My journeys ’round the globe
The first night in the roof tent was an ordeal. I guess I didn’t sleep much after midnight. It certainly didn’t help that the temperature dropped closer and closer to 0° as the hours went by. Fortunately, my dear wife was only centimeters away. Her presence gave me comfort. In the morning we get up […]
Since we didn’t sleep the night before (in the plane on the way from Europe to Africa) we enjoyed a good night’s rest in a cosy bed even more. Using the extra blanket – as in the US they’re called comforter in Namibia – we slept well and it was snugly warm. So, we get […]
Windhoek airport is deserted when we arrive. Besides our airplane we only see an Air Namibia jet and a small propeller plane. Although all immigration boths are “on service” the formalities take time – welcome to Africa. It’s our first trip to this continent and we have to get used to the TIA (“this is […]
While in Fukuoka, Japan, I went out twice with my couchsurfing.com friends Sachiko and Kotoe. One night they took me to a tepanyaki restaurant called “Umakamontei” close to Tenjin. Ok, the food is just uuuhhh, ahhh, soooo delicious; one of the best meals I’ve ever had in Japan. However, what sets this restaurant apart from […]
At Asahi Nihongo in Fukuoka each Friday students must deliver a short speech/presentation for fellow students and teachers to show their Japanese has improved (or not ;-)) over the course of the past week. Last Friday Mikel opted to tell everybody and especially myself who I really am. So, since Mikel does not have the […]
I think the Japanese have a split relationship to closeness and private space. Some thoughts: It is rather uncommon for Japanese couples to openly demonstrate affection for each other in public. Teenagers walking hand-in-hand is about all you ever see – if at all. Of course, it’s a cultural “thing” that also manifests itself by […]
When learning kanji tutors usually explain the real and assumed meaning of the series of strokes. In more sophisticated kanjis you’ll find a number of individual radicals combined. Each of them has a meaning of its own. This sometimes makes for funny twists. Here’s one such hilarious sample: The kanji for cheap/convenient consists of house […]
Up until now I was more or less convinced that electro magnetic fields/radiation (EMF/EMR) do no good to “living creatures” (humans, animals, plants). I couldn’t fully justify this believe with rational arguments only, though – bad for an engineer like myself. The internet is full of EMF/EMR articles for example at WHO, Wikipedia EMF, or […]
Blending-in in Japan? Well, you don’t; you can’t. Even in major cities, you don’t get to see foreigners all too often. You still might get starred at by kids. They either giggle at you because you seem to be funny looking for them or they just stare with their mouths wide open. Ridding the subway […]
This is the first in a series of posts over the next four weeks about my language studies in Fukuoka, Japan. Some eight months ago I decided that in order to really push forward my somewhat limited Japanese skills I needed to spend a few weeks in Nippon without my wife – she’s Japanese. Besides, […]