class on Monday

On every Monday, I have a class on Israel pop music and politics. To be honest, I had almost no knowledge about the state "Israel". In Japan, we heard some news about a war and terror...The newest thing I heard in Japan was that Israeli doctors and medical staffs came to Japan after the big earthquake and gave a great medical support in the affected area. So, to my mortification, I didn't knew as much as general Japanese people. However, in this class, I have to study hard about Israel politics, history, geography, and minorities as well as Israel pop music. The teacher and classmates are so friendly that I do not hesitate to attend this class, but it is of course super hard to follow and catch what the teacher said, and understand what is the issue and theme in the class.

At the beginning in December, I have a presentation about Palestinian hip hop, and I am looking for the readings and other materials (films & CDs). I found a documentary film named "Slingshot hip hop." It deals with some Palestinian hip hop bands including female singers. I need to watch it first at all!

Rethinking today's class, the most difficult things for Japanese students in taking a lecture in English are 1) vocabulary, 2) listening & reading speed. As for vocabulary, if you know the meanings of many specific words relating to the themes in the lecture, it would be really helpful to understand the lecture. For me, it is a small(?) help to read books on the reading list before the lecture. The reason to say “small” help is that it is not enough for me to understand the contents of the lecture, because I am inextricable with “Thinking process in Japanese.” I’m still not able to understand some difficult concepts or ideas only in English.

It is a completely different subject, but I often feel a sudden surge of happiness. It is not an exaggerated expression at all, but I am always surrounded by great, warm-hearted people. After coming to UK, I strongly understood that communication and output my feeling and thoughts is very very important. It is true that it depends on a person, but I think generally that many Japanese people put much importance “action” rather than “word.” For example, although I like talking with friends, I did not want to speak a thing which I didn’t start. Although I like to be listened a lot of things about myself, I was too shy to speak my dreams even to friends. Although I like to know a lot about other people, I made an effort to be respectful too much, and I could not ask anything. I am not sure the reason why I was so, but I can say that it is caused partly by Japanese society’s character. I was very surprised by a lot of words, talks, shouts among people here. I found these words achieve a friendly relationship between people. It is difficult to explain, but I’d like just to say that WORD has much more power to connect between people here than in Japan. (May be, in order to build a deep relationship in Japan, other skills are required.)

…Sorry, I cannot convey my feeling will in English…

まあ、要は、とにかく周りの人と積極的にたくさん話をしていかないと、仲良くなれないってこと。相手への相づちも首を振るだけじゃなくてしっかり言葉にすることや、相手に少しでも多くの返事を返すことが良い関係を作ることにつながる。

 (In short, I think I cannot make a friend without speaking actively to other people here. For instance, it is not enough to move your head to response. Try to say words to show your agreement or disagreement. It’s simple and easy. If you want to make a good tie with your friends, it is necessary to response more by words. )

Probably, or without fail, some people here are so kind enough to overlook my mistakes, poor conversation skill, or other things, because I am apparently a foreigner. I understand and appreciate it. But in the near future, I’d like to master English until I do not need their considerations.