Japanese Etiquette & Tradition, 1/4/10, Period 5

[shiroi_tiger]

When the students filed into the classroom today, they would find the setup to be... sparse, at best. Algren had taken the time to push the desks to the side of the room, and to set out cushions to sit on. There was a mat at the door for students to leave their shoes on, and slippers nearby for them to wear instead. No, this wasn't the way that classrooms were set up in Japan. But Algren found it comfortable, and he could get away with doing this while teaching this particular course, and so the students were going to just have to suck it up.

Algren, who was clad in a traditional Japanese hakama today as opposed to his typical and very dated brown suit, was already seated, cross-legged, on the cushion farthest from the door.

"Hajimemashite," he said, speaking up as the last of the students settled in. "Algren desu. Doozo yoroshiku. Make yourselves comfortable. It's the first lesson of the year, so I'm going to actually take it easy on you, just this once."

How kind!

"Today, we'll be introducing ourselves. Hopefully the novelty of doing so hasn't been worn thin after a weekend of it. After all, you've still got another week of 'hello, my name is,' left to go. In front of you, you'll find your syllabus as well as a handout with the words I just said to you written on it, and a translation underneath. Introduce yourselves the way I just did, and then, please, share in English your grade, something random about yourself, and why you're taking this course."

Yes, 'paperwork error' is a completely acceptable answer. 'I enjoyed or missed out on laughing at you in Sex Thru The Ages' will probably result in detention.

"Miss Yamanaka, I would like to speak with you after class, if you don't mind. The rest of you? Introductions. Go."

[OCD coming up! And go!]

Comments

Sign In 1/4/10

[shiroi_tiger]

Comfortably!

Re: Sign In 1/4/10

[intraspective]

Yamanaka Ino

Re: Sign In 1/4/10

[iamnotallgirl]

Jack McTeague

Lecture 1/4/10

[shiroi_tiger]

Complain amongst yourselves about having to take off your shoes, pine for a real desk, contemplate how dire the consequences would be if you were to smack somebody with one of these pillows, pass notes, or, you know, listen to the lecture.

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[intraspective]

Her lips had curved into a smile at the traditional set up of the room and Ino showed absolutely no awkwardness as she settled herself comfortably.

Sure, her house was more modern than this set up--but not all houses in Konoha were modern (for them) and this was a perfectly common way to see things.

Bit nice, really. To see it in class.

When he said her name, Ino blinked curiously (she hadn't done anything yet, he couldn't punish her!) but figured it was probably nothing, well, dire.

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[spiritandsword]

Annja had no problems at all with taking off her shoes and putting om slippers.

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[living_endless]

Didi was never going to complain about a class that let her hang out on pillows. She settled in comfortably to listen.

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela's habit for wearing boots looked like it was going to combine with her disdain for wearing boots with zippers (also known as the kind which were actually easy to get on and off) to make it an aggravating amount of work just to get into class.

At least she was used to spending time in unusual positions for long periods, so the pillows thing didn't bother her.

She weighed things in her head and decided that whoever had picked this class for her back at the Agency probably wasn't out to drive her mad.

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[heromaniac]

Momoko stared for a moment. A loooong moment. The girl looked a bit familiar, but Momoko couldn't really place her...

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[heromaniac]

Momoko felt weird coming into a classroom and being told to sit at pillows. Even back home she'd had desks! "Oh man, if this is going to be a traditional class I am totally in trouble!" She couldn't sit in formal position for more than two minutes!

But it was really cool that Professor Algren spoke Japanese!

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena toed off her shoes and slid her feet easily into the slippers. This certainly set the mood nicely. She appreciated the touch.

Re: Lecture 1/4/10

[sonofmogh.livejournal.com]

Worf respectfully took off his boots and put on the slippers.

However he looked rather uncomfortable and rigid while sitting on the pillows.

Introductions 1/4/10

[shiroi_tiger]

Not too difficult, really, though it's possible that Algren wants to hear it in Japanese just so that he can chuckle at your attempts to pronounce 'Hajimemashite, [Your Name] desu. Doozo yoroshiku.' You can totally get your revenge on him with your random fact and reason for taking the class, though. Won't that be fun?

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[intraspective]

//Hajimemashite, Yamanaka Ino desu. Doozo yoroshiku.// she rattled off without bothering to even pretend to look at the handout.

What? It was her first language after all. Ino didn't need a handout for it.

Her grin was a bit impish. "It's Ino, and I'm a junior." Random fact, random fact, one she hadn't used a million times over but wasn't important... ah. "My last name, Yamanaka, translates to 'among the mountains' and I took this class 'cause I wanted to see how it matched up to my home, which has some passing similarities to Japan."

Feudal Japan, mind.

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[iamnotallgirl]

"Hajimasheetay, Jack desu. Doozo yoro--yor--uh. Yoroshikoo? God that was horrible. Uh. I'm a senior, I only exist four days a month, and I'm here because my sister signed up for this class because she thought it'd be all cultural or something. She's the one who'll be here most of the time." Probably she wouldn't have butchered the Japanese as badly, because Jill was annoyingly perfectionist like that. Had Jack confused Nathan enough yet?

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[vanillajello]

"Hajimemashite, Kate desu. Doozo yoroshiku." Her pronunciation of this particular phrase was near-perfect; she'd been subjected to Benjamin's Japanese 101 revisions too many times for it not to be. Didn't mean she could actually speak the language, of course. She was just very good at saying the few words she did know.

"I'm a junior, and I'm taking this class probably because I've watched too much anime. And because this stuff just interests me." Lame, she knew, but true. "Oh, and a random fact? I'm a big fan of vanilla pudding."

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[living_endless]

//Hajimemashite, Didi desu.// Didi said easily enough. She hadn't used Japanese since she came to Fandom, but she knew the language. //Doozo yoroshiku.//

"I'm a junior. My random fact is, yes, I'm an incarnation of Death, no, I'm not just saying that to sound more Goth," she continued. "And I'm here because ... I don't know. It sounded cool and I like Japanese culture."

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela's brow was wrinkled in concentration. She had extremely good hearing, so at least she remembered how it was supposed to sound.

"Haji... mema... shite. Triela desu. Doozo... ... ... yoroshiku." The pauses were significant, but her pronunciation when she finally said anything was pretty good.

"I'm a Junior, and in this class because someone back home apparently thought I needed to take it." Maybe they had felt that the etiquette class she'd already taken had been insufficient and this was close. Or maybe they were going to send her to Japan. Hard to know, really.

"And I didn't look like this before the break," she explained, waving at herself. As if it wouldn't be blatantly obvious to anyone who'd seen her before.

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[nevertobequeen.livejournal.com]

"Hajimemashite, Morgana desu. Doozo yoroshiku," Morgana said slowly, trying to get the syllables pronounced right more than accented correctly. "I am a senior," she continued, much more comfortably, "and I signed up for this class because I'm interested in learning about other cultures while I can. When I go home, it'll be to a place where no one even really knows Japan exists. I suppose that could be my fact."

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[heromaniac]

"Hajimemaste, Akatsutsumi Momoko desu! Doozo yoroshiku!" Momoko grinned and bowed her head. "Ohayo, Algren-sensei! My name is Momoko, and I'm from Tokyo City and I'm a junior! Uhm... something random about me... I have a giant robot time machine back home! Well, sort of, she's really the professor's but I'm the only one who can pilot the red one." She gave a V-sign.

"And I think someone signed me up for this class because I'm not really very traditional." Like that was a surprise to anyone who knew her.

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena straightened her back. Somehow, Wutaian was easier with good posture.

"Hajimemashite, Elena desu. Doozo yoroshiku."

She had the careful, formal pronunciation of someone who had learned the language privately, from books, and had less experience speaking it conversationally.

"I'm a senior. I'm from a world called Gaia, and a country of ours, Wutai, has some striking similarities to both Japan and another country, which I believe is called China. I've been studying Wutai culture and language lately, so I thought this class might help, for comparative purposes."

All of which sounded far more proper than 'I'm hoping to impress the boss.'

Re: Introductions 1/4/10

[sonofmogh.livejournal.com]

Worf tried saying "Hajimemashite" about five times before grunting and giving up.

"I am Worf. Son of mogh," he announced glaring at anyone who might snicker at his mangling of Japanese. "I come from another planet and a race of warriors who strive for honor in everything the do."

Talk to Algren 1/4/10

[shiroi_tiger]

Who will be waiting around after class, picking up the cushions and just generally being... Algren. A bit of a smug grump. Of course.

Re: Talk to Algren 1/4/10

[intraspective]

Ino had snagged a couple cushions that were in her vicinity and approached him with them, figuring that he was going to have to pick them up anyway and it was just easier for her to do it.

"Cushions?" she said, making it half a question and glancing at him inquiringly for both where to put them and-- "You wanted to see me, Algren-sensei?"

She was innocent of all wrong-doing. This time around. She totally couldn't be in trouble.

OOC 1/4/10

[shiroi_tiger]

It is so very fortunate that introductions come after newbie weekends, because wow, this icon pretty much sums up my mental processes at the moment.

I'll be headed to bed right away, but I'll be back to pick up pings after work, at about 3:00 PM EST.