Hey all!
So it's been awhile since I've posted. There just has not been too much to write about. I'm really in the swing of things at the moment and there just isn't much to tell. That isn't to say I'm not having fun, I'm just not doing anything people would find exciting to read. I am having quite a fun time! I'm getting used to this new lifestyle. I am considering making a short "day in the life" sort of video. It's funny, I have gotten so used to things over here. I have had people from home and visitors from the USA ask me what I miss about home or how things are different over here, but I honestly can't say what's different anymore. I mean there are changes, definitely, but the small things I just can't remember. It just feels normal now. The weeks have been flying by and it's already midterms. Well, sort of. Unlike at home, there is no official midterm week (neither is there a spring break at the end of them). Last week we had a midterm presentation in my pronunciation class. In my Japanese society class a few weeks ago we had a review class of what we had done so far. In Kanji class we had a midterm test. This week in Japanese class we have our first oral test and first test in general (not counting vocab quizzes). In society class we are also starting our midterm presentations. Meanwhile in my literature class (and of course my other classes) we aren't doing anything different. It's kinda weird. It doesn't feel like I've been here that long, yet it's already June 14th!
I think one of the classes I like the most is my "traditional japanese arts" class. It is really interesting. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is completely in Japanese, and the students in the class and I do not really get along (so nothing new!). For awhile we were doing flower arrangement, which was a lot of fun. It was cool to see how flowers could become works of art. We just finished doing Karuta, which is a Japanese card game. I really enjoy the game, but it's not a game I could really play in America, simply because of a lack of people who could actually play it. The game has two sets of cards, ones that you pick up, and one that you read from. You have all the pick up cards scattered on a table and then you have one reader. They read the passage on the card and you have to find which hiragana on the pick up card. So, if you don't know hiragana it's kinda hard to play. We talked about another game in that class that you don't need to speak japanese for, so I'm hoping to find that.
Another kind of interesting (although I hate the class) class is my Japanese literature class. The only interesting thing I find in the class is the diversity in people. Our teacher is a lady from Germany and she speaks german, english, french, and japanese (maybe more). We have a fair amount of Americans, but we also have a few french people and two japanese people in the class. Everyone speaks English in the class, but since it is not their first language, they are allowed to answer in whatever language they prefer. So when our teachers asks a question, the Japanese ladies will answer in Japanese and then our professor will explain in English. Even though I do not really like the class (the teacher is just kind of mean and the subject matter is not that interesting to me) it is an interesting class to observe.
So that is basically everything that has been going on recently. Its the rainy season, but so far it hasn't rained much...
Clare
