The Plum Wine Explanation of Japanese Students

So, I have become aware that the people I have sent this blog link to have actually read it. This means I actually have readers. Hello! Not that many of you have accounts, so I doubt that you will be commenting. Ah well. Still, I have to apologize, future-me. From now on it looks like I will not merely be addressing you, but also my beloved, if somewhat mute, readers *sends love to everyone, including future-me. Especially future-me.*

So yes. I study Japanese. I am in second year and currently dying, hence me wasting time so gloriously by writing a blog. Second year Japanese at SOAS includes a wonderful test of super shiny joy in last January, early February which will determine which university we get to go to for our year out next year. This is an issue. Why, you might ask? Well, because the people who are best in the year get first choice and so on. Ah, but surely, all one has to do is study, no?

Ha. Let me explain. Most of us second years have actually been at SOAS for a full year already, having only started learning Japanese when we started at SOAS. Then, there are those of us who joined SOAS as freshers this year, but studied Japanese at GCSE level and A level. This means they are Too Good For First Year, and got to join us in the big, growned up peoples class. It also means they are better than this. 'But how can this be?' I hear you ask. Or would. If you had accounts. And commented. Yeah... *feels crushingly lonely for a moment* moving on!


So to explain/rationalise to myself and others how we are working horrifically hard and managing to pass and the new intakes are getting constant 80% marks, I came up with this little analogy. There is a type of wine which exists in Taiwan, and probably other parts of Asia. It is rice wine, but not just any rice wine. In it, you put a sour plum which after a little while flavours the whole wine. Now, the new intake students are a jug of rice wine to which the plum was added over half an hour before the meal. Now, the wine is all nicely flavoured and would get 'thumbs up' from the judges. The rest of us are jugs of rice wine that have just been put on the table, and as people sat down, the plum was added. There are bits of the wine that taste vaguely like plum. There is one bit that tastes horrifically of sourness and plum (that would be the plum) but most of it has a vague hint of a promise of future-plum. That's us. Plain, boring rice wine. The plus to this analogy is that both studying Japanese and being full of rice wine make you so brain dead you can't even think straight about thinking straight. The downside to this analogy is that it's very long, complex and makes me want rice wine (Japanese version is called sake, pronounced sah-kay)

In further news, I was 'accused' of making a ;S face today. Being me, of course, I went 'huh?' Only to realise I was making it again. Yes, this face is possible in real life. Try it. Right now. One eye, preferably the right closes slightly, in confusion. Raising eyebrows may help with this. Mouth twists. Full S is not possible without intervention of the fingers. Head tips to the right for maximum effect. And I really hope that this will spread across the land and all will come to know and recognise the ';S' face. Then my joy would be complete.