More late night musings . . .
I get the feeling I'm being ignored by my 'significant other' but what can you do when you're half a world away (in a non-The Royles Oasis kind of way) ?
My response would be to gloat over the fact that this evening I met a group of Americans who have just come over to Japan to study for a month at Shudo. I had previously been conspicuously ignored by a few of them who walked past me last week but I met more of them at the Welcome party today and was bouyed by the fact that a month or more here as obviously had a big impact on my comprehension and speaking ability. It is so much better than theirs - admittedly most of them have only been studying Japanese for 2 years as well . . . but hey, I felt authenticated and validated by the experience!
I should force myself to talk Japanese more exclusively but sometimes it's just a whole lot easier to take the easy option. Besides which, many of my classes are just with Evan, Julie and Karl and a few others so it makes sense to confirm stuff or discuss homework in English. I am now starting to make some friends in those classes I attend by myself or just with one other gaijin though and that is helping me to understand the classes, as they are most happy to explain things, and to feel less isolated.
Tonight was a good opportunity for me as I tried to talk exclusively in Japanese to demonstrate I wasn't with the Americans as most people assumed . . .
I went pretty well too and people were good about repeating stuff and explaining themselves because they were expecting a low standard of comprehension from a group so newly arrived. I also love that I have a knack for blending my accent and confusing the hell out of people as to where I come from. One guy also asked if I wasn't actually born in Japan as I have taken to writing my name in kanji (絵理).
The party wasn't very well provided for in the food department with it mainly being a Japanese take on Western finger food - itty bitty sandwiches and the like, no good for a near vegan. So a group of us ended up going to a kaiten zushi place (sushi train restaurant) not far from Uni, where Yuta （ゆうた） and I discussed Japanese grammar, much to our enjoyment, whilst Evan inadvertantly picked out some nattou but tried it at my urgings - he looked like he'd vomit. He gave the second piece to the only Arizonian tough enough to come with us - he must be the youngest too, a 17 high school student taking a college subject - he ended up washing it down as best he could with copious amounts of water . . .
We then got a lift home from Hibiki (響）and wrapped up the night with a group visit to Julie to see if she was still in the land of the living after staying home sick today, having spent the weekend similarly. Poor lady.
A thoroughly enjoyable day - it must have been some kind of StarDusty birthday magmatism.
My response would be to gloat over the fact that this evening I met a group of Americans who have just come over to Japan to study for a month at Shudo. I had previously been conspicuously ignored by a few of them who walked past me last week but I met more of them at the Welcome party today and was bouyed by the fact that a month or more here as obviously had a big impact on my comprehension and speaking ability. It is so much better than theirs - admittedly most of them have only been studying Japanese for 2 years as well . . . but hey, I felt authenticated and validated by the experience!
I should force myself to talk Japanese more exclusively but sometimes it's just a whole lot easier to take the easy option. Besides which, many of my classes are just with Evan, Julie and Karl and a few others so it makes sense to confirm stuff or discuss homework in English. I am now starting to make some friends in those classes I attend by myself or just with one other gaijin though and that is helping me to understand the classes, as they are most happy to explain things, and to feel less isolated.
Tonight was a good opportunity for me as I tried to talk exclusively in Japanese to demonstrate I wasn't with the Americans as most people assumed . . .
I went pretty well too and people were good about repeating stuff and explaining themselves because they were expecting a low standard of comprehension from a group so newly arrived. I also love that I have a knack for blending my accent and confusing the hell out of people as to where I come from. One guy also asked if I wasn't actually born in Japan as I have taken to writing my name in kanji (絵理).
The party wasn't very well provided for in the food department with it mainly being a Japanese take on Western finger food - itty bitty sandwiches and the like, no good for a near vegan. So a group of us ended up going to a kaiten zushi place (sushi train restaurant) not far from Uni, where Yuta （ゆうた） and I discussed Japanese grammar, much to our enjoyment, whilst Evan inadvertantly picked out some nattou but tried it at my urgings - he looked like he'd vomit. He gave the second piece to the only Arizonian tough enough to come with us - he must be the youngest too, a 17 high school student taking a college subject - he ended up washing it down as best he could with copious amounts of water . . .
We then got a lift home from Hibiki (響）and wrapped up the night with a group visit to Julie to see if she was still in the land of the living after staying home sick today, having spent the weekend similarly. Poor lady.
A thoroughly enjoyable day - it must have been some kind of StarDusty birthday magmatism.
posted by Eleanora Martinez at 5:20 PM
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