こんばんわ EVERYONE! :)

At the beginning… I’m sorry that I haven’t been writing anything here lately but it’s just so many things happening that I simply didn’t have time for it. But I will try to do my best in the future! :)

Thank you all for such a warm welcome! I’m really happy that I could meet you all! Before my arrival to Japan I was worried about feeling alone here or missing my friends very much, but as for now I didn’t have time for it. You are really taking good care about me… poor gaijin :) But I don’t feel like a stranger here. You are very nice to me and very helpful! I would really like to thank you for all your help, I wouldn’t do anything here without you! :)

Mayako – I would really like to hear that song :)

Shiori – How far is Hiroshima from Kyoto? Is it easy to get there? I heard about that torii gate standing in the sea, I guess it looks really amazing!

Kobayann – I think that you shouldn’t ask anyone if he likes Japanese food… it’s so delicious that it should be obvious that everyone likes it :) Well I have to admit that I don’t like it… I love it! :) I tried sushi in Poland (as it’s the only Japanese food that is served in Poland) and I also made once sushi in Japan :) and I like it very much (both making and eating) :) Unfortunately in Poland we don’t have so many fish as in Japan, so our sushi options are limited. About nato – I haven’t tried yet but I heard about it. I have to try it because I’m curious if I like it or not. What else could you recommend to try from your cuisine? I like trying something new :)

Yuka – I always new about existence of Aikido but after reading your post I found it really interesting. How long have you been learning it? I would really like to see how it looks (and also I would like to try it) :) So I look forward to seeing you. You will be my Aikido sensei :)

Mayuka – I know about Machiya a little bit. I’m still learning about it, however I already guide tourists visiting Tondaya through it :) But I would like to know more about it as it’s very interesting. I would like to know how other Machiya looks like, is there many differences. For example I heard that tea ceremony room that is in Tondaya wasn’t typical for Machiya. I would like to know what is inside typical Machiya.

And finally… Manish :) We all really look forward to seeing you in Kyoto! Prepare for meeting here a lot of amazing people. I think that LC in Kyoto is the best of all AIESEC Local Commitees! :)

Once again thank you for everything AIESEC members :) I look forward to seeing you soon!

DEAR MONIKA

HI MONIKA !
This is MAYUKA, one of JAPAN team members.

I have two qusetions for you.
We will have an event in November. In that event, we will learn about MACHIYA which is Japanese traditional house and which now you live in.
In order to decide the plan of the event, please answer the questions.

1. Do you know about MACHIYA?(anything is OK)

2. What part of MACHIYA do you want to learn?(history, structure, how to use etc...)

I'm really looking forward to seeing you :)
I'm happy to hear you will come to our meeting tomorrow!
However, a typhoon is approacing to Japan so our meeting and party are parhaps postponed.
Now I'm afraid that.

And I'm sorry I don't write English well :(
If you cannot understand my English, please ask me ;)
I'm glad to answer your question.

See you *

Mayuka

Two questions from Haruna to Monika

1, Is studying Japanese running well?
You know, Mrs.Tanaka Mineko thinks it's very important to be able to speak
Japanese
in internship.
I'm glad if I can get specifical informaton about your studying

Ans....Firstly my Japanese is better now. I have classes once or twice a week, it depends on
when Hiroshi-san have time for it. I'm taking private lessons and Hiroshi
knows what I'll be doing in Japan so he's trying to help me with my language
skills. I'm learning some grammar, vocabulary and we practise some dialogues
as well. He also tells me a bit about living in Japan and some habits.
However, I'm still worried about my language level, even if it's better now
I know that it's not good enough to communicate without any problems. I know
that the beginning of my internship will be difficult but I also know that I
will be able to improve my Japanese well while working and living in Japan.
I'm still working on that but in 2 or 3 months it's very hard to make big
progress in such a difficult language. Although, I'm sure that after a while
in Japan my Japanese will be much better. The reason I know that is the fact
that I really want to learn your language and I think that is the most
important thing in succeeding.


2, what are you doing for the internship?
I mean, for example, studying Japanese culture and so on.


Ans..... I have to say that I'm trying to prepare as
good as I can before my arrival. As I wrote before, Hiroshi-san is teaching
me not only language but also a bit about culture. What's more I'm reading a
lot about your country. I'm looking some information on websites, I'm
reading some books, I'm visiting Manggha Museum (it's The Center of Japanese
Art and Technology and it's located in Krakow). I'm trying to widen my
knowledge about Japanese culture, traditions. I'm reading stories of Polish
people who already have been to Japan and their experiences and advices. I'm
also trying to know more about your geography, about Kyoto, about kimonos
(it's very interesting for me). Also I really enjoyed those informations
about Tonda-ya, which Hiro send me. I'm reading about your lifestyle. I know
that our cultures are very different and some of my behavior can be
misunderstood in Japan but I hope that because of my preparations there will
be very less situations like that.

The Answer Yosuke's question

Hello, I'm Haruna!!

Monika tried to answer Yosuke's question on this blog, but she wasn't able to do it.
That's why I post her answer instead of her.

FROM Monika

Hello!
Firstly - Thanks for inviting me to this blog. I'm very happy that I can
help with creating it.
Second of all I want to answer your questions, Yosuke-san. Maybe saying that my friends knows a lot about Japan was too big words but for sure they know much more than the regular polish citizen. I can start with the fact that they know some Japanese words, of course not many but some, and it's really exciting for them as they are able to say something in Japanese. Nowadays East Asia is becoming more and more popular in Poland and people want to know more about it as its completly different from our country, language, culture, etc. However its still something unusual to study its languages. That's why my friends are really interesed in some news that I can tell them. It's usually some issues that my Japanese sensei tells during classes. It's hard to tell right now, what exectly it is. As an example I can say that in Poland many people are affraid to try sushi as they think that's raw fish and some rise. Many of my friends or members of my family are really surprised when they hear that sushi doesn't have to consist a RAW fish. As a curiosity I can say that one of popular polish dish is made mainly from raw beef and unboiled egg. And it ok for them to eat a plate of raw meat but they have some doubts when it comes to really small
piece of raw fish :) Many of my friends have already tried sushi and really liked it. Now when I want to eat some, I'll always find someone who will go with me :)

First questions to Monika

Akashi-san, thank you for making this blog!
I really appriciate it.
I asked Monika first questions and she answered it.
I'm looking forward to communicate with her and to understand her idea about Japan through this blog.


1.How about studying Japanese?? Does it go smoothly?

1. Since I rememeber I wanted to learn Japanese, but in my hometown there weren't any possiblity to do it. But when I moved to Krakow I was looking for some good course. When I started learning it was a great pleasure for me because I were finally doing something that I wanted for a really long time.
Basic grammar, vocabulary, hiragana and katakana were easy for me. Although I often hear from people that they think it's impossible to learn that language or it's just too difficult because you have to start from the beginning - from the alphabet (and it's more than one) :) I really like foreign languages so maybe that's why it's easier for me, and it's my> passion as well. For those who don't really care about Japan and it's heritage - learning its language would be much more harder. However I had a doubth once. It was the time when we strated to learn kanji :) It was too
diffucult for me, I couldn't understand the different ways of reading and meaning while talking about one sign. I even thought about quiting as it was too hard for me. But I think that deep inside I knew I would never leave it :) I still have problems with kanji, and I know that it's really impossible to learn them all but I believe I can learn sufficient amount to use Japanese without too many problems (of course it's a long way ahead of me).
I just want to improve my Japanese and some day I hope my skills will be good even if it would cost me very hard work. I'm learning also some other european languages and I can say that Japanese is much more difficult but it's also much more interesting and challenging :)

2.How will you tell people Japanese culture that you will learn in the internship??

2. This one is really not easy... My friends already knows a lot about
Japan, they know that it's my passion and sometimes I tell them something about your country. I know that they are also excited about my internship and after I'll be back in Poland they would really like to hear what it's like there :) I will tell them a lot about my experience and about everything I've learnt there. I'm not sure what exactly I will learn, but eg. If I learn how to cook some Japanese dish, that's sure that I'll cook it for my friends :) I'm really happy that my passion is interesting for other people and they want to know more about it, so I'm sure I'll have a lot of talking here after my internship in Japan :)