Really, this was just an easy way to collect several things I wish to talk about into one post. It was simply serendipitous that they all happened to be somewhat similar in substance composition.
Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has sent me letters thus far. I'm rather amazed at the amount I have been getting, as are most of my friends here (Bartosz is sure that I get more mail than the entire campus combined).
It's not thaaaaaaattttt many...
But in all seriousness, it's been fantastic receiving so much post. It makes any day better for me, and I love what a vast variety of messages and envelopes I'm getting (I'm actually looking forward to returning to the US just so that I can get fancy letters from all around the globe). I've begun to keep a Letter Journal, as I call it, to keep track of what I've received and sent. Also because its basically just a big list and I like lists quite a bit.
Don't ever let anyone tell you I'm not a nerd. I have a plant diary too.
One of the things I've been asked several times in letters from various people is how my studies are going. I haven't posted anything to that regard because it generally seems less interesting to read about, but I suppose a casual mention wouldn't hurt. Right now, all of my classes are Japanese language courses, or something related. This is fantastic. I am loving having only classes that I actually care about and want to work hard in. And I have been working hard. I am doing fairly well in all of them, I believe. Its reassuring that I can understand most of what is said in the two classes that are taught exclusively in Japanese.
In my core language class, Japanese 300, there is a thing we do every day to start off the session. Everyone gets up and teaches a new word (and if applicable, the kanji for it) to the class. But there's a catch: we have to teach it in Japanese. It was terrifying at first, but has now become commonplace to the point that I honestly believe I will be rather confused upon returning to Western, and wonder why we don't do anything of a similar nature there.
I have taken lots of quizzes for my 300 class and Reading Comprehension in the last month. So far, I'm getting mostly 100%s, with occasional 80%s or 90%s if they test us on particles. It has come to my attention of late that I am godawful at particles. I need to brush up on those.
My Tsuuyaku (interpretation) class is at once gut-wrenchingly terrifying and bizarrely serene. The teacher is wonderful, he starts every class with a short anecdote about something vaguely interpretation related but mostly just interesting in some way. Then if we had a reading to do (which up until now have all been from the textbook that is written in Japanese) we get into groups and present our summaries to the class. Last time we did this he had me summarize an entire chapter (in English, thank god) and I was able to do so fairly well. It took me about 3 times as long to get through it as it should have, but I did manage to read enough to know what I was talking about in class. I felt quite accomplished that day.
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This is my textbook. Doesn't it look like so much fun???
The second half of class is generally interpretation practice. He has a big, heavy boombox thing that looks like he probably bought it 30 years ago that he lugs to class every day. From this, he plays tapes of students talking, in English or Japanese, and has us translate them to whatever language they're not in. This is where the terror part of the class comes in, I live in constant fear that he will call on me. He doesn't very often, but at least when he does he's fairly understanding about it. I'm really not supposed to be in this class. I'm taking it because he promised me he would not fail me, and I really, REALLY wanted to take it. So far, I think its worth it.
Outside of class, there is a fair amount of studying and practice that happens just as a by product of living in Japan. Additionally, I have been doing lots of COS events which lead to even more of this. Yesterday I got on a bus and went to Oga prefecture, about an hour and a half away, to play with Junior High School students. Today I believe I am getting paid to go sea kayaking. I'm not entirely sure how that worked out, but it sounds like it'll be pretty fun if the weather stops being so dreary.
My 'remuneration'. We are unsure why they payed us so specific an amount- that envelope contained 2,245 yen (so about $22.00).
Also, do you know that unless you have a Japanese keyboard, there really is no easy way to make the yen symbol? Its quite frustrating.
Alright, this has probably gotten long enough already, so I am going to sign off with one more image- a picture of the Hanko I just received from the Student Affairs office along with my bank card (which, by the way, has Astro Boy on it. Be jealous).
That says my first name in kanji. The top character, 直, is read as "nao", and means something along the lines of "upright," or "honest" and is used to write the word 直す- naosu- "to fix/correct." The second character,美, is read as "mi," and means "beautiful" (it is used in 美しい- utsukushii- "beautiful"). There are other characters I could have chosen to represent my name, but these are the ones that were shown to me years ago when I asked my exchange students in high school how my name would look in kanji. They also have fairly good meanings- put together, "Naomi" means something along the lines of "honest and beautiful."
Hanko are, as you can see, rubber stamps with the owner's name inscribed on them, generally in kanji. I believe they usually include and are possibly limited to the user's last name, but my last name does not lend itself to kanji nearly as easily as my first name does so I bent the rules a bit. I got this one when I opened a bank account, because they needed it for their proceedings and it was free. I need to get a ink pad now. Be prepared to receive lots of letters signed with this guy once I do.
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