Free at last!......well, sorta...
So today I woke up at around 6:30am; sounds early, right? Well, if you have five sheets of Japanese homework to do, a Japanese dialogue to memorize, and a grammar quiz to study for, and a shower to take before 8:50am, that's called oversleeping:) I prayed that God would help me get my work done, and after settling down here in my room a minute ago, I realized that I got it all done in time (thank you God!). So now, I'm listening to "Sunday Morning" by Maroon Five, and gazing out at the beautiful, nearly clear sky. I got my Japanese test back from Friday, and I got an 86% -- 8% better than the last test:) I'm finally starting to gain a better grasp of writing coherent Japanese sentences. Even my quizzes are all 100% (except for the kanji quizzes, which I keep failing), so it's becoming more apparent what areas I'm growing in and which I need to improve.
My teacher is going to America for two weeks, and he said that he'll bring me some macaroni and cheese back! Boy, do I miss good food...not to say sushi isn't good, it's just that HOT food tastes better (j/k). I have to figure out something with my financial situation because finacial aid took away a lot of my aid, so now I don't have any money. I plan to take out a loan with UMich next week, but that's a whole week without money, living off the food I have, which isn't that much. I know something will work out, though, because I didn't get here with all the financial difficulties I had on the way, just to not have any money during my stay. I'm going to pick up my alien registration card today, so I can finally open a bank account here in Japan. My hope is that I can open a savings account and put my extra loan money there to use when I need it.
Well, I need to go study, so that's it for today. Oh yeah, the Japanese word for the day is: takai, which means expensive (ex. Sore-wa totemo takai desu-ne in English means That is very expensive).
Until next time,
Jaamata-ne
Let's have a little fun...
So, today's blog will be short. However, this is a fun exercise, so enjoy!
Leave your name and
1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
4. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
5. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
6. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
7. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal.
Ubtil next time...
Jaamata-ne or in English, see you later!
Japanese Studies -- where your best hasn't been good enough since the beginning of syntax
Alrightie, so I know it's been a bit over a week since I've left a post; this week, I should be more frequent because I'm finished with all my homework for the week (isn't that cool?). Right now, I'm just proofreading over all of it with my handy-dany study tools:) Mr. Pencil Has become my best friend here. You can't imagine how many times I erase on my papers...my erasers dull out after a week!
Anyways, I'm listening to "Thug mansion" by Tupac feat. Nas. This song always reminds me of being in my dorm room in Alice Lloyd (U of M Residence Hall), reflecting on where I'll end up in ten years or so. Even though people usually have great things to say about their exploration overseas, it's hard for me to adjust. I miss being in America, and I know I might say that a lot, but it's something about being away from what you know that causes one to cling to what they have left. Right now, I'm considering returning back to America after December. Now don't get me wrong, the environment and a lot of the people I've met are really great -- by having those things, it helps me to get through this first semester here. It's just that I can't picture myself being subject to the rules and culture of this society -- it's great to study and even experience for a while, but for me, I don't see why I should want to live here.
The hard part about all of this is what will I ultimately decide? If I return to America, I would experience reverse culture shock while I'm starting my new classes (which might not be the best idea). It would also be hard to build relationships with friends I already have, just because after time, we would all be somewhat different and would need to learn how to accept each other with those differences. Additionally, getting a place to live would be challenging, since I would need to live in the dorms or get an apt. But if I stay....well, let's just say that if I still felt the way I feel right now by January, I wouldn't be having a good time. When I say Japanese classes are intense, that's what I mean. Yes, I completed all of my homework for the week, but I still need to study each day just to keep up with the class. And the hard thing about things is my Japanese writing skills have improved drastically, but my speaking skills are still mediocre. In public, it's easy to stick to the same phrases (so I don't look stupid!), but not practicing new sentence patterns have caused me to be behind in class in speaking skills.
But in other news, this weekend, I'll be staying in Nagoya with Cass and a woman named Stacii, who is attending church services in Nagoya with me. We're going to do Karaoke (Yay! Singing!), and Stacii will do my nails and eyebrows (thank you God!). I can't wait because I'm hoping that this experience can help me to be more comfortable with using Japanese in public. Well, it's time to go, but before I leave, here's the Japanese word of the day: aisu which means to love in English (ex. Watashi-wa anata-ni aishite imasu = I love you!)
Until next time...
Stacey
Lots of Pictures!!!
Here's a picture of my host mom from last weeks' homestay. I took this picture when I complimented her on the beautiful dolls shes makes....
...And here's a picture of one of the dolls. She actually gave me this doll, along with its' twin. I have them sitting on my desk in my bedroom right now.
And she's a great cook! Momma-chan wanted to cook Tako Yaki , but because I hate octopus, we used an assortment of vegetables, and other meat to make Random Yaki 
On Saturday, we went to a mountain....drove all the way to the top, and took pictures. Here's the beautiful view of Shiga-cho.
Saturday morning, Momma-chan and host dad cooked this wonderful breakfast...and this was just the beginning! I was so hungry, though, I didn't take a pic of all the food that they cooked for us:(
And here's the after shot. Looks like I wasn't the only one who was hungry:) Sooooo good.....
Well, that's all for today. I wish I can update my blog more consistently, but I have to study a lot here. I do miss America a lot...just the simple things like seeing English on buildings, and knowing what's going on in my area. But this past weekend, I went to church service in Nagoya and had a great time with my friend from JCMU, Cassidy, and the Christians in the church. Hiiro Yuki-kun came up with a game where he could practice his English, and we could practice our Japanese....I had sooo much fun because I'm finally building relationships with people here, and things don't feel so lonely. Alrightie, it's time to go. The Japanese word for the day is fukuzatsu (na), which means complicated, or complex (ex. Watashi-no shukudai-ga fukuzatsu desu-yo = My homework is complicated!)
Jaamatane.
Oh Happy Day;)
September 21, 2005
I am sooo excited; today was such a great day! This morning, I woke up and all I wanted to do was crawl back under the covers and retreat into hibernation once more; but since I didn’t finish my homework from the night before, I had no choice but to get up and finish it. I got a small yogurt from the fridge, and walked downstairs, only to find Kalifah’s new Japanese roomie up and about. We sat and talked for a while, and it turns out, she works at Cainz Mall which is a grocery store/Home Depot/Walmart in one big complex. I couldn’t belive how well she speaks Japanese, and she’s even graduated; she’s just taking the English class through my sister program, B, to hone her English-speaking skills *impressive*. So, since I had my homework to complete, I asked her to help me go over it to check for grammatical errors; and she helped me out drastically. I only got two or thee marks off of my entire homework packet because of her help:)
Well anyways, in class today we went over the new sentence pattern, which uses ageru, morau, kudasaru, and itadaku to covey the relationship between giving and receiving things in Japanese. I wish I’d known these wonderful words the first time I went to the Coco’s restaurant next to my dorm: since I didn’t know how to say, "Please give me back my card", the waitresses could not understand me, and nor could I understand them. I ended up leaving the restaurant in tears because I was so frustrated with my lack of Japanese language skills, and they laughed at me because I couldn’t understand them. But things are okay now. I can now order at a restaurant, so things should be easier at Coco’s . Just a small side note, in Japan, restaurants are a bit different than those in America: The waitresses greet you by saying, "itterasshaimase" which means "an honorable person has entered [the room/place]". Then, after being seated, you look at the menu, decide what you want, and you ring a small buzzer on your table to let the waitress know you’re ready to order. Depending on the place, in about 10-15 minutes, your food comes out, and the waitress places the bill in a small circular container, so you can look at it when you’re done, and walk up to the register to pay. And the most important part of it all is in Japan, there is NO such thing as tipping – it’s actually pretty rude if you attempt to tip someone anywhere.
So enough with tangents, back to my day. I got my placement for my Japanese homestay this weekend:) and brittney-san and I are roomies (she’s in some of my pics below). I’ll be staying with the Morishima family in Shiga-cho, and we’ll have a whole weekend filled with Ikebana, or flower arranging, tea Ceremony, Zen meditaation, (at Shutokuji Temple), and scaling a 1200 meter mountain. I’m really looking forward to the experience, and I post some more pics very soon.
In addition to all this, I got a internship placement!!! I’ll be working with a University of Shiga Prefecture Professor named Ishida-sensei as an assistant English teacher in a kindergarten class. My first day is Monday, so I’m hoping it’ll be a worthwhile experience.
Hhhmmm, and the best part of the day was sending out more postcards to my family, and receiving emails and messages from family and friends, letting me know that they read my blogs and they miss me a lot...aaawwww, just the encouragement I needed to update my blog this week:) So yeah, I have to go get my homework done (i.e. go download more songs and surf the web until I fall asleep), but I'll be back later with pics!
Until then...Oyasuminasai = good night
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