Sleep

I was not feeling too well today, I hope I’m not heading for a cold… I’m glad I was prepared for that – with plenty of aspirin and a package of pre-made miso soup. I had even bought udon for a full meal, so I hope this will do to keep me healthy for a bit longer.

There seems to have been some kind of event in or near university – it just stopped. There was some music, it started out with something that sounded like traditional drums or so, and at the end it was modern pop music. To me, the latter sounded more like screaming than singing, but hey, what do I know about the youth of today? 😉 Anyway, I’m glad it’s over and quiet again and I can go to bed now.

Blues

I think I can finally declare summer as over. Autumn has arrived and the days are becoming cooler and shorter – sunset is already as early as 17:20 at the moment.

Yesterday was another typhoon-induced rainy day, and although the typhoon has already passed and it doesn’t rain any longer, it is still rather windy. This morning however, to cheer everybody up a little, Kyoto was graced with a wonderful rainbow…

rainbow over Kyoto, taken from my windowI myself don’t go out that often at the moment, but instead I busy myself with studying Japanese, as there are only seven more weeks until the big test. There are still a few fun things to do in October though, and I’m planning to take a break from my grammar and vocabulary lists in the weekend…

Chocolate!

chocolate cake September is over, and with it my self-imposed month of not eating chocolate. I have to confess that I’m glad about it! Glad that I made it without greater hiccups – although around the 15th the craving was so enormous I would have eaten practically anything chocolate coated – and I’m glad that I did not break the promise to myself.

And I’m glad that it’s over and so I indulged today in this very nice and special breakfast from my favourite French bakery, fresh out of the fridge…

Austrian Elections

Yesterday the elections for the Austrian parliament took place. Of course I did my bit, actually about two weeks ago already as the laws had changed and my vote needed to arrive in Austria yesterday already (maybe somebody needs another explanation of the meaning of “date of postmark”). Anyway, here are the results: Austrian elections 2013 resultsI’m not happy about this at all – too many votes for the right wing, although I am glad that there’s now only one of those parties in the parliament (Austria has a proportional representation with a 4% lower limit for entering the national assembly). Unfortunately the result seems to imply the same old people in the same old positions with the same old ideas… I’m not sure if it could be worse, actually.

Return

I’m back!

I had a great time in Korea visiting friends last week. I even managed to do some other things on my list: Getting cash (ATMs in Korea are working), buying some clothing and getting other pieces changed, and: stocking up on food (Nutella costs still twice as much as in Europe, but at least the jars are of normal and not homeopathic size).

I also ate a lot of Korean food, but there are still things on my “to eat” list for next time. My friend’s husband made his infamous kimchi pizza on Saturday evening. I do love kimchi, but unfortunately my body does not share my enthousiasm for it and usually, unless I only have a few pieces, tries to get rid of it as quickly as possible – which is all fine and good every now and then, but not while travelling… By the time I came home in the early evening I was totally exhausted and had to go to bed immediately.

Anyway, I’m much better now – and I came back just in time for O-bon, the Japanese Festival of the Dead, which, of course, is quite a big thing here in Kyoto… I shall report accordingly.

Time Off

I am taking a week’s vacation, visiting a friend in Korea.

In this time there will be no posts – nothing interesting can be happening in Kyoto without me anyway. 😉 My next post is planned for Monday, August 12th.

I wish you a nice summer too!

 

Elections

google doodle image for the Japanese elections
google doodle - Japanese elections

Yesterday was election day in Japan, and Shinzo Abe and his right-wing nationalists have won the majority in the Japanese upper house. He has a long list of things he wants to do, and it seems that the world is watching him very closely.

The biggest thing he plans is a change to the post WW II constitution of Japan, away from the “peace” constitution where Japan is only allowed self-defence, towards one that allows a standing military. Of course, the constitution as it is right now has not hindered Japan to have a very strong military to begin with and to declare missions to Iraq for example as “peace missions”, but writing it down is a different animal altogether.

Other things on Abe’s list are designed to strenghten Japan’s economy and to lessen its National Debts, for example turning on the nuclear power plants again, raising sales tax, or lowering taxes for companies.How all of this will turn out, and if it turns out to begin with, is something only time will show.

Anyway, the elections have prompted me to get my own files ready. The elections for the Austrian National Council will take place on September 29th, and I must do extra paperwork as I will not return to Austria for that. Even if I did, I don’t have an official residence there anymore, so I need to fill in lots of forms anyway, and I have done so every time there were national elections in the last 10 years.

I once had a very hot and very short argument with a friend of mine who stated that in her opinion … people who live abroad shouldn’t be allowed to vote … I can see the point insofar as I don’t care for local politics and I’m not allowed to vote in the small ones without residence there anyway. However, Austrian national politics, especially the foreign one, affects me probably more than the random Austrian citizen as I am the one who has to defend the outcome – whether I like it or not – against my foreign acquaintances. So yes, vote I will, no matter where I live.

Down

chocolate cakesI had a terrible day yesterday and I’m still not feeling any better. I have no idea what triggered feeling down (it’s not homesickness, I’m sure), but that it rained all day yesterday surely didn’t help.

At least the weather has improved a bit today.

I need more chocolate.

Greenery

It was a very strange day today. The weather was okay, overcast throughout the day but clear, neither wind nor rain. But, in the early afternoon, there were a few times when the town was completely still. I could hear no wind in the trees, no birds or other animals, no human voices. Neither did I hear any cars, even the ambulances that usually come and go to the hospital nearby with their noisy sirens seemed to have taken a break. Later on I realized that there was no sound coming from the sports fields of the schools or the university either. It was an eerie feeling, the proverbial calm before the storm.

Nothing happened so far, and I’m still wondering what could have caused that stillness around. It was no Japanese holiday or end-of-school day or so, and I am not aware of any commemoration to take place today with a certain time of silence (and that wouldn’t happen more than once during the afternoon anyway). The only logical conclusion is that the wind was coming down from the mountain behind the house and countered the noise that is usually coming up the hill. But then again, I didn’t hear any wind either.

Anyway, I wanted to write about the obvious love of the Japanese for greenery. I’m not talking about those beautifully arranged Japanese gardens that look so deceivingly natural without really being it, not this time. I’m talking about those tiny little spots of greenery in front of practically all the houses in my neighborhood, and in fact, throughout Kyoto. Of course, not every place can have a lovely garden like Ebisu’s:

ebisu's gardenFlower Pots next to an entrance - and a vending machine

But nevertheless, it seems that no entrance is to small or too cramped with other stuff not to warrant a little bit of green somewhere. The smallest I have seen are a couple of flower pots, sometimes hung up at the wall next to the door.

I haven’t seen any bonsai trees displayed like that though, but I now understand why you would want to have one. They are readily available at markets now, and even quite affordable. Unfortunately I have grey thumbs rather than green ones, so I’d probably kill them off inadvertently sooner or later. Better not to get one, but they are so lovely.bonsai tree at a fleamarket

 

I like the feeling those plants convey. It’s very friendly and homely and not as sterile as some parts of European cities can be sometimes.

Community

Today, after finishing my book on Katakana, I went to the Kyoto International Community House which is just a few blocks away from Ebisu’s.

They offer a treasure trove of useful things for the foreigner and/or foreign resident in Kyoto, many of them in Japanese and English, but there is also assistance in German, French, Korean, and Chinese. They offer:

  • all sorts of direct advice, from immediate help with problems in the community to legal advice in case of visa problems
  • translation services, by phone if necessary
  • maps, brochures, pamphlets of all kinds, for example the “Easy Living in Kyoto” booklet for people who come to live in Kyoto
  • a library with international newspapers and books in Japanese, English and many other foreign languages
  • computer facilities
  • snack bar and cafe
  • rooms and meeting halls for rent
  • an exhibition hall (this week there is an exhibition about Kyoto’s sister city Cologne)
  • classes in Japanese and Korean (haven’t seen any English classes though)
  • classes in Japanese traditional arts and crafts (making paper, calligraphy, kimonos, sumi-e, abacus…)
  • an offline message board with advertisements and language tandem requests
  • ….

Mainly, however, it’s a meeting place for both foreigners and locals. When I was there, I saw more Japanese people – older ones, though – than foreigners. There is the possibility to train the Japanese language with volunteer native speakers – they are not trained teachers, but they will help you with your problems and questions – for a token fee of 50 Yen only.

I think this is certainly something I will do – it’s always good to train the language as often as possible, especially speaking and listening comprehension. We’ll see how far I can get with this method…

The Kyoto International Community House
http://www.kcif.or.jp/archive/en/kaikan/
2-1 Torii-cho, Awataguchi, Sakyu-ku, Kyoto 606 8536
075 – 752 3010
office@kcif.or.jp

Open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:00 to 21:00