maxiewawa

I was enjoying some traditional southern American food today (KFC) when I noticed that the pair of girls sitting next to me looking at some kind of pamphlet together. I was sitting directly next to them, close enough to see what they were reading. KFC is very crowded during lunchtimes, particularly during summer. Probably the free air-con. This meant that diners like me don’t have any choice but to sit next to strangers.

Anyway, I had a peek at what they were looking at. It was a tourist brochure about Japan. They were flicking through it, talking about what was written there (it was all in Japanese). They weren’t studying it but one obviously had some passing knowledge of Japanese, and the other, who knew it well, was helping her out.

Getting bored of eavesdropping on their conversation I had a look around. A young guy across the aisle from us had two textbooks and an empty Pepsi cup on his table. He had volume two of “Wilkommen auf Deustchland/欢迎学德国语” open, and he was leant over it, taking notes. His empty Pepsi cup was sitting on book eins.

Next to him was another young guy. He had a textbook called “3DS Logic” or something. It looked like something to do with computers. And it looked complicated.

And next to him was a young girl sitting opposite her mother. Mum had her head resting on the table, and a teatowel was on her head, blocking out the light. She was snoring. The young girl was diligently reading a textbook. But she was too far away for me to see the title.

Whenever people ask me what young people do in China for fun, I have to shrug. They study I guess.

I’m in a book!

We were walking on the Bund last night. Across the road, I saw a little girl, pushing her way past people walking in the opposite direction.

She caught my eye because of the pained expression on her face. She wore a deep frown as she negotiated her way past people walking in the opposite direction. She looked like she had a somewhere to go, was late, and was weighed down by some serious philosophical matter at the same time.

The other thing that caught my eye was the bright red flashing devil horns on her head. These are sold by poor people on the Bund. They are battery powered, and if you flick a switch, a little light turns on in each plastic horn.

She kept looking down, with the expression of being troubled deeply by something, her plastic horns bowed. But she eventually scuttled across the road towards Aika and I. What did she want?

As she got closer, she looked up at me. “Money… give me money…” holding out her hands.

I burst out laughing. She had seen a foreigner across the road, and decided to hit him up for a few coins. She had made her way in our direction, trying to look poor and pathetic. She was concentrating so hard on her act, but had forgotten about the two oversized flashing red horns that were sticking out of the top of her head.

I realise that it’s not cool to make fun of poor people, but this little girl wasn’t dressed shabbily, and obviously had enough money to get oversized novelty devil horns, so I don’t think she was honestly poor.

Now that I think of it, I think we were on the exact spot where WoAiZhongGuo took this photo. Or maybe where that guy in the blue shirt with his back to the camera is.

I got a new phone this week. I swapped my Motorola e680i for a new a810 (also made by Motorola). The new one is very similar. It also has a screen to write on, which I find very convenient. But it’s a little smaller, a little thinner, has a smaller screen, but a better camera and has a normal headphone socket. Aika’s phone broke recently, and I gave her my e680i, as it gave me an excuse to get a new one myself.

Buying a phone is quite simple in China. You take your money to a phone shop, hand it over, and get a new phone. You remove the SIM card (a little card about the size of your thumbnail) and insert it. You’re done! No contracts, no ID, easy.

But it’s not so easy. Most phone shops won’t let you try out one of their products before you buy it. You’re expected to look at a plastic model of the phone which is the same size and weight but doesn’t have any electronics in it. Instead of trying before they buy, most people just hold these lumps of plastic, weighing them in each hand, pressing the fake buttons, and deciding.

This is totally unreasonable to me. I don’t think that there’s any product anywhere where one can’t try before one buys. Especially with something quite expensive, electronic and as complicated as a phone. And especially since there is so much choice, and ESPECIALLY especially since the average wage in China means that a phone is much more of an investment than in developed countries. Not being able to “try before you buy” is really stupid, even though it’s widespread. And I’m not asking to be able to take the phone out and play with it for an hour, I just think being able to turn it on and look at the screen would be reasonable.

This is my gut feeling. But then I think of computer companies like Dell who sell computers (which are of course much more expensive) online. People looking to buy phones have all the resources of the internet, They can research if the phone that they’re planning to buy is any good (that’s what I ended up doing). So on one hand I think it’s ridiculous, and on the other I think it’s not so bad.

So anyway, what I’m wondering is:

Did you try your phone before buying it? (And by “try” I mean did you turn it on or see it turned on in the store?)
Would you buy a phone if you weren’t allowed to use it before buying it?
Am I just being silly? (With regard to the phone thing, not in general. Hahaha. Maybe I should clarify.)
Is it unreasonable to ask to use or see a product being used before buying it?

And now that I think of it, one might buy clothes if they were cheap, and looked ok, without trying them first. But a piece of clothing is substantially cheaper than a phone… anyway, I think my opinion’s pretty clear, I guess it’s your turn now.

I’ve made an mp3 of the youtube video. Download it here. Subscribe to my mp3 feed at http://maxiewawa.libsyn.com/rss . Please. Seriously, since I’m not playing piano much any more, I’m not sure why I’m paying for the space for that audio, so download it, whack it in your iPod and enjoy me on the go!

Just this moment I joined up Talk With The World, a joint blog about people learning languages. My first post was just a short intro about myself, but I hope to make many more. I’m really excited to find some other people who have similar interests.

I took this photo when I was in Japan. Do you get it? For those of you who don’t get the joke immediately, I’ll give you a moment. Get it yet? Ok. I’ll wait. Get it?

Ok, let me explain 前田 is (apparently) a common Japanese surname. It literally means “in front of a field”. 前 is “in front” and 田 means “field”. If you look at the character, it even looks a little like a field.

Mr 前田 has a parking spot in this area, and has his name on it. But his parking spot happens to be right in front of a rice field. This sign literally says “In Front Of A Rice Field” and it stands in front of a rice field.

Ok, I admit that it’s kind of an obscure linguist’s joke, that you have to realise that that dark patch in the distance is a field, that 前田’s parking spot is in front of it, and that 前田 literally means “in front of a field”, but I’m sure someone gets it.

This post is dedicated to that vanishingly small demographic who is, at this moment, rolling around on the floor laughing.

Thanks to WoAi for his editorial help.

Aika found the hotel that I have been staying at in Tokyo on the internet. On the site it says that foreigners are not welcome, but residents are. I have heard bad things about Japanese hoteliers so I was a bit nervous about staying there (I remembered Ben Ross’ post at his blog about crabby Japanese hoteliers). I asked her to make sure that it was ok for me to stay there when we checked in.

As we walked in, there was a sign on the door. “We welcome guests who speak Japanese or have a Japanese speaking contact. Thank you for your understanding.” Ah, so that was it. As it turned out, it was the kind of hotel where they don’t let you take your key out the door. The front desk closed at midnight, so this meant that you had to be home before 12 or you’d get locked out. I am guessing that some 外国人 had misunderstood the instructions given to him and raised a stink about it. For this reason, anyone without a Japanese speaking contact (or who couldn’t speak Japanese themselves) was barred.

I speak Japanese quite well. If someone asks me a question, I can answer 90 percent of the time. But when japanese people talk to other Japanese people I can’t catch very much. I wasn’t sure if this counted as speaking for the purposes of checking in to this “only Japanese speakers” hotel, but as it turned out since I had Aika it wasn’t a problem.

I haven’t had to speak to the guy at the front desk very often. He has welcomed me back every night, let me know when Aika called if I wasn’t in the room, greeted me in the morning, and was kind enough to lend me an umbrella this morning. I have asked him about leaving luggage in the lobby, about what time to check out, and asked him for another business card once.

These efforts at conversation haven’t been major, I feel like it’s been quite an achievement. This elderly guy that mans the desk at this modest hotel was the first person that I have spoken Japanese to that a) didn’t know me and b) wasn’t a teacher or a friend. I have of course spoken to waitstaff/asked people for directions but this was the first time that I had to do something that couldn’t be explained with body language and pointing.

Next is Korean: I hope to have more than a 2 second conversation with a Korean person (every Korean conversation I have at the moment ends in me going “뫄/huh?”)

I wrote the following post last Thursday, on the 10th. We weren’t able to find an internet connection in Shikoku, so I’m only able to post it today.

I write this on the bus to Shikoku, for those not familiar with Japan’s geography, Shikoku is one of the main islands of Japan. It’s about 13 hours from Tokyo, where we are setting out from. I have a long journey ahead!

Today was a lot of fun, we were up early and visited the Chinese Embassy. Aika handed over the relevant documents, and we left. It was easier than we thought. But her visa hasn’t been approved yet, let’s cross our fingers and hope that we don’t have any further complications!

After that we went to the Innovative Languages International Headquarters in Akihabara. I was really excited to go there, and rapt that everyone seemed to know who I was (from my youtube exploits I think!). I met such on air personalities as Peter先生、マーキー先生、ひろこ先生, 桜先生、ゆき先生 키스선셍님 and のり先生.  桜先生s reaction to meeting me was 「あの有名なの？？！」(The famous maxiewawa?) and after realising who I was seemed as nervous to meet me as I was to met her! Something that I will always keep with me.

I’ve been working for Innovative Languages from a lonely desk in Shanghai for so long, and it was great to finally put faces to all those names.

I’m in Japan! Aika is here to apply for a work visa, and I’m coming along. We went for a look around tonight at 渋谷, which was a very interesting area. I, being the silly sod that I am, forgot my camera, so I’ll have to rely on my memory.

Can’t write much now though. Tomorrow I’m off to the global headquarters of Innovative Language Learning. I’ve listened to their programs for about 3 years now, and been working for them for about 8 months now. I’m excited to meet everyone whose voice I’m so familiar with. I feel a bit like when Bart Simpson visits the headquarters of MAD magazine.

Stay tuned for more!

And am I showing my age by making an obscure reference to a cartoon show that has (maybe) passed its prime?

There is a new machine on Nanjing Rd, and despite what Adam Minter of ShanghaiScrap.com has to say about it I found it enthralling. A little bit like a poker machine. You put a bottle in, cross your fingers, and if you’re lucky a prize comes out!

There is a video included in this post, if you can’t see it, see it at youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNvMdHkjQ2A