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Olympic fun

I am enjoying the Olympics so far. The 4 x 100m relay won by the Americans yesterday was the most exciting swimming race i have ever seen. What a come back on the final leg by Jason Lezak! And Rebecca Adlington winning the 400m freestyle was also very exciting. Thanks to digital telly and the internet you can watch almost anything. I have been watching some of the more obscure sports - I found archery strangely compelling to watch for a sport where the competitors spend most of their time stationary. Wind surfing was very disappointing though.

I also caught a bit of Judo before work this morning and I wasn't very impressed. From my point of view, it seemed to be two men grappling a bit, falling on the floor and then starting all over again, with points very occasionally being given randomly to either competitor. I am sure if you have a knowledge of Judo it becomes a lot more watchable but i won't be heading to any Judo meets in the near future...

Shower Scene

I was tidying my room last night trying to find my passport, which, rather than putting it somewhere safe and sensible, I think i threw on my floor in my bedroom. I have yet to find the passport, which is somewhat worrying as i am supposed to be off to Budapest next week, but did stumble across the journal i tried to keep on my road trip around the US i did after University. It was a welcome distraction from tidying so i read a little of my time in New York. One moment i had entirely forgotten made me smile when i read about it.

I was staying in a hostel in Chelsea and the shower i was using only had hot water available making it unbearably hot to stand underneath. Rather than trying to find another shower, which is what i think i would do now, i tried to make the best of the situation and showered by catching the scalding water in cupped hands and then throwing it on myself. Impressively half assed improvisation I thought. I don't remember the incident but I can't have cleaned myself very well washing like that. Why didn't i just wash my hair in a sink or something?

Useful Japanese Phrases for Visting Japan

My Dad is off to Japan in the next few days and for some reason the Japanese phrases provided in the guide books are pretty rubbish. So I wrote him out a list, which will hopefully be useful to him. And possibly to others so I will put it up here too...

Hai (hi) - Yes
Iie (ee yeh) - No

Ohayogozaimasu (oh hi oh go zye mass) - Good morning

Konnichiwa (con knee chee wah) - good day

Konbanwa (con ban wah) - good evening

Oyasuminasai (oh yah sue min ah sigh)- good night (going to bed)

Sayonara (sigh oh na rah) - good bye (formal)

Dewa Mata (day wah mah tah) - good bye (less formal)

Watashi wa Walter Rawley desu (wah tash ee wah ….. dess) - I am Walter Rawley

Yoyaku shite imasu (yo yar coo sheetay immass) - I have a reservation

Hajimemashite (hah jim eh mash tey) - how do you do

Dozo yoroshiku (doze oh yoro sheek ooh)- please to meet you

Summimasen (sue mee mass en) - excuse me

Gomennasai (go men ah sigh) - sorry

Gomennasai, wakarimasen (wah carry mass en) - sorry, I don’t understand

Mo ichido itte kudosai (mo ichi doe it tay cooed oh sigh) - speak more slowly please

Eigo ga wakarimaska? (eh go gah wa carry mass ka) - Do you understand English?

Eigo ga hanashimaska? (eh go gah han ash ee mass ka) - Do you speak English?

Daijob deska? (die jorb/jobe dess kah) - is it ok?

Daijob desu (die jorb/jobe dess kah) - it is ok

domo arigato gozaimasu (dome oh) - Thank you very kindly

arigato gozaimasu (go zai mass) - thanks a lot

arigato (a ree gah toe) - thanks

O genki deska? (oh genkee dess kah) - How are you doing?

Hai, genki desu (hi genkee dess) - Yes I am well

_ _ _ _ wa doko desuka? (wah doko dess ka) - Where is the _ _ _ _

eki (eck ee) - Train Station

Toire (toy reh) - toilet

Yubinkyoku (you bink yock oo) - Post Office

Depato (depart oh) - Department store

Takushi - taxi

…… o kudasai (oh cooed ah sigh - can I have ….. please

When you are in a train station and you want to go to Hiroshima, for example, just show your JR pass to the JR ticket sellers and say

Hiroshima o kudasai - Hiroshima please

Kore wa ikura deska? (kore wah ick oorah dess kah) - How much is this?

ashita (ash tah) - tomorrow

Kino (kee no) - yesterday

Kyo (kee yo) - today


Food

Kore wa (ko reh wah) - This

oishii desu (oh ee shee dess) - is delicious

oishii deshita (oh ee shee desh ta) - was delicious
(you don’t necessarily need the kore wa though)

When walking in to a shop or restaurant, all the staff will often shout “irasshaimase” which translates to welcome or come in and apparently requires no response although a “konnichiwa” type hello always seemed to go down well.

Numbers
Ichi - 1
Ni - 2
San - 3
Yon - 4
Go - 5
Roku - 6
Nana - 7
Hachi - 8
Kyu - 9
Ju - 10

Numbers for ordering food
hitotsu - 1
futatsu - 2
mittsu - 3
yottsu - 4
itsutsu - 5
muttsu - 6
nanatsu - 7
yattsu - 8
kokonotsu - 9
to - 10

Kampai! - Cheers!

Ordering food

Ringo futatsu o kudasai - 2 apples please
Hoto kohi mittsu o kudasai - 3 hot coffees please

Beeru - beer
Jusu - juice
Hotto kohi - hot coffee need to ask for hot otherwise you get cold
Cha - tea
Okonomiyaki - meat and vegetable pancake
Pan - bread
Sandoicchi - sandwich
Sarada - salad
Sukiyaki - meat and veg in a sweetened soy sauce
Yakisoba - chow mein style dish
Yakitori - chicken pieces skewered and barbequed. Choose carefully though if you don't like gristle, fat or skin because some of them are just bits of those on a stick.

IT

My flat mate works for an IT consultancy company. They have just started a cricket team and i went along to their practice last night, which was a lot of fun. While we were in the pub afterwards, talk turned to work, as it invariably does when colleagues are drinking together and their IT department was mentioned.

I hadn't thought about it before, but imagine how geeky the IT department for an IT firm must be...