equivalent) too much, and that I needed to use the more polite form of "but." And then afterwards one of the girls in my group came up to me and said, "Okay, I get it now. You can only perform without rehearsing, right?" And I said, "YES, THAT WAS THE WORD I WAS LOOKING FOR."

So then I went and bought toothpaste and found out that fluoride has been banned in toothpaste in Japan for 50 years (or so says my residential director), and then I went home and studied like a maniac and had dinner which was delicious and awesome. And now I am writing this blog post, but it's getting really late, so I think I'm going to stop here and go to bed.

Oh, wait, completely random closing note! My little host brother likes Michael Jackson. A LOT. And 'cause he can't exactly sing the songs (since they're in English and he can't figure out the lyrics), he decided to teach himself the dances instead. And it turns out that he's actually a pretty good dancer for an eight year old.

Okay, sleeping time! I have a debate tomorrow afternoon and then I have to write a 3 page paper. HRRRG.