English teaching

I have been teaching English conversation to a group of grandmas and grandpas in a community center and it has been a blast. They respect me as a teacher but also treat me a bit like a grandchild. One of them always uses keigo (very formal respectful Japanese) with me and one calls me Veronika-chan and brings me candy and little seasonal presents. One can't here very well and only uses strong Hiroshima dialect. I very rarely know what he is saying but he always smiles at me and shows me translations of random words he looks up.

They decide the topics they want to talk about and it leads to both most interesting and most absurd conversations. I am learning so much from them and keep being amazed by their stories. Also, my English limits get tested regularly. Examples of the topics we talked about:

- dentists, teeth, types of teeth and their parts, mouth diseases, jaws, gums and ways their get infected
- disposable pocket warmers and how they work

- ways you can injure your back
- differences between a dean, principal, rector and university president
- cryptocurrency
- how planes work (and crash)
- many many many types of flowers and trees. pine trees and their parts. cutting instruments for different parts of pine trees.
- groups of animals - herds, flocks, schools. in Japanese, there is just one word for all the groups (mure), což vysvětluje, proč W. sensei nevěděl, jestli má magisterským studentům říkat stádo, nebo hejno monster.
- insects
- frauds in Japan and the world
- mental arithmetics and abacus school clubs
- endless list of Japanese festivals and traditions
- egg hole puncher (yes, it is a thing. you can buy one in daiso for 100 yen)

Seeing the cute elterly grandma literally jumping with excitement in front of the white board as she explained how eggs work and pretended to be the forces inside an egg was one of the highlights of everything. Getting excited about how eggs work when I retire is lifegoals.

languages

- watching Q. (Chinese) and H. (Japanese) talk about chinese characters and kanji might be one of the most mind-blowing and absurd things I have ever witnessed. watching the connection between the characters and the languages is a language freak dream come true.
- panda in Chinese is written with the characters for bear and cat. penguin for standing and goose.
- number of people that know the word for penguin in Czech, tučňák, is growing significantly. I have a sense of accomplishment.


- my Czech class has started again and I have three new students. They are awesome and it is so rewarding and fun to see their progress. We watched Bob and Bobek because they wanted to see a Czech cartoon. It was only our third class so I thought it would only be for the animation. But they understood so many words like prosím, děkuji, dva, králíci and naříznout (před tím jsme koukali na krtečka, kde ježek stavěl myšce po potopě dům, připravoval dřevo a u toho si zpíval řízi říz. pak v Bob a Bobek šli do školy sportu, kde trenér cvičil karate (!!) a přelamoval rukou destičky. králíci mu nevěřili, že to takhle dokáže, a tvrdili, že ty destičky jsou určitě naříznutý).
- the concept of cuteness in Japan is ever-present and so they already know how the word roztomilý
- following Czech conversations are happening spontaneously:

Mám ráda roztomilý králíky. Doma máme psa a králíka.
Já mám dva psy.
Výborně!
Děkuji

All "teachers" were supposed to prepare a small introduction for their language classes. The penguin situation - this is what it has come to.

welcome party

internship updates / translations

- The office might be re-arranged soon and so there have been many measuring men randomly appearing during the past weeks. One time the office tree had to be moved and in broke in half on the move but it was decided not to be given upon. "This tree has to depend on something. It is not rigid." Supported with chopsticks and duck tape, and tied to a desk, it was given a chance to "もうちょっと頑張っていく".

- Lately, I have been translating Eng-Jap, Jap-Eng. It is not always easy; Japanese newspaper headlines were sent from hell, I think. Mostly it just looks like a chaos of kanji ended with a random particle.
- One wrong kanji combined with google translate create gems like "Faculty of Budgeting Sciences."

Mission impossible translated by my (Japanese!) friends as 不可能なやるべき

graduation ceremony

N. <3
She was chosen to make the graduation speech and it was amazing. I was so impressed and proud.

Tokyo

family #3 Mt Fuji

bathroom maps at highway rest stops. království.

family #2 Osaka, Nara, Kyoto

Nijo castle

Osaka castle

Osaka

mom's picture of the tuchniyak coffee and the castle in the backgroung

the deer in Nara are much bigger than the ones in Miyajima

P. trying to trick the deer pretending he has food for them.

deer attack techniques

a že jim to pořád nehořelo?
ale hořelo.

Todaji-ji

one of the more impressive moments. 16 meters tall bronz statue in the biggest wooden building in the world. (I heard)

family #1 Hiroshima

karaoke
Z. and P. singing What does the fox say.

Miyajima

Miyajima

- the biggest culture shock seem to be confusion from the diversity of buildings

- a jak to zateplovali? že jim to pořád nehořelo? ale hořelo.

- P. poprvé poznává, co to znamená, mluvit v Japonsku anglicky

Hinamatsuri March 3

雛祭り

3-3 Girls' day hinamatsuri
I got all of this from one of the cute old ladies at my English conversation class. She calls me Veronika-chan and always gives me sweets. When I was thanking her, feeling a little uneasy if it's ok that she always gives me stuff, she replied おばあちゃんだから大丈夫よ。Dont't worry, I am a grandma so it's ok.

flashbacks

国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった。

goodbye to my tučňáks

I got lost in Hondori (a true achievement, indeed) but these girls found me and we had our goodbye after all.

Slightly drunk, M. leaves us shortly for a baito interview.

We try make-up in a drugstore like they do in the movies.

and the compulsory purikura, of course.

It feels unreal that my two dearest Korean tučňáks should leave

Tokio

- movie goodbyes with my dearest J., H., and A. at the bus stop. when I'd come back to Hiroshima they'd be gone back to Korea and France.
- 13 hours on a bus, memories of travelling around Europe, excitement for this new boundary creating adventure
- I DID NOT GET LOST
- reunion at the Czech embassy with D. and T., presidential elections, moments of hope - replaced by despair and Korean alcohol at D.'s dorms when the votes were counted
- Š. joined us and we have our own little Olomouc in this giant city for a few brief moments
- D. is simply awesome at showing us the best pubs around Tokio; I find a new love for free refill cabbage plates
- reunion with Sayo, my Jap-Eng tandem partner from Germany. omotenashi at its best and real tourism around Tokio. this time we speak Japanese and she occasionally throws in some German words. I am loving this.
- Monday with D., roommate flashbacks from Olomouc <3
- Odaiba with T. was 最高 and oddly relaxing

I was hopelessly bad at making these bunny sweets but the instructor took pity on me and helped me a bit so it (right) at least resembles a bunny.

pure happiness from vegetarian food, a true rarity in Japan. endless gratitude to Sayo for remembering and respecting this.

gojira

we're there!

生ビール、久しぶり

translations at its best

purikura, of course

marně volíme