Know The Osmosing Volume

Friday, April 07, 2006

Bridget By Proxy

Alright, so Bridget has been very busy in Japan. Busy enough to prevent her from posting, but not busy enough to fall off the face of the planet. So I've compiled excerpts of our e-mail and IM conversations from the last week or so.

Bridget (Mar 28) : Hey.I have email on my new cell phone.You should send me email!
For now,here is an Engrish picture :

Alan (Mar 28) : You should set up g-mail forwarding, so your g-mail gets sent to your phone. Unless that costs like a million yen.

How many hens is a million yen?

Short story coming along very well.

Bridget (Mar 28) : I think over acertain number of characters does cost a bit.
As for a million y,that would be ~10000 d, so- a lotof hens.
story about?
did onsen-hotsprings-w/ cute gay girl for 2.5 hours. tired but good.
bed soon.

Alan (Mar 28) : 1713.502 hens, if hens cost $5.

Story about writer/can't write women, tries to get better at it in a
strange way. Hard to explain. You'll read it, eventually.

sparks with girl?

telegraph + words = fun

Bridget (Mar 28) : Hens like wao.
looking -> 2 story.
maybe + with girl,maybe no.hard to say now. oth ppl there <- night.
y,words=good.
breakf now.


Bridget (Mar 30) : I'm at my host family:s house. I discovered two nights ago that they have high speed internet of some kind. Durr.

As of now, though, I have to use their computer--I haven:t gotten online when Akira-san (my host father) has been awake, and I think he:s the only one who could help me with hooking up my computer. I forgot to ask you--did you like Wao! It:s a BANANA? Could you read the small text? My favorite part is "It is a piece of chef boast."

The colon is in the place of the apostrophe, and it:s too much trouble to change my habits right now--I figure you understand what I mean.

My classes start on April 11. I pick them on April 10. I have my Japanese placement exam on April 4th (kowai!) (that means "scary"). I love my host family because they:re perfect for me--quiet and not cutesy, love hiking and mountain climbing, and communicate what they want directly (not very Japanese, which is good). Also, they allow me a hell of a lot more freedom than I was expecting--I don:t have a curfew (rare for a host family, esp. for a girl), as long as I let Hiroko-san (host mother) know where I:ll be and a general time I:ll be home and if I:m eating with them. Same as my mom, basically. And they:re so kind and try so hard to get me to understand what they:re saying and such.

Tokyo is... HUGE. And there are SO MANY PEOPLE. But I like it here, a lot. It:s like New York, only bigger and better and more exciting and cleaner and the people are nicer. And the different stops on the train around central Tokyo are all slightly different in character, which is interesting and cool. My house is in a suburb right outside of main Tokyo, which means my commute is about an hour, with walking to the station near my house (about fifteen minutes). The suburb is quaint--the streets are semai (narrow), and the houses are crowded in next to each other but very pretty, and everyone bikes and walks and sometimes there are cars, which is really scary. The ward we are in is called Nishi-Tokyo (West Tokyo), and the train stop I get off at is Hibarigaoka. You could look it up if you felt like it. The train line I get on is Seibu-Ikebukuro, going from the station Ikebukuro, which is on the Yamanote (main circle around central Tokyo) line.

I will try to send lots of pictures soon. Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Nikko, a beautiful town/preserve north of Tokyo, high in the mountains. There was a giant snowstorm, and we saw waterfalls and shrines and a temple, and I sat in a hotspring for 2.5 hours while drinkin: a beer. So manyp eople here drink, beer and sake--I:ve finally developed my taste for beer, but the beer here is about ten zillion times better than American beer. We have some beer with dinner almost every night, while Akira-san drinks sake.

Well, it:s about time for bed. Talk to you later.

Bridget (Mar 31) : Bingo. Easy. Unhooked the internet from their computer, plugged it into mine.

here are some pictures!

780--Why Crossing the Street in Tokyo is an Adventure
785--Cherry Blossoms in Ueno Park
822--Akihabara: Electric Town
838--Lyra, Alex, and the Really Fucking Big Lantern in Nikko
845--Long Line of Lanterns (will never have an end...)
854--I Don't Really Understand the Japanese.
863--Cute Lesbian Jen Inside a Shrine at Nikko
887--I Don't Really Understand the Japanese 2: But Drag Is Never Bad
888--My Gay Clique (and friends) at Karaoke

My Gay Clique and friends includes, from left to right:
Brent, Jillian, Danika, Midori-san (not part of the program, just
Danika's friend from the dorms), Jen, Adrienne (the blond), Devin (the
tiny brunette), and Alice, another of my favorite people who is rather
bisexual.

Enjoy!


Bridget (Apr 1) : just got back from tipsy cherry blossom viewing bicycling adventure with hostfather! so totally not safe at all! awesome.

Bridget (Apr 2) : you won't get this for hours, but I think culture shock is hitting. alan...I don't fucking understand anything anyone is saying. You were right about me placing such high importance on language. I literally sound about 5 and I don't see how anyone can like me- I don't have a personality in this language! and I am at Akira-san's mother's house and I have yet to understand anything she has said, other than when she told Akira-san I was cute. So any words you have for me,would be appreciated.

Alan (Apr 2) : You can't expect to be up to speed two weeks into it. The whole reason
for going abroad is to get language experience that you can never get
in a classroom.

You're right to think that you haven't got a personality in that
language, because you probably haven't yet. But that's why going
abroad works so well! Instead of learning to speak for a grade, or for
your own personal satisfaction, your incentive is now a feeling of
adequacy and legitimacy. The same thing that happened when you were a
child is happening now, except that you have a known personality where
before you were only carving one out.

They like you. They like you because you're not just a stinky tourist.
You've set aside 5 months of your life so you can learn their language
from the inside, so you can speak it in a way that pays proper homage
to the language and the people who speak it. And you've humbled
yourself to do it. Not only do they like you, but they respect you! So
don't go committing seppuku.

(April 3) 8:10:26 AM unburntbridget: hiya.
8:10:26 AM melchiormash777 (Autoreply): http://suite3100.blogspot.com
8:10:30 AM unburntbridget: what time is it there??
8:11:51 AM unburntbridget: obviously not awake time.
8:20:10 AM melchiormash777: 8:20
8:20:22 AM unburntbridget: ah
8:20:24 AM unburntbridget: goodmorning!
8:20:27 AM unburntbridget: and thank you for your email
8:20:30 AM melchiormash777: good morning
8:20:34 AM unburntbridget: everything made sense and yer all smart and stuff.
8:21:06 AM melchiormash777: heh, yep
8:21:15 AM unburntbridget: ^_^

(April 7) 11:52:18 AM melchiormash777: good morning
11:52:23 AM unburntbridget: hiya
11:52:28 AM unburntbridget: i should have been in bed ages ago
11:52:37 AM unburntbridget: now brody is serenading me with his sex life
11:52:39 AM unburntbridget: yaaaaaaay
11:52:42 AM melchiormash777: is it nearly 2 or nearly 10?
11:52:43 AM unburntbridget: can you sense my enthusiasm?
11:52:47 AM unburntbridget: nearly 2
11:52:50 AM melchiormash777: aha
11:53:01 AM melchiormash777: so it's minus 10, then
11:53:15 AM unburntbridget: yes?
11:53:16 AM melchiormash777: I've been trying to figure out what the time diff is
11:53:17 AM unburntbridget: what time is it there?
11:53:21 AM melchiormash777: nearly noon
11:54:34 AM melchiormash777: I'm done 3 hours early today
11:54:49 AM melchiormash777: due to a paper being due, my 2-3 class got cancelled
11:54:50 AM unburntbridget: nice!
11:54:53 AM unburntbridget: ahh
11:54:54 AM melchiormash777: but I'm sick
11:55:01 AM unburntbridget: yeah, i think you mentioned
11:55:03 AM unburntbridget: in your email
11:55:08 AM unburntbridget: maggie wants to come visit atlanta.
11:55:13 AM melchiormash777: I know
11:56:43 AM unburntbridget: we were talking about it. now she is blogging and i am sending her cold cold water
11:56:46 AM unburntbridget: but yeah
11:56:58 AM unburntbridget: today i got real drunk and sang karaoke with lyra and ben and four others
11:57:02 AM melchiormash777: hah
11:57:11 AM unburntbridget: and lyra got really drunk too
11:57:15 AM unburntbridget: and no one else really did
11:57:23 AM melchiormash777: nice
11:57:24 AM unburntbridget: and lyra was embarrassed, but frankly... i'm used to it
12:07:46 PM unburntbridget: hey, guess what i sang at karaoke
12:07:49 PM unburntbridget: daaaaaria
12:07:53 PM unburntbridget: i won't be soothed!
12:08:00 PM melchiormash777: they had that?
12:08:05 PM unburntbridget: and they totally put the CAKEcalls on for the distance
12:08:06 PM unburntbridget: yeah
12:08:10 PM melchiormash777: hah
12:08:18 PM unburntbridget: i liked carl's idea
12:09:12 PM melchiormash777: me too
12:09:17 PM melchiormash777: I just gotta pick up trumpet again
12:10:08 PM melchiormash777: I just realized, looking over your e-mails, that the woman who you didn't understand a word she said was your host father's mother?
12:10:12 PM melchiormash777: did I get that right?
12:10:13 PM unburntbridget: yeah
12:10:21 PM melchiormash777: well of course
12:10:43 PM melchiormash777: do you think a non native speaker of english could understand someone two generations older than them?
12:11:00 PM melchiormash777: like my grandma? would a japanese exchange student know half of what she was saying?
12:11:36 PM unburntbridget: hm.
12:11:58 PM unburntbridget: probably not
12:12:01 PM unburntbridget: it was frustrating, though
12:12:03 PM melchiormash777: that's a whole different ballgame
12:12:04 PM melchiormash777: well, yeah
12:12:12 PM unburntbridget: because she kept fucking expecting me to understand everything
12:12:20 PM unburntbridget: and i just kept being like "errr. yeah."
12:12:40 PM unburntbridget: and i'm terrified of saying "yes" to something like "do you enjoy eating the meat of run-over dogs?" or something
12:12:58 PM melchiormash777: only the malicious will try to trick you
12:13:05 PM melchiormash777: she's old
12:13:13 PM melchiormash777: old people, that's not culture shock
12:13:18 PM melchiormash777: that's just fucking old people
12:13:33 PM melchiormash777: some lady who was probably alive when the goddamn bombs went off
12:13:48 PM melchiormash777: you're lucky you could tell she was speaking japanese
12:14:31 PM unburntbridget: aw
12:14:34 PM unburntbridget: she was really nice
12:15:08 PM unburntbridget: but i started crying today, too, this time when American Exchange Student Friend snapped at me.
12:15:34 PM unburntbridget: which says to me "underlying tension from culture shock" as, you know, i don't usually cry because some girl i barely know snaps at me.
12:15:43 PM melchiormash777: hmmm
12:17:04 PM unburntbridget: also, i started crying in a restaurant with Dij yesterday, because i couldn't read everything on the menu.
12:17:06 PM unburntbridget: fan-tastic
12:17:10 PM melchiormash777: aww
12:17:20 PM melchiormash777: you'll get used to it
12:17:22 PM unburntbridget: i know
12:17:30 PM unburntbridget: i got into higher level japanese class, though
12:17:31 PM unburntbridget: with lyra
12:17:32 PM melchiormash777: and after that, you'll know what everything means
12:17:39 PM unburntbridget: dalton and evan got into the level below it
12:18:06 PM unburntbridget: so that felt good i guess
12:42:10 PM unburntbridget: are you posting for me?
12:42:12 PM unburntbridget: i keep meaning to
12:42:12 PM melchiormash777: yeah
12:42:15 PM unburntbridget: i just haven't felt it lately
12:42:24 PM unburntbridget: maybe after you start it for me
12:42:25 PM unburntbridget: or something
12:42:26 PM melchiormash777: it's just all of our correspondance, minus some stuff
12:42:31 PM unburntbridget: yeah, ok
12:44:17 PM melchiormash777: oh man, this cold is killing my appetite
12:45:42 PM unburntbridget: is that bad?
12:46:25 PM melchiormash777: no, but unfortunate
12:46:36 PM unburntbridget: *nods*
12:46:37 PM unburntbridget: jeezus
12:46:39 PM unburntbridget: i gotta go to bed
12:46:41 PM unburntbridget: it's fuckin' late
12:46:44 PM unburntbridget: we're going to the park tomorrow
12:46:46 PM melchiormash777: go!
12:46:46 PM unburntbridget: or so i hear
12:46:47 PM melchiormash777: sleep
12:46:49 PM melchiormash777: and sleep well
12:47:16 PM unburntbridget: thankya
12:47:19 PM unburntbridget: i'll read your post in the morn
12:47:22 PM unburntbridget: g'night
12:47:28 PM melchiormash777: g'day
12:47:41 PM unburntbridget: god, i used up nearly all my battery in one sitting. sad.
12:47:43 PM unburntbridget: anyway
12:47:44 PM unburntbridget: yes
12:47:48 PM unburntbridget: goodday, goodnight
12:47:51 PM unburntbridget: so on and so forth

1 Comments:

  • i think you had a typo in that last conversation, bridget's comment at 12:15:34 PM. you might want to fix that. good to hear from her though, even by proxy.

    By Blogger Monty Jaus, at 4:15 PM  

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