Languages, Mt. Rokko, Mt. Maya and Moving
Last Friday I was helping one of my sensei teaching English to one girl from China. Some of the japanese people know English vocabs, but usually they can't speak it (and if they speak, it's a "Japanese' English", which means only japanese people can understand each other). My sensei is okay with the vocabs but when it comes to grammar, he's got problem. So, he asked my help after class on that day to teach english ( this is for entrance to the univ here). Another problem was this girl has never learned english before, so when it came to the reading comprehensive, she's completely in trouble. My job was explaining the meanings and because of the time limitation, we didn't talk about the grammar at all.
In other hand, I am happy that I can speak English even though I can't say that my english is 100% correct. It's just that among the languages, I like English best. Next is Chinese, and I promised myself I 'll try to learn whether French or German when I get back. I don't remember when was the first time I could speak English without any pause, but I think the best way to learn one language is to speak, read and listen.
There were times when people asked me whether I can speak better English or Chinese, I don't know even the answer. I started learning Chinese when I was around 13 year old until I was in the first or second year of univ. So I can say I have learned Chinese more or less for 10 years. For this, I really thank my parents that made us learn it, and it's very useful in these days.
As for English, I spent more times learning at home, reading books and watching tv or movies. I hardly attended the English courses or something like that ( the one that I attended before was only 5 weeks, that was the time I thought I might go to Australia for a further study )
And now I am learning Japanese, never ever crossed in my mind before that I would come to Japan and learn Japanese. It's just happened ! But of course, I am feeling lucky that at least now I can say I understand more than the basic conversation. Two things I really don't like about Japanese are Katakana ( the Japanese' English ) and the Keigo ( the very polite form of speaking to elderly, bosses, customers, etc) I hate these ! I just don't like to memorize them ( but anyway, I have to learn it, I will need them if I want to work in a Japanese company )
Finally, I have visited the famous Mt Rokko in Kobe last saturday. Hmm, but how to say, I wasn't really satisfied with this trip as it wasn't as good as I thought. Mt. Maya is just the same, not so interesting to me. Perhaps the most interesting part was taking the cable car and ropeway to both of the mountains. I guessed I missed the flowers seasons there and some people said that they look better in winter. Hmm...
So, I moved this morning. Tiring enough. Only Ken was helping me, and it was a really hard work to move the refrigerator and the washing machine, so heavy that I felt like dying. Hah ! But of course now all has over, I just need to unpack things when I get back home. ^.^
One interesting thing was the woman who lived next to me ( the woman who takes care the whole building, the kanri jin, she's called ) was so happy that I moved out already. Actually not long ago, she came to my room and said that I was too noisy when walking in the room !! Isn't it crazy? I didn't walk noisily, it's just she's too sensitive. And if I did something late at nights, she would knock on my door and complained. I felt like I couldn't even do anything freely in my own room, not even walking normaly !
Anyway, this morning she came again and she smiled happily and said sayonara to me. Weirdo !
