An Update On Things

I really suck at this blogging thing, I can't believe 2 months have already passed since my last entry. I feel like nothing much has changed since the old Livejournal days in that aspect.

However, exciting things have been going on and I'm very happy to be able to (officially) say I'll be moving back to Japan in September. My 就職活動 aka job hunting has been rather tough- I always thought graduate schemes and/or jobs which require 5+ interviews were a myth! - but no, they exist, and I'm more than lucky and excited I managed to pass all rounds for my top choice of companies to work for.

I've been wanting to go back to Japan for a while now- actually, probably ever since I left Fukuoka around this time last year. I loved living in Fukuoka. I had great friends there, a nice place to live in and the city is absolutely beautiful. I thought about getting my Master's in Fukuoka for a while, but it's just too expensive especially when you are in between majors. It's just too much money to spend on something you're not 100% sure about, or have no real work experience in. Studying a field and working in one are very different by the looks of things. 

Thus, I decided to look into possible career options instead. In all honesty, continuing my studies just didn't seem right and I really felt like I wanted to start making my own money at this point. Looking into career options wasn't a quick task, but knowing what I didn't want helped narrow down my choices a lot (teaching English, a stereotypical Japanese company) and left me with few options, but one of these options proved to be for a company which I believe fits my personality and ambitions perfectly. A match made.

This week then, I had to pack up my things and leave what I called home for the past ~4 years. I'd come to feel very attached to Liverpool over the past couple of years and especially saying goodbye to my best friend was so much harder for me than I thought it would be. (Insert cheesy line here about how it wasn't a goodbye, but rather a 'See you later'... but even knowing this didn't help much when I had to get onto my train.) 

The plan though is to hopefully make enough $$$ in the future to easily fly back and forth between Europe and Japan. ^^;;;

Right now, I'm just enjoying being home and the security of having a job lined up while I wait for my Visa to be processed. I've also started looking into possible flats in Tokyo which aren't too far from where I'll be working. It's so exciting and nerve-wrecking at the same time to move to a new city as big as Tokyo; Fukuoka so far has been the biggest city I've ever lived in, and I've never had to deal with rush hour or anything like that before. In Fukuoka, I just jumped on my bike when I wanted to go out. I feel like trying to cycle in Tokyo could potentially be life-endangering. I'll report back once I have found somewhere to live anyways! ^^

Currently reading: キッチン (吉本バナナ)

I have started reading my next book which happens to be Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. I had previously read it in German many, many years ago so occasionally bits and pieces of the story feel like a bit of a deja-vu to me. It's strange because I can't remember the main events of the story but here and then a line will feel familiar.

The words in it and grammar used are definitely a step-up from my first novel that I finished the other day, but that is why finishing a few pages every day with this book feels all the more rewarding. I really enjoy Banana Yoshimoto's writing style too. It's quite descriptive but not in an over-the-top or boring way. I find it hard to get through books which focus a lot on describing the scenery but Kitchen always manages to break it up with some short dialogue in between. To be honest, there isn't even that much scenery description in it; just a lot of metaphors which give the novel a bit of a melancholic, dark flair... if you can say that.

Words and kanji that I keep encountering in this novel are 瞳 (eye), 闇 (darkness), 夜景 (night scenery), 沈黙 (silence) and 平静 (serenity, calm). It's great when you encounter words again and again and you had to look them up the first time, but maybe with the second or third time you start to recognise them. I'm currently on page 81 out of about 240, so hopefully I can finish it by the end of the week! I would definitely recommend this book to readers around the ~N2 Level - if you are preparing for N2, it might be a bit difficult but I manage to get through the pages quite quickly and I've only passed N2 in December.

I finished my first Japanese Book!

やった！
I finally finished my first book entirely written in Japanese. It is called ベルナのしっぽ (Beruna's Tail) and is by 郡司ななえ. It's about 300 pages long and I would call it slice of life-ish, I guess? 

The story follows the author's life (it is based on real life events) who, halfway through her twenties, becomes blind. She then gets assigned a guide dog named Beruna, despite the fact that she is not fond of dogs at all originally. This is where the story starts- it tells a tale of growth and overcoming hardships, about bonding and learning from each other- I'm sure lovers of the film Marley and Me would enjoy this book. I thought it was really heart-warming and I was thrilled to hear it also got adapted into a movie. You can watch clips of the movie (without subtitles) here. 

I'm really proud I finally finished a book in Japanese <3 Especially one that wasn't aimed at Japanese 'learners' but this is real native speaker material. I didn't have many problems with the grammar or vocabulary in the story - in the beginning, there were a few kanji readings and translations I had to look up (for example 盲導犬 - もうどうけん - guide dog) but I found that after the first maybe 50 pages, the vocabulary stayed more or less the same, which is probably why I read through the latter half of the book quite quickly. I think the last ~150 pages only took me 2-3 days.

I wonder what I will be reading next? This book was such a bargain at 105 Yen in Book Off! I wish I could just stroll down to a Book Off again and pick up my next read...!