Traditional Christmas Lunch!

Roasted Turkey and all the traditional vegetables



chocolate log and Christmas pudding


Christmas cake


mince pie

I forgot to take a photo, but I had a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread before the main dish. I'm full now.

Link

Last Thursday and Sunday, I watched Manchester United on TV. I’m not a big football supporter but I enjoyed watching the game because it was held in Japan. Before the match on Thursday I sent an email to my brother and he told me he would definitely watch the game on TV. I also sent a message to my sister but she replied, “I’m watching the game, and I will be supporting the Japanese team.” At first I thought “Why does she support Gamba Osaka?” However it was me who changed my mind; if I were in Japan, I would support Osaka but now I am supporting Manchester United without realising. On Thursday I also noticed I couldn’t recognize any of the players who play for Gamba Osaka. All of the players whom I used to know have moved to other teams or retired. Now I know more players in the English Premier league than J-leaguers. Time flies. Anyway it was an interesting match; all of my family watched the game on TV in Japan and sent me messages individually. I watched the same live match on TV in Manchester and I felt like I was watching it with my family. This fact made me feel closer to Japan.

I’m planning to go on the stadium tour of Manchester United when my family visit me for the New Year holidays. I also plan to get on the Manchester wheel. I don’t go out to sightsee here and I’ve never tried these so it’s exciting.
I’m thinking about good restaurants, I’ve been to pubs, Italians, Indian and Chinese restaurants and they were all nice. The other day, I asked my Italian friend about recommending Italian restaurant in Manchester; however she told me she hasn’t tried any of them. Whenever she has tried to go to Italian restaurants she has found spelling mistakes on the menu and it stopped her from entering the restaurants. Her attitude doesn’t surprise me because I found the advertisement “Award Winning Japanese Cuisine” “for a Truly Authentic Japanese Eating Experience.” in a local news paper, but in my opinion the restaurant is horrible. They don’t say what kind of “Award” they won and the ad finished with “No eat-no charge guarantee”; but is this something special?

I'll also cook for them; I learnt some new recipes from my friends after coming to Manchester. Not all of the recipes are British but I’ll definitely cook borscht, chilli con carne, Italian pasta and scones. During my daily life I cook food without a name like “cooked chicken with vegetable”. My family are interested in what I cook in England so for a while I took photos of my dinners but they didn’t look tasty so I never sent them. My family will evaluate my cooking very soon.

Season’s Greetings

A big Christmas tree stands in Piccadilly gardens, a huge Santa Clause sits on the town hall and the Christmas markets open; Christmas is just around the corner in Manchester. Some of my friends have already gone back to their home countries so I have been thinking of Japan a lot recently. Since I came here, I haven’t been back to Japan even once because I decided not to go back to Japan for two years unless something exceptional occurs. There are two main reasons; the first one is that I am supposed to be back in Japan in the future so I would prefer to visit other European countries during my stay in England and the second reason is if I went back to Japan, I would miss it even more. After one and a half years, I am more comfortable living here than before, I’m more flexible now, for instance:
Last Tuesday without any notice water stopped coming out of taps, I was shocked because this kind of problem has never occurred in Japan however this is the second time at my place in Manchester. The first time, I panicked and I didn’t know what to do but this time I already knew the place I could ring to ask for help. I also knew I could use the toilet at the nearby station and I had bottles of water to drink so after making a phone call I calmly waited and water came back to the taps in about two hours. Many unavoidable troubles have happened here but I’ve learnt they can be solved if I would complain then wait.
When I came I didn’t have any friends here, I could speak with my friends at home on Skype but after hanging up the line, I felt very lonely. I had no friends for coffee, lunch or shopping, I sat in front of my PC for many hours each day and I didn’t feel like I was living in Manchester, but now I have friends to go out and speak to in person and I’m feeling alive. These facts made it a lot easier to live here, however still miss my family and friends in Japan. Luckily, my family are coming to see me from Osaka for the New Year holidays. I look forward to talking and catching up on all the stories, every day I listen to NHK radio news and read articles about Japan on line, the Internet brings me lots of general information however I know my family will bring many other interesting or local stories.
I’ll stay here another three years from now on, because I’m getting used to living in Manchester, it is much easier to stay here than moving to a new place to start from the beginning again. I have places I would like to visit in Europe so staying three years would give me more opportunity to travel and of course I’ll also try to visit Japan sometimes. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure whether I could come back to Manchester if I went back to Japan before, but now I’m ready for it.
I wish all my friends Merry Christmas!

V for Vendetta

I started to read the graphic novel “V for Vendetta” on 5th November and finished reading it on 28th November. As I’m a very slow reader, a month was reasonably quick for me and I’m happy that I could understand most of it. I skipped some parts because two characters spoke with strong dialects for instance:
“EH, BOAB, Y’ GETUM EN, EH?”
“EH, YIZZA TIGHT BASTUD, YU’RE...”
Unfortunately for me these are accents from the Northern part of England including Manchester. Now I understand why I don’t catch people’s words in daily life. Of course I’m not saying everybody speaks this way, but I overhear these words many times and I still can’t translate them well. When I came to Manchester I got a shock because I couldn’t understand people’ speak, but if I went home and watched TV, I could understand TV or News. Every time I speak with Japanese friends in Manchester I asked “Do people in Manchester speak English? Can you understand them? ”. All of my friends are struggling with the strong accent.
Let’s try to translate a phrase with my friend’s help.
“NAW, THAS JEM’S BERD, WHASSANAME, DIYAAN...”
The above phrase is translated to:
“No, that’s Jim’s bird, what’s her name, Dyane...”
I also should have known “bird” means “girlfriend” which my Japanese English teachers didn’t teach me at school. I still have to learn so many words to fully understand daily conversation. This graphic novel gave me some opportunities to think about that.

To better understand the story, I also watched the movie “V for Vendetta” which was produced by Warner Brother’s. The story is based on the graphic novel but adapted with extra romance and a dramatic ending for the cinema. After watching the movie, I was thinking about these differences, in the original story the girl, Evey was weak and small but after her ordeals with V, she changed into someone much stronger, however, in the movie, the same girl was played by Natalie Portman and she was already strong enough from the first scene. In the book, Evey was attracted by V, but it wasn’t romance as was portrayed in the movie. I read the book using a dictionary, but it doesn’t help explain everything I don’t fully understand. The movie revealed me different aspects and gave me “food for thought” regarding the story; it helped me to understand it better.

Turning Japanese

I watched a TV program called “Kelly Osbourne : Turning Japanese”; even though I didn’t believe she would actually be turning Japanese, the title interested me.
Kelly Osbourne is the daughter of a legend in heavy metal music: Ozzy Osbourne, she is a singer, actress, television personality, radio presenter and fashion designer. It’s challenging for her because she doesn’t know much about Japan and it’s a whole other world. The purpose of this program is for her to stay in the so called “the politest place in the world” for five weeks to learn something. This introduction sounded interesting however the first place she went as a part of her working holiday was a “Maid Cafe”! The poor girl, she wore a classic French style maid costume, adopted a servants persona and served coffee to a table. She asked whether a customer would like to have some sugar and milk and according to his desire she added sugar and milk and stirred his coffee with a spoon for him. Kelly was complaining about having to give this service, despite this however she managed and passed the first step. The second step was “hand massaging”; a customer sat on a chair and a maid knelt down next to the chair and massaged his hands. She was politely refusing to do it, then the manager of the Maid Cafe said, “what about shoulder massages?”
“Punch him!” I shouted in front of the TV.
After the work, she asked one of her Japanese colleagues “Do you like this job?” The Japanese girl answered, “Well....yes...” whilst smiling. This is a typical Japanese vague answer but Kelly understood it clearly and said “I’m sure she definitely dislikes her work.” It’s interesting to see our culture from a different perspective. Her trial continued and the second place of work was a “Love Hotel”, but I’ll stop describing her work experience at this point.
This program doesn’t just focus on the wired aspects of Japanese culture; she went on to learn the skills of Japanese sword play. This was now more serious and on the first day the master was mad at Kelly because she left the Dojo (training hall) before him without cleaning up. Showing manners and respect to your master is very important in martial arts and no exception will be made for any VIP person. Kelly was complaining about the strict manner and hard training however after two days of this, she showed her work in front of an audience and she had achieved a lot. I look forward to seeing how her experiences affect her personality over the five weeks.

Stonehenge and Bath

Stonehenge is a mysterious and very attractive place and I’ve wanted to visit there since I came to England. At last, I had a chance to participate in a bus tour which was organized by International Society in Manchester. It takes about five hours from Manchester by bus however there is nothing else but Stonehenge so the tour was planned for a Stonehenge and Bath trip. On the first day, I went to Bath and had free time there so we went to the Roman Bath Museum. It’s nice and well preserved since Roman era. Nowadays it has changed to the museum and I couldn’t take a bath, but natural hot water is still available and I could drink a small amount of natural hot water there.


I also found a spa and it said “natural hot spring”, but I didn’t know what it was like; I may need to wear swim suits there. And it costs 13 pounds (around 2,000yen) for an hour and a half so I didn’t try it. I miss Japanese onsens very much but it didn’t look like what I expected it to be.
After sightseeing, I stayed at a youth hostel. I’ve never stayed in a youth hostel before including in Japan so I was half excited and half nervous. It was a clean and nice room and far better than I imagined. The best part was breakfast; I could have ham, sausage, bacon, beans, eggs, toast, croissants, fruit-juice, and coffee as much as I wanted so I had a big breakfast there. It took an hour from Bath to Stonehenge by bus. Finally I saw Stonehenge! Some of my friends told me it’s disappointing however, I felt it was huge, mysterious and impressive.


After sightseeing at Stonehenge I came back to Bath and had time till departure to Manchester. I went to The Jane Austen Centre. Jane Austen is a British female writer and famous for “Pride and Prejudice”, “Sense and Sensibility” and “Emma”. I didn’t read any of these novels but I watched “Sense and Sensibility” on British TV so I was interested in the stories. Her novels were based on her life and I feel closer to her now and I’d love to read her works.
Before leaving Bath, I found a restaurant called “Jamie’s Italian”; Jamie Oliver is one of the most popular chefs in England and popular as イケメン(good looking) chef in Japan. In his cooking program, he uses lots of olive oil and in the food which is served at his restaurant he uses it as well and it was very tasty. After having nice food, I could sleep well on the bus and come back to Manchester.

Introduce Japan

My English teacher suggested that I make five minutes presentation about Japan so I prepared the following one:

I’d like to introduce my country, Japan. The population is 120,000,000 so it’s approximately double the UK, it is an island divided from other countries by oceans. However unfamiliar you are with Japan, you probably know the words SAMURAI, GEISHA, KIMONO, JUDO, SUMO, TSUNAMI and KARAOKE. All of these words are originally from Japan and some of them have been popularized by Hollywood movies like “The Last Samurai” and “Memoirs of a Geisha” or “SAYURI”. Samurais are Japanese warriors but they don’t exist anymore. Geishas are sometimes confused with prostitutes but in recent history this is not the case, they are talented dancers, musicians and entertainers at meetings and parties. The Kimono is a traditional costume and we wear it for the “becoming an adult” celebration at age 20, wedding ceremonies and traditional events like tea ceremonies. If you go to Japanese restaurants in Manchester, some of the waitresses wear traditional costumes called Yukatas. The Yukata is a kind of Kimono but it’s more casual and less expensive than ordinary Kimonos and we can wear it easily and going to fireworks and some festivals in summer. In some countries, the uniform for Judo is also called a Kimono, but it’s called Judo-Gi in Japan.

The Emperor of Japan called TEN-NOU is very unique, during World War II, he had the authority to command air, sea and ground forces, however after the war, he was defined as a symbol of Japan and he no longer has any authority in politics or the economy. Still imperial families are popular as role models and the current emperor’s birthday is celebrated as a national holiday every year.

We are also quite unique in terms of religion; according to the data from “The agency for cultural affairs”, the number of Shintos in Japan are 160,000,000, 9,600,000 Buddihists, 2,000,000 Christians and 11,000,000 others. The total number coming to 215,000,000 which is double the population. In Japan, if people pray to a religious god, they are regarded as a believer. Kamidana and Butsudan are the symbols of Shinto and Buddhism respectively; we believe that spirits live in here and we pray toward these symbols at home. Some Japanese houses have both of these charms together, but this is not unusual. These days, many people have wedding ceremonies at Christian Churches, and organize their funeral at a Buddhist temple. If you watch the famous Japanese animated movie “Spirited Away”, you’ll see many gods in there.

The life expectancy in Japan is 79 for males and 85 for females and this is the longest in the world. The main reason might be healthy food; we can buy fresh fish and eat it raw as Sushi or Sashimi. We also eat a lot of sea weed which contains many minerals. Taking vitamins or other tablets isn’t popular, but people care about healthy food and some restaurants show the amount of calories besides the menu, cooking and health orientated TV programs are also popular.
Thank you.

Bonfire Night Part 2

On Bonfire Night, I wasn’t sure whether I would go to see some fireworks and a bonfire in the evening. I had lunch with my American friend and it was a big day for American people not because of Bonfire Night but because of the American presidential election results. All of the newspapers in England reported about it; perhaps the new American president, Obama, might be more famous than British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in England now.
I asked whether she would go to somewhere for Bonfire Night, but she told me she was probably not going. Bonfire Night reminds her of the Hollywood movie “V for Vendetta” and she asked me whether I had watched it or not. What a coincidence, my other friend just recommended reading the graphic novel (マンガ) before watching the movie. So I said “I borrowed the manga from my friend and I’m trying to read that first.” Then she asked “Did you start reading it? Where are you now?” My answer was, “Not even a single page. I haven’t started to read it yet.”

After having lunch, I went to my English class and my teacher informed me about the event this evening. I asked where the closest Bonfire was and he gave me directions; I could walk there in one hour. As long as I walk, it’s possible to avoid the traffic jams, this is not a bad idea so I asked my husband and we decided to go.

After an hour walk, we arrived at the park and we saw the fair and some food stands there. We didn’t know where we should go for the fireworks, it was dark, but the amusement grounds were lit up so we went there first, followed the crowds toward the field and waited with them, then the fireworks started. Actually cold air is clearer than warm air and the fireworks in autumn were more beautiful than in summer.


Sometimes I recognize how hungry I was while I eat something, this time was analogous to that, during the fireworks I found I really enjoyed watching them, they were fantastic. After the fireworks, the bonfire started; the flames were big, magnificent, and the best part was it was warm enough. I was happy to be part of this event in Manchester.

The next day I started to read the British graphic novel “V for Vendetta” which is the original story of the Hollywood movie with the same title and again I noticed how much I was enjoying reading it. I read manga a lot when I was a kid, but I’ve never tried to read any English graphic novels except for English translations of Japanese manga. The story started on the fifth of November although it is fictitious; just after experiencing Bonfire Night I found it very interesting. At first, I struggled to read it because all of words were capitalised and I couldn’t recognize peoples’ names. If the characters’ names were SMITH or CAMERON, I could easily recognize them however some of their names were “DASCOMBE” and “ALMOND”. They were sometimes called by surnames or first names and it confused me. Now I’m getting used to capitalized words and strange names. I hope I can read them faster and finish reading the full story in English.

Bonfire Night Part 1

November 5th is Guy Fawkes' Day and for the celebration many fireworks and bonfires are done. My British friend recommended me to have a look at the event because I’m in England and it’s a typical event in England. However, for me fireworks in November are unbelievable. In Japan fireworks are usually a summer event except in Tokyo Disneyland and some special places. And November in Manchester is much colder than November in Japan. I checked where I could watch the fireworks and the time schedule as well. Still, I think I wouldn’t come to see it. I’d love to watch fireworks, but I hate crowds and heavy traffic and cold weather. We’ll see.

Halloween the second year

Last year I didn’t see any one who wore Halloween costumes except some of Tesco’s sales assistants. I thought it was an event just for kids here. This year, I went out for dinner on the 31st of October without noticing it was a Halloween day, and unexpectedly I saw many people wearing Halloween costumes and enjoying their party in and out of the Pub. They were staying outside, holding beer or wine. Their costumes were mainly devils or ghosts, ones which were made from thin material and some of them were wearing even half sleeves or mini-skirts. It was a freezing night and I couldn’t stay outside even though I wore a winter coat. Probably the main reason was they were drunk and didn’t feel cold, still it was surprising to me. Of course I didn’t join them but stayed inside of a quiet restaurant.

Star

Some of my friends asked me whether there are any good Japanese restaurants in Manchester. My answer is “I don’t know because I never tried any of them”. Actually there are some restaurants in Manchester and some of them look very nice but they’re very expensive. Some of them are called “Japanese restaurant” but for Japanese people it’s not Japanese food. They are big chain restaurants but they are British companies and they’re very popular as Japanese restaurants in England. I wasn’t interested in eating fake Japanese food in Manchester so I didn’t try them before but nowadays I’ve been in here more than a year and I miss Japanese food so I decided it’s time for me to search for good Japanese restaurants in Manchester.
My friend recommended a Japanese & Korean restaurant in Altrincham. The chef is Korean but he worked for a Japanese restaurant for a long time so the restaurant he opened is under both nationalities.

I went there with my Japanese friend. The menu was interesting it’s a combination of Japanese and Korean food. I ordered Sushi which was served with Namuru which is Korean side dish and this was very nice. The atmosphere of the shop was also very nice; it was clean and quiet. The music was Korean and Japanese pop music. I was planning to take a photo of the food because I wanted to show what they serve at the restaurant to my friends who are interested in Japanese culture.

As I waited for the food, a Korean guy entered the restaurant. When I saw him I felt like I knew his face, but I wasn’t sure and I couldn’t remember who he was. I thought Koreans and the Japanese are similar so maybe he looks like some of my friends. Why did I know he was Korean because he spoke Korean with a waiter. He was very friendly with the waiter and I thought he was his friend. After a while my friend told me, “the Korean customers next to our table are talking about the guy who just came to the restaurant; he is a football player at Manchester United.” Oh is he? But I wasn’t sure so I went to the toilet and as I walked past I took a glance at him but still I wasn’t sure whether he was the football player or not. But when I came back to my table my friend told me “it must be him because the Korean customers went to get autographs from him.” Oh, it must be him. But I wasn’t sure whether it’s OK to ask to take a photo in his private time. I’ve never seen any famous people before so I didn’t know what to do. But I really wanted to take a photo with him because he is a superstar in Asia and maybe I’ll never ever see him again. I didn’t want to lose this chance, at the same time I didn’t want to bother his privacy or make him feel uncomfortable because of me. Also I was afraid if he said no I would be disappointed in him. We decided to go to his table and ask his agent. I thought it’s easier because if the agent says no, we can blame him, not the famous footballer and we could give it up. But when we asked his manager, the footballer himself said no problem and even stood up and took a photo with us. I was impressed he was really kind and he did it quite naturally. After taking the photo I said “thank you” to him and he said “Arigatou” in small voice. Oh, Arigatou, I was impressed!

After I came home I checked Wikipedia and I found out that he speaks fluent Japanese, I should have spoken in Japanese to him rather than English, anyway I’m becoming a huge fan of him.

Paris

I didn’t have any particular reasons however I decided to go to Paris this summer and I went there although it was already October. Before my going there I told some of my friends about my trip and they said that I would have a good time because it’s a world famous city with so many museums, restaurants and landmarks I should visit. This was the first time for me to visit Paris and I appreciated my friends’ advice and was excited.

I arrived in Paris around lunch time so I ordered croissants at a small bakery; I ordered three with using my fingers and tried to say three in French, but what I actually said from my lips was “tre”, it wasn’t French but Italian. I should have studied some French but I managed to buy three croissants by my strange Italian and Japanese.

My first destinations were The Arc de Triomphe（凱旋門）and The Eiffel Tower. I saw them in photos and TV programs many times before so when I finally saw the real one it didn’t feel like the first time however, unlike in the photo’s I could enjoy the atmosphere in Paris around these famous landmarks.
I went up The Eiffel Tower stairs even though there were elevators; going up on foot was the cheapest and the least popular way to enter so I could avoid paying extra and a long queue. The sign said “stairs to the second floor” however the second floor in Europe is the third floor in Japan and actually it was 115m high from ground level so waiting in a long queue for the elevators might have been faster. It was a fine day and the view from The Eiffel Tower was wonderful.

After that long climb I went to The Louvre Museum on foot; I enjoyed walking around Paris so I didn’t get on the Metro. When I arrived at the museum I was tired and it was impossible to look around everything. At first, I went to see the most famous masterpiece the “Mona Lisa”. Honestly speaking, I was more surprised by the high security than impressed by the painting. The painting seemed quite nice, however there were too many people around it and I couldn’t stay there. Other than “Mona Lisa”, paintings were displayed normally and I could see them closer, I had more art work to see than time.

On the next day I went to The Rodin Museum in Paris. His works of art are mainly effigies and they are displayed outside. It was a wonderful atmosphere being in a beautiful garden under the sunshine looking at his effigies. They showed suffering or the conflict of human beings amazingly at the same time they were powerful and impressive.


Just before my flight from Paris to Manchester, I visited The Orsay Museum and found many famous paintings which I saw at school in Japanese text books for art. I was happy to see them because in real life they were much better than on paper. I was thinking whether I should buy a copy of my favourite painting at the museum shop or not. I usually buy something as a souvenir because I may not come back again, but this time I decided I would be coming back to Paris again so I didn’t buy any souvenirs.

Italian

I started to study Italian in September although I was a complete beginner and knew no grammar rules or vocabulary except cappuccino, pasta and tiramisu. I’ve tried to learn other languages than Japanese and English, however I’ve never succeeded to master any of them.

When I was a college student, I studied Chinese as my second foreign language because it was mandatory to take. I thought it might be easy to learn although it was obvious that the pronunciation was quite different even though the characters looked quite similar to Japanese. When I saw a Chinese newspaper, I could guess what the story was about from the characters. I was also interested in Chinese culture and history so it was a good opportunity to start to learn these from the language. The lessons started and I recognized that the class wasn’t what I expected it to be. Before memorizing the Chinese characters, I needed to learn pinyin which is their pronunciation system written in the Latin alphabet with accent. My teacher was a well organized person and he knew how important the pronunciation is for studying Chinese; he only taught us pronunciation for the first six months! After that I needed to memorize as many Chinese characters as possible which were not as easy as I imagined. The characters looked similar but not the same which meant it was possible to guess the meaning, but I couldn’t fully understand them, also it is impossible to make a Chinese phrase without knowledge of the grammar. Their grammar rules are completely different from the Japanese language. I should have known that it was impossible to understand another language in just one year studying, however I just felt I couldn’t keep studying it and I gave it up.

Some people say once you learn another language, it will be easier to learn a second one. I thought it might be easier to study a language which is similar to English. I bought a text book of Spanish which I thought was the closest language to English without much of a basis. I also bought a text book to learn French from English, I thought it would help me to study both languages however it ended up helping neither of them. I found it difficult to keep my motivation up for studying so I needed some reason to keep going.

I asked a German colleague to teach me German, but she said “we can communicate in English. You don’t need to study German.” it turned out she wasn’t interested in studying Japanese and learned no Japanese words even after a whole year there. After her, the other German colleague kindly offered to teach me German. During his stay in Japan, we kept studying however after he went home, I stopped.

Next I thought Korean might be the closest language to Japanese, I started to study it because I liked watching Korean TV dramas and movies. I could catch some words because some of them are the same as Japanese. However at first I needed to remember Hangeul characters which are man-made characters and very well organized. I couldn’t remember them all and I gave them up!
I also tried to study Russian, but I didn’t manage that either!

Yes, I gave up a lot, still I’m interested in studying other languages. Now I have an Italian friend whose husband is Japanese so she has reason to study Japanese. I offered her an Italian-Japanese language exchange and she happily accepted it. We started to find Italian text books as the first step, it wasn’t easy like we imagined. I bought two text books which are aimed at beginners, but they aren’t for beginners. They are more focused on daily conversation and the grammar rules aren’t described well. Of course I need to remember some phrases without rules especially greetings and introductions, but it would be helpful if I learnt them following the grammar rules. My friend writes grammar rules for me and we keep studying alongside the text books. This time I already know I’m a slow learner and I need time to learn languages. I hope that studying Italian will last as long as our friendship!

Choir

I’ve been a member of a choir from age ten to seventeen; I joined a boys and girls choir for the first five years and after that I joined a high school choir. Since I graduated from high school, I’ve not practiced singing except for Karaoke. I didn’t evaluate myself as a good singer so I’d never dreamed of going to a music school however on the other hand, still now, I always say I like singing songs. I think that the choir has influenced me a lot, forming my personality for example I don’t hesitate to speak to people when I first meet them because I had many chances to meet new people during choir practice. The boys and girls choir has held a concert with international choirs from Bulgaria, Hungary or Austria annually to promote international exchange. Actually it was obvious to anybody that the quality of their music was much better than ours because they could come to Japan based on their music skills; still we enjoyed singing together. Of course I didn’t speak any English or other languages at that time however I felt that music didn’t need translation it is an international common thing, I enjoyed singing with them and learning how to communicate with people without a particular knowledge of the language.

When I was a high school student, we had a concert with our twin city’s high school choir from America. An American girl asked me my address and we started to exchange mails, she was my first foreign friend and this was the first step for me to study English for communication with a friend, not for getting good marks in the exam at school.
Choir has brought me many good opportunities, friends and pleasure and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to join it again. Quite recently I heard that my Japanese friend who was a music teacher in Japan joined a choir in Manchester so I asked her about it. She told me that anyone can join it although it might be impossible for a beginner or someone who can’t read scores because some university students whose major’s are music also join it and the level of the choir is sometimes too high for them. I haven’t practiced singing the songs for a long time however I’m not a beginner and I can read scores, I also checked the web site and it says “anyone is welcome” so I decided “why not give it a try?”

The registration started at 6:00pm and the first practice was scheduled from 7:00pm on the same day. I thought many people would come for the registration at around 6:50pm so they could join the practice straight away. In case many people came to register, I went there around 6:10pm which I thought was early enough however when I arrived, there was a long queue and my membership number was 235! I was amazed to find out that so many people came to join the choir after it had been full one week.
At 7:00pm the practice started, and soon I understood what my friend mentioned about the choir. It wasn’t suitable for a beginner, in fact many of them have already known the score and they sang at sight. I was half panicked, I was careful not to miss what the conductor told us, to read English lyrics which are not familiar words to me and to sing from the scores. On the first lesson, I was nervous and didn’t enjoy singing which was not what I expected from the choir. After the lesson I bought a music CD of the song and practiced it at home ready for the second practice day. It helped me a lot at least I could relax and follow the practice and gradually enjoy singing. During the rehearsals I’m concentrating on singing and don’t have spare time to make friends, but I hope to have friends there soon.

A Light Bulb

I’ve been in Manchester for sixteen months, still it’s difficult to find some particular items at the store. Especially electric items are difficult to find. In Japan, there are many electric shops and I can always find what I need to buy; I just check the prices at different shops and try to find the cheapest one. I wanted to buy an electric heating pad, 電気あんか because I used it in Japan. However I couldn’t find it here. I didn’t find any shops like Joshin, Midori or Yamada Denki here.
I could buy an electric heating blanket through online shopping, but I needed something that could make my feet warm. I went to many shops to buy it and all I could find was a hot-water bottle. A hot-water bottle, 湯たんぽ! I had no choice and I bought it. Nowadays I boil water every night before sleep and prepare a hot-water bottle. I’ve never been satisfied with this.

I have another item that I’ve been looking for. One of the light bulbs at my place is burned out. I looked for shops and online stores. However I couldn’t find the place to buy it. I could buy a standard light bulb at the supermarket, but the one which was used for my place was a bit different from the standard. I moved the light bulb from another room and kept waiting for a new one. Every time I go to different shops, I try to find it.

One day, my British friend said “I have a question for you.” I said, “Yes?” And he said, “Where can I buy a light bulb?” I said, “I usually buy light bulbs at TESCO.” He said, “Yes, but what I’m looking for is not a standard one. The shape of the joint is a bit different. I don’t think I can find it at the supermarket.” I wanted to say, “That’s a question which I wanted to ask you.” Instead of saying this, I said “Why do you ask me?” He said, “Well you’ve been in Manchester more than a year so you may know more than I do.”

Football Match

I find football supporters in England quite surprising. In my opinion, British people are calm and gentle in general. Of course it depends on personality, but I’ve never been honked by cars or interrupted in queues. They have good manners. However when the football season comes, people change. They start drink beer during the daytime, sing songs and yell at each other. I wonder why people are so excited about football. I’m looking forward to going to the stadium and watching the game.

There are two football teams in Manchester. One is the worldwide famous team, Manchester United. I checked ticket information on their website. However I couldn’t find any available tickets on it. It always says “to be announced” or “sold out”. I felt that I couldn’t buy tickets from this web site.

The other foot ball team is Manchester City. Their web site is much easier for me to get ticket information. They mention the date when tickets will be available, the first priorities are for season tickets holders, next are for paid membership holders and after these, general sales start. If all tickets sell out before general sales, I have no chance of going. I may be better to join a paid membership, but I don’t and wait till the general sales start because the annual membership fee is expensive. I waited for the sales for the match Manchester City vs Liverpool FC. Surprisingly, the price is different depending on the team. Liverpool FC is a popular team so the price is more expensive than other teams. However I really want to watch Torres who is a Spanish player in Liverpool FC.

On-line tickets are available 24 hours. I access at midnight on the general sales day. In Japan, it’s possible to buy the tickets as soon as the sales day starts. However it doesn’t happen in England. The website doesn’t change at midnight. I wait till 1:00am and give up. I wake up around 7:30am and check the web site at 8:00am. Still nothing is changed. The ticket office opens from 9:00am. I may have to go to the ticket office at the stadium. I’ve passed the stadium before by train or bus. However I don’t know how to get there on foot. I check google maps, but it’s not a familiar place for me so I gave up going there on foot. After 9:00am, the web site has changed and I can buy the tickets.

On the match day, I’m really excited to watch the game. I go to the stadium two hours before the kick off time. It’s too early and I need to wait 30minutes before getting into the stadium.

The problem is I bought tickets through Manchester City web site. So I was surrounded by their supporters. I couldn’t cheer on Torres. However I’m not a huge fan of him, so I cheer with the Manchester City supporters. The weather is fine and the football match is interesting. Being at the stadium is more exciting than watching it on TV. I really have a good time there. Still I don’t understand why British people are so excited about it. If they weren’t booing or yelling, I would enjoy the game more.

See You Soon.

I like the phrase “See you soon.” If I translate this phrase in Japanese it might be すぐに会いましょう which sounds weird. Usually I say またね which is like “See you” in English so I also use just “See you” a lot here. Whenever my native-English speaker friends say to me “See you soon”, I’m very happy although they may say this phrase automatically I feel I can see her/him very soon. For me “See you” sounds like just a greeting, but “See you soon” really sounds like they wish to see me again.

Job Hunting-2

The manager at the sandwich shop told me that she would ring me on Friday, I waited for her call, but she didn’t call me. I really hate this!
I don’t say British people aren’t punctual. If my friend said “I will email you on Friday.” I would receive an email on Friday. Things are usually like this. People keep promises. However regarding business, not everything goes on time. Just waiting is really annoying. To avoid being frustrated, I describe my feelings.

Let’s start from the beginning. Why do I want to work at the sandwich shop? If I were in Japan, I wouldn’t apply to a sandwich shop. To tell you the truth, I’m not interested in making sandwiches. However I am interested in working in Manchester.
Although I complained a lot about my ex-boss and quitted the job　still I appreciated the opportunity and worked there. I saw many people there. I still keep in touch with some of them. I also learned a lot about how things work in England. The experience gave me topics to talk about with friends and of course earning money is obvious profit.

At the moment I don’t work. So I can go out any time when my friends are free. I don’t have an income but I have free time. Now I’m wondering whether I really want to work at the sandwich shop or not. Anyway I will know sooner or later.


After one week, I didn’t receive a call from the sandwich shop, so I rang the manager’s mobile number, but she just said, “Hello??” and then hung up. I wasn’t sure if she didn’t hear my voice or if she did this on purpose, so I tried to ring her again, but she didn’t pick my phone up. I had no way to ask her my result so I gave up on working there.

Peak District Hope

I went to Peak District for hiking. It was nice weather and I really had good time there.




Many students came there as their school trip and they studied about rocks and something...

Job Hunting

I quit my previous part-time job at the end of April. Since then I haven’t worked for four months. I enjoyed joining free English classes, chatting with my friends, and shopping. On the other hand I kept applying for a job. I started sending my CV by email. It wasn’t difficult to do, so it wasn’t also difficult for companies to ignore my CV. I sent around 10 CVs and I got only one reply. It said, “Thank you for your application for the above post. I am sorry to inform you that you have not been selected for an interview on this occasion but thank you for your interest in working for the Society.” Even though I didn’t succeed, receiving a reply was much better than nothing.

As a second step, I brought my CV to the shop where I found a job recruitment sign in the window. One day I brought my CV to a shop where Asian people work. I thought if Asian people worked at the shop the owner was willing to hire them, so I may have a chance to get a job. I handed my CV to the British owner and he told me, “I’ll definitely contact you.” I was waiting and waiting, but there was no call from the shop.

Two weeks later, I went out shopping with my friend and I met an Asian girl who worked at the shop where I dropped my CV. My friend encouraged me to ask her about my job stuff. So I asked her. Then she told me, “We need staff. You could come to the shop tomorrow and ask the owner again.”
The day after I went to the shop again and talked with the owner. This time he gave me a really bad impression. He told me, “Do Japanese eat whale? It’s cruel.” I went to ask him about my job position, and why did he speak to me like this? He said the same phrase again, “I’ll contact you.” So I said, “You told me that last time, but you didn’t contact me.” Then he said, “One of our staffs was supposed to quit, but she hasn’t. I don’t intend to hire new staff at the moment. One Chinese guy told me he might quit, but I don’t know when. So I can’t tell you when the job will be available.” Well, I just felt the owner would never hire me. I knew some people dislike Japanese, but since I had this kind of experience, I became really depressed. I almost gave up job hunting.

At the moment my friend informed me about a job at a sandwich shop. It’s a new and beautiful shop. I didn’t want to finish my job hunting in bad taste. So I thought this would be the last trial for me. And I brought my CV there. The lady at the shop told me, “If there is a job opportunity, we will contact you.” I said, “Thank you” and I left the shop. It was quite usual and I didn’t expect any call. Surprisingly I got a call. She said, “Did you come to the shop and drop your CV?” I said “Yes I did.” She said, “Would you like to come for a job interview?” I couldn’t believe it. I’ve looked for a job for four months and no reply, but now I just dropped my CV an hour before and got an appointment for my job interview. I said “Of course, yes.”

When I went to the interview, the manager explained about the procedures. At first, I would have a four-hour job trial. If I could pass it, I would have three days training. After that, I might get a job. The manager wasn’t sure whether my English was satisfactory for the job. Actually I also wasn’t sure about it. It was quite difficult to evaluate. A job trial was a good opportunity for me to know my ability. Until then, I didn’t have any other job opportunities. So I accepted the offer.

People at the shop were very kind. All of them sounded like native-English speakers to me, but some of them told me they were from East European countries. They were hard workers, spoke fluent English and worked for minimum wage. I understand why British companies don’t need Japanese workers.

I just finished my job trial and I’m waiting to hear the result. Even if the result wasn’t OK it was a wonderful opportunity for me to know the real life.

Celebrity

A world famous celebrity came to Manchester.


She was perfect and exactly the same on TV.


I was happy to take a nice photo of her.

The Japanese Garden

I went to Tatton Park. There was the Japanese Garden. I usually complain about “the Japanese Garden” in foreign countries. However this one was really beautiful. I could feel Japan. Now I miss Japan.

My Japanese

I had a cup of tea with my three Japanese friends and one British friend. The British friend asked us “What do you call salmon in Japanese?”
I answered “しゃけ syake”. Then one of my Japanese friends told me, “Eriko-san Syake is Kansai-ben.”

Eeeee?? I always called “salmon as しゃけ” in Japan. In standard Japanese it should be called “さけ sake”. In my excuse I’ve never lived outside of Kansai area in Japan. I did my best to speak standard Japanese in Manchester however all Japanese friends noticed I’m from Osaka. I need to learn standard Japanese.

Gee

The Olympics started in Beijing. I’m following it on TV. I can watch canoeing, sailing, cycling, equestrian and boxing almost every day. These are not what I wanted to watch. I could watch swimming, athletics and gymnastics as well. I’m watching it carefully so I don’t miss watching the Japanese athletes. Whenever I heard “Japanese” from TV, I came back in front of TV and kept watching. I could easily check the result by Internet but it was difficult to watch them on TV. I looked forward to watching baseball games, but no baseball games have been broadcasted here till now.

The topic of my English class was also about the Olympics. Each of us said the name of events in Olympics. I said “Judo”. The teacher asked us “what do they wear when they play it? What’s it called?” I thought “Judo uniform” in my mind. It was direct translation from “Judo-gi” in Japanese. I was not sure so I kept silent. Then some Spanish class mates answered “kimono”. Although I didn’t know what it’s called, I was sure it was different from “kimono”. All Japanese class mates shook our heads. The answer was “gi”. The word came from Japanese, but I didn’t know the word. I never heard of it. I checked my dictionary and found “gi” as “Judo-gi or Karate-gi”. Gee I didn’t know it. I asked about the word to my American friend and she didn’t know it. It might be British English.

By the way if I search ALC web dictionary, I knew “Judo-gi” was called “kimono” in France and some other European countries.

Are We Changed?

The weather was extremely hot in Dubai. I thought the hot weather in Dubai might affect my personality.

When I went shopping at the market, I bought some souvenirs. They didn’t put prices on each item so I asked for the price one by one. I bought three items, which were priced at 10, 15 and 20 dirham. After wrapping these three items, the clerk asked me to pay 55 dirham in total. I noticed he was cheating me. However, outside was over 43℃ and I didn’t have the motivation to quarrel about 10 dirham (300yen). I knew if I didn’t complain about the price, they might keep cheating Japanese customers. For the future Japanese customers, I might have to correct them. However I couldn’t speak up about it. I paid 55 dirham and even said “thank you” to them and left the shop.

The other day, I went to a tourist’s place to get a typical souvenir. A calligrapher wrote tourists’ names on paper in Arabic. I had an idea that I would ask for my name and my husband’s name on to be written one paper. The price showed 30 dirham for one sheet. However the calligrapher told me, “If these were two persons’ names, it would cost 60 dirham.” At that time, I felt “not again.” I said “if it cost 60 dirham, I wouldn’t ask you to write it.” Then he said, “30 dirham is OK.”

I could imagine my personality would be changed if I lived in Dubai for a year. When I spoke about this to my friend, she said, “Well done!” We spoke about her life in Dubai and my life in Manchester for a while. And she asked me, “Do you think my personality has changed?” I thought about it for a while and answered, “No, I don’t think so.” I actually didn’t feel that we hadn’t met for a year. I also asked, “By the way, do you think I’ve changed after living in Manchester for a year?” She said “No, not at all.” immediately. We might use different aspects of our personality in foreign countries however the very basic personality wouldn’t be changed easily.

Arabian Nights

One of the interesting things to do in Dubai was going to the desert and riding on a camel. I could register for “the Desert tour” at the hotel reception. I went to make the reservation with my friend, but I hesitated to join the tour. I had two choices: joining the tour alone, or not going. My friend had work and she wouldn’t come with me. A receptionist told me, “Don’t hesitate to join the tour, you’re not the only person who would go to the desert. There are many people who will join the tour. You could make friends there.” If it was just two or three hours sightseeing at the desert, I could join it easily. However the tour was half a day long and included a BBQ dinner at the desert. I was worried that if I were all alone it would be long and lonely. My friend told me, “If you wanted to go to the desert, you should join the tour.” After consideration, my desire to go to the desert won to all my worrying about the tour. Finally I decided to join it.

On the day of the tour, I was nervous until the tour guide/driver picked me up at the hotel. He was kind and recommended me to sit in the front seat. He stopped by two other hotels and picked up five other passengers. One of them was an arrogant man and he insisted on sitting in the front seat. The driver could have asked me to move to the back seat, but he refused the request from the arrogant man. After an hour driving, our car stopped at a small shop and took a break. When I was back at the car, the arrogant man took the front seat. I actually didn’t care to sit in the back seat but I disliked his attitude. He didn’t ask me to change the seat but just sat in the front seat. When the driver saw me he let the arrogant man move to the back seat. The driver whispered to me, “I told the guy that you reserved the front seat. So you don’t need to be worried about your seat. It’s yours.” Of course I didn’t make any special reservation, but I appreciated his kindness. Except the arrogant man, all passengers were very nice. After arriving at the desert, we were gathered around our guide/driver and took photos of each other and enjoyed talking. I didn’t need to be worried about being alone.

I enjoyed the camel ride, water pipe, and BBQ. The camels were very calm and nice. The best thing about them was they could kneel down when I got on their back and they could stand up later.

The camel ride was really comfortable for me. I couldn’t walk well on sand but the camel moved smoothly. Also I could enjoy good scenery from their back. I felt like I was a queen in the desert.

About the water pipe, I had no idea about it. I didn’t even know whether I should inhale or exhale when I used the water pipe. I saw bubbles in a bottle, so I exhaled for a while.

However I naturally noticed that exhaling made nothing. I realised I should inhale. I inhaled a bit. The flavour was apple. I’ve never smoked even normal tobacco, so I didn’t know how I could enjoy smoking a water pipe. Anyway I enjoyed the atmosphere.

I actually missed a very important moment. I didn’t notice the sunset. I saw lots of beautiful photos of sunset in the desert. I should have taken wonderful sunset photos there. However when I noticed, it was already dark. I still don’t know why I didn’t notice it.

After becoming dark, a belly dance show started. The dancer was obviously different from the photo on the brochure. On the photo, the dancer was slim and beautiful. However the dancer in front of me was a bit scary. After her dancing, she encouraged everybody to come to the stage and dance together. I was more interested in the BBQ than dancing. So I didn’t join it.

The BBQ dinner wasn’t what I imagined. The staff prepared the BBQ meal and served it on our individual plates. It was like a cafeteria buffet.

But it was an interesting event that over 100 people gathered at one place in the middle of desert for from all over the world. And probably I would never be able to see any of them in future.

A Whole New World

I visited Dubai for 5 days. Last year in June, I left Japan and came to Manchester via Dubai airport. At that time, my friend applied for a job in Dubai. I thought if she got a job there, I would visit her.
After one year and one month, the day has come!

People at the immigration office wore traditional clothes and were very serious. I couldn’t imagine my friend’s life here. I was happy because my friend came to pick me up at the airport. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known what to do there. My first impression was it’s a whole new world.
The weather was opposite from the one in England. It’s sunny and hot. I really had good time in the sea. It was calm and beautiful.



After swimming in the sea, we went to the world's only seven-star hotel, Burj Al Arab. Its inside was also really gorgeous.



One thing I felt uncomfortable during my stay was there were few women in local places. That's the same when I got on a boat called Abra:



and even when I went to shopping at the market called Souk:



The reason is that 60% of population in Dubai are workers coming from South Asia. Now they are creating the tallest building in the world, Burj Dubai:




Even the outside is 47℃, they can enjoy skiing inside.




They are planning to build the biggest amusement park in the world. They also plan to build a hotel in the sea. I cannot imagine what will happen to this place in several years. I look forward to seeing my friend again and visiting this dramatically changing place.

Sports

I watched football games, Euro Cup 2008, and Wimbledon Tennis. I did not watch these games when I was in Japan. What happened to me?

One of the main reasons is that I try to act like British people. They enjoy watching these games, so I would like to share their feelings. Also it is a good topic when I do not have any common things to talk about. I can talk about sports without worrying about complicated matters like politics or religion.

If I watched games more, I would understand the rules better. I am gradually getting in to watching football and tennis. Still I never have tried to watch Cricket. Once my English teacher explained about the rules, but none of class mates understood it. I imaged that its rules are similar to those of baseball.

In Europe, many people do not even know the rules of baseball. Once I tried to explain to my friend about baseball. In my opinion, baseball is good, not only physical, but also mental. Each player is more concerned about winning for the team than about their own glory. This kind of mental team-play has strong connections to the Japanese way of thinking. That is why the Japanese love baseball. However my friend told me, “If you're talking about team-play, football is also team play. We cannot play it alone. And you say baseball matches the Japanese way of thinking, but it came from America.” I see. Football could be more popular than baseball in Japan soon. Actually for the younger generation, football may have already became more popular than baseball.

These Days

Since I quitted my part time job in April, I've been attending free English classes. It's “first come first serve”. So I should be there approximately 40 minutes before the class and wait until it starts. I spend this waiting time chatting with my class mates. Sometimes I talk too much before the class and am quiet during the class.

Japanese students usually try to answer correctly. I try to find the answer that the teacher expects to hear. Because I take a long time to answer, I miss my chance to speak in the class. Other students speak out whatever they think. I don’t think I could speak anything in the class, but I should speak if I have some ideas. Anyway I am happy to see people and listen to the stories about their countries. We have a different six teachers every two weeks. Every teacher has a different accent. Thanks to this class, I’m getting used to British accent. Once I start to like British accent, I like British people. Although, I still have many things to complain about. For example after waiting eight months, I'm still on the waiting list for the dentist. The registration procedures for the dentist never end. In my flat, one of three lights in the kitchen is broken and one of two rolling curtain is also broken. I have complained about these problems twice, however, they have not been fixed yet. I dislike these things. Of course I still can't say I like this, but now I can accept this.

In Japan, things are efficient. On the other hand, I always feel pressure that I should do everything people expect of me. If anyone waits after me, I automatically hurry up. Here, no one would hurry for others. And no one would let me hurry. It might be hard for me to adjust to the Japanese style after coming back to Japan. So far I enjoy the British style.

Did I Improve My English?

I just finished my English classes from a volunteer teacher. In the last class, our teacher asked us “Did you improve your English?” My answer was “I’d thought I would have improved my English more.” All of my classmates had the same impression. We were happy with our English teacher. He always brought interesting topics like recycling, foods, art and education systems. The classmates were coming from all over the world. Sometimes I had different ideas from them. I enjoyed talking about these topics and listening to other's opinions. All of my classmates really enjoyed our class, but we’ve never been satisfied our English. Even I could talk about some specific topics it didn't help understanding daily conversation. As my excuses, people in Manchester speak very fast. They are talkative and speaking to me, but they don't care whether I understand them or not. Even though I didn't understand what they said, I pretended like I understood. And the conversation was over. It was frustrating.

When I watched TV at home, I didn't fully understand the story. I needed to read subtitles. It was tiring. Yes, I’m lazy. I had dreamed that after staying one year in England, I could be a fluent English speaker. It's been one year since I came here. However, it didn't happen to me. Sometimes I feel happy about my speaking, but still I don't feel any progress in English.

In my daily life, I'm not expected to speak fluent English. All I'm expected to speak is short clear sentences. So it doesn't help in improving my English.

I'm not saying I'd like to speak like a politician, but I'd like to communicate with local people without a problem. I'll stay here more, so I wish I could improve my English before coming back to Japan.

Wagamama

My brother asked me to buy these T-shirts in Manchester and send them to Japan.

He cares about fashion very much. He usually wears stylish clothes. I couldn’t believe he wanted to get these, so I thought he must have been joking. However he told me, “That’s the T-shirts I wanted to get.” I told him, “Well, if you like it.”

What do you think?

Trip to London Part 3

“The Lion King” show was finished at 6:00pm. My bus back to Manchester would leave at 7:00pm. I thought I had enough time to go to Japan Centre which was the biggest Japanese shop in the U.K. I wanted to buy a book written by Haruki Murakami. His novels are popular not only in Japan but also all over the world. My friend, Belle recommended me to read “The wind-up bird Chronicle”, ねじまき鳥クロニクル. She told me, “The main character in the story quit his work and the situation is just like you.” It sounded interesting to me.

I should have known the directions to Japan Centre because I went there in April. Although it was not smooth, I found the shop. The book was priced more than double compared with the Japanese original price. However I needed the Japanese edition. When I bought the book I heard the announcement in the shop, “Now all sushi is 50% off.” It was a good idea to have half priced sushi and have it on the bus on my way back. However, there was a LONG queue for buying shushi. If I waited it, I might miss my bus. I was fascinated by 50% off priced sushi, but I gave it up and went back to Victoria station. It was the same bus terminal where I got off the bus from Manchester that morning. I tried to remember the way from the bus terminal to Victoria station. It did not work. I could not find the way to the coach bus terminal. I asked people how to get there. They were kind and told me the way to go. I followed the directions but I just found the local bus terminal. I asked some other people. Everybody pointed to the same direction. So the directions should have been correct. I did not ask about the distance, but I thought it was not so far away. I started to think what should I do if I miss my bus?

It was 6:45pm. Anyway I kept running in the direction where the bus terminal should be. Finally I saw a National Express bus coming out from the corner. The bus terminal must be over there. I felt shame. Nobody was running around Victoria station except me. When I got to the terminal, I was very happy. I checked terminal number of the Manchester departure on electric signboard. The terminal number was 18. All I had to do was go to the terminal 18 and get on the bus. Yes, I made it!

It was 6:55pm. It was better to go to the toilet before the long trip. So I went to the toilet and went to the terminal just before departing time. I saw the destination of terminal 18. It was shown “Rochdale”. WHAT? It should be “Manchester”. I was in a panic. I checked the destinations of terminal 17, 19 and 20. I could not find Manchester. It was almost departing time. The electric signboard for all the destinations was in the main entrance. It was a big bus terminal. If I went back there to check the terminal number, I would not catch the bus. I read Manchester was terminal 18.

Why it was shown Rochdale?

Where is Rochdale?

I came closer to Rochdale sign. And I found small letters written “via Manchester”. Oh, my goodness. I made it!

In many cases British transportations are behind schedule, but this bus left on time. I came back to Manchester on time.