Outta here soon!

Well, to those who have been wanting an update, sorry it's been so long! I've been busy as always! Recently, because of the weather getting warmer, I have been getting up at 6am 4 or 5 times a week, and going for a 5km run. I'm so happy that I'm able to do that now, before Xmas I was so sick with a chest infection that I couldn't even breathe properly. Thankfully the docs in Canada gave me some good meds, so I'm all better now! When in doubt, go home to go to the doctor! The docs here think everything is a cold, and will give you only 3 days of amazingly weak medicine, which of course has no effect. Then you gotta keep going back to get more meds, which is such a pain, and you tend not to get better very quickly, if at all!

So, as well as running, I've been going to the gym 3 times a week too. I'm getting much stronger now, when I started my gym program about a year and a half ago, I could only do about 2 pushups, and not even a quarter of a chinup! Now I can do 3 chinups pretty easily, and about 15 to 20 pushups. I did it! It feels so good to be healthy and strong! I am so ready to join the Air Force next month!! I can't wait! I know it will be a really challenging experience, but that's what I want. I hate jobs that are boring and predictable. Snooooooze! Here's a pic from the Royal Military College, where I'll be going to finish up my degree. Pretty cool eh!


Also, I've been taking one more course from Massey University this year, Japanese-English translation. It's good, and I would have liked to take more courses, but as I'm leaving next month, I didn't want to overload myself with school work, especially as I do spend a fair amount of my spare time exercising. I have my final exam in a week, then I can concentrate on getting everything ready to go home. I already sent some winter stuff back a few weeks ago, if I'm lucky it will be waiting for me when I get back to Canada!

Oh, and here's a picture of some little kids getting wheeled past Kanayama Station in Nagoya the other day. In Japan, when the preschools take their kids out on an outing, they chuck them into this big basket on wheels. It's kind of like a stand-up pram, but usually all the kids are so small that you only really see their little heads poking out the top! Sooo cute! They look like little birds all waiting to be fed!


I'm glad I'm leaving now, Japan has just introduced new tax laws that have seen most people's tax burden double. In theory, the increase in city tax is supposed to be balanced by a decrease in income tax, but it doesn't seem to be working that way. Even though I'll have to pay more than double what I did last year (this year will be about $1700 Canadian), I've heard about some people who have to pay more than $4000. And, usually this city tax isn't taken out of your paycheque, you have to physically make payments about 4 times a year, which makes it seem all the more painful for most! Like most things in Japan, the new tax laws just prove the lack of logic that permeates this country! I'm amazed that anything ever gets accomplished at all!

I've also been looking into ways to keep my energy up, both physically and mentally, as my new career will be very strenous. I found a good website at choosingprosperity.com, which has some interesting forums and stuff. It's based on the writings of one of the women who appeared in the Secret, which was an awesome movie. I know, a lot of people don't believe in stuff like that, but I figure, if it makes me feel happier on a daily basis to think that I do create my experience, then why wouldn't I try it intentionally? Worse comes to worse, your life doesn't change from how it is now, but you've learned something. Best case scenario, your life becomes exactly how you want it. Why wouldn't you give it a go, it's a win-win situation!

So, I'm going to keep focused on what I want to accomplish, and try to enjoy my last 6 weeks or so in Japan. I'm glad I came, I learned a lot, not only about the language and Japan in general, but about myself. I'm also glad I won't have to live here permanently! It seems like no matter how hard you try to fit in, it's just never going to happen here. Not that people are mean or evil or anything like that, it's just that there is a certain way of thinking here that will never change. I don't mind being different, but I do mind being stared at and treated like some kind of exotic pet in a zoo. From what I've experienced in other places, once you get over the language barrier you're pretty much ok, whereas Japan isn't like that. As a foreigner, you are definitely the odd one out here, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to change that. Even if you have a great family here and great friends, people who don't know you will still react to you in a very strange way, which can be very frustrating after living here for years, and studying your ass off to learn the language. I know everyone here means well, but if one more person expresses amazement at the fact that I can use chopsticks so well...! Oh well, outta here soon, I just have to focus on the good things that have happened to me here, and the opportunities I've had. I will be finished paying off my Canadian student loan next month, which is mainly why I came here in the first place. I've managed to pay off $20,000 in 3 years, which I never could have done at my old job in Canada. So, I am grateful for the things I've been able to do here, and the things I've seen, it's just that now it's time to move on.

Playing Dress-ups

Well, again, it's been a long time since I posted, so I apologize! But all the studying I did all year paid off, got 2 B+'s, an A- and an A+ for my university courses. Yaaay! My university also published an article about me in the most recent issue of Massey Magazine, you can find the article at http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/magazine/2006_Nov/stories/04-21-06.html. That was a cool experience! In addition to my uni studies, I also took the Level 2 Japanese Proficiency Exam (or 2級日本語能力試験）last weekend, but I don't get my results for that one until mid-February. I understood more than I thought I would, but who knows if I actually answered the questions correctly! Especially the reading and grammar section, the time limit is so short that it was almost impossible to completely read everything. I just ended up scanning everything as thoroughly as I could, then taking an educated guess at the answer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

So, I have a little catching up to do with my posts! One of the funniest things I saw all year was the World Cosplay Summit, which is held every year here in Nagoya. I'm not sure why it's held here, maybe it's because there are so many girls dressed like manga and anime characters normally! As you can see, it's not really an outfit that blends well into the crowd, but I suppose that's the whole point! So, the competition was between 8 countries around the world, and each team had 2 people in it. They had to do a performance onstage, and I would assume that they were being judged on their costume, performance, and how accurate it was to that particular character.

But, the performances weren't nearly as good as I thought they would be, considering that this was the world championships, and the teams had come from all over the world. The acting was really stilted, the stage fighting was absolutely terrible, and the routines weren't well rehearsed.
The Singapore team looked like they had just met that day, they weren't even dancing in sync with each other, one was always about 3 beats behind the other one. Needless to say, I didn't stick around to see all the performances, or see who won. And what I thought was really weird, was the lack of kids in the audience. It was held on a Sunday, and the characters were mostly from kids comics, so it was really odd to see the crowd was mainly adult men. I think these guys need to get out of the house more!

Another case of adults playing dress-ups in Nagoya can be seen every weekend at Central Park. I'm not sure how or why it started, but men in their 40's or so come and dress up in black leather, kind of like Elvis meets a 1950's street thug, and they dance like Elvis in the park. They have massive speakers that blast their music (usually oldies), and although a few actually can dance, it's kind of a sad spectacle! I'm sure during the week they're all salarymen or something, and this is their only chance to do something different. I can't imagine how they would react though if they ran into their boss in the park though! That would be embarrassing! The funny thing for me is, at Halloween no one dresses up! Oh well, such is the life in Nagoya!

I was going to go to Kobe this year to see the Illuminaria, but I wanted to save money instead for my trip back to Canada for Xmas. So instead, some friends and I went to the Inuyama Monkey Park, which is about 30 minutes from my house. It was really fun, expecially when the gorilla started walking really aggressively towards my friend! She just freaked out! The chimpanzees were absolutely disgusting, I won't even tell you what one of them did! Nasty nasty nasty! It seemed like they were really old, and maybe had gone a little nuts from being in a cage their whole life. On the whole, most of the enclosures were really good, but there was the odd one that was just a stained concrete box, and that was pretty sad. The Japanese monkeys were really funny, they'd clap their hands to get you to throw peanuts at them. And the babies were really cute!

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. I will try to write more, but I can't promise anything. Especially next year, I'll be studying again, and planning to come back to Canada and apply for the military, so it will be a busy year!

Miyajima and Hiroshima

Miyajima Gate
Originally uploaded by danabree.

Well, I know it's been a long time since I've posted, so if anybody's been waiting for an update, sorry! I've been super busy with this term's university work. I'm taking international relations, Islam, and Intermediate Japanese at the moment. The Islam course is only one semester, so I've had to write 2 essays in 2 months, and I have my final exam in a month. Phew! It's really interesting, and I can start to see links and logic in all the activity in the Middle East current events now. Still have a lot to learn, but even crazy stuff like Osama bin Laden and why he's waging jihad against the West is starting to make sense. Obviously, I don't agree with it, but I can see his viewpoint better. People like George Bush who just lump all Muslims into one big batch are morons, he really needs someone to actually give him an education. I read something funny recently, if you take the "p" off of "President Bush", you're left with "Resident Bush". That pretty much sums it up, he certainly wasn't meant to be in that position in the first place, at least if you take vote totals into account!

My Japanese class is interesting, and I'm doing weekly private lessons once a week as well, but it's such a hard language to actually use. The special honorific language called keigo totally sucks to use, as it uses totally different verb forms, depending on whether you're talking about your actions to a superior, or the superior's actions. Plus, it's a very "fuzzy" language, you're not really meant to directly say things.There's the Japanese concept of honne and tatamae, which basically means what you actually think, and what you say to others about what you think. A friend of mine recently had a problem with that recently. A Japanese co-worker blew up at her, and my friend couldn't figure out what the problem was. Her co-worker had agreed to drive her from her school to the train station once a week (which was on her co-worker's way back to the office). Last week out of the blue, her co-worker yelled at her saying she wouldn't drive her anymore, that she wasn't her taxi. Needless to say, my friend was surprised and hurt at the outburst, especially because her co-worker had agreed to take her once a week. After talking to my Japanese teacher about it, it turns out that my friend's co-worker probably never wanted to drive her at all, but was too polite to say no. Eventually, her resentment probably built up and caused the outburst. I asked my Japanese teacher why it happened, and long story short, you're not supposed to ask people to do things that might inconvenience them. Even if they say yes, they probably mean no, but are too polite to say it. For me and my friend, that is such a difficult thing to deal with. We are used to people being straight with each other, and discussing things in an adult manner, not just letting things build up to an eruption. Anyway, there's no way I could do that. Of course I try to say things politely, but I'm not Japanese, so I will never be able to think that way, or anticipate when something may or may not be a problem. It's hard enough just trying to string a sentence together coherently in a foreign language without trying to be a mind-reader at the same time.

Miyajima Temple
Originally uploaded by danabree.

Anyway, in November last year, as a reward for getting through my first year of extramural studies at Massey, I went to Hiroshima and Miyajima with a friend. It was so much fun!! We thought we would have missed the changing of the leaves, but we were actually there just at the perfect time! It was so beautiful, especially on Miyajima. We stayed at the Miyajima Grand Hotel - lovely and quite cheap!! There were all these crazy deer all over the island, and they kept trying to eat my coat! It was good though, every time I had a piece of paper that I didn't need anymore, I'd just give it to the deer to eat! And before anyone gets pissy about that, the deer were eating everything in sight anyway, including newspapers, and being Japan, there were no garbage cans anywhere!!

Miyajima monkeys
Originally uploaded by danabree.

Also, on Mount Misen there were wild monkeys everywhere, which was such a treat! I love monkeys, and we don't exactly have them running wild around the place either in Canada or New Zealand! So much fun, but a little freaky as they were pretty big, and the older ones kept screaming at each other and chasing each other amongst all the tourists. The view from Mt. Misen would have been nicer had the day been not so hazy, but we hiked about a half hour up to a little temple right on top, which was lovely. They were doing Buddhist chanting there, and you could buy little bags of peanuts to give to the ever-present nutty deer. The fawns were so cute!! I highly recommend Mt. Misen and Miyajima to anyone going to Hiroshima - amazing! And yes, in the picture of the Miyajima Torii (Gate), that is another deer just parked on the sand!

Hiroshima was awesome as well. It's such a peaceful feeling city, lots of parks and nice rivers. Of course, that was the intention when it was rebuilt after the war, but it makes a nice change to the average hustly bustly busy busy busy Japanese city. The Peace Museum was really good, very well laid out with lots of amazing information. It's totally not biased in any direction either, which I was a little surprised at. It explains all about nuclear technology, what it is, why it was developed, as well as the process that went into selecting Hiroshima and Nagasaki as targets. The area with bits of school uniforms from students who were killed and things like that was really sad, but worth seeing. It's sad to think that there is still some discrimination against the survivors of the bomb, they went through so much. I also recommend the Hiroshima okonomiyaki (like a meat and vege pancake) - it's really really good!

Miyajima autumn
Originally uploaded by danabree.

Apart from all my studying, I've also taken on a volunteer position with the Canadian Embassy as a consular warden. Basically, I'll be keeping lists of Canadians who have registered with the Embassy updated, and keeping people informed as to what to do if an emergency strikes, like an earthquake or something. I'm going to Tokyo in a few weeks for training, which will be really fun and interesting I think. I'll get to meet the Canadian Ambassador and other staff from the Embassy and consulates, which will be great. It will also be my first trip to Tokyo, so I'm looking forward to that. I should be able to meet up with some Japanese friends I worked with in Canada, and haven't seen in a few years, so that should be really fun! We're also going to a disaster prevention centre, so we'll get to feel a big "earthquake", put out a "fire", and experience a "typhoon". I love those kinds of natural events, so it sounds like the perfect place for me!

So, apologies again for the delay between posts. I will try to do them more frequently, but I can't promise anything!

Crazy busy

For those of you who have posted comments, thanks! I really appreciate any feedback I get. I apologize for the long delay in writing another post, and apologize in advance for the lack of photos in this one! I'm crazy busy at the moment, studying for university exams. I had my Japanese exams last week and the week before (written test easy, oral test made me so stressed I got sick after!), and I have a history test in 2 days, and my politics exam next week. So, once all that's over and done with, I'll do a proper post, with some nice pictures and everything. I'm enjoying studying by correspondence, as it's quite flexible and allows me to actually have an income at the same time as I'm studying! But, it is really hard work, and it would be nice to bounce ideas off others who are studying too. We do have an online component, but it's just not the same as a face-to-face conversation with your peers or teachers.

I've also been doing private Japanese lessons once a week, which seems to be really helping the speaking part. That's the hardest part for me, and although I still suck completely, I am understanding more, and am slowly starting to be able to use the grammar I'm learning. Going to be taking an intermediate Japanese university course next year, and the kanji in the textbook looks so scary!!!

On top of all that, just started taking kung-fu lessons at a womens-only studio near my house. It's so fun, and great for impressing your students with when they just won't behave! I know, kung-fu is Chinese, and I should be studying something Japanese since I live in Japan, but nothing else really appeals. Besides, this class is like an informal drop-in beginner level class, so it's not like an official class where you have to wear a uniform and learn everything in sequence. Much more relaxed, but very professional teachers (most of whom learned in Hong Kong), so it's very cool. I would feel intimidated in a regular class- I still don't know enough Japanese I think to cope with that style of class.

AND, just did another painting for the Nagoya Foreign Artist's Exhibition. It went well, and my work was received well, but as usual, no sales. Everyone always comments on how much they like my work, but no one ever buys. Sigh. I have a lovely collection of paintings under my bed if anyone's interested!!

Another reason I haven't been writing is I went through another phase of "I hate this country, why am I here?". I didn't think it was appropriate to put a bunch of shit on this blog, so I just waited until I felt better. Feel relatively okay now, but still have my moments!

So, once my exams are over and I have a life again, I will do a more detailed post with photos, including one or two from Expo. Yes, I did go once, but that's another story! I'm also going to Hiroshima and Miyajima with a friend at the end of November, so I'm sure I'll have lots of good and interesting photos and stories from that trip!

I am speaking Japanese, aren't I?

Another Golden Week has been and gone, and it was lovely to have a week off and get paid for it! That's one thing that's nice about Japan, everyone takes holidays at the same time, so unless you work for Nova, you get paid vacations on Japanese national holidays. The downside is everyone gets their vacations at the same time, so everywhere you go is crowded, expensive, and just plain irritating. So,I just went on a few little daytrips around Nagoya (like to Nabana Village, where the photo was taken - amazing gardens there). I also did a fair amount of studying Japanese. I'm taking some correspondence courses through Massey University in New Zealand, so I really want to get better at Japanese. I figure I'm here, and I'm missing out on a lot by not understanding what's around me, so it's good incentive.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother though. Yesterday I went to a bookstore to buy a world map in English, and was asking the salesman (in Japanese) if they had any in stock. First I get led to the English book section, but he starts showing me touristy books about Japan. "Eigo no sekai no chizu onegaishimasu" I said again (English world map please). Then he takes me to the guide book section, and starts showing me atlases. I said I didn't want a book, I wanted a map to hang on my wall. At this he looks confused, and scurries off. Another guy comes and starts talking to me in English, and starts showing me the atlases again. By now I'm thinking what is wrong with the staff, are they just too freaked out having a foreigner speak Japanese to them? And how did they know I spoke English, I could have been a German tourist for all they know. Everyone just assumes if you are a foreigner, you speak English. So, after telling him again that I didn't want an atlas, I wanted an English map (and this is all in English), he takes me to the map section. Thank god I'm thinking. But wait, there's more. First he starts showing me Japanese maps, which I explain are useless to me - trying to read names like Afghanistan in katakana is enough to make anyone nuts. Then he shows me English maps, but those old antique collector ones, not a current modern style map. After telling him again what I want, he says "We don't have that, try Tokyu Hands" (another store). GOD!!! What a mission! Thank god Tokyu Hands had one, and they actually spoke to me in Japanese and understood what I wanted!! It's enough to make you give up and think "Why bother?".

But, last Saturday I went to a friend's barbeque. She speaks English, but her friends and family don't (they're all Japanese). So, I got to practice my Japanese, and I actually understood most of what was going on. People also seemed to understand what I was saying, which was a relief!! It was my first time being basically in an only Japanese setting at a party, so it was good to know that all my studying is actually starting to sink in! I'm a little worried about the oral tests for my university courses, so maybe I just need to go to more parties, have a few drinks, and practice lots!! I guess there could be worse ways to spend my time!!

All in all, I think I'm improving and understanding more. I can understand a little more of the tv and such, which is good (not that it's quality programs or anything like that!). It seems to be worth it, but when stuff like yesterday happens, it seriously makes me question what I'm doing!! My friends said that a lot of Japanese aren't used to hearing foreigners speak their language, so when you do, they kind of freak out and don't know how to react. Just something else to get used to here I guess. Certainly makes life "entertaining"!!

Complaining about Japan

I just had a bit of an embarrassing experience on the train ride home the other night. The train was really full, so I was standing near the door, reading a book. No problems. Until I heard the guy in front of and beside me chatting in English. It was a British guy and a Japanese guy, and I guess the British guy had been teaching some sort of intensive English workshop at Toyota. The Japanese guy was one of his students. From what I could gather, the course had just finished, and the teacher was on his way back to Tokyo, where he lived. And before you start thinking I was trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, they were pretty much standing in my lap, so I couldn't help but hear what they were saying. At first, the Japanese guy wanted the teacher to give him his contact details, so he could take more of his workshops when he came back to Nagoya. The teacher said yes, but then explained that he probably wouldn't be working for that same company after May. Instead of just leaving it at that, the teacher started going into this full-on rampage about his company. He was saying stuff like they can't even get it together enough to tell him if they want to renew his contract or not, and how they wouldn't pay him for travel expenses for one teaching gig (even though he pointed out they were all getting huge whacks of cash for that teaching assignment). He then started complaining about how talented and skilled he was in his field, and they just weren't appreciating him enough. He topped it off with a rampage about the Japanese way of doing things, how they were so inefficient and unprofessional, and couldn't give him a straight answer about anything.

Meanwhile, the poor student he was talking to got quieter, and quieter, and quieter during this little speech. I could see he was really uncomfortable - he probably didn't want to know that many details about the teacher, and certainly didn't want to hear his country being slammed by some whiny British guy. He tried to point out that maybe his boss didn't know what was happening with the contract renewal because she hadn't been told by her superiors what was going on. He also delicately tried to say that some companies put the travel allowance into the salary, instead of having it as a separate payment. Of course, whiny guy rejected these points outright, saying the student just didn't understand how things actually worked in his company. He then went back to the beginning of their conversation, and said he would email him his contact details, in case he was ever in Nagoya again to teach! I'm pretty sure by the look on the student's face, he was happy to see the back of that teacher!!

I just felt so uncomfortable listening to all this crap. I was actually trying to read my book, obviously unsuccessfully, but I could see the Japanese guy looking at me during all this. I bet he was thinking that I was just another dirty foreigner like the guy he was talking to. I felt like interrupting the British guy at one point, and apologizing to the Japanese guy, to try to explain that we all don't think like that. I have many issues with Japan, many things I don't like, but I am certainly not going to complain about them to a student, especially a Japanese student! Imagine how you would feel if you were back home, and some foreigner started ranting and raving about how crappy your country was. You'd feel like smacking them, and telling them to go back home!! I think this guy just forgot how lucky he is in Japan, how our lifestyle is usually a lot better than if we were back home working in some 9-5 $8/hour gig. I just felt really embarrassed to be a foreigner.

A lovely day in Kyoto

Kyoto temple detail
Originally uploaded by danabree.

Kyoto old painting
Originally uploaded by danabree.

It's been a while since I updated this site, so I apologize for that. Between going back to Canada for Christmas, starting 2 university courses part-time, and going out with friends it seems like every night, been really busy recently!!

Christmas in Canada was great, the weather was about the same as it was in Nagoya. Great catching up with the family, although it took a while to realize that I could understand everything around me language-wise, and that everyone could understand me. Except for the guy at the Starbucks on Robson Street in Vancouver, not sure what was up with him!! Certainly gives me a newer perspective on living in Japan. Things that really used to irritate me (like really terrible tv commercials, what are the Gulliver people thinking?!!) seem not as bad now, after seeing endless dumb cleaning product ads on Canadian television!! There does still seem to be a lack of logic a lot of the time here though. For instance, recently the UFJ bank machines have an alternate language option, so you can do a deposit or withdrawal in English, Chinese, Korean, or Portuguese. Makes sense to me, as there is a decent amount of people who live here who speak those languages as a mother tongue. However, a friend pointed out that it is probably just a promotional thing happening while Expo is going on, and that when Expo disappears, so will the other languages. I don't understand why, as they've already done all the hard work doing the programming and stuff! It's not like there's a little guy sitting in the machine, translating away! Another thing that doesn't make sense is that bank machines in Japan close at night and on the weekends. You can't get any money out except during banking hours. I knew about that before I got my bank account, which is why I am with UFJ bank, they actually have 24/7 bank machines. However, they sometimes have them in little booths that are only accessible during banking hours, the rest of the time they are locked! Huh????? I am slowly learning that the worst question to ask about anything in Japan is "Why?". Either there isn't an answer, or it's something like "It's always been done this way, so that's the only way it can be done". I'm trying not to pay attention to stuff like that, or else I would go nutty! Well, I already am a little nutty, so maybe too late!!

Went to Kyoto last week with some friends from work, it was great going back there. I haven't been back since I left to move to Nagoya, so it was nice seeing it again. I just love the temples, and I love the scenery and cute little shops in Gion. It was nice being able to actually appreciate the city. When I was living there last year, I was trying to be really careful with my money, as I didn't know when or if I would get a job. So, I didn't go into stores and such, as I knew I would just be too tempted to buy things. There are some really beautiful things in those little stores, some of them just look like someone's house, until you walk in and see stuff for sale! Through a friend, I discovered the joys of yattsuhashi - like a soft chewy pastry with filling inside. Yummy, especially the choco-banana variety!! The traditional ones are nice too, but choco-banana rocks!! Also, when I was living in Kyoto last year, I was very culture-shocked, which really affected how I saw the city. It was nice going back, now that I am basically acclimatized to Japan. It was a beautiful day, even though it was a little cold. The photo of the painting was at Kitanotenmangu shrine, and an old guy there said it was about 300 years old. Very cool!! The detail of one of the shrine buildings is from the same place.

Teaching going ok, but right now we are deciding on which kids go up to the next level in April, which ones stay, etc etc. My boss is totally stressed!! Most of the kids are nice, but it seems like a lot of them don't get any discipline at home, which carries over into the classroom. They're smacking you and telling you to shut up, and the mothers are just sitting there going, "Isn't my child so cute!!". No honey, not cute. Either that, or they're terrified of their mum and are so quiet they kind of freak you out. Luckily, compared to some of the kids the other teachers have, most of mine are relatively well-behaved. I think I'll be able to teach for a few more years without losing my marbles, but that's why I'm doing some university courses from New Zealand, to give me some options later. Studying towards a BA in Politics, taking World History since 1900 and Politics at the moment. I hope one day to work for the Canadian or NZ government doing counter-terrorism work. Endlessly challenging and interesting!

So, life in Japan is proving to still be interesting, if at times befuddling. But, as I just found out, I passed my level 3 (sankyuu) JLPT test, which is great, and at least gives me hope that one day I'll actually be able to communicate! My boyfriend keeps trying to get me to speak in Japanese, but my vocab is so low that it's really difficult. A friend suggested I start studying the kids cram school (juku) books, so that's what I'm doing now. Just started with the grade 1 book, and it's proving really useful for learning new vocab and practicing kanji. I now know the Japanese for lumberjack, sunflower, and woodpecker - I know, they will be terribly useful in everyday life! I certainly get some strange looks on the train, studying using a grade 1 kids book!! Good practice though, and then I can go up level by level, and actually start to read stuff like books and such. The only thing I can read at the moment is stuff designed for foreigners learning Japanese. Interesting, but not exactly the kind of stuff that I would find in daily life, or that will help me learn grammar and vocab easier. I love reading, and I figure if I can get to the point where I can read stories and such, then I can just start to absorb the grammar and vocab that way, like you do when you are learning your own language.

So who knows when my next post will be, but I'll try to make it more than one or twice a season!!