Ouka's Japanese Life: Una etapa que se termina

Entrada original: Sabado, Marzo 10, 2007

See English version above!!!! Tnkx to ~Lovelya

Ya pronto un ano que estoy aca.... no se que les voy a escribir para ese entonces, pero tratare de que sea algo que valga la pena. Estoy muy vaga para otra cosa que no sea el YouTube.

Estas dos ultimas semanas, fueron en vertiginoso desemboque a hoy. La semana pasada, llegaron los papas de Julieta, y trajeron alfajores. Yo estaba con los examenes del Bunka, asi que no les pude dar mucha bola. Igualmente, se fueron pronto hacia Hong Kong, dejandome el celular de Juli para recibir mensajes importantes. Eso fue una complicacion... pero paso. A todo esto, sobrevivia al examen de kanjis y me sacaba un peso de encima.

El lunes, examen de dialogo.... tambien fue estresante.... algunas cosas a todos nos dejaron perplejos. Yo estube dando sobre mi investigacion sobre los tatuajes japoneses. Si puedo, despues subo una traduccion de lo que hice. Esa noche, con cuatro horas de retraso, llegaron las mamas de Juan y Manuel, con mas golosinas sudacas..... alegria generalizada en el grupo.

Martes, resultados de los examenes.... no los tengo encima, pero desaprobe uno solo y no con baja nota: 63/100.... el de composicion.... tengo la teoria que uno repite los errores de la primaria cuando estudia un idioma: yo tarde anos en corregir mi ortografia. Tambien nos dieron el album (ese file que les mostre antes, con el collage de todos los chicos de la clase). Hoy termine de recolectar la firma de las personas que mas me importaban. No me falta nadie, creo.

Miercoles, viaje a Kamakura. Ya habia ido antes en bici, se acuerdan?. Por lo que entrar de yapa a ver el Buda y a otro templo que no habia ido, me resulto muy bueno. Aprendi algo interesante: aca cuando un reza, se tira una moneda a una caja.... lo mejor que se puede tirar son 5 yenes (15 centavos argentinos). Por que? "go en" (5 yenes) tiene como correlativo en el idioma "destino cercano"... o algo asi.... entonces uno atrae ese destino que el dios tiene pensado para uno, un destino benevolo y grato. Y lo peor, son 10 yenes: "juu en", el diez tambien se lee "too" y ellos lo toman como el "too" de "tooi" (lejos) con lo cual uno se aleja de dicha felicidad. Ese dia me di el lujo de comer Ootoro: una pieza de sushi de las mas caras (y la mas cara del negocio al que fui: unos tres dolares la pieza)que es un corte del vientre del atún, finamente veteado de grasa. Terminamos el dia en Enoshima, con Ishin, un coreano con el que no hablamos casi nunca, Juan y las madres...y un viento de tifon mas o menos. Fue un dia con un ocaso hermoso, mirando el Fuji y el mar.

Jueves. Practica del egreso: todo Sagami Oono llego tarde. Nos confundimos el horario. Igual llegamos para lo importante: el lunch. Hubo muchas cosas caras.... Tambien hubo gente que canto, que bailo, que hizo discursos (cofcofcofManuelcof) y hasta hicieron trucos de magia. Fue muy divertido. Despues nos fuimos al karaoke con Graciela y Ana Maria "las madres". Al principio la idea no pego, pero despues se divirtieron cantando Nat King Cole, Shakira, Juanes y hasta el Trio los Panchos.
A la noche, prepare omelettes, que fueron aplaudidos, y Juan nos convido con banana con dulce de leche..... posta. Shan me corto el pelo, y despues intentamos tenirlo de gris, pero el color no agarro y quede rubia. Eran las 3 am y queria dormir algo. Asi que a las 6 me hice una corrida al Seven-eleven mas proximo a mi hogar, y compre tintura negra... no hay mucho para elegir aca: 50.000 variedades de marron, tres de rubio y negro. A las apuradas y a la graduacion.

Y si.... ya es hoy, Viernes. Estoy destruida emocionalmente y fisicamente. La ceremonia en si fue un embole, y nos paramos para hacer reverencias infinidad de veces. Al terminar, fuimos a nuestras respectivas aulas. Cuando les diga que cuando salimos, todos los demas habian volado, se imaginaran lo dura que fue la despedida para nosotros. Los que tratabamos de no llorar. fuimos cayendo de a poco, y los mensajes de despedida se pueden resumir en algo asi, cursi, pero creo que no habia otra forma de decir lo que sentimos:

"Fue un ano duro, duro y divertido; y en este lugar donde me encontre solo, ustedes se convirtieron en mi familia. No pense jamas que iba a formar un lazo tan fuerte. No quiero que se corte el lazo, aunque sea un mail cada tanto... seria imposible olvidarlos. Por favor, vengan a visitame a mi pais, cuando quieran, son bienvenidos."

Hasta Maeke Sensei (la profe) se largo a llorar y dijo que jamas habia tenido un curso tan unido y divertido, y que le habia encantado ser la encargada nuestra. Que se sentia afortunada por ello, y que le causamos ganas de venir a dar clase. Quedamos en juntarnos durante nuestra estadia en Japon de vez en cuando, y siempre la invitacion a juntarnos fuera de la isla.

Como buena clase 7 que somos, nos fuimos TODOS a comer. No a un tenedor libre, pero a un restaurante de Indonesia. La comida es riquisima. Tiene cosas picantes y algunas especias que son propias de alla.... muy MUY rico!!!! Compartimos gastos asi que comimos de todo. Y despues nos pusimos a hacer unos juegos.... no se como explicarlo..... de hecho, no lo entendi ^___^'.

Y asi, hoy me vine muerta requetemuerta al kaikan..... les escribo ahora, porque me parece que les debo mucho, estan ahi escuchando las pavadas que digo, y ultimamente no les presto mucha atencion. Muy pronto, otro mensaje emotivo..... gracias por estar del otro lado. Se despide, desde la isla donde los suenos parecen convertirse en realidad,

WiredOuka, eoyi, Lu, Caro..... y yo

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Soon it will be a year since I came here...I don´t know what I´ll write to you then, but I´ll try to make it worth reading.
I´m too lazy for anything but youtube.

This last two weeks have gone running towards today. Last week Julieta´s parents arrived, and brought alfajores.
I was dealing with Bunka´s exams, so I wasn´t able to pay much attention to them. They soon left to Hong Kong,
anyway, leaving me Juli´s cellphone to receive important messages. That was complicated...but it´s over.
At the mean time, I was surviving Kanji´s test and getting a weight off my back.

Monday, dialogue exam, also stressing. Some of the things left all of us shocked. I have been peforming over my
research about japanese tatoos. If I find time, I will upload a translation of my work. That night, with a four hours
delay, Juan and Manuel´s moms arrived, with more spanish candies...Generalized happiness among the group.

Tuesday, exam´s results. I don´t have them with me, but I just failed in one, and with a relative good grade: 63/100...
The composition´s one. I have the theory that one repeats primary school´s mistakes when studying a language: I
spent years trying to fix my ortography. They also gave us the album (That file I showed you before, with the collage
with all the guys in class). Today I finished recolecting the signature of the people I most care about. I did not miss
anyone, I think.

Wednesday, road to Kamakura. I had been there before, riding a bike, remember? That´s the reason why entering to see the Buda and to another temple that
I hadn´t been to before, was absolutely great for me. I learned something interesting: When one prays here, he throws a coin to a box. The best you can throw
is five yens (15 argentinian cents). Why? "go en" (Five yens) has a correlatvie with "close destiny" in the language...or something like that...then by throwing the coin you attract the destiny that the God has thought for you, a benevolent, nice destiny. And the worst to throw are 10 yens: "juu en", the ten is also read like "too", and japanese people take it as "too" from "tooi" (far), which means that you pull away from the happiness before mentioned.
That day I gave myself the luxury of eating Ootoro: A sushi piece, one of the most expensive (and the most expensive one in the place i bought it: about three dollars a piece), which is a cut of the tuna´s belly, slightly covered with fat. We ended the day in Enoshima, with Ishin, a korean guy with whom we barely speak, Juan and his mothers, and a terrible wind. It was a day with a beautiful twilight, watching the Fuji and the sea.

Thursday, prom practice: All Sagami Oono was late. We missunderstood the sketual. Anyway, we got there for the important thing: The lunch. There were lotsa of expensive things...there was also people who sung, who danced, made speeches (cofcofcofmanuelcof) and some even did magic tricks. It was very fun. After that, we went to the karaoke with Graciela and Ana Maria, "the mothers". At the beggining the idea did not spark, but then they had fun singing Nat King Nicole, Shakira, Juanes, and even El Trio Los Panchos.
At night, I made omelettes, that were aplauded, and Juan gave us Banana with Dulce de leche...real Dulce de leche. Shan cut my hair, and then we tried to dye it of grey, but the colour wasn´t strong enough and I ended up blond. It was 3 am and I wanted to get some sleep.
So at six I went to the seven-eleven that was nearest to my house, and bought som black dye. There´s not much to pick here: 50.000 brown varieties, three of blond and black. In a hurry, and to the prom.

And...yes...its already today: friday. I am physically and emotionally destroyed. The ceremony itself was very boring, and we stood up to make reverences several times. At the end, we went to our respective clasrooms. When we came out, everyone else had flown away, you can imagine how hard the goodbye was for us. The ones that were trying not to cry (including me), fell down eventually, and the goodbye messages can be summed up in something like this, corny, but I think there was no other way to express how we feel:

"It was a though year, though and fun, and in this place where I found myself alone, you became my family. I never thought I would built a bond
so strong. I don´t want the bond to break, even if it means an e-mail once in a while...it would be impossible to forget you.
Please, come to visit me to my country, whenever you want, you are welcome"

Even Maeke Sensei (the professor) ended up crying and said that she had never had a course so united and fun, and that she had
loved being our supervisor. She also said she felt lucky for it, and that we caused her to want to come to teach.
We agreed on gathering once in a while during our staying
in Japan, and the invitation to gather outside the island remains, always.

As a good class of 7, we all went to eat. Not to a free fork restaurant, but to an Indonesian one. The food there is great. It has spicy stuff and some spices
that are from there...very very good food!!! we shared expenses, so we all ate everything. And then we started making some games...I don´t know how to explain it.
In fact, I didn´t understood ^___^.

So, today I came completely dead to the kaikan...I´m writting to you now, because I think I owe you
too much, you´re over there listening to the crap I say, and lately I don´t pay much attention
to you. Another emotive message coming soon...thanks for being on the other side.
Says goodbye, from the Island where the dreams seem to come true

WiredOuka, eoyi, Lu, Caro...and I