Party time!

Today, we had 2 parties.

The first was a party with our teachers and all of the other students of the Japanese Language Program. A few people talked, certificates were handed out and that was pretty much it. I really enjoyed this second semester. The teachers were great, and the class 3 students were eager to learn Japanese but eager to have fun as well.

Some girls wore beautiful yukatas
(a lighter and simpler version of a kimono; worn in summer)

My roommate and me

Class 3 (some students were absent though)

The teachers making sure Cho's (a Chinese student) tie is properly in place

Then, at 6:00, the Japanese staff (who board at the girls and boys' dorms to help the international students) hosted a party for the international students. There was some food, a dj playing music (one of the international students), a video presentation and even small fireworks. We even received a little square cardboard to have people at the party sign little messages.

On our way to the party

The fireworks caught in motion: they almost look like comets eh?

Now I am going to sleep! Tomorrow I leave early to take the train to meet my grandmother, my uncle and his family. See you!

Only two months left

It's finally been decided, I'll be flying back home at the beginning of October. That's still two months away but I've already started to put my things in order. Since I came (in Sept 2011), I've bought a lot of books, some new clothes, shoes, pots and pans, etc. So there's a lot to take care of before I leave. Things like pots and pans, dishes, etc., I'll be leaving at the dorm for the new students who are arriving. I'll be giving my bike to my roommate who has coincidentally just lost hers a few weeks ago. I'll try to sell my rice cooker because it's still in pretty good condition and I've barely used it. Right now, I'm going through all my papers and homework to see what I should take back with me to Canada. I'm only allowed two luggages on the plane so I have to plan carefully so that everything fits.

Today, I also sent a box to Canada by boat. In the box are some judo gis, some books and some homework. It takes about 2-3 months to arrive so I'll probably get home before the box does.

Homeward Bound

I also won't have much time to pack. These two last months are crammed with trips and projects. Sunday, I'm going to visit Nikko with my grandmother, my uncle and his family. Then I'll go spend a bit of time in Yaita where my grandmother lives. Then, back to Tokyo where I'll stay at my dad's aunt's place. She's found a place where I can try on a kimono and get my picture taken. We'll probably also go visit the Ueno Zoo again to try to see the pandas (we weren't able last time). Then, I'm off to a one-week training camp in Tsumagoi, in the Gunmaken Prefecture.

At the end of August, I'm going to climb Mt. Fuji with my roommate. The next day, we're taking the night bus to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Museum. We'll also go visit the famous floating gate in Miyajima. I'm also planning to visit Hokkaido (the north island) at the end of September. I really want to make the most of these last two months.

I'll be uploading some nice pictures in the next weeks to come. However, there might be long periods of time between my posts because I'll be away and unable to use my laptop. But don't forget to come back and check for new updates! : D

Exams are over!

Finally!!! After a week of late nights studying, exams are finally over!!! And the studying paid off. Here are the results:

My final grade for the course: 96.5% Go me! : )

And concerning the Japanese Language Proficency Test (JLPT) Level 2 : When we first took the exam in April, I only managed to score 157.21 out of 400. And to pass, you need 240 or more points. I was far from that. On Monday we took the test again to see whether or not we'd improved over the course of four months. And.... I scored 298,21 out of 400, easily passing the exam with almost 60 points extra. Hurrah!!!

But the studying isn't over by far. I really want to keep improving my Japanese. I also plan on taking the JLPT #1 (the highest level). But when I go back, it's definitely going to be more difficult to keep improving. For one thing, I'll be studying on my own, not in a class. I've bought plenty of great textbooks to help me study but it will be up to me to keep motivated. The environment is completely different as well. In Japan, I can just go take a walk around campus and listen to conversations in Japanese. Or turn on the TV and listen to the news in Japanese. That's why they say that the best way to learn a language is to live in that country. Even if you're not taking any classes, you learn a few words here and there just by hearing them everyday spoken by the people around you. So I'll have to work twice as hard to maintain what I've learned.

Exam week!

Sorry for not writing in such a long while.. This time, it's really been a while. And unfortunately, I don't have time to write a lot because exam week starts tomorrow!

Finally! Classes sometimes seemed to go by so slowly, but it's been 4 months since we started the second semester in April. Looking back, those 4 months went by so fast.

This week, we have exams on every day of the week except Friday, where we get the results back.

The schedule:

Monday: We're taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 2. We took this test at the beginning of the semester as well and I didn't pass it at that time. I needed about 100 more points to pass. But now, after studying loads of grammar, kanji characters and new vocabulary words, I think I just might be able to pass this time.

Tuesday: We have to do an oral explanation of a graph that we'll be given the day before. For example, identify the tendencies, describe any big changes indicated in the graph, etc. Not that hard but of course, it's in Japanese. Then the same day, we also have to read a text and summarize it in 200 characters or less. Finally, we have to write a short argumentative text.

Wednesday: Kanji and grammar. We have to know how to write 90 different words in kanji characters (some have 3 or 4 characters) and read about twice that amount. Then we're also tested on all the grammar we've learned so far which is a lot.

Thursday: Reading and listening comprehension. Probably my two weakest points. Reading is hard because there are often lots of words I don't know or characters I can't read which prevents me from understanding the text properly. As for listening, I've always been someone who learns better visually so listening it's something I've had to work on. I've improved a lot so hopefully the test won't be too difficult.

Friday: We get the results of our tests and feedback from the professors. And then we're done!!!

So until then, I'll probably be living like a hermit, only going out of my room to go to class or practice.
I probably won't be posting until I finish so please be patient! And wish me luck in my exams! : )

Ganbarimasu! (I'll do my best!)

Here are three pictures taken when my brother and father came. I realized I haven't uploaded many pictures recently and I know for some people who read my blog and don't understand English, it's nice to have pictures.

Enjoying a meal together at the Iwasa's home

Trying to look cool : P

Speech contest

Today, the Bekka Japanese language program organized a speech contest for the international students of the Bekka program as well as other international students who are currently studying at Tokai University.

There could only be one person selected to represent class 3 and 4, so yesterday, everyone presented their speeches in class in front of everyone... and I was selected to participate in the official speech contest that would take place the next day. (today)

I've done many speeches in class and I've even participated in a Japanese speech contest already, back in Canada. And ever since I was young, my mom had me read the lectures or prayers at church in front of everyone. So talking in a mike in front of a crowd isn't that big a deal for me now.

However, that doesn't mean I wasn't nervous. I was scared of two things: 1) going completely blank during my speech. It happens to everyone. You're talking and then all of a sudden your mind goes blank and you can't remember what you were talking about. 2) I was scared of going over the time limit. If we talked for more than 5 min, we automatically had points deducted.

Fortunately, none of those things happened. I did stumble a bit on a few words, as you'll see in the video below that I've posted. And personally, I don't think it was the best presentation I did (I think my presentation in class was better). But other than that, it went fairly smoothly. And... drumroll... I got second place! I received a nice certificate and a bookstore giftcard worth about 100$. I don't think I'll use it all before I leave so I'll probably end up giving it to my brother for when he comes in three years.

The 1st place winner was a Korean, who has already entered university. He's probably been here a few years now so I don't feel bad losing to him. And my teacher said that in her mind, I was the winner, so I can live with that : ) I was glad just to participate.

So here is the video of my speech. Enjoy!

For those who don't understand Japanese, here's a little summary in English:

Everyone has had the misfortune of losing something at one time or another in their life. For example, their cellphone, car keys, or wallet. But those things are fairly easy to replace. However, there are some things you can't replace. For example, my mother suffered from a very rare disease and had to have both legs amputated just below the knees. She was a very active person and being unable to do the sports or activities she used to do was quite hard to accept. Because having legs is normal to us, we live without really being aware of what we have. But if something happens and we lose our legs for some reason, only then do we realize how important our legs are.
Of course, nobody in the audience is losing their legs right now. But there is something that you are losing right now and you're not even aware of it. And that's the planet Earth. Due to human activity, natural habitats are being destroyed, greenhouse gases are being emitted, and the planet Earth that we know is slowly dying. But when will we become aware of that? When we'll only be able to say : "Why didn't we do something earlier to prevent this?". If we don't want to end up like that, we have to do something now. For example, walking or taking the bus instead of driving or reducing our water and electricity consumption. If you think about it, those things are not really hard to do. And if everyone did it... However, let's start by thinking : "What can I do to help the Earth?".

Wakamonokotoba and abbreviations

Japanese really is an interesting language. Because it's a society that values politeness, honor, and respect, there are many different ways of saying the same sentence depending on who you are speaking to.

For example: In English if I went to an office somewhere wanting to speak to someone, I would probably just say: "Is M. Smith in?" or "Is it possible to speak to M. Smith now?" or even "Has M. Smith arrived yet?"

But in Japan, because the pecking order (hierarchical relationship) must be respected at all times, I would have to say : スミスさんはいらっしゃいますか？ (Sumisu-san wa irrashaimasuka?) which translates to "Is the honorable M. Smith in yet/available?

Anyhow, I don't want to focus on keigo (honorific language) in this post. I'll keep that for a post in itself because there's a lot to be said on the subject.

In fact, I'm going to talk about the complete opposite of keigo. In Japanese, they have what they call "Wakamonokotoba" which translates to Young People's language, or as we usually call it in English, slang.
However, compared to English, Japanese slang is almost like a whole new language. The majority of adults haven't even heard of the following words: (Note: there are much more words than those listed here but these are just a few I've learned since I've been here)

- maji/majide: It means "really?" or "Are you serious?"
- chou: (pronounced chō) and means "very"
- mecha: (pronounced mettcha), also means "very"
- JK: stands for 女子高校 (joshi koukou) which means high school (for girls). Girls will use it for example to say : JKに戻りたいな　(I wish I could back to high school...)
- PK: stands for パンツ食い込んでいる (pantsukuikondeiru) which means that someone's (usually more for girls) panty lines are showing (weird, right?)
- KY: stands for 空気読めない (kuukiyomenai) which describes someone who is unable to read a situation. For example, he'll just jump in a conversation without paying attention to what people were talking about or talks on and on even though the listener is completely bored out of his/her mind
- hanakin: (花金) My roommate explained it to me but I'm not sure I remember the explanation correctly. The two characters stand for "flower" and "Friday", and it essentially means that because it's Friday and there's no school tomorrow, people can go out and stay out late. Apparently, we have an equivalent in English which I have never heard of but found on the Internet : TGIF = Thank God it's Friday ; )

Now they also have tons of abbreviations, words that are shortened from their original version:
(Some of these can probably be classified as slang as well, but some of them are used even by adults and written in newspapers)

- takuru: to go by taxi; shortened from takushi (taxi) de kuru
- copiru: to make copies; shortened from kopii o suru
- masukomi: mass communication, the media; shortened from masu komyunikeeshon
- pasokon: laptop, personal computer; shortened from pasonaru konpyutaa
- makku/makudo: McDonald's; shortened from makudonarudo
- tanpure: birthday present; shortened from tanjoubi (birthday) purezento
- buresuto: brainstorming; shortened from bureensutomingu

Interesting, eh? : )