English is still difficult

One day a lady came to the supermarket where I work for some shopping. She was wandering in front of the rice shelf. So, I asked her whether she was looking for something or not. She told me, “I’m fine, thank you.” However, my boss told her, “If you have any questions, please ring the bell.” Then she told him “I actually have some questions.”

WHY?

Did she dislike Japanese people? If so, why did she come to a Japanese supermarket? Did she dislike me? What did I do to her?

I talked about this story to a local friend. He asked me what I said to her when she was wandering. I said in broken English, “Do you look for something?” My friend said, “Oh, that’s the reason she didn’t talk with you. She thought you didn’t understand English.” Huh? What’s wrong with “Do you look for something?” It’s grammatically no problem. He told me, “I can’t explain why, but it’s wrong. We don’t use the phrase in that situation.” I should have said, “Are you looking for something?”

Today I had English class and asked my teacher about this question. He told me, “Sometimes there’s no reason, but you just need to remember the correct phrase.”

On my way home from the class, I talked with my Chinese classmate. We don’t feel improvement of our English after taking this class.

Japanese Thanks Giving

On the 23^rd of November is “Labour Thanks Giving Day” in Japan. I sometimes translated it as Japanese Thanks Giving Day. I thought Thanks Giving day was also a big day in England. It wasn’t true. Here, there is no public holiday this week.

Everybody started Christmas shopping here. A big Santa Claus appeared on the top of main entrance of the City Hall.

Manchester Christmas Market was held and many shops came from European countries.

There were many food shops, gift shops and even a Bonsai shop. Bonsai is Japanese however this Bonsai doesn’t seem like traditional Japanese one.

An ice skate rink was ready at Piccadilly Garden.

Mission almost impossible

It happened on my way go Germany this summer.

My departure time from Manchester airport was 6:55am. This summer, the security check at the airport in England was very strict and recommended time to arrive at the airport was two hours in advance. So I was planning to get on the 4:30am train and arrive there before 5:00am. It takes 15 minutes from the train station near my place to the airport.

In the morning, I checked the platform number at the station for the train to the Manchester airport and went to that platform. There were some other customers who were carrying huge luggage. We were typical passengers going to the airport. I saw the sign at the platform again and it said “Manchester airport”. I was 100% sure the train would take me to the airport.

In the train, a conductor came and checked my ticket. On the ticket destination “Manchester airport” was printed. He checked it with his pen and told me “very well”. He moved to other passengers in the compartment. They spoke with the conductor seriously. However, I didn’t care about it much. I was sleepy and fell asleep for a while. The train should have arrived at the airport in 15 minutes. My watch told me 4:50am. I thought there was a delay. However, the train didn’t arrive at the destination by 5:00am. I started worrying about it and waited to arrive at the destination. Finally the train stopped at the station at 5:10am. It was LIVERPOOL!

OH MY GOD!

I had to get on an airplane from MANCHESTER airport at 6:55am. I should have been there at 6:00am. There was no direct train from Liverpool to Manchester airport. If I used the train, I would have to return the same way first and get on the right train to Manchester airport. On my return it took 40munutes to go back to the 1st station and to go to the airport would take 15minutes. The train doesn’t run every two or three minutes. So, I had to wait 15minutes each for transfers. It was impossible to catch my airplane.

I told a station employee about my situation, but he could do nothing for me. Yes, I knew it. I had no time to complain there. I should have been calm and found the solution. My last chance was using a taxi. Manchester airport and Liverpool are not in the opposite direction of one another. So, I thought it might not be so far by taxi. I found a taxi outside of the Liverpool station. At first I asked the driver how long it takes from here to MANCHESTER airport. It was already 5:30am. He told me it would take approximately 40minutes. Well it might work, I thought. I also asked about the fee. He said 60pounds (13,800yen). Wow expensive! But I had no time to negotiate about a discount. Anyway I had 60pounds cash so I got on the taxi.

After leaving Liverpool, I started to worry about time. In Japan, if a taxi driver told me approximately 40minutes, it usually means 30minutes or 35minutes. It should be shorter than 40 minutes. However now I’m in England. I don’t know their way of estimating time. All my experience in England kept me disappointed about time. I didn’t know what would happen if I missed my airplane. On my way going to the airport, I checked miles signs to the airport and estimated the remaining times and miles. It was really stressful. Although I was optimistic I could easily guess I wouldn’t be at the airport in 40minutes. The worse thing is my taxi was a very old one and couldn’t run fast. Many other new taxies went past my taxi. I couldn’t ask for speeding up because the car could be broken. I told nothing and just prayed in the taxi.

After 40minutes, I was still in the taxi. I wanted to run in the taxi although I knew it wouldn’t work.

Finally I arrived at the airport at 6:25am. It was 30minutes before my departure. My flight was with Lufthansa airlines. There was a long queue in front of the Lufthansa counter. I knew I had no time for waiting in the queue. I found a man who worked for Lufthansa and explained my situation. He told me “wait for a second” and left me. I REALLY didn’t have time for waiting. However, he came back and took me to the ticket counter.

OH MY GOODNESS! Thanks for Lufthansa!!

Yes, I could get on the airplane.

After returning from Germany, I sent a complaint by email to the rail company. I got a reply from them after a month. It said:

“Thank you for your correspondence which I recently received.

I was sorry to learn of the delay to your journey from Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport on the 24th August 2007. Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this must have caused.

When boarding, alighting or changing trains it is the passenger’s responsibility to ensure they join the correct service.

Although I appreciate that this must be frustrating, we are not liable for any expenses or financial losses that are caused by delays to our services. I sympathise with your difficult situation, but unfortunately, I must decline your request for repayment of your taxi fare. This is explained fully in the National Conditions of Carriage.

Thank you again for taking the trouble to contact me. I sincerely hope that future journeys with us are more satisfactory.

Yours sincerely”

It was not my complaint that I spent extra money. I wanted them to know that if they showed the correct information on the sign at Manchester Piccadilly station no one would be in trouble. This reply email was very polite, but they would do nothing to avoid this situation in the future. I am sure they will leave customers “holding the sack”.

Force of habit

It’s been 5 month since I arrived here. I’d already been asked for directions more than seven times by passersby. It’s obvious that I’m not a local person. I don’t know why people ask me for the directions. Although I’m bad at directions, I do my best.

One day, a man asked me the direction to Piccadilly station. I pointed in the direction. It was obvious to me however he told me that I was wrong. He said, “No”.

WHAT??

He asked me the direction and I answered him. Why did he tell me NO? If he knew the direction already, he didn’t need to ask me, right?

He said it should be close to the City tower. “Oh I see,” I said. He wanted Piccadilly garden where there is a big bus terminal.

Yesterday, on my way home from my work, I was asked for directions by two women. After showing them the directions, they said “Thank you” to me. I automatically said “See you”.

Oops!

Poppy

Since last week, I’ve noticed many people have been wearing a “poppy” on their chest. It reminds me of the “Red feather charity”. In Japan during charity campaigns, politicians and newscasters wear them on TV, but I don’t see them on everyday people. On the other hand, I see some people wearing poppies here every day. It must be a donation for something important. I asked a news paper man about this. He hands out free news papers every weekday at the station. I get the free paper from him quite often and now he recognizes me. He explained that a poppy is the flower of Remembrance Day. “On the 11th of November the last shot of the First World War was fired, now it is known as Remembrance Sunday, and is held always on the second Sunday in November. These poppies are manufactured by disabled ex-servicemen.” Now I understand why many people wear the poppy.

Halloween

Once I was in New York on Halloween day. It was really exciting. Many people wore strange costumes. Even business men wore devil costumes and went to work as usual. Some dogs also wore wings or extra tails. It’s an event for kids and also adults.

My image of Halloween in England is just like my American one. However, it’s just an event for kids. I had English class on that day. My teacher taught us the history of Halloween and how to react if kids visit our places. This is educational rather than fun. On my way back home, I went to a big supermarket (TESCO). Some sales assistants wore Halloween costumes, but they were wearing it as their duty and it wasn’t exciting.