See, the events for this delegation were organized by the Kameoka Youth Sports Association, which works with city hall but is not a part of city hall. I was never actually introduced to the people for whom I was suddenly working and they didn't really tell me what they expected me to do. They handed me a schedule earlier in the week and asked me to show up at the right times. So I did.
So just before noon I headed over to the Chinese restaurant next to city hall, Bonne, and waited for them to arrive. I was the first one there so it was awkward for about 10-15 minutes waiting in a room alone (it's amazing how I can feel awkward in a room by myself....)
The part I was worried about was when they arrived. The Japanese had added me as part of the supporting crew for the delegation because...I'm foreign? But I speak English and Japanese. No German. I can say "thanks" and "Do you speak English" in German, and with a horrible accent I'm sure.
So when they got there I introduced myself to their translator (a young Japanese woman, actually the same age as me) and asked her if they spoke English. She said yes so I introduced myself. I felt bad for making them deal with a foreign language, but they actually said they were relieved. They have been dealing with Japanese broken English for weeks and were grateful to have a native speaker. Actually their English was incredible. A few of them sounded almost native. It made me wish I had been born in Germany so I could have that kind of language education. All of them could understand English to a certain degree, and Benjamin, Katarina, Simona, and Julian were really fluent. That's 2/3 of the group...fluent.
I talked to them a little over lunch, but for the most part let them converse in German. I didn't want to be the one forcing them to speak a foreign language. I spent most of my time talking to the Japanese people seeing as that was the language I could understand.
After lunch we went over to city hall and they had their formal meeting with the mayor. It was actually a really good experience for me to observe this type of meeting rather than act as the translator. I have no real training as a translator and so watching someone who has training translate for a group was a good learning experience. She was very good, but I learned that all translators struggle with having to instantaneously turn one language into another. I couldn't understand her German, but her Japanese was not as fluid as normal.
It was really quite awkward though because they mayor had to run off to another meeting and he didn't notice that the leader of the delegation, Petra, was trying to give him a gift. He just kept saying goodbye and then walked away, while the rest of us tried to politely cue him in.
After the meeting with the mayor we left for our scheduled events of the day. We started off at the Something Something Center where they were taught the basics of Ikebana, or flower arranging. I stepped in every once and a while to help translate but for the most part I was just watching and giving advice (though I know nothing about Ikebana). It was interesting to watch them and they all seemed to have pretty good sense. Benjamin seemed very serious about it and thought long and hard before he put anything down. Simona was mostly just concerned with making it all fit and would continually ask for advice. But they all did a really good job and they made some really beautiful arrangements.
After the Ikebana lesson we visited the Something Something shrine out in the middle of nowhere Kameoka for the tea ceremony. We all sat in a long line and the woman performed the tea ceremony for us. She did it fairly quickly, from what I remember from studying tea ceremony in college, it is a long process. Every move is full of meaning...blah blah blah. I have to admit I can't stand tea ceremony. They spend such a long time to make a cup of tea and then stare at you as you drink it...and it tastes just like the rest of the tea I drink. Apparently there is something special in the preciseness of the movements etc. but I don't really see it.
After the tea ceremony we went back to the guest house where they were all staying and unloaded their luggage. I sat downstairs chatting with Kojima-san and Fujiwara-san while the Germans relaxed upstairs and then we started the barbeque. Again it was nice to watch someone else do the translation. I asked the Germans how her German was and they said it was fairly good. She made "cute mistakes, probably like we do in English" they said.
We stood around talking about music, which seems to be a topic that can transcend culture as long as you are around the same age. I introduced them to some of my favorite bands and they had me listen to some of theirs. We talked about their impressions of Japanese culture and what I have learned here in the last year.
One of the participants in the BBQ was a college student from Kameoka who was really interested in talking to the Germans. He had them teach him some German phrases and I would translate for him when they spoke in English and I could understand. I think one of my favorite parts was when they lapsed into German and I would try to figure out what they were saying. Sometimes I kept up fairly well...but most of the time I had no idea what was going on. But they were very good about catching me up most of the time, especially Benjamin and Katarina and Simona.
Also, I haven't mentioned this yet, but Benjamin...was beautiful. I don't really know how else to describe him. Just beautiful. Nice to have something pretty to look at while you're working (^_~).
Anyway, after the BBQ I hitched a ride home with Ishida-san and pretty much crashed. It had been a 12 hour day, and even though I wasn't the main translator I did do a decent amount of translating and helping with the group.
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