‘Japan’ Category

  1. A Japanese update

    May 29, 2006 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Well, since I’ve finally found some free time I’ve decided to post some results (of one of those personality tests) that I stumbled upon when I was reading Haruna’s blog. You can take it at Love type check!

    Here are my results:

    Apollon(アポロン) 英語名:Apollo(アポロ)
    です。

    ■神話
    太陽神として知られる、音楽と医療の神。
    神話の中では明るく陽気な性格で竪琴を奏でる色男として登場します。
    神々の中でも2枚目として通っていた彼ですが、女性には振られまくっています。
    美形でも軽い男は女性には好かれないようです。

    ■性質
    あなたは愛想がよく、女性男性問わずに周りから好かれるタイプ しかも失敗を恐れずにいろいろなことにもチャレンジします。
    大きなことにチャレンジして、一発当てることができるのもアポロンの特徴です。
    楽天的なところがあるので、あまり沈みこまないところも良いところです。
    いつも明るいおかげで、周りも明るくなり、みんな安心してあなたと付き合うことができます。

    チャレンジ精神が旺盛なおかげで、高嶺の花といわれる女性にも積極的にアプローチができます。
    また、失敗しても立ち直りが早いのでさっさと次の恋愛にうつることができます。

    ただ、周りからは『ころころ気が変わる人』『遊んでそう』と思われる傾向があります。
    あまり女性にこの評価が広まると、食事には一緒に行ってもいいけど付き合うのはちょっとねぇ、というように見られてしまいます。
    八方美人にならないようにすれば、女性からの評価が上がりますよ。

    ■Solution
    そんなあなたにおすすめの「異性の心理」は『足元に注意』『キッチンでシンクロ』です。
    こまめな気遣いができると、女性からの評価はさらに上がりますよ。

    I can’t say I understand it 100% but it seems pretty good to me. I think it’s interesting how it has a Solution section. You don’t see too many of those in American personality tests.


  2. Compliments

    March 3, 2006 by Eddie Gonzalez

    It’s no secret that people compliment your misrable attempts to speak their language all the time. Usually these compliments are straight forward, like “お上手ですね” (“Your Japanese is really good!”), which usually means more like “Hang in there!”. There’s also the surprise comment where you are better at their language than they expected these are usually “へえ、何でこんなにうまいの?” (“Wow, why are you so good [at Japanese]?”). Finally there’s the indirect compliments that really make you feel good. The one I get the most is “何年前に日本へきましたか” (“How many years have you been in Japan?”) because the other person assumed that your proficiency in Japanese could only be achived after living there for years. I love smiling and replying “Oh, I’ve only been here for 5 months.”.


  3. Saturday Night

    February 5, 2006 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Last night was looking light it was going to be another boring Saturday night. Extreme boredom calls for extreme measures so I e-mailed the Kobe ESS mailing list asking if anyone was doing something. Turns out my friend Jose from Argentina was going clubbing that night so I was saved. I read the e-mail at 10 and luckily for me Jose and the gang were still in Kobe looking for an ATM so I reached Osaka just in time to meet them.

    The club we went to is called Underlounge. It’s a techno club, which was interesting I hadn’t heard techno in forever. I can’t say I liked it but I’ve long since learned how to have a good time in a club even when you hate the music.

    Happenings of interest were a really cute girl with glasses (and a fiancee) who bought me a couple of rounds of tequila shots, and while I was feeling the effects of those shots I showed one of the waitresses (of a bar we went to after the club closed) how Puerto Rican’s dance reggaeton. :D


  4. Deodorant season

    October 16, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Just got back from the pharmacy. It seems that the reason I can’t find deodorant is that it’s simply out of season and people don’t use it. Is this a normal thing? I always use deodorant maybe it’s a Puerto Rican thing… (Since it’s always hot.)


  5. Hikari

    October 13, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Hikari

    My first try at calligraphy didn’t turn out too bad. I just wish I knew the cursive version of a better kanji.


  6. People

    October 11, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Andy: Pretty much hates everything about Japan while saying how much he loves it.
    Kenan: (Maybe) pissed off at me for some reason.
    Haruna: Not interested in me after all?

    The Kenan business has me really worried and I’m having trouble concentrating on my homework. What happened is that in the joint seminar he was asking people how the Japanese have relationships when you are expected to be home early, and taking your girl friend or boy friend home is taboo. I kind of assumed that he was talking about sex and said love motels. It didn’t occur to me at the time that he might not have meant sex. I really didn’t see the problem. I’m gussing since he’s a more touchy feely person he wants more privacy than a movie theatre or walking in a park at night. But there has to be something else that is bothering him or else he wouldn’t have just stormed out of the room like that. I want to talk to him tomorrow about the whole thing, and apologize for ruining his conversation.


  7. Igo

    October 4, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Today I played against a 2kyu girl with a 4 stone handycap. I was surprized with how well I did even though I lost. The game took 3 hours so I didn’t have enough time to go over the game. It’s to bad I could have learned a lot.


  8. Girls

    October 3, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Recently I think I’ve been getting good vibes from Haruna, but I’m really not sure. I wonder if she likes me. I also noticed that I have no pictures of her. I’ll see if I can get some.

    I felt really bad about a girl today in the Ajisai room because she had on the funniest shirt I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t stop laughing, I don’t think she liked that. I hope she didn’t think that I was laughing at her or anything. The shirt didn’t say anything wrong. It was genuinely funny. You can find it in my Funny Shirts gallery.

    Tomorrow I meet up with the shougi/igo club. I wonder what kind of people are going to be there. I also wonder if they expect me to be any good at igo.


  9. Gallery :: Koyasan

    October 2, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    Gallery :: Koyasan

    I just got back from Koyasan. The site was founded 1,200 years ago by Kobo daishi, the founder of Isoteric Buddhism in Japan. It’s a pretty cool place. It’s older than all the towering 900 year old trees in it. That’s really impressive. I think the ways Buddhism and Cristrianity are similar are very insteresting. I wonder if there’s a book on the subject.


  10. English Club Party

    September 30, 2005 by Eddie Gonzalez

    English Club Party

    I put a couple of pictures of the English Club party. It was really fun. I even won a prize for eating a large ice cream bar the fastest. After the party with food we went to a kareoke bar were I think I impressed the girls with my knowledge of J-pop songs… After that we went to this really nice bar next to the JR station. It was a bit on the expensive side but it was very clean. The bathroom was out of this world! There was even an aquarium in it! I’ll put pictures of that when I get some e-mails from the people with the good cameras.

    Tomorrow we are spending the night at a collection of temples that reside in Koya-san. I’m looking forward to what I can learn there, but not looking forward to mosquito bites.