Apres les examens

Finally! After finishing the presentation on Wednesday, my spring holiday officially began. The weather was absolutely lovely, and the temperature was at a gloriously beautiful 20 degrees celcius. We celebrated the end of the semester with dinner at a Korean restaurant and then drinking at The Hub (a British pub in Umeda).

I hadn't drunk any alcohol for a long time, and as I rarely have the chance to go to a pub, I indulged myself with (first with 2 Korean cocktails at the restaurant) a Cuba-libre (had the urge to drink this after watching Big Bang), 2 tequila shots and a single Jameson.

It was actually my first time doing straight tequila shots. I've had tequila before but only in a shooter with other liquors. I wanted to try so I suggested the idea. At first it was only Morgan, Ivan, Andrew and I who were up for it, then two minutes later everyone turned up at the bar ordering tequila shots, even Daan, who at first protested "NO! no shots!". At the end of the night he ended up being drunk on the Hankyu train and couldn't walk straight and fell onto the seats.


Today's weather wasn't so nice though. It's been raining all day long. A little bit depressing really. We decided to eat out tonight because it's the last night to have the six of us together until early April. Daan and Seb are going home, Morgan, Andrew, Reinout and I are going to all sorts of travelling. We went to Senri-chuo to have okonomiyaki. Normally at restaurants they cook the okonomiyaki and just leave it on the hotplate, whereas at this restaurant we could make our own! I ordered the oyster okonomiyaki, which really reminded me of the heavenly delicious oysters I had in Miyajima and Hiroshima in December.

On that note - I'm going back to Miyajima and Hiroshima on next week! Aaaah I want more oysters! Although I might need to refrain myself this time 'cause I've got plenty of things to do which will require a lot of money...



P.S. Something I wrote in a previous post caused a bit of speculation. I did mean what I wrote, it was heartfelt and I couldn't resist not writing it here because it's been on my mind for a while now. Yes there is a person, but I need to use the next three weeks to think about a zillion things related to this (and other unrelated but important things too). I don't regret writing about it here because I meant to write it here, but I would have hesitated much more had I known that the guys here would gossip over that one sentence!

oink

Last night I made 豚肉のしょうが焼き and tonight's dish was 豚肉のてんぷら. Both dishes were made of pork slices.

豚肉のしょうが焼き involved marinating the pork in cooking wine, a little bit of soy sauce and ginger juice, then it's pan-fried until cooked, and then sautéed in a sweet soy sauce, and dressed in more grated ginger.

豚肉のてんぷら (pork tempura) was a little bit more complicated than it sounded. The batter was not just plain batter, it included spring onion, red picked ginger and sesame seeds.

Both dishes came out fine and tasted alright; I'm not a huge fan of pork though.







Howard: "Is it because I'm Jewish? 'Cause I'd kill my rabbi with a pork chop to be with your sister." (The Big Bang Theory Season 1)

Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD - HONG KONG

Finally, after more than 3 years since it started in the States and other Western countries, the opera fans in my native Hong Kong can watch operas from New York's Metropolitan Opera on the big screen.

The tickets in HK are very cheap, only $150 for adults and $100 for students. It cost me about £15-20 to see an opera at Cineworld, and here in Japan it's 3,000yen.

The down side though is that it's not shown at major cinemas or the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, instead it's at the Bethanie campus of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (all the way in the wilderness of Pok Fu Lam).

For more information, visit http://www.themetinhongkong.info/index.html.

Food, and free food!

I ate 5 eggs today (over 2 meals), and that's a lot, by anyone's standards. According to Wikipedia, an egg yolk contains more than two-thirds of the daily recommended amount of cholesterol, which means I've had over 3 times the daily recommended amount of cholesterol. Ooops.

For brunch I had scrambled eggs with grilled cheese, which was the best brunch I've had in ages. Mainly because I haven't made grilled cheese sandwiches for a long time.

The scrambled eggs were French-style. It was scrambled with a whisk and I added a little bit of cream when it was just about cooked. It's impossible to find chives here so I substituted with spring onions.

I used the last 2 eggs I had in the fridge in the okonomiyaki for dinner. I haven't been to the supermarket lately so only had eggs and cabbage in the fridge, hence the okonomiyaki for dinner. Tomorrow I shall go to the supermarket and stock up again.

Recently I haven't had the time to do some proper cooking, mainly because last week was my busiest week ever since I came to Japan, juggling between exams, essay deadlines and Rachel coming to visit.

I did, however, managed to do a chicken cacciatore (Delia Smith's recipe) for dinner on Friday. It was a minimalised version of Delia Smith's original since I had no bay leaf or rosemary or onions. Anyway it tasted pretty good (maybe a little bit salty? - I might have added too much salt whilst seasoning the chicken thigh) and went well with the microwave-roasted potatoes.

After Wednesday's presentation I shall be a free woman. I'll have time to experiment with more new recipes, and I'm considering to attempt baking cakes using the microwave.

Last week on Chinese New Year, Rachel, Andrew, Seb, Victoria, and I went to Kobe's Chinatown to see the celebrations. On our way back to Sannomiya we walked by a "free cafe", with dozens of people queuing to get in. We thought "free cafe? hell yeah!" although there were little voices in our minds saying "there must be a trap somewhere".

It turned out there were no traps. It literally was a free cafe. Coffee (pretty good coffee too, perhaps better than the Starbucks nearby) and "orange juice" (it tasted more like a non-carbonated Fanta than actual orange juice) were free, so were the various kinds of senbei (Japanese rice crackers). There's a sign saying that you only had to be nice to people to enjoy the free stuff. Nice.

The cafe is called Harimaya Station, and has branches in several major cities in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Fukuoka). The Nagoya branch is opening next month; there are also plans to open branches in Sapporo, Paris and New York.

The closest branch to the university is the one on Midosuji in Osaka:

大きな地図で見る

Can London (and/or Manchester) be next please?


P.S. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, it's going to get warmer next week. Ah I can't wait till spring! This winter has been far too depressing (spent Christmas with bronchitis, and New Year and Chinese New Year without my family or friends back home), and lately my mind has been harbouring feelings for a certain person and all the uncertainty that goes with it. I just can't wait till next week when I go off on my month-long travel, then I can relax and immerse myself in all the exciting scenery and photography. I also just realised that I haven't had any new clothes since early December, and since spring is approaching (and most of my summer clothes are at home) I shall treat myself to some new clothes, as a celebration of the end of exams and passing the JLPT :)

Leonard Bernstein's "Candide"

While Rachel and I were on our way to Himeji (she wanted to check out the Okiku well, which inspired the story of The Ring), I spotted an advert as I boarded the Hankyu train at Juso station. It was an advertisement about a production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which will be performed in Nishinomiya this July (http://candide.jp/).

Candide, ou l'Optimisme was a novel by the French writer and philosopher Voltaire. Leonard Bernstein made it into an operetta. An operetta is kinda an intermediate between an opera and a musical. The music itself is classical, and arias such as Glitter and be Gay definitely requires operatic techniques, but the singers are not necessarily singing without amplification (one of the basic definition of opera - the singers do not use any microphones at all). I've seen Candide twice before, both were semi-staged student productions (one at The University of Manchester, and another at the adjacent Royal Northern College of Music); the production at Manchester was sung without any microphones, whilst the RNCM production used microphones to aid the amplification. Also, when you compare Candide with the more traditional operas, there are much more spoken dialogue (instead of a recitative), so it's classified as an operetta than an opera or a musical.

Glitter and be Gay is arguably one of the most fiendishly challenging arias in the coloratura soprano repertoire. Difficult not only in its necessity for coloratura techniques, but also in its demand for comical staging. The lyrics are satirical, and the vocal passages have very intricate details (and some very very high notes!). Notable performances of this aria include June Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth. Anderson, as a classically trained operatic soprano, performed this with a beautiful voice and flawless coloratura. Chenoweth is trained in both musical theatre and opera, and has obviously paid more attention to the comical staging of the aria.

The Overture to Candide is also popular in its own right, and has become a part of the standard orchestral repertoire.

I like Candide for first, its music, and secondly its comedic elements. The story is farcical, and sometimes the plot gets a bit ridiculous, but the story and characters such as Pangloss just make you laugh.

I look forward to this production - it'll be sung in English with Japanese surtitles. I've never seen a professional production of Candide! (A couple of years ago Kristin Chenoweth was scheduled to star as Cunegonde in the English National Opera production, but had to withdraw - I wanted to see her live!)

谷崎潤一郎『細雪』

―映画（1983）を見た後の感想―

授業で谷崎潤一郎の名作『細雪』に関して読み、その後1983年に同じ作品からつくった映画を見た。『細雪』の特別なところは関西の文化と行事がたくさん出て来たことである。谷崎は自分が東京出身であり、37歳から関西に住みようになったとはいうものの、『細雪』の会話が大阪弁で書かれた。

小説は関西の文化について書くだけあって、『細雪』の映画も特に関西風の景色を選び、背景を決められた。例えば、あるシーンは姉妹が嵐山の渡月橋と京都の平安神宮（関西の花見の名所）に花見をすることを描く。登場人物の対話は当然に大阪弁が使われる。映画を見た時、「～へん」「～ねん」「～わ」「～らん」などの大阪弁をよく聞こえた。関西地方の方言は標準語で使われる言葉と異なるばかりか、大阪弁を喋る時に発音と音調も標準語と違う。京都の旅館で食事をするときに、旅館のスタッフも京都弁を喋る。

『細雪』の小説を読むと、本国の著名なビクトリア時代の女作家ジェーン・オースティンを思い出させられた。特にオースティンの最も人気のある作品『高慢と偏見』と『分別と多感』を連想させられた。その二つの小説では、『細雪』のように上流社会に暮らす姉妹の間の関係に関して描く。『細雪』にある駆け落ちと結婚などのトピックは、オースティンの作品にもよく使われた。

花見シーンで使われた背景音楽は『ラルゴ』という曲であることに気がついた。『ラルゴ』は、ヘンデルの作曲したオペラ『セルセ』の中のアリアである。なお、面白いことに、1995年に英国放送協会の好評を博した『高慢と偏見』のテレビドラマも、同じ曲が使われた。

『細雪』はこれまで三度映画化されている。いずれも日本映画史を代表するトップ女優が出演して話題となった。1983年映画版の中でも有名な女優が蒔岡家の姉妹を出演した。特に吉永小百合は今までも映画界で活躍している。

Comparative Literature

For the modern literature class, we had to write an essay comparing one of the works studied in class, with a novel from our own culture (either compare by schools or themes). I chose Izumi Kyoka's Koya-hijiri ("The Holy Man from Koya") and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray - since both contain bold elements of aestheticism - and wrote about how both works depict a relationship between beauty and sin.

泉鏡花『高野聖』とオスカー・ワイルド『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』との比較

耽美主義とは、美を唯一最高の理想とし、美の実現を人生の至上の目的とする生活の立場である。19世紀末、フランス・イギリスを中心に起こった。耽美主義をテーマとする文学作家の中ではオスカー・ワイルドなどが代表的である。ワイルドは芸術至上主義者であり、「美」を絶対のものとする耽美主義者でもあった。泉鏡花は耽美主義者として有名ではないが、『高野聖』は耽美主義の要素がたくさんあるので、ワイルドの名作『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』と比べることにした。また、特に耽美主義と罪悪の関係を調べることにした。

『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』はワイルドの唯一の小説である。物語の背景はビクトリア時代のロンドンであり、主人公のドリアン・グレーは若くて美しい貴族である。ドリアンは画家のバジルのモデルになり、そして彼の美しさはバジルを夢中にした。ドリアンはバジルの友人、ヘンリー・ワットン卿という貴族に会い、すぐにワットンの快楽主義の考えに影響されるようになる。バジルが描いたドルアンの肖像を見ると、ドリアンは自分が年をとることに対して悲しんだ。肖像のように永遠に若い容貌を所有できないものかと思い、できれば快く自分の霊魂を捨てるのが欲しいという。

ドリアンがシビル・ヴェーンという女優と婚約しており、彼女が本当の恋を知ったがゆえに舞台で恋する女を演じられなくなったため、ドリアンは彼女に興味を持てなくなる。そのことを本人に告げてしまうと、彼女は自殺らしき死に至る。その夜から、ドリアンが悪いことをするたびに、肖像にの、彼の顔が次第に年をとり、醜くなる。18年後、彼が自分の運命に対して不満を抱きので、そしてバジルを非難し、殺した。ドリアンは絵を滅ぼしたくて肖像画を刺し、間接的に自殺する。

まず、『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』と『高野聖』両方とも怪奇および超自然などを特徴としている。したがって、ゴシック派の文学作品と考えられる。さらに、両方とも美と悪徳との関連をつくる。耽美主義は美を道徳や宗教よりも美を優先させるため、場合によっては、モラルを無視する。『ドリアン・グレー』の序文で、ワイルドはこのように記していた―「美しいものがただ「美」のみを意味しうる者は選民である。道徳的な書物とか、不道徳な書物とかいうものはない。」

『高野聖』では、宗朝という高野山の僧侶が飛騨の山に住んでいる妖艶な女性に会い、彼女の魅惑的な美しさがにより微妙的に誘惑された。僧侶として、異性に対して性的な魅力および欲望を感じるのは罪悪である。誘惑と美は女にある。その一方は、『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』には美はドリアン・グレーにあるが、誘惑の源はワットン卿の説得および促進と思われる。なお、宗朝もドリアン・グレーも物語の終わりに自分の罪悪を悟るようになる。

その上、ドリアン・グレーも宗朝も美のために自分の良心を捨てる。もっとも、ドリアン・グレーは自発的に罪を犯すが、宗朝は受動的に、微妙的に女の美しさに影響された。したがって、『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』と『高野聖』は、両方とも主人公がファウストのように、物質的利益のために精神的価値を犠牲にする。そのほかに、物質的な美しさを強調するため、泉鏡花もワイルドも官能的に描写する文体を使う。物語には美学的に魅力的な直喩と暗喩が使われる。

要するに、泉鏡花の『高野聖』とオスカー・ワイルドの『ドリアン・グレーの肖像』と比較すると、両方とも耽美主義の要素がたくさんある。怪奇および超自然の起こったことを使い、「美」と悪徳との関連をつくっている。両方の主人公は「美」を追い求めるため、自分の精神的な価値を捨てることになる。

（参考文献）
Wilde, Oscar. 1974. The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Oxford University Press.
Izumi, Kyoka. 1996 “The Holy Man of Mount Koya” in Japanese Gothic Tales, translated by Charles Shiro Inouye, pp. 21-72. Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press.
堀江珠喜著（1995）「耽美主義の作家たち―ワイルドと谷崎潤一郎を中心に」松村昌家編『比較文学を学ぶ人のために』世界思想社

In the public...

How do you feel being on the University's website?

If it was only a photo, I would have absolutely no problem with the idea (unless I look fat and ugly in it).

This is a video. (Hence different to a photo)

I guess I should stop complaining. I did agree to do this.
(And Tom and I did get paid for this. Otherwise would we subject ourselves to such embarrassment and humiliation?)



As a student ambassador, besides the usual campus tour, I've also numerous workshops with middle and high school students, talking about careers and higher education. Then there was UCAS fair, the 2-day trip to London with a bunch of Year 12s.

This was rather peculiar.
UoM's Student Recruitment wanted someone who did the IB diploma, I was free that time so I volunteered myself. Then I ended up giving a little speech at a parents' information evening at a local sixth form college (Trafford College), talking about my experience with the IB diploma etc.
Then Trafford College wanted me to do a video interview.
So there you go.

I didn't really like how I look like I was one of their alumnae on the website.
'Cause I most definitely wasn't.
I did not go to Trafford College!

Plus I looked fat in the video =(
(on the other hand I quite like the photo though)

つくねの照り焼き

This is a burger-like dish, made with mince chicken and seaweed, dressed with teriyaki sauce.

Once again, I couldn't follow the recipe to every letter:
1) I had used up the leek the day before, so I used spring onion instead of finely chopped leek.
2) I had no みりん for the teriyaki sauce, so I used normal Japanese cooking wine instead.
3) I forgot to add ginger juice...(didn't realise this until after I had finished dinner and was washing up the dishes!)

Plus I made a huge mistake, which is probably going to result in me throwing away food. The recipe says 50g of seaweed (soaked). I carelessly misunderstood this as 50g of dried seaweed, which is to be soaked before adding to the mince chicken. So I ended up using the entire pack and 10 minutes later I had a huge bowl of soaked seaweed. I only used a handful or two of it for the dish in the end. The rest is now being refrigerated...

Anyway it tasted pretty good. Goes quite well with rice.

P.S. what do I do with left-over Hollandaise sauce? I put in the fridge overnight, and the next day whisk in some cream and stir it into pasta as a carbonara-esque sauce. Yum.

February & March

So it's almost finalised, my schedule for March, which makes these two months the busiest I have since coming here last October.

February

11 海遊館 with host family; essays and revision
12 essays and revision; 能 鑑賞会
13 Rachel comes to Osaka; Nara
14 Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, which will be spent in Kobe with Rachel and Andrew
15 Classes; continue on essays and revision
16 Grammar exam and kanji class; 梅祭り at 万博記念公園梅祭り; last-minute essay writing for literature class
17 Classes; history revision
18 Reading class; Himeji castle with Rachel
19 History oral exam

24 発表会
25 写真部: handing out flyers to incoming students at the Toyonaka campus

March

01-02 Hiroshima and Itsukushima

04 Osaka - Takayama
05 day trip to 白川郷
06 Takayama - Niigata
07 Niigata - Sendai
08 day trip Matsushima
09 Sendai - Utsunomiya
10 Nikko; Nikko - Yokohama
11 day trip to Kamakura
12 day trip to Hakone
13 Yokohama (China Town etc.); night bus
14 arrive back in Osaka
15 春場所 Sumo tournament at 大阪府立体育館
16 Flight from Osaka Itami airport to Naha
17 check out the Churaumi aquarium in Motobu
18 day trip to Tokashiki-jima
19 Kume-jima (by ferry)
20 Kume-jima - Naha; flight from Naha to Osaka Itami

25-30 Family comes to Japan - to Shirahama, Kumano and Kyoto

とり唐揚げ

Tonight I made chicken kaarage, which is basically fried chicken. It's supposed to be deep-fried but I really dislike the idea so I just shallow-fried it. Andrew, being the ultimate chikin-kaarage enthusiast, was my guinea pig and judge. He liked it so I guess it was success?

I didn't follow the recipe to the letter though, 'cause I ran out of soy sauce (making the last two dishes), so I just seasoned the chicken (thigh) with Japanese cooking wine and a little bit of salt, before dipping into corn starch and fried in the pan.

Quite simple, actually.

I have a little heap of work to do before Rachel comes on Saturday. Right now I actually have this crazy idea of writing an essay in comparative literature on 谷崎潤一郎 Tanizaki Junichiro's 『細雪』 ("The Makioka Sisters") and Jane Austen (I think it could be compared with both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility) - in addition to the one I'm currently writing (泉鏡花 Izumi Kyoka's 『高野聖』and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray). That would happen if a day was 50-hours long and if I could give up sleep.

Also need to revise for Tuesday's grammar exam. Even though it's mostly grammar I've done for the JLPT Level 2 (which I passed! just found out today), I do need to revise 'cause it's slowly slipping off my brain.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Natsume Soseki!

[Correction: "The Makioka Sisters" by Tanizaki Junichiro; thank you Rachel for pointing out the typo]

焼き鮭の香味ソース

Frying the salmon


with the soy sauce dressing

This dish is not that much different from the pan-fried salmon I used to cook, kinda similar to the oriental salmon dish I've seen in Nigella Express. The dressing is slightly different; it's made up of lemon juice, water, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and spring onion. The salmon is first cut into smaller pieces, then dipped in flour before frying. Very easy to do (and much healthier than yesterday's pork belly - although I might reduce the soy sauce to cut down the salt) and quite delicious :)

卵入り豚の角煮

Boiling the pork belly with leek and ginger
(I didn't burn the kitchen! it was already like that when we arrived here four months ago)


Cut the belly into smaller pieces and put it back to the saucepan.
Add the boiled egg, sweetened soy sauce (soy sauce with sugar)


いただきます！

First, mistakes made:

1. I added a little bit too much sugar
2. the first egg I boiled was too soft. I wanted a soft boil egg (instead of a hard boil one as instructed by the recipe) but it turned out to be too soft so I had difficult peeling the shell off. Had to chuck the first one and boil another egg. then I accidentally cracked the second egg as I dropped it into the boiling water. ugh can't give a damn anymore, and it was only a small crack and the egg white were still intact so I just left it as it is.
   
3. I reduced the entire recipe - proportionally (intended) - but obviously that didn't happen. So mathematically, it went wrong. (Ha my maths teachers at school would be furious at this)
   

Second, it actually tasted pretty good despite all these things. I chopped off the skin and fat of the pork belly 'cause really I only like the lean part. I think this dish resembles the Chinese dish 东坡肉 (dong po ro), named after the Song poet Su Shi (also known as Su Dongpo), the differences being the Japanese one does not involve pan-frying the pork, and that it uses less cooking wine (the Chinese one has a strong cooking wine aroma).

Overall the whole thing took over 2 hours to make. Plus it's quite a lot of meat (even without the fat) so it's not really healthy. As simple and tasty as it was, I probably won't make it again. Although I must say that my room now smells of the lovely aroma of the dish (it's the smell of heated/condensed sweetened soy sauce).

Vivian and...a cookbook

Unfortunately there's no alliteration between my name and『基本の和食』(lit. "basic Japanese cuisine"), so I can't exactly copy Julie Powell's Julie and Julia. But anyway, I bought this thin, magazine-looking cookbook last week. The layout and instructions are very simple and clear, so it should be a good start to learning how to cook Japanese dishes. By "Japanese dishes" I mean family cooking, and the food that we usually get from the university's cafeteria. The stereotype of sushi and sashimi as the Japanese cuisine is of course another story, which I shall not venture into unless necessary.

I wanted to do this mainly because of the fact that I've only made okonomiyaki and miso soup in these four months. Obviously I've cooked other stuff but they were not Japanese. Plus I've seen Felix's photos of the cooking he's been doing and it looks fun!

Lacking Julie Powell's motivation and discipline, I'm not going to set a timeline for this little activity. I'm just going to try to cook all the dishes in the book (there aren't that many), starting tonight with 卵入り豚の角煮 (a quick stew of pork with leek and ginger and eggs).

P.S. For those of you who live in proximity of the dormitory, you're very welcomed to bring a plate/bowl and your own cutlery if you want to try the products of my little experiments.

Der Rosenkavalier

I'd been looking forward to this opera - it starred my favourite opera singer, Renee Fleming, in her signature role of Marschallin. Ms. Fleming is arguably one of the most loved sopranos in the opera world, especially in the States (she sang at the inauguration of President Obama). Although she's not so versatile as to sing all soprano roles (her Violetta wasn't as impressive as Angela Gheorghiu's at Covent Garden), Ms. Fleming is known for her Strauss and Mozart roles.

Speaking of Strauss and Mozart, there are many similarities between Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro:

• Marschallin and the Countess: both are women of status and power, and both have flings with a young man (Octavian and Cherubino)
• Octavian and Cherubino: both are trouser roles for mezzo-sopranos, and both young men fall for a woman superior in status and age (Marschallin and the Countess)
  
• Sophie and Susanna: both light soprano roles and slightly inferior to Marschallin/the Countess.
  
• Baron Ochs and Count Almaviva: the philandering aristocrat; both baritone roles.

Perhaps it's because of this comparison, (and maybe I was exhausted when I watched the 4-hours-and-20-minutes long Der Rosenkavalier), I think I prefer Mozart to Strauss. The story of Figaro is more comedic and enjoyable; and while Strauss's music is more complex, I prefer the simplicity of Mozart's score. The final trio of Rosenkavalier ("Marie Theres'!...Hab' mir's gelobt") is, I have to admit, quite amazing. The way the three female voices intertwine with each other is just mind-blowing and sends shivers down the spine.

To summarise my experience -
I liked: Renee Fleming's singing, Susan Graham's performance as Octavian (yay go mezzo!), the trio in Act 3
I didn't like: the lack of beautiful and melodic arias, Christine Schafer's singing - too light for my taste (I know the role of Sophie is supposed to be sung by a light soprano, I just don't really like that kind of voice).

My first photo exhibition

I recently joined the university's photography club, and participated in the latest exhibition. Four of the photos I took last November were chosen:

1. "Morgan" - taken at Senjojiki, Wakayama prefecture
2. "Ivan" - taken at Senjojiki, Wakayama prefecture
3. "Shirahama" - taken at a beach in Shirahama, Wakayama prefecture
4. "Untitled" - red maple leaves taken in Kyoto

(The photos can be viewed on my Flickr photostream - click on the titles)

冬休みの後、外国語学部の写真部を入会した。それから先月の展示会で写真を出した。

初めて自分の写真を展示会で飾るのは非常に嬉しかった。色々な作品の中で数枚の写真を選ぶことは易しくなかった。展示会を通じで友達と他の学生から評価を受けた時、心から気に入っていた。

展示会を行いに大変な準備を必要とする。写真が印刷されるために店に行き、そしてわくにはめられた。写真部の先輩と生協の室で写真を飾り、作品に表題をつけた。表題をつけるのは想像中より難しかった。意味のあり、クリシェではない表題が欲しかったが、難しかったので簡単な言葉を使った。肖像は当然にモデルの名前を使った。白浜の海辺で撮った写真は「しらはま」と表題をつけた。一番難しかったのは京都の紅葉の写真であった。「もみじ」や「こうよう」などの表題があまり気に入れなかったから、最終的に「無題」を使った。

部活とサークルを参加し、日本人の学生と会話を練習し、日本語がよくなる機会である。写真部以外に外国語学部オーケストラも参加するつもりだ。同じことに興味を持っている学生と大学の生活を楽しみたい。