intermission - half time report

so, the first half is over. time for some summarizing. i don`t really know what i want to write yet, but yeah, summarizing is due. i think i have adapted to this lifestyle quite well. because i`m never logner at a family`s house than 4 or 5 days, i`m not really that much trouble for anyone. on the contrary, everybody seems to like to spoil the german visitor for a few days. which means that i am visiting an incredible amount of restaurants, i do lots of sightseeing and i get many presents. this is nice, but i suppose if i kept it up for 5 months rather than 5 weeks living like that could seriously damage one`s character. anyway, so far it`s been pretty awesome. getting along with the japanese is pretty easy, even if you don`t speak the language at all. if you can do it a little bit, like me, everyone is quite amazed by that. i think that however, overall i`m not talking very much during this time. formulating easy sentences takes time, so there are often passages where i`m quiet. for a japan trip i`d recommend to go with somebody who you can talk to, because it does get a little depressing once in a while. i suppose it is quite possible to get by on english skills alone, as every japanese knows at least a few words, and every train station etc. uses japanese and english signs. to know a little bit of the language can`t hurt, though, so here are the 20 words you shouldn`t visit japan without:

watashi = i (essential). you don`t need it in a basic sentence, though.
hai = yes.
no = `s. (watashi no = mine. nakamura-san no = nakamura-san`s)
wa = ....no real meaning here, you put it after the subject of the sentence.
ni = ....no meaning either, marks places and other stuff.
nihon/nippon = japan
doitsu = germany (when you`re not german, you obviously don`t need to know this.)
desu = to be. and other stuff. attaching it to the end of any sentence almost always works to make it more polite.
(ja)nai = not, is not, ...
amari = barely (combine it with janai: ~~~ amari nai = there barely isn`t ~~~)
suki = like (~~suki = i like~~. combination power: suki janai = i don`t like. amari suki janai = i don`t really like. it`s polite, and you`ll need it a lot.)
daijobu = okay, alright, i`m fine. (all-purpose word. can you eat that? daijobu. are you tired? daijobu. do you want more beer? daijobu.)
hito = person, people.
ooi = a lot, many. (doitsu no hito wa ooi desu = there are many germans)
kuruma = car. (conversation topic no 1. benz - doitsu no kuruma. amerika no kuruma amari suki janai. doitsu ni, nihon no kuruma wa ooi)
konnichiwa = hello.
arigato = thank you. say it in any situation and it might be fine.
sumimasen = excuse me, sorry, ... always say it, can`t be wrong.
gomen = i`m sorry. you don`t need to say this all that often.
sayonara = good bye.

well, i don`t know if this is enough, but if you know that much they`ll tell other japanese that you speak japanese perapera (very well).
other statistics so far: 11469 of 30000 yen spent, so i`m still good. i`ve been trying to save my money so that i won`t run out in the end. any leftovers shall be spent in tokyo.
i`m currently in the 6th japanese prefecture of my trip, out of 47 or so. i`ve got 22 business cards. i bought 15 manga so far. and 5 cds. i have to stop, because my baggage is as of know about 35 kg, which i will have to divide into my 20 kg main baggage and my 5 kg hand luggage. damn. i`ve taken about 700 photos and i am at my 6th host family, counting the one night i spent at the yanai`s house. i`ve eaten just about any japanese specialty there is and i`ve drunken about 7 liter beer. plus a few sips of japanese sake during the drinking games with the himeji guys. and a few more sips of the whiskey we had for the kartenpusten session. who ever heard of using whiskey for kartenpusten!?

ah, another interesting thing. the japanese`s image of germany:
germans are bigger and stronger than japanese. they can drink a lot of alcohol. in germany we drink beer instead of water (well, they meant that as a joke, but they are convinced that everyone drinks a lot of beer). they`re still shocked to hear that one can drink beer with 16 years (no alcohol before 20, here). they`re not sure if germans drink beer during their lunch break at university or work, but they could imagine it. germans eat sausages. all day long. apparently there`s nothing but sausages in germany. germany is bavaria. the most famous german cities are munchen, heidelberg and solingen. yeah right, solingen. the whole world knows about solingen`s famous knifes. except for the germans themselves. berlin, yeah, they know that too, the wall. dusseldorf (aka the city with the number one japanese population in germany)? nah, don`t know that place. in germany there is a river named rhine. everywhere along that river there are beautiful castles. like neustein ("neu-schwan-stein!" - "yeah, neustein"). germany is beautiful and clean. the most famous german is oliver kahn ("kaa~n"...."KHAAAAN"?). and beckenbauer. takahara plays at frankfurt.

that`s about it.