Second semester

Last week, I took the Japanese placement test again. The test helps to decide which class is best suited for the student's current level of Japanese knowledge. Last semester, I was in 7A class. And this semester... I'm in class 3!!!! (There are 8 classes, class 1 being the highest). I'm quite proud of myself. It shows how much my Japanese has improved. I had asked my teacher at the end of last semester which class she thought I could enter, and she had answered class 3. I hadn't believed her. But here I am, in class 3!

But it is not going to be easy... It's only been two days since school has started and I already have so much homework. There is a lot of vocabulary I don't know so I'm often unsure in class. We have kanji tests 3 times a week. Today we studied how to write on Japanese writing paper (which looks like the paper used for graphs, full of squares). Every character has to occupy one square but then there are certain rules about where to place commas, periods, parenthesis, etc. Some characters also take up only a half or a quarter of the square. It's going to be hard keeping up. Not just keep up, but teachers also expect students to prepare for the lessons ahead. If I only had studying to worry about, it would already be a challenge. But with judo, it's near impossible. But I think I'm going to be ok. With good time management and good work efficiency, you can accomplish a lot. And the upside is that my Japanese is going to improve a lot : )