Sebastian's diary

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

English
We are moving so there is much to do. My wife and I are moving back to Hungary. It's going to be interesting because my country is joining the EU in May. I expect many changes. It is possible though that we'll return to Japan after a while. You never know. Very Happy

Deutsch
Wir ziehen um, also es gibt viel zu tun. Meine Frau und ich gehen nach Ungarn zurück. Es wird interessant, weil Ungarn in Mai in die EU aufgenommen wird. Ich rechne mit vielen Veränderungen. Es ist aber möglich, dass wir nach einer Weile nach Japan zurückkehren. Man kann es nie wissen. Very Happy

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

Dear Sebastian,
>>>My wife and I are moving back to Hungary. <<<
Are you going to move? Dose it mean "moving house" or " being home onfor the holidays"? I will miss you. Confused

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Sorry, I didn't express myself very clearly. The homepage and the message board stay, the only difference will be that I access the internet from Hungary, not from Japan. Very Happy

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

I see. I felt easy. Smile

Hey Sebastian, Idea

why don't you put a gallery on your website.
You will take pictures in Hungary, right? Please show us them. Very Happy

I hope to watch them because Hungary isn't familiar with us, Japanese.

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Tomorrow I'll have to wear a suit for the graduation ceremony. It's going to be quite funny because I'll ride my motorcycle to school. In a suit. Confused

Morgen wird eine Abschiedsparty stattfinden, und es wurde mir erklärt, dass wir japanisch essen werden. Ich weiss nicht wie viel ich essen kann, weil ich keinen Krebs und keinen rohen Fisch essen kann. Es wird interessant. Wink

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

The wather is great. Today was the first time I rode my motorbike without gloves. Also this is my last whole week at school. I'll have to ship many things before I go back.

Schön, dass das Wetter endlich gut geworden ist. Man fühlt sich viel besser wenn die Sonne scheint. Ich würde so gern in Okinawa leben oder irgendwo warm.

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

Dear Sebastian,
I guess you and your wife are very busy because of shipping.
We did house-moving three years ago.
We transfer things just a short distance nevertheless it was very tough work. Laughing

I picture you are doing the toughest work, right?
My second son will attend the closing ceremony of the third term on 24th.
We feel something sentimental at the eng of grade. Sad

I think it's very short we can be a schoolboy and schoolgirl, junior high school students and high school students.
Dear Sebastian, when will you leave Japan?
And how long does it take to Hungary Question

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Thank you, Lily.
Yes, I'm quite busy now not only because of the moving but also I'm working on another site which will replace this. Nothing to be afraid of, there will be no changes here in the next couple of weeks.

I'm planning to go home and of April, and it takes about 14 hours to Hungary. (Nagoya-Frankfurt only 11)

I think it's just natural that you have sentimental feelings, but at the same time you also must feel proud. Cool

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Here I am again. We have a board on the net with my former classmates from high school and someone said that there are some interpreteur openings in Japanese. Maybe I shoud give it a try when I get home.

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Wow, it's quite time-consuming writing and translating all those articles. But fortunately I have some time on my hands so I'll continue doing it as far as I can. I'm planning a hanami in the following days, so I have something to look forward to. Very Happy

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

Hi! Sebastian. Very Happy

Did you go to Hanami?
We had very nice Hanami-day in Osaka.
We rided on our bicycles and we ran in a hazy sky in the cherry-blossom season.
We could run in Hana-hubuki (cherry -blossom storm)
It was so beautiful. Wink

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Glad you had a good time. No, we haven't been yet. This homepage keeps me very busy. I hope to go some time next week. Very Happy

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

It has been a longer time since I posted here. We went to the Gojo river near Iwakura and spent an afternoon with my wife watching the cherry blossoms. And I had a nice long chat with my family back home. The Internet is amazing. We could talk for two hours using our headsets for free. No phone company can compete with this. Wink

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

Dear Sebastian, I read Isun-bousi story on the reading story page.
To tell the truth, I was surprised. Shocked

I know that fairy tales mean the teaching though.
I didn’t know that Isun-bousi means such a severe story.
I didn’t know that an old couple didn’t love their little son. Shocked

And I didn’t know that he played clever trick on the princess.
Oh! I didn’t know that grandmother had her baby when she was 41 years old.
Well, I can have Isun-bousi, now. Embarassed

But my sons don’t want to another brother anymore.
And if I had Isun-bousi, I would love him so much that he wouldn’t start on his journey when he was a child.
So he wouldn’t meet a princess. Ummmmm. Confused

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Sorry, I wasn't here for a while because I had some job on another site where we come together with my old classmates.

Yeah, Lily, I guess Issen Boushi is a story well known in Japan but not in details. And I always thought that tales for children are always a good start for learners, that's why I made some of the available. I hope you like them. Though they are supposed to be read by students of Japanese. Wink

Now I am really only a few steps away from taking the plane. I'm very curious how things are going to happen.

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

So, in the last couple of days I have been doing quite a lot. I translated some articles again into German. I really feel a bit guilty because I'm going to leave Hungarian the last language to translate. On the other side I had some fun, too. I found an interesting anime-related bulletin board called Gaia. It actually works with the same software as ours. Very Happy

After we are finished with all of this I'm going to start to promote this site so that people who really need the informaton we have here can find us. I must tell you I have looked around, visited several sites, but I think we really have stuff here other sites don't.

So I'm really looking forward to the the time when we'll be a real, not too big but big enough community.

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

Good morning, Sebastian, Very Happy

This is Lily.
I think you are really hard worker and really good webmaster.
Can I do something for you?
Shall I translate short English article into Japanese?
Can I choose one? Smile

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Good morning! Very Happy

Sure you can. You are a great help Lily.
Choose whatever you think is good and is not yet translated. Cool

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Last week my wife and I went to Utsukushigahara in Nagano. I don't know how many of you actually know that place but apparently it has the highest hotel above sea level in Japan. We spent a night in that hotel.

When we arrived the weather was chilly compared to Matsunoto the nearest big city. As we ascended the mountain, we literally drove into the clouds. As a result, when we got out of the car, we found ourselves in a thick fog.

We checked in and decided to walk around anyway. The top of the mountain (2034 meters I believe) was quite mysterious because of the fog. After a while we returned to the hotel and had dinner.

After dinner, because there was nothing else to do, we decided to walk around in the fog once more. However the fog was even thicker than before dinner. And then, all of a sudden, the fog vanished and the air became clear.

From the top of Utsukushigahara you can see the surrounding mountains in Nagano and we could see as far as Mt. Fuji. It was sunset, so the view was spectacular.

Naturally I made pictures and I'm going to upload some of them tomorrow.

Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 423

Ummmm.

It sounds romantic.You fell in love with your wife again, right? Wink

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

It was romantic. Cool

As we are leaving pretty soon (at least I am first), I had to close some of my bank accounts. To do so I went to the Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank and they told me that I'll need a seal to close the account. Unfortunately I didn't have the seal with me and I told so.

The woman there said, in that case I cannot close the account. I'll need a seal and if I've lost it, I'll have to make a new one and register it with the bank. So why do I need the seal anyway, I asked, and she told me that it's needed for costumer identification.

It just doesn't make sense. I had my ID card with me with a picture, so the bank can identify me. If it can't, it couldn't verify my identification when registering the new seal either. That's pure logic and it doesn't make any sense to me. And yet seals are required in nearly every Japanese bank. I'm a bit annoyed, that's all.

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

I'm going to buy my ticket tomorrow and fly on July 2. I hope I'm going to have the German translations done by that that time. It's a shame that I have only 'translated' 1 (!) article into my native language but that should be the easiest part of the lot. And before I go home, I'll start promoting our site, but with no money to spend on it, the success rate depends only on the content.

Oh, and I survived the last typhoon. There was no disaster I secretly hoped for. No twisted trees, no flood and no flying roof.

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

So, I bought the ticket and am flying on the 7th. Hey, it's Tanabata! Anyway, I'm not going to stop in Hong Kong because I managed to get a ticket on a direct Lufthansa flight. But it's all crazy, a one-way ticket costs twice as much as a round-trip. Shocked

I've never understood airline businesses.

Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 25

Sebastian wrote:

. On the other side I had some fun, too. I found an interesting anime-related bulletin board called Gaia. It actually works with the same software as ours. Very Happy

.

Hey! I'm a member of Gaia (although I dont go there too often anymore..too many kids..) and that's where I found this link! Can I ask what you taught in Japan? I'm a part time college student who is studying Japanese. I hope to be able to translate someday but it seems a long ways away! I have about another 2 yrs of school before I graduate and then I hope to be able to go to Japan for a year to teach English. Best way to learn is to immerse one's self, right? Thanks for putting this board together! I'm going to go look around some more!

Site Admin Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 747

Hi rasha, I'm glad you are here.

rasha wrote:

Can I ask what you taught in Japan?

I taught English in a junior high school, German at Berlitz, and English, German and Hungarian for several companies.

rasha wrote:

I hope to be able to go to Japan for a year to teach English. Best way to learn is to immerse one's self, right?

It was really fun, you will like it here, too. Of course you will have to get used to things, the relationship in Japan between a teacher and a student is quite different from what I have experienced in other countries. But, of course, you will learn, too, excellent idea.

As for my business, today I went to the travel agency to pick up my ticket. I'm going to arrive in Budapest at 11:40 pm. Wow.

Also I went to the gym and had a delts-arms workout. It felt really good because I went to my favorite gym this time. Whan I got home, my mother-in-law made my favorite Japanese food called soba. It was great. I won't be able to eat it when I get home. Sad but true.