I'm back in Manchester from my holidays in Paris.
Friday 31 December 2010
Thursday 23 December 2010
Friday 17 December 2010
Annual Concert
I have been a member of The University of Manchester Chorus for two and a half years and there was an annual concert on 5th December.
I joined the chorus with my husband so I was not alone. However, when we practice, we sit apart from one another and I take a seat in the middle of strangers. Naturally we say greetings before rehearsals start and during the rehearsals we basically are not allowed to chat so it took a long time to find a friend at the chorus. One year after joining the chorus, I now find a good friend and one of the good points about taking time to form a relationship is that, once we are friends, the relationship lasts longer. Both the Japanese and the British live in islands so I find some similarities in our personalities. People are polite and shy in general although it depends on the individual personality. Some people change their personalities after drinking too much. I feel comfortable talking with British friends.
Still there are some differences. In Japan, we normally line up on stage according to the height. It is practical and everybody needs to see the conductor on the concert day. However, here in the UK, people stand wherever they like. Even in Japan, I’m short so in the UK, I’m very short and I need to find a good place to stand on stage. Where you stand is fixed “first come first served” so I need to go to rehearsal one hour early for getting a good place to stand. It is different from how we do things in Japan but it is acceptable. Nobody cares whether I am short or tall. This could be said to be a kind of freedom!
On the day of the concert, a girl next to me asked “You’re not British, are you? ” I have been asked many different kinds of questions since I came to the UK. However, this is the weirdest question. At first I didn’t get her point so I did not answer her. She said, “I mean I’m also not British. I’m from Costa Rica.” It is very difficult for me to tell someone’s nationality if they speak very good English. Because I am not a native English speaker, I just speak English if it is necessary. However, this girl kept saying whatever she was thinking. Maybe this is one of the reasons she can speak English very well.
I joined the chorus with my husband so I was not alone. However, when we practice, we sit apart from one another and I take a seat in the middle of strangers. Naturally we say greetings before rehearsals start and during the rehearsals we basically are not allowed to chat so it took a long time to find a friend at the chorus. One year after joining the chorus, I now find a good friend and one of the good points about taking time to form a relationship is that, once we are friends, the relationship lasts longer. Both the Japanese and the British live in islands so I find some similarities in our personalities. People are polite and shy in general although it depends on the individual personality. Some people change their personalities after drinking too much. I feel comfortable talking with British friends.
Still there are some differences. In Japan, we normally line up on stage according to the height. It is practical and everybody needs to see the conductor on the concert day. However, here in the UK, people stand wherever they like. Even in Japan, I’m short so in the UK, I’m very short and I need to find a good place to stand on stage. Where you stand is fixed “first come first served” so I need to go to rehearsal one hour early for getting a good place to stand. It is different from how we do things in Japan but it is acceptable. Nobody cares whether I am short or tall. This could be said to be a kind of freedom!
On the day of the concert, a girl next to me asked “You’re not British, are you? ” I have been asked many different kinds of questions since I came to the UK. However, this is the weirdest question. At first I didn’t get her point so I did not answer her. She said, “I mean I’m also not British. I’m from Costa Rica.” It is very difficult for me to tell someone’s nationality if they speak very good English. Because I am not a native English speaker, I just speak English if it is necessary. However, this girl kept saying whatever she was thinking. Maybe this is one of the reasons she can speak English very well.
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