Words of the day quarter
上映会 (joueikai) - Movie screening
お辞儀 (ojigi) - Bow
宴会 (enkai) - Banquet
お誕生日おめでとう (otanjoubi omedetou) - Happy Birthday
正社員 (seishain) - regular employee

January has been a busy month. The movie "Ari to Kirigirisu" went into premiere in Tokyo, and Nobuhiro Ohdate, the director, asked me to introduce a deaf movie from Holland to Japan. So I have been busy contacting people in Holland about deaf movies, and I chose "Droom of Echt" (Dream or Reality) produced by Camedo. I took care of the Japanese subtitles for this movie, and on January 31st, it got its special premiere in Kyoto, during Sagano's Deaf Film Festival (さがの聴覚障害者映像祭). I prepared a lecture as well to tell a bit about Holland and Camedo, and at the end we got very good feedback from the audience. Everybody was amazed at the quality of "Droom of Echt", that we thought it was a sign of introducing the movie to the rest of the Japanese deaf world as well. We told Camedo/SWDA about the festival and we reached an agreement that we will introduce each other's movies to the deaf people in each country as a cultural exchange. Nobuhiro offered a movie of his to be shown in Holland, while we continue showing "Droom of Echt" in Japan. The Tokyo premiere will be on April 24th in Akasaka, together with a screening of "Ari to Kirigirisu".

In February I have been busy preparing for a 3 hour lecture in Yokosuka, in the south of Kanagawa prefecture, about 1.5 hour by train from Tokyo. Yokosuka is famous for the American Naval Base that resides there. I saw many more foreigners in Yokosuka, much more than in Tokyo, and it gave me a strange feeling actually. It was a bit too American to my liking, and I do not like America (sue me, I am a proud descendant from Europe!)

At Yokosuka I told about Holland, Holland's deaf culture and history. And in the second half I told about my experiences in Japan, as a deaf foreigner. There were quite a few funny stories, like bowing salarymen on the phone; the obaasan (old woman) who explained me how to dispose of my bottle garbage properly, while I was actually in a hurry to my work; how I and a Dutch friend who came to Japan, decided to eat the herring sushi the Dutch way; how deaf Japanese people tried to communicate with me in ASL or IS (American Sign Language, International Sign) at first, and their surprised faces when I introduced myself in Japanese sign language; and some more I can not recall at the moment.

It was a good lecture. Most of the audience were older people in the 50's to 70's range. They took me to a banquet at the end of the afternoon, and we had a nice feast of seafood: shrimps, crab, sashimi, nabe stew, and unlimited drinks! The seniors told me about how their lives were back in their days, and it was good to hear their stories. I asked about sign language differences between the younger and older generations in Japan, but there appears to be a few, less than the differences in Holland was my impression.

Then March came, and it felt more and more like spring was coming. I organized a party on my birthday, the 6th of March. I wanted to hold it at my apartment, and find out how many people would fit in. My first guess was about 10, and invited about 20 people, because there will always be a few who can not come. In the end, 12 people came, and it fit perfectly! I cooked Hutspot, a Dutch mashed potato mix, another friend made some nice salad and brought it, and other friends brought drinks and snacks. It was a lot of fun, and I am planning to hold another party in the summer. I can use the balcony then, have a BBQ, and invite 15 people over. Hope it is going to work out well! :)

For the rest, work is going well. I had my evaluation in February, and it has been decided that I will be a regular employee, a seishain (正社員)! More reassurance, yay!