I haven't really liked Tuesdays in Japan up until now.
The day started out like it normally would. I went to my dance class in the morning and we got to practice more of the routines we created with the same partners we had last week. We also did a few other creative exercises in the beginning of class. I was paired with Yoonkyung so we had a lot of fun doing that.
Lunch came and went. I ate with Bea since Yoonkyung had to run off to her part time job. After lunch I had a small break, and then I had orientations for my two new Japanese classes: Beginner's Japanese and Business Japanese. I think Beginner's Japanese is just what I need. For one thing, the class is small and the two teacher's who run it speak slowly and clearly. They are both really nice too, which is a plus. The course load doesn't seem too heavy. We have to give a presentation in Japanese (worth 40% of our grade--yikes!), but the topic gets to be on something simple of our choosing so I'm not extremely worried about it. Business Japanese looks like it will be a little more difficult since it focuses on speaking in a professional setting (that means only keigo and polite verb forms.) Even so, we played an interesting game at the end of class where we each were members of a Japanese business with a different status ranking. Through trial and error we learned who should open the door, in what order you enter a room, who sits where, how guests should be introduced, the complicated process of exchanging business cards, and so on. I never knew there was so much to the Japanese business hierarchy. It was really fascinating!
Once classes were finished for the day, I sucked up my pride and ventured out to do some shopping. Japanese seem to have adopted the European style of grocery shopping where they only buy enough for a few days. There are no grocery carts in Japanese supermarkets, only hand held baskets. That means I have to shop fairly often to avoid eating ramen every night. Also, things we take for granted are fairly expensive in Japan. For example: peanut butter, cereal, and coffee. I paid the equivalent of $5 for a little jar of peanut butter. Ridiculous!
Anyway, tomorrow I am going on an all day field trip to a Japanese resort with an onsen (hot spring!). I am pretty excited about it. Good thing I don't have any classes to worry about. Golden Week is just around the corner.
Yatta!
The day started out like it normally would. I went to my dance class in the morning and we got to practice more of the routines we created with the same partners we had last week. We also did a few other creative exercises in the beginning of class. I was paired with Yoonkyung so we had a lot of fun doing that.
Lunch came and went. I ate with Bea since Yoonkyung had to run off to her part time job. After lunch I had a small break, and then I had orientations for my two new Japanese classes: Beginner's Japanese and Business Japanese. I think Beginner's Japanese is just what I need. For one thing, the class is small and the two teacher's who run it speak slowly and clearly. They are both really nice too, which is a plus. The course load doesn't seem too heavy. We have to give a presentation in Japanese (worth 40% of our grade--yikes!), but the topic gets to be on something simple of our choosing so I'm not extremely worried about it. Business Japanese looks like it will be a little more difficult since it focuses on speaking in a professional setting (that means only keigo and polite verb forms.) Even so, we played an interesting game at the end of class where we each were members of a Japanese business with a different status ranking. Through trial and error we learned who should open the door, in what order you enter a room, who sits where, how guests should be introduced, the complicated process of exchanging business cards, and so on. I never knew there was so much to the Japanese business hierarchy. It was really fascinating!
Once classes were finished for the day, I sucked up my pride and ventured out to do some shopping. Japanese seem to have adopted the European style of grocery shopping where they only buy enough for a few days. There are no grocery carts in Japanese supermarkets, only hand held baskets. That means I have to shop fairly often to avoid eating ramen every night. Also, things we take for granted are fairly expensive in Japan. For example: peanut butter, cereal, and coffee. I paid the equivalent of $5 for a little jar of peanut butter. Ridiculous!
Anyway, tomorrow I am going on an all day field trip to a Japanese resort with an onsen (hot spring!). I am pretty excited about it. Good thing I don't have any classes to worry about. Golden Week is just around the corner.
Yatta!
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