My American friend in Manchester is planning to move to France and is thinking of becoming a yoga instructor to get a part time job there. She is studying French and thinks a yoga instructor wouldn’t need to speak French fluently. Actually I take yoga classes twice a week at a fitness club near my place, one of the instructors is Brazilian and the other is Chinese. The Brazilian instructor always confuses the words “pull” with “push” and some students tried correcting her English, however, they failed and no one tries to do it anymore. All of us understand if she said “push” it meant “pull” and we moved smoothly. I’ve never thought about becoming a yoga instructor because my body isn’t flexible but I enjoy attending the classes. Once I start something I prefer to keep practicing it regularly so I go to the fitness gym every week.
On our first meeting, the Chinese instructor said, “ni hao?” in a small voice to me but I shook my head then she said, “Sorry I thought you were a Chinese.” It’s difficult to distinguish between someone from China and someone from Japan, so she didn’t need to apologize to me; if we speak, it’s quite easy to recognize the nationality because our languages sound quite different, however, it’s hard to judge the nationality by physical appearance. Whenever I’m not sure of the nationality of whom I’m talking to, I’m wondering what to say. I don’t want to speak English with Japanese people, but I feel it’s rude to ask the nationality first. Saying “konnichiwa” in a small voice is a very good idea to find Japanese people. I’ll copy her way.
Last week, the Chinese instructor was planning a yoga practice which is performed by two people. She needed a partner for some demonstrations and asked for my help. It wasn’t because I was good but because of my height. The average height of a Japanese female is 158cm and a Chinese female is 159cm; we’re almost the same, on the other hand, the average British female is 164cm. In addition, I’m smaller than average and so is my instructor. Our heights are almost the same and even though my body isn’t flexible I’m the best for her to demonstrate some postures as a pair. In the beginning I concentrated on doing the posture with her and didn’t pay attention to everyone else, however, gradually I had room to breathe and finally I faced my classmates. Then I noticed everybody was smiling and their eyes on us. Surprisingly the atmosphere was very comfortable for me, perhaps I should start to think about becoming a yoga instructor in the future.
Monday 26 January 2009
Friday 23 January 2009
Mary Poppins
I’ve liked the musical “Mary Poppins” since my childhood and remember many songs from it. The main reason from liking the movie is that the main character was played by Julie Andrews. Her voice is amazing. I have music CDs of “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music”.
When I was thinking about what to do in Manchester during my family visit, I found the information about the musical “Mary Poppins.” Watching a musical is one of the typical activities for Japanese who visit the UK. So I asked my family whether they’d like to watch it or not. I usually love to watch musicals however I didn’t have any interest in “Mary Poppins” because I’m a big fan of the movie so I had no chance to be impressed by the live musical play, I thought. However my family wished to watch it so I bought tickets for the show. I went there with small expectations, but it was a big mistake.
All of the audience was really impressed by the show. It was amazing!
The story was a bit modified for the stage play and it worked well. In the movie, the Disney animation was synthesized, but it doesn’t look good because it’s an old movie, perhaps the animation technique was breathtaking in 1964. However, time flies and it’s a bit boring now. On the other hand, in the theater musical, some actors and actresses sang and danced: they put in some new songs as well and I had no time to feel bored. In the movie, the banker was in trouble at his working place because his son didn’t bank his two-pence, but it wouldn’t happen in real life. I also felt sorry for the son because he was innocent but let his father face a big trouble. In the theater version, that part was modified and the banker was in trouble because he invested a person who is nice but not profitable. As a result, the banker did a lot of damage to his bank and the fact brought him a crisis.
The banker’s wife was a rather self concerned person in the movie, but she did care for her kids in the theater play and the kids also encouraged their mother. It turned into an extremely heartwarming story.
The entire cast was just fantastic! Marry poppins didn’t let anyone down, her voice, dance and everything was just amazing. I really had a good time there. Of course my impression of the movie has still remained but now I found another aspect of the entertainment which was improved by the change.
When I was thinking about what to do in Manchester during my family visit, I found the information about the musical “Mary Poppins.” Watching a musical is one of the typical activities for Japanese who visit the UK. So I asked my family whether they’d like to watch it or not. I usually love to watch musicals however I didn’t have any interest in “Mary Poppins” because I’m a big fan of the movie so I had no chance to be impressed by the live musical play, I thought. However my family wished to watch it so I bought tickets for the show. I went there with small expectations, but it was a big mistake.
All of the audience was really impressed by the show. It was amazing!
The story was a bit modified for the stage play and it worked well. In the movie, the Disney animation was synthesized, but it doesn’t look good because it’s an old movie, perhaps the animation technique was breathtaking in 1964. However, time flies and it’s a bit boring now. On the other hand, in the theater musical, some actors and actresses sang and danced: they put in some new songs as well and I had no time to feel bored. In the movie, the banker was in trouble at his working place because his son didn’t bank his two-pence, but it wouldn’t happen in real life. I also felt sorry for the son because he was innocent but let his father face a big trouble. In the theater version, that part was modified and the banker was in trouble because he invested a person who is nice but not profitable. As a result, the banker did a lot of damage to his bank and the fact brought him a crisis.
The banker’s wife was a rather self concerned person in the movie, but she did care for her kids in the theater play and the kids also encouraged their mother. It turned into an extremely heartwarming story.
The entire cast was just fantastic! Marry poppins didn’t let anyone down, her voice, dance and everything was just amazing. I really had a good time there. Of course my impression of the movie has still remained but now I found another aspect of the entertainment which was improved by the change.
Monday 19 January 2009
Sightseeing in Manchester
I’ve been thinking about the sightseeing plan for my family’s visit during the New Year holidays. They said, “we’re coming Manchester to see you!” which is sweet, however, I wanted to impress them because they would have to spend 14 hours in the airplane from Osaka to Manchester.
I went to a tourist centre to collect some sightseeing information, maps and brochures. In my Japanese guidebook of the United Kingdom, I found area guides for Liverpool, Chester and York, but not for Manchester. I also read some other guide books at the library, but I only found a little information over a few pages. Manchester is the third biggest city in England; however it’s not famous for sightseeing.
I remember one of my English teachers spoke about the three most popular sightseeing places; Manchester United’s stadium, the wheel of Manchester and The museum of science and industry in Manchester. As a starting point I included all these places in our plan and I made a rough schedule. Usually schedules don’t work perfectly so it’s impossible to prepare completely, however, I still spent lots of time scheduling. My effort was rewarded and our sightseeing was on schedule for the first three days.
One of the highlights was the Manchester United stadium guided tour; we saw many trophies in the museum and we entered the waiting room for the players and the entrance to the pitch. It was an hour long guided tour and kids got a post card of one of the players. My brother told me, “hey Eriko, you’re small enough, you can go and get the card for kids.” At first, I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t and I succeeded getting a card...oh dear!
On the fourth day, I got a Happy New Year message from my English teacher so I replied him “now my family is staying” then he said, “I’d like to see them sometime.” His words surprised me because my family is staying here for only five days, however, our schedule wasn’t tight so I rearranged it and we met up at a café with him and played pool together. He teaches English from beginner to advanced level so he could communicate with all of my families without a problem. My brother studies English in Japan, but he doesn’t have chance to practice with native English speakers, so it was a wonderful opportunity. My teacher said “this is English hospitality” and he enriched my families stay.
When I came to Manchester in June 2007, one pound was equal to 250 yen, I always compared the price with Japan and I felt everything was expensive, but now it’s around 150 yen. I thought eating out cost a lot, but each portion is bigger here than Japan, so when we went out and shared plates, it didn’t cost much.
During my families stay I discovered many interesting things about the city and had a wonderful holiday. I believe they feel the same way.
I went to a tourist centre to collect some sightseeing information, maps and brochures. In my Japanese guidebook of the United Kingdom, I found area guides for Liverpool, Chester and York, but not for Manchester. I also read some other guide books at the library, but I only found a little information over a few pages. Manchester is the third biggest city in England; however it’s not famous for sightseeing.
I remember one of my English teachers spoke about the three most popular sightseeing places; Manchester United’s stadium, the wheel of Manchester and The museum of science and industry in Manchester. As a starting point I included all these places in our plan and I made a rough schedule. Usually schedules don’t work perfectly so it’s impossible to prepare completely, however, I still spent lots of time scheduling. My effort was rewarded and our sightseeing was on schedule for the first three days.
One of the highlights was the Manchester United stadium guided tour; we saw many trophies in the museum and we entered the waiting room for the players and the entrance to the pitch. It was an hour long guided tour and kids got a post card of one of the players. My brother told me, “hey Eriko, you’re small enough, you can go and get the card for kids.” At first, I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t and I succeeded getting a card...oh dear!
On the fourth day, I got a Happy New Year message from my English teacher so I replied him “now my family is staying” then he said, “I’d like to see them sometime.” His words surprised me because my family is staying here for only five days, however, our schedule wasn’t tight so I rearranged it and we met up at a café with him and played pool together. He teaches English from beginner to advanced level so he could communicate with all of my families without a problem. My brother studies English in Japan, but he doesn’t have chance to practice with native English speakers, so it was a wonderful opportunity. My teacher said “this is English hospitality” and he enriched my families stay.
When I came to Manchester in June 2007, one pound was equal to 250 yen, I always compared the price with Japan and I felt everything was expensive, but now it’s around 150 yen. I thought eating out cost a lot, but each portion is bigger here than Japan, so when we went out and shared plates, it didn’t cost much.
During my families stay I discovered many interesting things about the city and had a wonderful holiday. I believe they feel the same way.
Wednesday 14 January 2009
A wonderful Customer Service
I go to a Cafe almost every Monday and order a cup of tea there. I go there for studying so anything is OK for me to drink. Here in England, tea is cheaper than coffee so I order it although, it’s not fancy and served with a tea bag.
Today I was a bit hungry and tired so I was thinking to order a latte instead of tea. When I entered the cafe, a clerk seemed to recognize me and said, “a cup of tea?” with a smile. I was amazed because usually customer service in England is worse than in Japan. I should have said “no”, but I said “yes, please” automatically. After he turned back to prepare the tea, I noticed and I said, “ah” then he turned toward me, but still I couldn’t say “I’d like to have a latte.” I just said “nothing” with a smile. Well maybe I will put some sugars in my tea then it would energize me, I thought. He brought my cup of tea with a satisfactory smile without asking about milk and sugar. I usually drink tea with milk without sugar and he remembered my favour perfectly. It surprised me. I wanted to put sugar in it just today but I didn’t want to disturb his wonderful customer service. He asked me “anything else?” but I said “this is fine.” This is the first time I have experienced wonderful customer service, but it didn’t work well for me unfortunately.
Today I was a bit hungry and tired so I was thinking to order a latte instead of tea. When I entered the cafe, a clerk seemed to recognize me and said, “a cup of tea?” with a smile. I was amazed because usually customer service in England is worse than in Japan. I should have said “no”, but I said “yes, please” automatically. After he turned back to prepare the tea, I noticed and I said, “ah” then he turned toward me, but still I couldn’t say “I’d like to have a latte.” I just said “nothing” with a smile. Well maybe I will put some sugars in my tea then it would energize me, I thought. He brought my cup of tea with a satisfactory smile without asking about milk and sugar. I usually drink tea with milk without sugar and he remembered my favour perfectly. It surprised me. I wanted to put sugar in it just today but I didn’t want to disturb his wonderful customer service. He asked me “anything else?” but I said “this is fine.” This is the first time I have experienced wonderful customer service, but it didn’t work well for me unfortunately.
Monday 12 January 2009
Films
During the Christmas holiday season, many films were broadcast on TV, some of which were Japanese animations. I watched “My neighbour Totoro, となりのトトロ” and “Howl’s Moving Castle, ハウルの動く城”. They have voice overs and some of the translated dialogue is ‘interesting’ to me. I’ve watched “My neighbour Totoro” many times before in Japanese so I remember some phrases and notice the differences. The younger sister in the film who is too small to pronounce “とうもろこし” correctly, she calls it “とうもころし” and it was really cute, however in the English voice over, it wasn’t referred to, she just calls it “corn”. Her name is May and her sister’s name is Satsuki. In Japan it’s common for names to have an associated meaning, Satsuki means May, so it’s interesting that the character “May” does not. In the Japanese version, May calls her sister “One-chan” it means “elder sister” and it’s very common to use however the word can’t be translated in England so it changed to “Satsuki”. Even though some of my favourite parts disappeared, I found some good points within the voice over. All of the actors and actresses in the voice over are professional; the actresses for Satsuki and May’s voices were recorded by real sisters which is amazing. In the Japanese version, Satsuki’s father was played by a copy writer who is famous, but his profession was never acting.
I also watched “Memoirs of a Geisha” on Christmas Day although the story doesn’t relate to Christmas. I was wondering why they broadcast it on such a special day maybe no one watches TV so it doesn’t matter.
I read the story in Japanese and I liked it I also bought the original English novel to understand the story better however I didn’t finish reading it yet. I was avoiding the movie because I had a strong image of the main character Sayuri however it didn’t match the actress Chan ti ye. Recently, some of my friends who are interested in Japan watched, and asked my opinion about the movie. I therefore decided to watch it this time afterwards my impression changed dramatically. It wasn’t dominated by Sayuri, but the sub castings were wonderful too. Before watching the movie I complained about the nationality of the actresses because Sayuri and some of the other important casts were performed by non-Japanese actresses however now I understand the appeal. I enjoyed watching the movie, all except the ending; I was really disappointed by the happy ending. If this was a Disney movie, I could understand however this was not just for kids. A happy ending may help tickets sales, but it changed the story into a fairy tale. I like the book better than the movie.
I also watched “Memoirs of a Geisha” on Christmas Day although the story doesn’t relate to Christmas. I was wondering why they broadcast it on such a special day maybe no one watches TV so it doesn’t matter.
I read the story in Japanese and I liked it I also bought the original English novel to understand the story better however I didn’t finish reading it yet. I was avoiding the movie because I had a strong image of the main character Sayuri however it didn’t match the actress Chan ti ye. Recently, some of my friends who are interested in Japan watched, and asked my opinion about the movie. I therefore decided to watch it this time afterwards my impression changed dramatically. It wasn’t dominated by Sayuri, but the sub castings were wonderful too. Before watching the movie I complained about the nationality of the actresses because Sayuri and some of the other important casts were performed by non-Japanese actresses however now I understand the appeal. I enjoyed watching the movie, all except the ending; I was really disappointed by the happy ending. If this was a Disney movie, I could understand however this was not just for kids. A happy ending may help tickets sales, but it changed the story into a fairy tale. I like the book better than the movie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
