Classes and my best friend the Internet

I'm really enjoying my Japanese class. At first, I felt a bit overwhelmed because the pace is fast and some of the other students have quite a larger vocabulary and are better able to express themselves. But now that I've gotten used to it, I really enjoy going to class. We have four different teachers which really helps to keep things from getting boring. I haven't fallen asleep which is a miracle. Last semester, I dozed off at least once every class. This time, my class is either so interesting or so packed with material that I can't afford dozing off, even for a few minutes. The other students all have great personalities so it's fun to exchange our ideas and opinions during discussions. I come back from school feeling uplifted. I had forgotten how stimulating it is to learn something new, even if it's just a new grammar rule. It just opens so many opportunities because with that grammar for example, I can say so much more. Soon I won't be able to stop talking : P

Now, sometimes in class, the explanations given by the teachers are not clear enough for me or not sufficient. So since I've been here, I've been searching the Internet for resources to help me. And I've fallen in love with the Internet. There are so many great resources on the Internet, it's incredible! I've found several great English-Japanese dictionaries. I've found many websites explaining grammar points, including example sentences and conjugation forms. I've also found a cool website that allows you to research kanji by drawing them in a little box on the website (using the computer mouse). That's really great when I don't know how to read the kanji. Because I've got the image of the kanji, I can draw it, and as I draw it, the website will narrow down the possible kanjis for me to choose from.

Now yesterday, I discovered two other great resources:

- Vocab Bubble: a program I installed which appears as a little icon along with the other icons at the bottom right of my screen. Every minute or so, a text bubble will pop out with a new vocabulary word, along with its definition in English and what function it serves in a sentence (ex. adjective, noun, verb, etc.) Great to review vocabulary without having to concentrate very hard. The word that just popped up now is : いただきます: Itadakimasu, which is an expression of gratitude said before meals.

- Flashcardmachine.com: a website that allows you to create your own flashcards. Recently, there have been tons of new vocabulary in class and it really hinders my learning if I don't know what they mean. I can't even  begin to understand the grammar that's being explained because I can't even make sense of the sentence. So I thought, what better way to remember the vocabulary than using good old flashcards. Writing them would be tedious... so I googled "create your own flashcards" and came up with this website. I can input the kanji characters on one side of the flashcard and then the definition on the other. Then I can have fun testing myself over and over. You can also choose to study flashcards from their database that have been submitted by users. This can be useful for anybody wanting to memorize data (like naming all the presidents of the United States! Good luck! ; )

7A class pictures

Took some pictures of my Japanese class the other day... okay, in fact, it was a while ago but I haven't had time to upload them. Here they are.

the girls of the class (representing Canada, Korea, Thailand and America)

Two Libyans of our class (there are 6 in total): Youssef (left) and Mohamed 

Faraju and Isumairu (both from Libya)

From left: Ahamedo (Libya), Ed (China), Busaisa (Libya)



Our entire class (missing Youssef who is taking the picture I believe)

 It's so cold now in Japan. Everyone gasps in shock when I tell them that we get -45 degrees in Canada but personally, I feel just as cold in Japan's current 12 degree temperature. In class, I wear my parka and my tuque. I really look like a Canadian ; )

However, they also have some really warm spots as well. Yesterday, along with three other international students, we went to a sentou. It's pretty much exactly like an onsen (a hot spring) except that the sentou is not natural. I don't care if it's natural or not, it's great for relaxing muscles after training hard all week. And it's only about 10 minutes away from our residence so I'll be going quite often I think. : )

Japanese class : 7A and 7B

Today, we were reassigned to a different Japanese class. Our class initially had 13 students. This week, about 8 students from Libya as well as a couple of students from other classes joined our class. The teachers decided a class of 25 students was a bit too big and so our class was divided into 7A and 7B. The students with a bit more difficulty were placed in 7B and the others who are a bit more advanced (including me) in 7A. The class dynamics are a bit different but I think the faster learning pace will be better for me.

* Note: In class, we have some listening exercises every day where we have to listen to some dialogue and then answer some questions or choose the right picture. After we listen, the teacher will ask: Maru (correct statement), Batsu (Incorrect statement), or Wakarimasen (I don't understand). That third option is quite useful ; )

I've also been doing some cooking (not Japanese yet) in my spare time (what free time!?!). A couple of pictures to give you an idea:

Yumm, a taste of home, some good old chili

School must go on...

I'm really enjoying studying Japanese. We have four different teachers for our class so that helps to make classes a bit less boring or predictable. We have a listening class where we'll be learning about proper intonation. Not as easy as it sounds. There are specific places where you're supposed to dip or raise your tone of voice and these places will change depending on verb class, verb tense, type of adjective, connecting words, etc... Still a bit overwhelming for me. But we're going to be using this sweet software, called Movie Teleco which allows us to record ourselves by speaking into a microphone. We then can listen to ourselves over and over again (and no, we are not narcissistic lol) to improve our pronunciation and intonation, on which we'll be tested later.

I learned today that one of my teachers, Nishiyama sensei, has the same birthday as me! I now know four other people (including my dad) who share the same birthday. Two of my favorite actors are also born on June 9th: Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman. Maybe June 9th is a more common birth date than others... Or maybe I've just been drawn to other awesome people like me lol. Just kidding! Still, anyone born on June 9th is awesome! Or on any other day for that matter : D

Fall is starting to show its colors here. The leaves are turning shades of orange and yellow and the wind is blowing a bit more tenaciously. And it's gradually getting colder although for me, who was born and raised in Canada, it's still pretty hot.

Judo, cellphone, classes

Okay, a lot has happened since I last wrote. I think I went a day without writing anything!!! *gasp*! To let you know, it will more often be that way once classes start because I won't have time to update everyday, like I've been doing so far.

So I had my first judo practice today at 9 in the morning. The dojo is really just a 5 minute walk from my dorm which is really convenient. I introduced myself in front of the whole class, speaking the little sentences I had memorized. Then time to practice. It went well. It wasn't as tough as I expected it to be. Now it's only been one day. I might say differently after doing six days in a row with two trainings per day, but for this first practice, I really enjoyed it. It's comforting to see how some things do not change. Judo is judo and no matter what country you're in, the structure of a practice is pretty similar. Very useful, especially since I don't yet understand what the sensei is telling us to do. During practice, I waited to see what the others were doing. Sometimes, a girl would grab me and bring me to where I was supposed to be.

We warmed up first, running and then some fast running on the spot. Then we did some uchikomi. Then 12 x 5 min of tachi waza randoris. At first I thought we had to do all of them. After my first 3 in a row, someone told me I was only supposed to go every two... Ahh.... I threw one girl and got thrown a lot with foot sweeps. They are very good at those. After, we did some newaza. At which, once again, they are very good. But I'm not that far away and I hope this year in Japan will really help me improve. After newaza, we did some throwing and that was it. Then some stretching and talking with other athletes. I think all of them are curious but some are less shy than others and came to see me to try to communicate. Try = me speaking the Japanese I know and them speaking the English they know. Which works to a certain degree.

After practice, ate some delicious curry... :) YUM. If you ever go to Japan, make sure to eat some curry. Then, off to the supermarket to buy some things and get a cellphone. The road to the supermarket is a large winding slope downwards. Riding my bike (without braking) all the way down is a thrilling but equally dangerous experience. I have the same feeling when I snowboard. Snowboarding downward at high speed and feeling the wind blowing past makes you feel invincible. But at a certain point, you have to start breaking or you might have a rough finish at the bottom of the hill.

Here are a couple of pictures I wanted to upload, though they don't really tie in to any particular text in this post:

The supermarket I like the most because it has everything: food (1st floor), clothes and appliances (2nd floor) and a dollar store that has everything in itself

Two friends: Haruka from Japan and Giyo (not sure of the spelling...) from Korea



Giyo and me



A nice picture of my Japanese mother, Reiko : )

I bought my cellphone today! Thankfully the guy working at the cellphone store spoke relatively good English so I was able to purchase and set up my phone without much difficulty. Here are some pictures though my camera really doesn't take great close-ups.

I had the option of getting an iphone but I opted for the prepaid because the iphone contract is for 2 years and I don't really want to have to tamper with the phone to have it work in Canada when I return. I would have liked a pink or gold phone but they said this was the only color they had. The first thing I did when I got my cellphone : change the display language to English ; ) So now I know exactly what's on my phone. What's neat is that I can now text in both English and Japanese characters. And I can email people from anywhere in the world.

I have had two requests for a postal address so here it is:

SAYURI FRANCE BLAIS-SHIOKAWA (LS303B)
TOKAI UNIVERSITY RYUGAKUSEIKAIKAN (L-KAN)
4-1-2 KITAKANAME, HIRATSUKA-SHI, KANAGAWA-KEN
259-1201, JAPAN

My classes start tomorrow already. On a Saturday!!! lol I've bought the six required textbooks: main textbook, listening practice, grammar, grammar explanations translated in English (most useful book out of all of them : p), kanji book, and intermediate book for later. I'm excited to start learning but it will be hard work. Especially with the judo practices. Here is what my daily schedule will look like starting next week: training in the morning at 7, breakfast and shower, classes from 9 - 12, lunch break, classes from 1 - 3, judo practice, supper, shower, study, sleep. And then restart it all over again the next day.. and the next... At least one thing I'm no worried about: falling asleep. I'll be dead tired once I get to bed. What I'm worried about is the hours of sleep I'll be able to get. I guess everything in its own time, I'll figure out something if a problem arises.

Ate supper and reheated some things I cooked the other day. I'm having fun cooking on my own now. Normally I cook desserts and only cooked meat maybe once or twice back in Canada. So the other day, I cooked up some chicken, made some rice in my new little rice cooker, added some kimchi and ginger, made a salad, and this was the result:



Not bad eh? : p and very good :)



That's it for today. Tomorrow, I have two classes and then I'm joining the judo team for weight training. I'm curious to see what they do in terms of weight training. It's great to be here and to be able to see exactly what their training regimen is like. I'll report back tomorrow about the weight training : ) Jaane! (See you!)