Being There: The movie is very “Zen”

The Japanese word Zen-mondou is translated into “Zen dialogues” in English: A Zen
 pupil asks a question, and then, promptly, his Zen master answers the question in
 a short simple sentence without explanation, so the pupil thinks deeply again to
 understand its meaning. The original meaning of this word being changed, it is
now used to describe the dialogue that is difficult to understand its real intention.
 Chance says only simple things, but others interpret its meaning deeply or differently.
 It is like a Zen dialogue.  

Zen is a kind of Buddhism from Japan or China. Some parts of Japanese cultures
 based on Zen, such as flower arrangement, tea ceremony, and Japanese
 gardening. Zen represents simplicity, profundity, and beauty. The characteristics
 of Japanese culture based on Zen is in cutting out extraneous parts of
everything. In this meaning, Chance’s simplicity and honesty could be said
 “Zen.”  Chance is not a gardener of Japanese gardens, though.

Being There: WWWW!

“Being There” looks simple, but profound and beautiful, which is the reason some
people say the movie is very “Zen.” We learned it from Nathan. Without his frequent
explanations, I couldn’t have understood the movie better. 

I liked Chance’s character. I worked at the class for handicapped students last two
 years as a teacher. Recently we have a lot of students who need special cares
 to learn how to make normal human relations. Even though Chance had been
 raised only inside the house by TV and the African American maid, his mental
 development seemed to be unusual. Personally I think he might be such children
 as my students I loved. I won’t try to discuss from that aspect right now because
 it is just a fiction.    

Denotation and connotation are the most difficult parts of learning foreign
 languages. Many words are used both in their denotative meanings and in their
 connotative meanings depending on the situations. The movie, “Being There”,
was succeeded in creating the two different worlds that consist of different
meanings of the same words. Both the worlds are supporting each other in
 this story. 

Chance meant as the words literally meant when he talked about the garden.
The president and other people were moved by his words interpreting more
deeply as wisdoms for current politics, economics and other practical problems.
One is concrete and specific world, and the other is theoretical and abstract
 world. The same word could build both the worlds at the same time. The two
 worlds of words sometimes paralleled and sometimes crossed to make us
 enjoy the richness of the language. What a wonderful world of words it is!  

Looking For A Place To Live in Vancouver!

I have finally found my rooms for myself. Fortunately I met a nice landlord in the end. It has been a kind of hardship for me, especially for my English training or cultural experience. It might be meaningful to talk about my experience.

It is true that I am student at ELI UBC, so I sometimes have advantages of being a student, for example, I get a ticket as a student, cheaper than an adult. At the same time, I am much older than an ordinal student. Furthermore, I am a male, not a female. I don’t smoke. I don’t have a pet. I am a quiet, not a ‘party’ animal. This kind of personal information sometimes works better, sometimes worse when I try to apply for an apartment. Under the British Columbian laws related to renting houses and rooms, people are supposed to be protected their human rights. They declare there is no discrimination among people who want to rent.

I almost had given up after a lot of failures in finding an appropriate apartment, I put the following self-introduction lastly when I applied by email after reading some articles on the Craigslist. You could read between the lines that I became desperate and felt ashamed of myself. I had almost lost hope that I was able to find the best apartment which met my conditions. I exposed almost everything of my personality in it. I was not protective at all.

Hello,

My name is Tetsuro Matsuura (Japanese, male). I’ve been looking for an apartment to live by myself. I am interested in this suite.

I’m not sure it is good or not, but I have never smoked in my life. I’ll keep the room clean. I am 58 years old, I worked as an English teacher at Junior high school in Japan for a long time, but I ‘m studying English at ELI, UBC now.

I’d like to make an appointment to view the rooms. Please tell me what day is convenient for the owner. I’m OK any day and any time after class (after 4:00). Please let me know by email. My telephone number is 7***, but I prefer an email due to my poor listening comprehension.

Regards,

Some owners targeted UBC students from the beginning. They are young students; they would stay longer until the end of their college life. The landlords pretended to keep my name for a while in their pockets without answering my inquiry, and after finding their best tenant, they gave a call telling me, and said,” You are late. Sorry, it has already been rented.” Other landlords said, “We want a girl as we said from the beginning,” Actually their articles had said nothing about that. Some gave me any replies to my emails.

In some cases, their rooms were found to be unfurnished at all. I was sorry that I realized it for the first time after visiting. The rooms were perfect. I should not buy all the equipment to live there only for six months. In general, owners prefer long-stayers to short-stayers like me. I might have had less advantage to be chosen among competitive applicants.

Eventually, I was able to make the best choice. It is fortunate that I met a kind and sincere landlord in the end and made a contract to rent her basement.

I've got interested in listening to CBC 1.

Today I have been listening to the radio almost all day. I always tune to the radio CBC 1 , which I heard is like BBC in Britain, NHK in Japan. By listening to the same broadcast station in the same way, I have found very interesting programs so far. It has a lot of interviews with writers of novels, books or leading persons in Canadian societies and outside world.

Especially it seems specially stressed the aboriginal people’s lives and immigrants’. Recently I download its special program from the website (podcast) and send them to the i-pod , and enjoy listening on the bus or in walking along the streets. I feel happy to realize I am gradually getting used to listening to their fast speaking. There are still lots of difficulties to understand clearly because I need to know the backgrounds of the stories.

Today it goes without saying it is featuring the 10th anniversary of September 11th. I sent an email to an ELI friend who is now in New York and to hear from her what is happening around her. I was just now impressed to know from the radio program that some representatives are reading the individual names of the victims aloud, but the readers are all from their families or related people. It is very significant for her to be there today. I visited the World  Trade Center summer in 1992.

What is writing to me?

Fortunately I have enjoyed writing both in Japanese and in English. When it comes to writing about something in English, I still have a lot of problems. English is not my own language. I will be a student of English all my life. My goal is improve the ability of writing at least to the level that native speakers of English could say "Oh, it is written better than an ordinal teens in Canada." I'd like to fill the gap between the expression and the contents, because I have a lot to convey to the world.

I worked as an English teacher at junior high schools in Japan for 34 years. After I retired this March, which was two years earlier than the retirement age (60). I came to Vancouver to  study English to my satisfaction. I had never satisfied myself in my English though I taught my students such a long time. There was something I felt I had not done in my life. 

To improve my writing, I have continued to writing emails to someone almost every day in Japanese or English instead of keeping a diary. What I have sent will be a good record of my precious staying here in Vancouver. I couldn't realize studying abroad in my young days, but now thanks to computers, I am able to realize what I couldn't have done in the past. I am really enjoying looking over the young students who look worried about their job in the future. I've already retired!