Final Entry

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In hindsight, this last year just seems to have gone by so quickly that I need to look at all the entries to realize what has happened since September last year. Has it been a good year; has it been a fruitful year or has it just been an absolute waste of time? Since I am not a philosophical kinda guy I think I just need to compare the expectations I had with the results and see what the outcome is.

Expectations: a) better grasp of spoken and written Japanese. b) getting to know Japanese people and making friends and c) see places and witness events that I could not possibly do anywhere else but in Japan.

I did improve on my language proficiency skills but, unfortunately, not as much as I would have liked mainly due to the fact that 10 Dutch students were housed together and even though I’m a rather gregarious and extravert person, I did not manage to meet and develop friendships with enough Japanese people to have good conversations with. To connect with the younger Japanese crowd was easy but never a lasting thing (the age gap is just way too big) and I didn’t manage to meet interesting folk my age (too conformist and too petty bourgeois) in Nagasaki. Even to make gay friends there didn’t work out. The only thing that I managed to do was to travel and see quite a lot of the country itself. The times spend on planes, trains and buses have been extensive and gruellingly expensive too.

Has it been a waste of time? I can honestly say no it has not. Although the general lustre regarding Japan has disappeared, I think I have come to value the things one normally takes for granted at least for now and I think that I have matured (if that’s at all possible) in more ways than one. The thing I have really come to realize is that I will not go and live without Paul somewhere again for such an extended period of time so I need to consider if continuing doing a MA (Master of Arts) in Leiden afterwards (which includes an other obligatory year in Japan) is a viable option at all.

Went to Leiden University last Monday to register for certain lectures (still not possible to do this online…..) and it felt like nothing had changed. Lectures will start on the 11th and only two more years, deo volente, to get my Bachelors.

頑張って… Gambatte……

Silver ( Montreal III )

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Like in any other sports event one encounters nice and friendly people and some really unsavoury horrid folk. Our cutie from Montreal is called Louis and apart from being cute he’s also a super nice guy. The worst was called Roland, we found out afterwards, who doesn’t even introduce himself and the moment the board’s up he walks away. Absolutely no breeding there……
After three days of playing bridge I had sort of reached the end of my tether. We did remarkably well on Wednesday morning but in the afternoon I caved in much to the dismay of my partner Pim. So no medals for us!!
The Dutch do very well where medals are concerned so the gold medal for Ellen and Jolanda (tennis doubles) is not a big surprise. Swimming and cycling is another discipline we do well.
Needless to say that I’m very proud of my husband Paul, however, for getting the silver medal for the cross country run.

The general atmosphere here in Montreal is wonderful and walking through the “Gay Ghetto” on Sainte Catharine in the evening gives you quite a buzz.

Last night we went to “Outsplash”, a closing performance by several swimming clubs. Two Dutch ones…: Ketelbinkie from Rotterdam (2nd place) and Upstream from Amsterdam (3rd place). Winner was the group from Melbourne, Australia.
Apart from partaking in a sport you can also go and watch a lot of other ones. Anne, Paul and I went to the diving on Thursday morning and the body building extravaganza in the afternoon. They call body building “Physique” in US English and “Culturisme” in Quebecois French. It’s amazing what these men (didn’t see the women) can do with their muscles. Country and Western and ballroom dancing are also very popular here.


Today is the big day for Paul, Nick and Anne as they’re doing the half-marathon. The weather is good, breezy and not hot. We were all there cheering them on as the passed by.
This afternoon at 4 pm. is the closing ceremony with Liza Minelli as the main attraction (hope she can still sing with all those drugs keeping her standing upright). Should be fun anyway.

And this is almost it. Flying back home via Munich to good old Amsterdam tomorrow and that basically concludes my year in Nagasaki. It won’t be my last entry since I still have to evaluate the pros and the cons of this year.
One of the cons is the absolute nasty attitude of the teachers at Nagasaki University. I got an email from Bart saying that only 5 students will receive their certificate. Apparently you must have 7 credits in the 1st semester and 7 in the 2nd but did they ever tell us that….no. So for those who got only 5 or 4 credits in the 1st semester and subsequently worked their asses off to make the total of 14 credits will not receive the certificate. Well I’m sure you know what I think they can do with their precious certificate……#$%&*%$#

Need more Zen ... maybe .. In with anger out with love......

Bridge ( Montreal II )

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On Sunday we met Kathy White from Toronto for lunch and walked around the old part of Montreal down at the Saint Laurent River. A lot of development going on there; lots of new condos plus renovated lofts and all dirt cheap. Montreal has a nice feel….French charm, American efficiency and everybody is just so friendly……
They also have a big Gay Pride Parade here but unlike Europe, The US and even Toronto it is just very political and certainly not a party. Hardly any music or weird and wonderful people to watch...just banners in French demanding this or the other. Gave up after 2 hours and had "Tonkinoise"....the local chinese type of food. Yammie.

Pim and I started the Bridge competition on Monday morning at 9 o’clock and despite the fact that I hadn’t played for more than a year the result at the end of the day wasn’t bad…: 5th place. In other words you can only go down. We’re with 10 players from Amsterdam (the same ones that also went to Sydney) and we’re having a lot of fun. But it’s difficult to focus for two times three hours per day.

Time for a bit of relaxation was called for and so in order to celebrate Pim’s birthday (40 once again) he had invited a whole group of friends for dinner in the old part of Montreal. Since Hans and I had just come in from Honolulu we did a Hula greeting and gave all the guests a Lei. I have just never been so embarrassed in my whole life. But it’s amazing how quick you adjust and I just wanted to go on dressed up or rather down through the whole town.
Next time I will not hesitate to shed my clothes “en plein publique” and go around looking like a sad old queen.

Outgames 2006 ( Montreal I )

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Most of the participants in this humongous GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) sporting event called the Outgames 2006 arrived last Friday the 28th in Montreal, Quebec. Apparently there are more then 14.000 participants from well over a 112 countries. Got a message from Pim that due to heavy storms in Chicago about 400 flights were cancelled last Thursday and he would be stuck there till Saturday due to heavily oversold flights to Montreal.

We’re in a rather seedy part of town with loads of beggars and tramps plus an overabundance of sex shops but the apartments are really spacious and pleasant.
We registered for our specific sports (Bridge in my case) and bought tickets fro the grand finale of the swimming tournament Out Splash (a.k.a. Pink Flamingos in Sydney).
Had dinner in the evening in “The Gay Village”, full of drag queens and the like.

Saturday was spent exploring Plateau Mount Royal, the elevated district of Montreal, nice parks, small streets with tons of restaurants and street side café’s.
The main drag down is called Rue Saint-Denis with boutique stores, bars etc. The weather is great not too hot and a nice breeze.

After gathering at the Holland Garden, the place where the Dutch participants can congregate and be entertained by Dolly Bellefleur, a drag queen from Amsterdam, we all went to the Olympic Stadium where the opening of the Outgames took place. The Dutch by wearing the colour orange made a big impact upon entering the stadium, singing and waiving orange flags. We saw K.D. Lang, up close performing various country songs and Martha Wash doing her “It’s raining men” routine. Apart from several other artists we could also see Cirque de Soleil give a great show (they originated here). It was an absolute blast.
After one last drink in Rue Sainte Catherine it was definitely time to hit the hay.