Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Norway Yumenet Presentation in Tokyo (Norsk Salong)

Anette 12:02:00 PM Japan, Norway, Norway abroad

On Saturday I gave a speech at Norway Yumenet (ノルウェー夢ネット)'s "Norsk Salong" (Norwegian Salon) about various things related to my life in Japan. I had been invited to give the lecture by Junko-san and Yoko-san who together run Norway Yumenet. They are hosting various lectures every second month with guests who talk about different things related to Norway, as well as holding courses in Norwegian.

The first slide of my presentation

This time it was my experience with Japanese job hunting that was the main topic. Since I already have studied for a long time in both Japan and Korea and worked as an intern at the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo I got to talk a bit about these things too.

Self introduction

There was only one very unfortunate thing about the lecture, and that was the weather. As a Norwegian I am familiar with both snow and wind, and keep holding on to the quite Norwegian motto "Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær" (there is no bad weather, only bad clothing). But although Saturday was a beautiful and sunny day to be out in the snow about half of the participants chose to cancel due to the snow that had fallen the day before. It must have been hard getting around Tokyo with many of the trains cancelled or running on delayed scheduled.

Talking a bit about my Japanese studies

It was still incredibly nice that relatively many had chosen to come to the lecture hall despite the complicated weather. The atmosphere was good and I got many questions from the audience during and after the presentation.

Practicing Norwegian with Junko-san

I had brought my boyfriend along too. It was a great chance for him to hear more about Norway, and he also got to learn some new Norwegian words during Junko-san's small Norwegian course at the end of my lecture.

Me &Yuma

Although it would have been nice if all the registered participants had made it to the lecture I'm really happy for the people who came, and of course that I got this fun opportunity to talk about my experiences in Japan. Junko-san and Yoko-san are really working hard to promote and teach about Norway here in Japan, and I would be more than honored if I get the chance to come back to Norsk Salong and hold another lecture some time in the future.

In the meantime, here are some related links for those who are interested:

Yumenet on Twitter

Yumenet Homepage (Japanese/Norwegian)

ノルウェーについて学ぶサロン・講座レポート

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About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.