05 March 2007

not much to write about this week.

I AM TOO BUSY but I'll write a little bit anyway. I wrote a grant proposal to go do reasearch in Japan this summer; on Wednesday I had this strange experience where I called a museum to see if I could do research there this summer if I get the grant. But they didn't speak English! Oh no. The weird part was that I was talking on the phone with a Japanese person. Not that that's weird, I guess... what I'm trying to say is, I'm so used to hearing recorded Japanese in these canned circumstances through courseworks. So hear I was again hearing a digitized version of a human's voice, but it was actually a real human!!! It was one of those disequilibrium moments where the sheltered academic environment of Butler library brushed up against the real world. Hmm... I hope I get this grant.

My step-mother called the museum later on to feel them out about my visit and they are apparently excited about the prospect of me coming. And they can get me a translator from the Matsue tourism board. So the story has a happy ending.

2 comments:

J Gott said...

congrats! welcome to the nexus of japanese class and real life!

JohnLee0388 said...

はじめましてルイさん。私はバージニア大学のジョナサン・リーです。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

ルイさんのブログを読んでおもしろかったと思いました。あの。。。そのグランットはどんなグランットですか。それからどして日本にありますか。

私は高校の時、日本でホームステーイをしましてとてもたのしかった。日本人はしんせつな人ですよ。それから日本に日本語をべんきょうをしに行ってべんきょうするのはやさしいですよ。でも私が行くの時私のホームステーイのお母さんはかんこくじんでしたから私はかんこくごで話しましたからあまり日本語をべんきょうしませんでした。