ligers & tigons

i missed out on THREE weeks of total insanity. okay, not really. but i moved up and absolutely loved japanese class today. it was SO much fun, and i finally felt "challenged". class wasn't difficult by any means, but i definitely welcomed the faster pace. we already covered blood type personalities in summer school, but i don't mind doing it again because it's an interesting topic :)

someone led us off-topic before we actually got to the reading... we wound up talking about the difference between ligers and tigons...

^_^

déjà vu

once again, i find myself stuck between levels. at the advice of prof. lofgren and my friends, i finally approached my homeroom teacher about how easy class was for me. and after [a ton] of talking with various sensei, they decided that i should move up for a week and see how it is. i don't think it'll be very difficult at all, but the problem is, we're already three weeks in. at least when i moved up in summer school, it was only the second day of classes. 

why do i keep finding myself in these kinds of situations? >_<

bring it on.

[coming soon ~ blog entry on the BEST friday night ever ]

ups & downs

sorry it's a little blurry v_v

*i apologize in advance for the fairly negative entry, but i didn't want to sugarcoat things, or leave out the bad for the sake of keeping up appearances.*

so i don't know what it was about this morning that just made me not in the best of moods... i have reading/writing class on wednesdays (as opposed to language/grammar the rest of the week), and i usually look forward to the change of pace. but as class went on, i found myself less and less willing to participate. my mind had begun to preoccupy itself with something i've worked hard to shelter myself from thinking about. [yes, it's about a guy. and no, chances are, it's not who you're thinking of. or maybe it is, lol ^_^] 

so then class ended, and we received our graded second-draft essays back. i got an A+!  [i really owe a lot to summer school for my writing. out of reading, speaking, listening, etc, i think it's my most improved area by far.] so yay, good grade. but good grade = good mood? ...no, not necessarily. i killed an hour and a half in the akp lounge waiting for lunch with prof. lofgren ~ talking to people, checking email, using nestor as a pillow as i mindlessly watched this japanese film about food, sex, and etiquette... 

anyway, i went out to lunch to café bazaar with resident director/professor lofgren and four other akp students (nestor, elliot, althea, and david) to talk about life in japan so far. [and problems with classes, homestays, etc] it was a good time, for the most part. prof. lofgren told us to just "suck it up"-- in regards to some minor complaints about classes. i was slightly annoyed by that, but i just brushed it off. and then not surprisingly, the whole midd "clique" thing came up.

don't even get me started. i was nice about it earlier, but now i'm just... *grumble* we hang out because we enjoy each other's company. and other people hang out with the people they like too. so what's the problem? well we all happen to be middlebury students, and somehow, that makes it "wrong". we're by no means an exclusive group, and i'm really sick and tired of constantly explaining that to people. furthermore, i always make an effort to acknowledge everyone in the room, not just my close friends. [at least althea notices that >_<] but then someone mentions that the "midd kids" are not exactly on her friends' good sides. normally, i would care. that would bother me. but guess what? it doesn't. why? because if they're that quick to judge us without even trying to get to know us, then i'm not so sure i'd want to be friends with them anyway.

...so on to the ups of today. besides the job well done on the essay, lunch was on akp today :)  i had the "taco rice", which consisted of a fried egg on top of some ground beef with rice on a bed of shredded cheese, lettuce, and diced tomatoes. [tako in japanese means octopus, so that brought some initial confusion lol] i thought it was pretty delicious ^_^ throughout the meal, there were humorous anecdotes from everyone-- and they made me smile, so that's good :)  after lunch, we went back to the lounge, where i saw mia and danielle :)  and they made me smile too ^_^  i adore them sooo much! around 3pm, my friends all left for their landscape gardens class--which i'm not in--so i headed home.  

a crazy, hyper dachshund greeted me at the door. his name is leo. he's about seven years old and belongs to my host sister mari. leo stays with us when her family gets really busy and isn't home much. [leo has separation anxiety?] this little dog reminds me a lot of lei ~ my crazy, hyper black lab back in new hampshire ^_^

playing with lulu and leo definitely lifted my spirits, and i'm expecting to be in a much better mood once i get that sports club membership tonight :)

greg's birthday ~ night at the pub && riverside

セロバさん、お誕生日おめでとう！ happy 21st birthday, greg!

to celebrate greg's birthday, we met up with tom, grant, and michael [non-akp midd kids] for drinks. the name of the pub was the pig & whistle-- a pretty chill place. i don't remember the name of my drink, but it was a mix of mango liqueur, orange juice, and pineapple juice. sound delicious?
it was! ^_^ a lot of my friends went with sapporo beer--not bad. then ピットさん [michael from japanese summer school] ordered the cider--delicious! danielle had a green tea drink--pretty delicious too :)

one of the best moments of the night was when nestor threw yen into the plate of salt used for chasing tequila. in japan, people put money into little plates/receptacles when they pay for things<---nestor thought it was one of those. [HAHA!] we were a loud bunch of slightly to moderately intoxicated college students at a bar in japan...on a monday night... LOL ~ but it was a really good time :) the random conversations about chest hair and other things that shall not repeated, lowered inhibitions leading to weird confessions, etc... XD

the last item on the menu: smile for ￥0

after the pig & whistle, we went to a mcdonald's, where elliot ordered a smile for ￥0.  it was actually on the menu! but anyway, it wouldn't have been a night out unless we went to lawson's for onigiri and cheap beer...so we went to lawson's for onigiri and cheap beer. [okay, so some of us didn't get onigiri, and i didn't buy fruity beer, but the entering of lawson's is the most important part ^_^ ] 

with more food, snacks, and alcohol, we went to the riverside and hung out until the last train/bus. the scenery was beautiful. and there were couples everywhere. [maybe i can convince m. to come to kyoto sometime in the winter or spring...]

on a different note, 三条 [sanjo] is unfortunately a popular tourist spot. so even though we'll be living in kyoto for the next eight months, we look like we're just here for sightseeing. it's something i'll have to get used to, but that doesn't mean i'm too fond of being thought as just another 外人 [foreigner] on vacation.

staying in on a friday night

after a long few days.

my body is exhausted. and probably extremely confused. i won't get into details here, but i haven't been feeling 100% for about a week now. so while my friends are shopping in shijo, then dining out, and finally off to karaoke afterward, i'm sitting in front of the computer at 8:30pm writing this post. 

during summer school, after doing the same reading assignment, class was held in a very similar fashion as today's was held. <--poorly phrased. i'll edit it when i'm not so tired. [but anyway,] japanese class this morning was like a 90-minute long déjà vu. 

page 1.  mistakes?  there are probably many LOL ^_^

after lunch today, i worked to finish my essay that was due by 5pm. i started writing it this morning before i left for class, but had outlined a draft the night before. i finally scribbled the last characters around 3:30pm in the akp lounge. i could've gone home then, but i decided to stick around to hang out with some of the other [non-middlebury!] akp students. i made it back by 5pm or so, took a nap until dinner, ate dinner, and now after this post, i'm going to bed.

^_^

not getting as much out of class as i should be...

i miss japanese language school SO much =\

i finished the third day of akp japanese classes this morning, and so far, i've already done two of the assigned readings during summer school! i'm not pleased to say the least. while it's one thing to reread something for pleasure, it's another to reanalyze the same thing for the sake of learning. *sigh* i hope next week is better. and if i find myself in this situation multiple times over, i may have to talk to the teachers about moving me up a level-- even though i'm comfortable where i am right now. it's relatively easy, but not to the same point as what second-year language school would've been like for me [at the beginning of summer]. i've been studying more advanced grammar and vocabulary on my own outside of class anyway, so i'm hoping this won't become a big issue. 

*crosses fingers*

raw fish && cheap fruity beer

*update*

so this actually has a name ~ kaitenzushi, or "conveyor belt sushi"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conveyor_belt_sushi

we decided on a small sushi restaurant for dinner tonight. we sat down in a booth and watched plates of food go by on a conveyor belt. customers help themselves to whatever they want by lifting a plastic cover and removing the sushi off of it. the design on the plates correspond to a price, so the tab is kept by the empty plates on the table. unfortunately, i didn't have anything. i really had my heart set on some いなり [ rice in fried tofu ] or かっぱまき [ cucumber roll ]、but they never made an appearance on the belt, so i didn't have anything from the restaurant. i was reluctant [ complete understatement ] to try raw fish. i did sample the tiniest bit of raw salmon though. it tasted... really fishy?

i bought some yummy seaweed おにぎり [ onigiri ] and apple-flavored beer from a コンビ二 [ convenience store ] afterwards. the girls and i had planned on trying the public bath tonight, but time got away from us. so instead, we put on yukata, drank beer, and hung out in my hotel room. even though we elected not to do karaoke with some of the other students tonight, i thoroughly enjoyed the company of my friends.

after orientation this week, we will [ hopefully ] make friends with some doshisha students. but i'm not going to feel guilty for "staying in the comfort zone" by spending time with the midd girls because we're already really good friends--we're not sticking by each other solely on the grounds of attending the same college. it doesn't make sense to ignore the people i love hanging out with ~ though that is not to say that we can't make friends with others too.

just a few more to go...

i’ve disappeared from this blog for over a month, and now i find myself on a greyhound bus headed for boston, where i’ll board another to nyc.  in three days, i’ll leave for kyoto from the san francisco airport after a six-hour flight out of jfk.  

it’s hard to imagine that the 9-week program is already over.  i finished with a grade much better than i had expected—i’m very pleased.  however, it goes without saying, the letter grade is rather insignificant to the overall experience.  

*the rest of the story to come soon... i keep finding drafts of blog entries on my pc while i'm cleaning up some folders =]*

sometimes anger & frustration are the best kind of motivation

[ ughh... i keep breaking the language pledge for this blog ]

we received back our tests from friday this afternoon.  i was sure that my cumulative grade so far was around a C+. well during the short meeting with the head teacher, i find out that in fact, i have an A- right now. i apologized and asserted that i was a bad student. his response? my standards are probably really high. (i don't think so, but going by what past teachers have always said, i guess some things never change.) according to sensei, if i try really hard, i might be able to earn an A. i guess the other teachers also think that entering third-year was probably a good choice for me. that made me feel better. but only ever so slightly.

soccer practice. fun. as always. however, i must have stopped about ten times to try to alleviate the pain from the blister. (moleskin, advanced healing blister band-aid, more moleskin, and finally, athletic tape to hold everything in place.) i've come to really love soccer ~ even the hard practices. we have an important game against the portugese school this wednesday, but i really doubt i'll be close to 90%. the problem is, there must be two (maybe three?) female players on the field at all times, so i'll have to be on top of my game. i did order new cleats ~ but i won't have time to break them in---they'll be arriving just hours before the game. *sigh*

i've calmed down since this afternoon, but...

love the water...

[ again, in the interest of keeping the blog updated... english only]

because the blister had turned into an open wound, it's nearly impossible to wear anything but sandals/flip-flops. after dinner, i had planned on using the bike at the gym in flip-flops, but then decided it was probably a bad idea once i got to the fitness center. since danielle was going swimming, i entertained that possibility. even though i didn't have my bikini with me, we thought i could likely get by with shorts and a t-shirt. (we were right.)

i got a pretty decent workout in the pool, despite being a poor swimmer. actually, i'll probably swim as my main mode of exercise until my heel/back of the ankle gets better.

next game is wednesday against the portugese school. we'll probably have an unofficial practice on sunday, in addition to a scheduled practice on monday. i REALLY hope (with the help of band-aid's "advanced healing blister cushions") that i'll be close to 100% by game day. *crosses fingers*

やった！ 勝ち！

今日、サッカーの試合があって、ヘブライ語学校とあらそって、５対３で勝ちました！　楽しかったけど、スパイクで水ぶくれができた。
>_< 小さいすぎるかもしれないから、明日新しいスパイクを買おうと思う。

hooray! victory!
we had a soccer game against the hebrew school today and won 5 to 3! i had fun, but i got a blister from my cleats.
:(
i think i'm going to buy new cleats tomorrow because they're probably too small.

「可笑しい」をわすれられない

今本当に「おかしい」をわすれられない。

前に、わすれしてまったけど、「い」に「何か」を付け加えるなら、「私が考えている字」になる ~ これ、覚えた。　この「何か」はもう語だけど、どの字をわすれた。

「おかし」はおいしい食べ物の一種だ。　「おかしい」と「面白い」は大体同じの意味だ。

「おかし」。。。「おかしい」。。。

i can't forget the word "funny" now
i had forgotten the word for "funny", but i had remembered that if one added "い " to an already existing [common] word - sweets/candy, one would come up with "funny". however, i had forgotten the word for "sweets/candy" as well.

"okashi" is sweets, candy..... while "okashii" means funny, amusing, strange, etc

"okashi" versus "okashii"...

>_<

friends in this entry: danielle, elliot, and carter
context: i wanted to show them the personals in seven days, but they protested that doing such a thing violates the language pledge. i was trying to attest that it was "funny" (aka worth reading), but couldn't come up with the word for "funny". i then tried to explain my thinking process (in japanese), but they eventually just wound up laughing at how hard i was trying to get them to understand. it didn't take long for them to come up with the word "funny" for me, but it took the entire way from the gym to coffrin before danielle finally understood what i was trying to explain (and then found another way to say the same thing to the guys) *sigh*

a weekend of yummy japanese food, shopping, and dance parties

in the interest of [time and] keeping up with the blog, today's (july 1) entries will be written in english only...

on saturday, my teachers cooked dinner for 中級一 (equiv. of third-year). it was extremely yummy! everyone ate until s/he couldn't eat anymore, and then ate some more! cold noodles were served with our choice of vegetables, shrimp, and various other flavorings. i forget what dessert was called, but it was similar to something i have had during a chinese holiday celebration.

anyway, the weekend began with a trip to burlington. skipping out on lunch at middlebury, my friends and i went to the sakura bana restaurant on church street. i had the vegetable tempura and vegetable gyoza ~ it was absolutely delicious! of course, we were speaking in japanese the entire time (except when we had to communicate our orders to the waiter). because we adhered to the language pledge, we got strange looks and stares from passing people upon hearing us speak japanese.

after lunch, we split up into two groups---shopping in the mall vs. watching wall-e. i choose shopping, naturally ^_^ i had misplaced my water bottle, so i bought a new one from victoria's secret ~ it is perfect! i also had to replace my earbuds... long story involving theft a month ago... overall, it was an awesome time with my friends.

that friday night, my teachers threw us another party in coffrin lounge. マルちゃん, my friend melida, dj'ed the dance. the middkids and a few others danced the night away, but to my [slight] disappointment, everyone else stood around the perimeter of the dance floor. afterwards, we gathered a large group of people to go to the grille with us, including several friends who are working on campus over summer. my teachers later joined us too. it made for quite the interesting conclusion of the night, for copious amounts of alcohol were involved...

staying active!

i joined martial arts, soccer, and volleyball as planned from day one. so far, it's been incredibly enjoyable. martial arts is every tuesday afternoon at 2pm. today's class was led by my friend elliot, whose focus is kung fu. the sun was beating down on us, but i loved learning the various kicks and the introductory kata. it was very rewarding!

tomorrow, i have my first soccer match against the hebrew school. we've only had two official practices, but i've been scrimmaging with some of the guys from japanese school---so hopefully, we'll be okay. after yesterday's practice of running warm-up laps, doing drills, practicing [easy] plays, scrimmaging.... i realized that i really missed organized sports. these nine weeks are hardly any time at all, but i'll take what i can get!

i'm not an amazing volleyball player, but i can hold my own. although the volleyball club has a set practice time, one can usually find a group of people playing on the court at any given time. i've walked past with an agenda before, only to stop what i was doing and join in on the game. and i just want to note that my teachers are SKILLED.

when these clubs aren't meeting, my friends and i hit the gym and/or pool. lately, i've been warming up on the elliptical for about thirty minutes, and then do some lifting (up to 70lbs on the lat pull now!) and abs/balance/ flexibility exercises (for cheerleading). i have yet to conquer my fear of swimming in the deep end of the pool, but i hope to overcome that soon. just before language school, while swimming in the big eddy (bath, nh) with jen h. at one point, i found myself not being able to touch ground. however, instead of panicking, which i expected myself to do, i calmly treaded water (while yelling for jen) and got myself back into "swimming position". after this experience, i'm confident that i'd be okay in the deep end---but still, it's a psychological thing...

trial & error

i received a "B" on the oral presentation, along with teacher comments. my strong points included all elements of a well-delivered speech (volume, speed, etc). my weaknesses had to do with my level of preparedness. because i couldn't interview 村松先生 [muramatsu-sensei] until sunday evening, i only had one day to write and memorize the script (and prepare a powerpoint presentation). next time, i'll do everything i can to commit my speech to memory.

my test score from last friday was subpar, but i'll redeem myself this friday. i lost valuable points to silly mistakes, such as rushing and carelessly confusing chinese characters with japanese kanji.

classes have been manageable and extremely interesting. i can honestly say that the four hours of instruction is often over before i realize it. (and then, it's lunchtime!) yesterday, fourth period was spent writing new lyrics to the song ありがとう [arigatou] using targeted grammar points. then, 高橋先生 [takahashi-sensei] played our new song on his guitar while 田中先生 [tanaka-sensei] sang it---it was hilarious and so entertaining. another day, we read a short manga and learned some examples of 擬音語 [giongo], or japanese onomatopoeia, which is heavily prevalent in the language. earlier that same day, we learned popular japanese abbreviations (as used in IMs, texts, etc) and created some of our own. the class' favorite was unanimously JBB, or じぶビ [ji-bu-bi], short for じぶんのビールを持って行く, the equivalent of our b.y.o.b. ^_^

インタビューと発表の宿題

日曜日の夕べに村松先生にお話を伺いました。インタビューはよかったけど、発表は全然よくなった。。。

発表のためにパワーポイントを作った。たくさん練習をしたけど、始めた時、頭がパニックにおちいた。=( みなさんが発表してしまったの後、また発表してみた。 それから、大丈夫だった。

the interview & presentation assignment
i interviewed muramatsu-sensei on sunday night, which went well...but the presentation didn't go well at all. i created a powerpoint for it and practiced a lot, but (for whatever reason) i went into panic mode when i began. i tried to restart again after everyone else had gone :( that time, it was fine.

[ i was prepared for the most part---and felt confident. so why? i don't know. the scary thing about all this is that it was definitely the beginnings of a panic attack. unfortunately, i know this all too well from my freshman year experience... ]

今度週末は大変かもしれない

今日のショーテストは易しかった。　でも、今度週末インタビューをしなくちゃいけない。　それから、作文を書いて、月曜日に出して、火曜日に発表しなくちゃいけない。　友達にインタビューするなら、やさしいけど、先生にはとても難しい。　敬語を使わなくちゃいけないから。

中級一が大好きで チャレンジだ。　ちょっと大変けど、この方のほうがいいだろう。

この五日はとってもいそがしかったよ！　でも、ジムに行ったり、泳いだり、サッカーやバレーボールをしたりできた。

this weekend is probably going to be tough
today's short test was easy, but i have to do an interview this weekend. afterwards, i have to write an essay, turn it in on monday, and give a presentation on it on tuesday. interviewing friends is easy, but since i'll be interviewing a teacher, it's probably going to be difficult. (it's because i'll have to use honorifics, extra-modest expressions, and humble expressions--which require irregular conjugations.)

third-year is a challenge and i love it ^_^ it's a little tough, but it's probably the better way to go.

the past few days have been extremely busy! however, i did get to go to the gym, swim, and play soccer and volleyball.

難しくなかったけど。。。

今日の授業は難しくなかったけど、全部わからなかったので、ちょっといらだたしかった。　全てを理解に慣れたから。　それに、今週はだけ復習だ。。。

it wasn't difficult, but...
today's classes (in third-level) weren't difficult, but because i didn't entirely understand (what was said), it was a little frustrating. （i'm accustomed to comprehending everything.) furthermore, this week is only review...

やさしすぎたよ！

今日の授業はやさしすぎた！　楽しかったけど、ちょっとつまらなかった。。。　明日、中級一の授業にいってみるつもり。　話すことや聞くことはもっと練習しなくちゃいけない。　文法と漢字は大丈夫かもしれない。

昼御飯の後で友達と一緒にプールにいった。　まだ泳げないけど、ゆっくり習い始めている。　日本語でめかくしおにをした。　とても楽しかったよ！

too easy!
today's class was too easy! it was fun, but it was a little boring... tomorrow, i'm planning on going to the third-level classes. i must practice speaking and listening more. i'm probably okay with grammar and kanji though.

after lunch, my friends and i went to the pool together. i still can't swim, but i'm slowly beginning to learn.　we played "marco polo" in japanese. it was so much fun!

so much paperwork.

there's much to be taken care of before june 30th and july 7. i've been nominated to receive a freeman-asia award, which may grant me up to $7000 for the upcoming academic year. i'll need to submit various forms by the end of the month, but many of them require correspondence from my advisers---so i'm relying heavily on their timeliness. as for my study abroad program july 7 deadline, i'm most worried about the card to my host family and a short essay for a grant (that will fund cultural activities during my time abroad). the other forms shouldn't be too difficult to fill out. i'll just have to force myself to sit down and do it.

i feel slightly overwhelmed, as i have only two more hours before i sign the language pledge. classes begin tomorrow morning at 7:50am and will last for four hours. i'm extremely excited and nervous (and somewhat dreading the summer) at the same time. i know i'll be just fine though ^_^

i should also write back to my pen-pal in kyoto... her name is norie, and she goes to doshisha university, where akp (associated kyoto program) is hosted. i'll get the chance to meet her in person come september! she seems like a very sweet girl. i can't wait :)