I thought I would take some time out and write a bit about how my Japanese has come and where I hope it will go. I thought I’d also talk about what I’ve found that works when it comes to studying Japanese and what hasn’t. Well, without further ado, let’s go!
October 13th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Now that fall is here and all the new students have arrived, the new semester is very much underway. I thought I would throw up a quick post on what classes I’m taking and what I’ve been up to around here in good old Hirosaki. Hit up the link below to read all about it!
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October 7th, 2008 | No Comments »
It was a long time coming, but here it is! I think I’m going to leave it at the video, pictures and twittering in terms of talking about my trip with my parents. I haven’t been able to devote a lot of time to writing lately because of how busy I am with studying Japanese and the start of the new semester. Besides, with Twitter, photos and video, what more could I really say? I think down the road, this blog is going to shift to more cerebral topics instead of journaling day-to-day things. Like I said earlier, I’m past the stage where Japan is a happy wonderland and now in the getting-down-to-business stage. My Japanese class this semester is going to test my skills, I’m taking a literature course which has a decent load of books to read and the JLPT is coming up December (I’m going for level 3). Not that I’m complaining though. I’m getting real comfortable with day-to-day conversation and the sky’s the limit for how good I can get before I go back home. Time’s a wasting, back to studying!
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September 12th, 2008 | No Comments »
It’s certainly been a quiet past couple weeks since I got back from Korea. I’ve been spending my time studying Japanese here in my room and going out on my bike, and occasionally hanging out with JJ. But I’ve also had a long-standing medical issue of mine come up again and it was necessary for me to go and seek out a doctor’s help for pain in my leg. Now, don’t get too worried - I’m perfectly fine and healthy (well, besides the leg) and I am recovering. But since all this happened to me, I got to see first hand just what kind of medical care is available in Japan. So, click on to see what it’s all about!
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August 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
(Note: this is more of a personal ramble than anything else. If that sounds boring, don’t bother with this one)
I left Hirosaki at a fairly critical juncture when I went to Korea. I left during the middle weeks of the month of August, after the end of the semester and as such, many people have left, especially people from the western countries. In particular, one of my good friends here has left to go back to the U.S., Hojin. I definitely spent a lot of my free time over at Shimoda hanging out with him and the other guys there, many of whom have now gone like I said. The good old kaikan here feels much more empty, too. Sure, I talk with some of my friends from Korea who will be here for a year, but besides that it feels like no one else is around. The experience of the first semester is quite over now.
Posted in Moblogs
July 27th, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Next week is the last week of classes here at Hirosaki University until next semester. The time has just flown by, it seems. I’m studying for the final tests and making plans for the summer break. But now that everything has been said and done, I’m going to go through all my classes that I took here during my inaugural semester here and give you an idea of what they were like and how they went. There is a surprising lack posting about school despite the fact that I am a foreign exchange student, so I’ll take a moment to rectify that now.
Posted in Blogs
May 22nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I just got back from a rock show with Takako, whom I believe I mentioned earlier on my post about hanami. After seeing Yasu’s band last week, I just knew I had to go out and see them again. Takako had a great time as well. It was actually her first time seeing a concert like that!
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April 27th, 2008 | No Comments »
I’ve been having another great week in Japan. This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I attended hanami on three separate occasions at Hirosaki park. Situated in the northeastern portion of Hirosaki, the park is home to about 2600 cherry trees, which all have spectacularly blossomed. I’ve been told that over the course of “Golden Week” (which happens next week), about 2 million people will pass through Hirosaki park. I will now do as many other gaijin already have and cover my blog here with photos of pink trees.
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April 20th, 2008 | 3 Comments »
This past week has been one of adjustment - it’s been a long while since I last went to classes at a college level. Like I mentioned in my last post, I last went to classes last fall semester at UMaine, about four months ago. Now I’ve gotten my schedule all worked out and I feel like it won’t take long for me to get back into the swing of things. I’ll talk a bit about my classes, and then about the weekend, which was exceptionally fun - there was a welcome party for the new foreign students and then rafting with the club I just joined, the adventure club, or tanken-bu.
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February 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Lots of good stuff has been going on in the past couple days related to me an Japan! It’s getting exiting for me, as I only have a month or so left to go before. Being such, I’m starting to feel it creeping up on me. I’m getting more and more into Japan-mode, ready to pounce on those preparations for departure! Today, I took my first step towards that by informing the factory that I’m currently working at to get some last minute money that next week will be my last. That means that I will have the entirety of March to study Japanese and make my final arraignments. It will be study-study-study like a madman for me! :) I really want to be as proficient and at the top of my Japanese game when I go to leave. I’m going to try and get ahold of some of my Japanese acquaintances up at school, too, and see if I can do some Skype conversations. I really enjoyed practicing speaking with Hitomi-san, a graduate student at UMaine, while I was taking classes last semester. My comfort level with Japanese skyrocketed in a scant few weeks. For anyone studying Japanese, don’t be afraid to approach people to practice conversation. You probably do know a lot more than you think you do.
Also, if that wasn’t enough, some exiting news for the site! Edward Chmura, who I mentioned in my post on Japan-related podcasts, mentioned me on his show and linked to this site this past week. Edward, if you are reading, I am once again greatly humbled that you took the time to notice and mention my site on the show. I’m glad that my comments did not go unappreciated. :)
Finally, my book “Remembering the Kanji” came today from Amazon. I will be delving into this book later tonight probably after dinner and of course, throughout the weeks ahead. Time to learn some kanji!
[Photo by pats0n, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license]
Posted in Blogs