04.12.11 Third Day of Class

Today was a fairly relaxed day. At 10:40 I went to class, which would probably be the equivalent of a modern dance class at UNCG. I was super excited because out of the ten people in it, more than half of them were friends of mine (Hiroko, Haruka, Ena, Hiro, Bea, C.Y.). We actually did some dancing and moving today, and since I've done something like it before I didn't feel totally lost in spite of the Japanese instructions. The class went by quickly, and we rushed off to lunch where I made plans to meet up with another friend tomorrow.


Bea suggested that I take another Japanese class after lunch, but since it was level II and I had difficulties with the level II class on Friday I decided not to try it. I will already be taking four Japanese classes so I don't want to overwhelm myself. In another week, two out of my four Japanese classes will begin. They are scheduled on Tuesdays. One is an entry level course and the other is "business" Japanese. Until they start though, I will only have one class on Tuesday (weird, I know).


Because I don't have anything else to do, I have been sitting in the library studying Japanese trying to look up some words that I need to know. All of the clubs have tables set up outside right now. It reminds me of UNCG's fall kick off. Tomorrow I am supposed to go to soccer, but apparently there is a guidance session just for foreign exchange students that I am expected to go to. Bleh. I feel bad for missing out, however, I know that I need to prioritize and start getting into school mode. Sometimes I feel like I am on vacation instead of university student.


I want to be able to speak to someone completely in Japanese without needing to use English by the time I leave Japan. I think that is a reasonable goal. Even if my Japanese isn't perfect, it would be nice to not have to use my dictionary every few seconds.

...

I was sitting in the library, and around seven o’ clock I started to get hungry. I decided it would be a good time to go back to my dorm and make dinner, but to my surprise there was a barbeque being held outside. Bea was there and so were students from the English Speaking Society, a club on campus. They invited me to come and eat (for free, I might add). How could I refuse? Steak, hot dogs, vegetables—everything was thrown on a grill and flipped expertly with chopsticks or tongs. They provided a wide variety of Japanese sweets (okashi) and drinks as well.

Bea introduced me to Kana, a sweet Japanese girl who is involved with the English Speaking Society. I was seriously impressed by her. Her English was probably the best I’ve heard since I arrived in Japan. She invited me to come to E.S.S on Saturday so some of the students could practice speaking English. (I hope I can ask them some questions that I have about Japanese so it seems like a win-win situation.) We talked and ate until about nine. Then, another Japanese student there invited Bea and I out to eat and have a few drinks.

She took us to a cozy little place tucked neatly away on one of Nara’s shopping streets. It was run by a husband and wife, and you immediately felt like part of the family when you walked in. I got to try some more Japanese food, and I had the best chicken I’ve ever tasted along with some delicious fried potato balls filled with cheese. We ordered a sake sampler, which was four small glasses of different kinds of sake. All of them seemed pretty strong to me, but then again I’ve never really drank alcohol before.

Bea and I returned around midnight, full of traditional Japanese goodness. Again, I was able to pick up on a few more words. I honestly feel that if I apply myself to learning a little bit every day I will be leaps and bounds better than when I first arrived.