Now there’s definitely been some time since I last posted. Sorry about that, but since having like no access to the internet and being busy pretty much all the time, it’s hard to fine a spot where I can sit down and write. Anyhow, enough about that, here we go :P.
So far the homestay is working out great. I could not possible imagine the host-family being any better (with the possible exception of lack of internet) and they are so helpful. They asked me about things that I wanted to do here in Japan and I said that I really wanted to start Kendo here but that the school-club is apparently kind of shaky. Since there’s no teacher, it’s a lot up to yourself if you actually want to join the club. Hence, I wanted to join an “actual” club in Neyagawa or something (which is where I live). My hostfamily went through fire to find a club for me that I could join that wasn’t too far away. They printed lots of maps and called all their friends and guess what? They found one! :P Going there this Sunday to check it out. Apparently one of the teachers has been in Australia for three years, so he might actually speak pretty decent English, imagine?
Classes so far are going pretty well. They seem rather chilled compared to Westminster, I’m not gonna lie; at least the two that are taught in English. I hear from other students that since so many people come here for other reasons than to study, the teachers go fairly easy on us. The Japanese classes though are pretty intense. They are fun, no doubt about that, just intense. My reading and writing teacher is a Kanji-nazi, but then again, considering my lack of knowledge, it’s not surprising. Everyone else in both of my classes have studied for like 1-1.5 years, so I’m really on the lower end of the spectrum, but at the same time, I really enjoy the challenge. Furthermore, in my speaking class I’m not that far behind. My vocabulary is fine, but I don’t know the grammar well enough, so study study!
Got my cell phone now as well, it’s really sweet actually, I doubt that I’ll find these kind of cell phones in America or Europe. Maybe I’m wrong (considering I haven’t been on the cell phone market for years) but this thing has got TV, recording movies, dictionaries, and so on put into it. Furthermore it’s got this sweet thing that you can flip the screen around and watch it like a mini-tv. It wasn’t too badly priced either, at least not compared to Sweden (then again, is anything?).
We had lots of fun yesterday, headed to a Karaoke bar. I was kind of nervous considering I’m neither a great singer, nor do I particularly enjoy singing. However, no joke, this was soo much fun I’ll do it again any day. We rented a small room that’s basically sound-isolated, so it’s only the group that goes there that can really hear it. We were like 8 people, so it was pretty crowded. You pay like $25 for three hours and you can drink as much as you want during this time (!). It was great, my throat is actually really sore today, but no doubt that it was worth it. Yeah, totally going back there at some point in the future. Found one of my favorite Japanese bands there too, but I couldn’t read the Japanese fast enough to keep up with the song, so it ended up being all western songs :D (they had a frikking HUUGE selection, phone books after phone book of music).
Other than these events, I’m really having a lot of fun here. I’m trying to stay in touch with people, although that’s proving harder than I originally thought. Eating really well, and comparably cheap. My host-mother is a really good cook and she tries so hard to feed me more than I can eat. She thought I hadn’t eaten enough so she brought out some seaweed and wrapped rice in it, and served them as small snack-sized bites so that I could eat it whenever I got hungry :P. The Japanese itself is going well, having a review test on Tuesday to certify which class that I should be in, so I need to keep up with my grammar-studies right now. Going out tonight again, but Sunday and Monday (national holiday, so we’re off school) will be dedicated for that. Oh, and today it’s snowing for the first time, so I’m very c-cc-c-c-oooold.
I almost forgot! My speaking partner contacted me yesterday as well, so I'll try to get a hold of her. It's a program where you meet up for the purpose of talking english/japanese as much as possible in order to improve both sides language-abilities. That should prove to be a lot of fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment