I finally tried out the sauna suit that I bought on the recommendation of one of my co-workers way back in the day. It's basically a fancy version of wrapping garbage bags around your body like wrestlers and boxers do to cut water weight. I was sweating so much it was kind of unreal. The floor mat I use was soaked, puddles were all over the floor, and my push up bars were soaked through so when I used them they would drip too. The problem with that kind of weight loss is that I had to down like a gallon of water after finishing up.
The JLPT course I'm taking is for level 3 & 4, which is confusing for me. I was pretty sure that I was signing up for level 2. On a bright side the opening test gave me a 76 on the written and an 80 on the listening portion. That's well over the margin required to pass level 3 in December so I'm feeling pretty good about rocking level 2 in instead. I just have to do some self-study with one of those guides around September'ish. Tomorrow is another JLPT review elective course but I'm not sure how it will be different.
I'm going to burn through the last of my protein mix in the next two weeks or so, not sure what to do after that. Buying protein in Japan is crazy expensive. I'm hoping I can score some bulk mix like I did back in the day. I think the big sacrifice I'm going to have to make is to cut back on drinking. Maybe stick to the diet beers they have out here. Some of them are actually pretty tasty, so that's not all bad.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Day 93 (Osaka) : Man, that's physical
I started working out in earnest tonight. It's been a long time since I worked out for more than ten or fifteen minutes with my super sets. Tonight I did a full upper body work out, tons of stretching, and a new ab super set that I pulled from a training video last night. I was able to keep a hand stand for about thirty seconds using the wall for support, which isn't too impressive but I was already pretty worn out when I tried it. The frog squat is still crazy difficult for me to maintain because my balance is bad.
The funny thing is when I kick my legs out to keep from smashing my face on the floor it's semi-sorta planche like for a second. The strain on the muscle is crazy though because it builds up from my wrist to my upper thighs in less than a second and after I'm totally drained. I guess that's why gymnasts have to train all the time to do the crazy stuff they do.
School is pretty much the same Mondays and Fridays. The other three days of the week we split our two hours after lunch for elective classes. I'll be reviewing JLPT study guides on Wednesday and Thursday with conversation drills on Thursdays. Hopefully that will help fill the gap that's killing me in the interview portion of the placement exams. It should be interesting, so I'm going to start scoring coffee and energy drinks to get through the day a little more awake.
Frog Stand Static Test: ~3 seconds
This is technically my first day working on this progression so I guess any seconds at all is a good sign. My wrists hurt a lot so I'm going to take a break for the day. From here I'm going to focus on my wall stands until my arms and wrists get used to supporting the weight just to be on the safe side. I'll see where I stand next Monday. For clarity I yoinked this picture from the Cross Fit forums, credit goes to the old guy for pulling it off. The main point here is that the legs rest behind the elbow so it doesn't require as much core strength to tuck the legs. Still hella hard though.
The funny thing is when I kick my legs out to keep from smashing my face on the floor it's semi-sorta planche like for a second. The strain on the muscle is crazy though because it builds up from my wrist to my upper thighs in less than a second and after I'm totally drained. I guess that's why gymnasts have to train all the time to do the crazy stuff they do.
School is pretty much the same Mondays and Fridays. The other three days of the week we split our two hours after lunch for elective classes. I'll be reviewing JLPT study guides on Wednesday and Thursday with conversation drills on Thursdays. Hopefully that will help fill the gap that's killing me in the interview portion of the placement exams. It should be interesting, so I'm going to start scoring coffee and energy drinks to get through the day a little more awake.
Frog Stand Static Test: ~3 seconds
This is technically my first day working on this progression so I guess any seconds at all is a good sign. My wrists hurt a lot so I'm going to take a break for the day. From here I'm going to focus on my wall stands until my arms and wrists get used to supporting the weight just to be on the safe side. I'll see where I stand next Monday. For clarity I yoinked this picture from the Cross Fit forums, credit goes to the old guy for pulling it off. The main point here is that the legs rest behind the elbow so it doesn't require as much core strength to tuck the legs. Still hella hard though.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Day 92 (Osaka) : Sunday is a wash...
I've done nothing but study all day today and I feel like I haven't retained a single stroke of the kanji that I've been practicing. It's kind of hard to get out of the week off routine and start taking the studies seriously again. Since it's already seven the only thing I have enough time left to do is finish folding clothes and turn in so I can start the pre-test routine tomorrow morning. Waking up at five is rough enough as it is, but brewing coffee and forcing in a few dozen kanji before going to school is just shy of a miracle at this point.
On a constructive note, I've set up my calendar with the training objectives that I have worked out to build up to a full planche push up. Right now I'm struggling with the whole balance issue. I'm not used to supporting my body weight with just my hands and my core strength is really sub par. It's crazy how hard it is just to get up to double digits in seconds. I also have a hard time pulling into the position without starting in a forward pike with my legs out and then pulling my legs under and out, which doesn't make sense to me at all. I'm hoping when I lose a few pounds and build some upper body strength the balance will come naturally.
On a constructive note, I've set up my calendar with the training objectives that I have worked out to build up to a full planche push up. Right now I'm struggling with the whole balance issue. I'm not used to supporting my body weight with just my hands and my core strength is really sub par. It's crazy how hard it is just to get up to double digits in seconds. I also have a hard time pulling into the position without starting in a forward pike with my legs out and then pulling my legs under and out, which doesn't make sense to me at all. I'm hoping when I lose a few pounds and build some upper body strength the balance will come naturally.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Day 91 (Osaka) : Holy crap, a mall-shapped mall!
Japan is pretty big on large shopping plazas and almost any major train station you go to will have sprawling underground markets that you can literally get lost in if you're not careful. The one thing that I haven't seen very often, nay ever, is a real mall. Until I went out to Nishinomiya on Saturday. Five floors, food court, kids running around acting crazy, it was like being back in America without the Sbarro's. I have to admit not having Sbarro's kind of sucked but the okonomiyaki was awesome.
Shopping was difficult as usual. The stores are huge but their super spacious with only one or two shirts laid out on display. You might expect their to be a supply room in the back with other sizes, but that's pretty uncommon. If you don't see it on the floor, odds are they don't have it. Which really sucks when the majority of the sizes on display are XS or S. Funny thing is that I honestly didn't know they made clothing for men in XS. They looked like baby tee's for your gf, not something a guy would actually wear. On top of that the sizes are kind of skewed so I had to get XL if I wanted a shirt to fit the way a normal American L would fit. I never even got around to looking at sandals though so I'll have to make another run for those later.
At least the week off is finally over. I've had about all the vacation I can stand without some kind of work or assignment to do.
Shopping was difficult as usual. The stores are huge but their super spacious with only one or two shirts laid out on display. You might expect their to be a supply room in the back with other sizes, but that's pretty uncommon. If you don't see it on the floor, odds are they don't have it. Which really sucks when the majority of the sizes on display are XS or S. Funny thing is that I honestly didn't know they made clothing for men in XS. They looked like baby tee's for your gf, not something a guy would actually wear. On top of that the sizes are kind of skewed so I had to get XL if I wanted a shirt to fit the way a normal American L would fit. I never even got around to looking at sandals though so I'll have to make another run for those later.
At least the week off is finally over. I've had about all the vacation I can stand without some kind of work or assignment to do.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Day 90 (Osaka) : All you can eat pizza... kind of
I went out to Hommachi with Rob tonight to hit up this pizza joint that had an all you can eat for 990 yen deal. The selection was full of Japanese favorites like "banana melon bread" and sea weed with miso and mayo. After going through about three plates of that crap I was felt like I was going to slip into a self induced coma. On a positive note, the restaurant served the first American sized beverage that I've ever had since I've moved to Japan. Well, outside of American military bases anyway. It was the typical 40 oz. plastic bucket that I grew up on.
After that we went over to a bar called Zerro, I think. It was a typical gaijin bar and for me the vibe there was pretty lame. There's just something about foreigners coming to Japan to surround themselves with more foreigners. The only thing that is worse is the Japanese girls that go there to practice English but the only teacher they've ever had is Elmo from Sesame Street. I kid you not, you would think that the furry little bastard was sitting right next to you. The worst part is this girl is at every gaijin bar in Japan and she is so driven to practice Japanese that she will talk over everyone, even the music which just makes her that much more annoying. It's a good thing we were just stopping for one drink before heading home.
I guess from today I'll have to get into my kanji review to get ready for Monday's exam. Oh, the exam results were handed out today. I dropped four points on the interview from a 9 to a 5 and jumped up from a 18 to a 45 on the written part so I guess that's not too bad. My goal was to double my original score of 27 so I feel short but I'm going to try to make good on that by scoring a 98 on the September exam.
After that we went over to a bar called Zerro, I think. It was a typical gaijin bar and for me the vibe there was pretty lame. There's just something about foreigners coming to Japan to surround themselves with more foreigners. The only thing that is worse is the Japanese girls that go there to practice English but the only teacher they've ever had is Elmo from Sesame Street. I kid you not, you would think that the furry little bastard was sitting right next to you. The worst part is this girl is at every gaijin bar in Japan and she is so driven to practice Japanese that she will talk over everyone, even the music which just makes her that much more annoying. It's a good thing we were just stopping for one drink before heading home.
I guess from today I'll have to get into my kanji review to get ready for Monday's exam. Oh, the exam results were handed out today. I dropped four points on the interview from a 9 to a 5 and jumped up from a 18 to a 45 on the written part so I guess that's not too bad. My goal was to double my original score of 27 so I feel short but I'm going to try to make good on that by scoring a 98 on the September exam.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Day 89 (Osaka) : Garo, the Jazz bar for really old people
Today I got an unexpected invite to a get together with some of the student/teachers from the school next to mine and some of my classmates. It was a good chance to use Japanese and shoot the breeze so even though I was/am still tired from the night before I decided to go out to Namba to meet them. The back story is kind of complicated but apparently one of the girls we were drinking with used to work for one of the waitresses at Garo, so that's why we went there. The place was above average price for a small izakaya style bar. Most of the food was between $4 to $9 but the portions were typical izakaya size (very small, about two or three bites per) so it seemed over priced.
The final price for me ended up being almost $50, but since I split the bill with some Japanese cat last night and ended up paying nothing it seemed pretty much fair. It might have been more in my favor actually. I'm getting the impression that the students at the Japanese school are suffering from a Japanese point of view, since they are mostly Japanese. They seem to think that spending a ridiculous amount of money on food or drinks is some how normal and ok. I'm going to have to work to remedy that situation. We could have had better food and more drinks for half the price at a different restaurant so it just doesn't make sense in my head. Even if that bar was playing some fancy schmancy jazz that no one in the bar except for me could recognize.
I got a copy of "The Bucket List" from Tsutaya so I could rip a Japanese copy to study with. What surprised me most is that it played perfectly without any special changes. I was so worried about DVD regions that I forgot Blu Ray discs are region free. How cool is that?
Tomorrow is going to be pretty lame. I have to go to school, look at the test results, listen to a few minutes of home roome, and come home. It would be nice to have a real class instead but I guess one week isn't enough time to grade and assign people to their new classes. [sarcasm]
The final price for me ended up being almost $50, but since I split the bill with some Japanese cat last night and ended up paying nothing it seemed pretty much fair. It might have been more in my favor actually. I'm getting the impression that the students at the Japanese school are suffering from a Japanese point of view, since they are mostly Japanese. They seem to think that spending a ridiculous amount of money on food or drinks is some how normal and ok. I'm going to have to work to remedy that situation. We could have had better food and more drinks for half the price at a different restaurant so it just doesn't make sense in my head. Even if that bar was playing some fancy schmancy jazz that no one in the bar except for me could recognize.
I got a copy of "The Bucket List" from Tsutaya so I could rip a Japanese copy to study with. What surprised me most is that it played perfectly without any special changes. I was so worried about DVD regions that I forgot Blu Ray discs are region free. How cool is that?
Tomorrow is going to be pretty lame. I have to go to school, look at the test results, listen to a few minutes of home roome, and come home. It would be nice to have a real class instead but I guess one week isn't enough time to grade and assign people to their new classes. [sarcasm]
Day 88 (Osaka) : Kushi katsu is the devil
Kushi katsu is basically assorted foods on long wooden sticks that you get to deep fry at your won table. It's pretty tasty but there are two major problems. The main problem is that 80% of what you're eating is oil. The second part is that the other 20% is mostly bread crumbs so every single thing from shrimp to potatoes ends up tasting exactly the same. The restaurant had a deal for all you can eat and drink for three hours, for about $30. The price was very reasonable but I had my fill after less than one hour and was ready to go home.
Unfortunately I had a round two with the kushi katsu at like one in the morning when I woke up with the kind of pain that makes you think you're going to die in my stomach. I ended up donating to the sink two times with the kind of force that made my back hurt after it was all done. That sounds pretty terrible, I'm sure but I slept like a baby after getting it out of my system. I've decided never to eat kushi katsu again, despite the claim that it is some kind of Osaka specialty. Just thinking about eating that much deep fried food in one setting again makes my tummy rumbly.
Unfortunately I had a round two with the kushi katsu at like one in the morning when I woke up with the kind of pain that makes you think you're going to die in my stomach. I ended up donating to the sink two times with the kind of force that made my back hurt after it was all done. That sounds pretty terrible, I'm sure but I slept like a baby after getting it out of my system. I've decided never to eat kushi katsu again, despite the claim that it is some kind of Osaka specialty. Just thinking about eating that much deep fried food in one setting again makes my tummy rumbly.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Day 87 (Osaka) : The end of Scrubs...
Today was boring! I ran out of Scrubs episodes to watch and started working on the next season of Heroes. I'd read a lot of negative reviews about the direction the show was going but I think it's a ton better than the second season in a way. On the other hand, the character development for a lot of characters seems to be instantaneous and what was a pretty solid development in the last season is boo boo in this season. For example, why the heck is Suresh acting like some character out of a Greek tragedy? He seemed like a reasonable enough person in the beginning but suddenly he's a mad scientist with some flimsy revenge motivation.
I was reminded by one of my classmates that the exam we took wasn't one of the real placement tests. So it is borderline impossible to leave the first year class regardless of performance in the exam. It's basically just a chance to scare people about moving them down into different classes. Which as Helen pointed out earlier, wouldn't be so bad. Since class 1E was able to finish Chapter 15 before the exam while my higher class was struggling just to start Chapter 14.
The weather has been strange lately. It's not like it's just getting hotter, it feels like it's actually getting wetter. I mean the air is sticky humid and it feels awful even with the windows open so I'm already relying pretty heavily on my AC. Air conditioning is really man's triumph over nature. It would have been terrible to hack out a living before there was a proper way to cool down a room. Oh, and I read that there are more episodes of Scrubs coming I just have to be patient.
I was reminded by one of my classmates that the exam we took wasn't one of the real placement tests. So it is borderline impossible to leave the first year class regardless of performance in the exam. It's basically just a chance to scare people about moving them down into different classes. Which as Helen pointed out earlier, wouldn't be so bad. Since class 1E was able to finish Chapter 15 before the exam while my higher class was struggling just to start Chapter 14.
The weather has been strange lately. It's not like it's just getting hotter, it feels like it's actually getting wetter. I mean the air is sticky humid and it feels awful even with the windows open so I'm already relying pretty heavily on my AC. Air conditioning is really man's triumph over nature. It would have been terrible to hack out a living before there was a proper way to cool down a room. Oh, and I read that there are more episodes of Scrubs coming I just have to be patient.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Day 86 (Osaka) : If this interview was a real interview...
I'm pretty sure I would have lost the job if today's interview was that kind of situation. Instead I'm just pretty sure I mooted my above average performance on the written portion. What really caught me off guard is the interview started off with simple questions like when is my birthday and do I have a TV in my room. But after that he started asking questions that were off the wall difficult and I really don't even know what the basic meaning of the questions were. I answered in broken Japanese and I'm pretty sure from the look on his face that I wasn't even close to what he was asking for with the questions.
I was doing the math in my head today on the way to the exam. We have four exams a year and the whole week of the exam is a vacation more or less. With the exception of the actual 2 hour test and the fifteen minute home room that we have on Friday. What that means is that in addition to winter and summer breaks, we're taking almost an entire month off each year for these exams. So in a year I might be going to school for a little over eight months even though I'm supposed to be full time. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed at that thought but I'm still trying to make the most of the learning experience.
I was doing the math in my head today on the way to the exam. We have four exams a year and the whole week of the exam is a vacation more or less. With the exception of the actual 2 hour test and the fifteen minute home room that we have on Friday. What that means is that in addition to winter and summer breaks, we're taking almost an entire month off each year for these exams. So in a year I might be going to school for a little over eight months even though I'm supposed to be full time. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed at that thought but I'm still trying to make the most of the learning experience.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Day 85 (Osaka) : The sixth step, acceptance
That's kind of freaky, I wrote this title on a whim but on further research acceptance IS actually the sixth step of the AA system. I've given up on studying for the exam that I'm going to take tomorrow. I've been working hard in school for the last two months so I can't really expect to change what I've retained with a few hours of cramming. That and the interview portion is really up in the air. Last time they asked me questions about my future and where my family lived, plus some random questions that I couldn't even understand 100%.
When I finally gave up on the last minute studying I found a lot of free time to get into other better things. I started watching the 8th season of Scrubs and so far it's pretty great. I didn't realize just how long it's been running but I'm thinking I was 19 when I first started to watching it. Tomorrow I will go to school sometime around noon for the 1:00pm exam. After that I should be free until the home room on Friday. Not really sure how that will work out though. It's been so long since I took a placement exam I can't remember what happens next. Maybe Friday will be a regular day or maybe we just stick our heads in for a roll call and bounce.
I guess I'll find out when it happens.
When I finally gave up on the last minute studying I found a lot of free time to get into other better things. I started watching the 8th season of Scrubs and so far it's pretty great. I didn't realize just how long it's been running but I'm thinking I was 19 when I first started to watching it. Tomorrow I will go to school sometime around noon for the 1:00pm exam. After that I should be free until the home room on Friday. Not really sure how that will work out though. It's been so long since I took a placement exam I can't remember what happens next. Maybe Friday will be a regular day or maybe we just stick our heads in for a roll call and bounce.
I guess I'll find out when it happens.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Day 84 (Osaka) : Studying hard, or hardly studying
Despite being relatively cool outside all day, it's been hot as all hell in my apartment. I'm trying to avoid using the AC too much because it's still early summer and that is a viable option. In a few weeks it will be so hot I won't have any choice. I just finished watching a movie and I broke a sweat just from laying down for two hours. The studies haven't gone so well. Mostly I went over topics that I might have to talk about during the interview portion and reviewed the grammar points for the first two chapters. I plan on reviewing my worksheets and tests tomorrow to focus on my weak spots.
The most important thing though will be memorizing instructions and key grammar points so I won't get confused if they ask for a conjugation chart of the 意向形 form of some verbs. Last time was pretty difficult because they didn't even provide the dictionary forms. They just had blanks for each group and we had to fill them in ourselves. On the bright side I've improved to the point where I can recognize which group the verbs belong to but I'm still working on memorizing the exceptions. I guess no language would be complete without a boot load of exceptions to their rules.
Looking at my schedule it seems like I will be out of school from Monday to Friday with the exception of the two hour exam window Monday afternoon. There is something written in for Friday but the print is so small I can't really read what it is, but it's pretty confusing. The week we lost cut us short of finishing the kanji book and the pronunciation guide by three and two pages respectively. The thing I'm most hung up on is that our next class was supposed to be the kanji test for pages 35-37. Does changing my class mean that I skip all that? I'm leaning towards yes so I'll probably have to run through the last three pages on my own during the days off to stay on top of it.
The most important thing though will be memorizing instructions and key grammar points so I won't get confused if they ask for a conjugation chart of the 意向形 form of some verbs. Last time was pretty difficult because they didn't even provide the dictionary forms. They just had blanks for each group and we had to fill them in ourselves. On the bright side I've improved to the point where I can recognize which group the verbs belong to but I'm still working on memorizing the exceptions. I guess no language would be complete without a boot load of exceptions to their rules.
Looking at my schedule it seems like I will be out of school from Monday to Friday with the exception of the two hour exam window Monday afternoon. There is something written in for Friday but the print is so small I can't really read what it is, but it's pretty confusing. The week we lost cut us short of finishing the kanji book and the pronunciation guide by three and two pages respectively. The thing I'm most hung up on is that our next class was supposed to be the kanji test for pages 35-37. Does changing my class mean that I skip all that? I'm leaning towards yes so I'll probably have to run through the last three pages on my own during the days off to stay on top of it.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Day 83 (Osaka) : Parting is such sweet and sour
I'm pretty sure the saying is something like that. Two of the students in my class were here on the short 6 month program and today was their last day in class. Apparently we have the exam on Monday and some number of days off. I haven't exactly figured it out because the schedule is done up in four shades of gray and it's hard to tell how one gray is different from the next. That being said, my exam will be on Monday from 1:00pm so I'm guessing I won't have a class that day at least. Since Tuesday is reserved for other classes to take their exams it should be a day off too. Going by the schedule I might be off until Friday, which would be weird but I guess that gives them time to grade the exams and shuffle the classes around.
I still think the whole idea of placement exams are pretty bogus. We'll just be put into which ever class has open seats. It's not like the class rooms are big enough to have a lot of choices where people are going to go. Today I'm just relaxing and taking a chance to recover from last night. Tomorrow and Sunday I'll be reviewing the material and trying to practice some conversation skills. Hopefully I won't do so terrible on the interview that they low ball me again. Because apparently the opinion of the interviewer over rides your actual grade which is the reason why some of the Asian kids in my class have insane Japanese skills.
Speaking of the two people who left, one of them was Bachika. He was the cat from Mongolia... or something. He brought in some kind of two stringed instrument and gave a little performance before our lunch break. He left after that so we didn't even see him for the last two hours. The other guy actually cried when the girls gave him a going away card. I guess he had some really great times in the six months he was here or something. I can't really see that happening to me and since the class has become so clumped up in groups it's kind of nice to shuffle things around next week.
I still think the whole idea of placement exams are pretty bogus. We'll just be put into which ever class has open seats. It's not like the class rooms are big enough to have a lot of choices where people are going to go. Today I'm just relaxing and taking a chance to recover from last night. Tomorrow and Sunday I'll be reviewing the material and trying to practice some conversation skills. Hopefully I won't do so terrible on the interview that they low ball me again. Because apparently the opinion of the interviewer over rides your actual grade which is the reason why some of the Asian kids in my class have insane Japanese skills.
Speaking of the two people who left, one of them was Bachika. He was the cat from Mongolia... or something. He brought in some kind of two stringed instrument and gave a little performance before our lunch break. He left after that so we didn't even see him for the last two hours. The other guy actually cried when the girls gave him a going away card. I guess he had some really great times in the six months he was here or something. I can't really see that happening to me and since the class has become so clumped up in groups it's kind of nice to shuffle things around next week.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Day 82 (Osaka) : Thirsty Thursdays
I went out drinking with Rob and Tom last night. Why on a Thursday? Apparently everyone except for me was bailing on Friday. We went to one of those joints where everything on the menu is $3 and then went over to the Blarney Stone, I kid you not. I was surprised by how dead it was out because everywhere we walked there were bajillions of people but every time we went into a place it would be empty. I got home around midnight and felt surprisingly refreshed when I woke up in the morning, aside from being starving.
Thursday as a whole was pretty lame. We did the drama shin dig and apparently my group was the only one that took it seriously by sticking to a two minute skit. The other three groups went over board making these really elaborate conversations and the last group even brought wigs and costumes. Why is that bad? It sets the bar higher so the people who are doing the bare minimum like myself look bad. That's just not cool. Okumura sensei used the school's camera to record the whole debacle so there should be a digital copy floating around somewhere, which I may just track down so I can fully express just how cheesy this assignment was to the people back home.
Thursday as a whole was pretty lame. We did the drama shin dig and apparently my group was the only one that took it seriously by sticking to a two minute skit. The other three groups went over board making these really elaborate conversations and the last group even brought wigs and costumes. Why is that bad? It sets the bar higher so the people who are doing the bare minimum like myself look bad. That's just not cool. Okumura sensei used the school's camera to record the whole debacle so there should be a digital copy floating around somewhere, which I may just track down so I can fully express just how cheesy this assignment was to the people back home.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Day 81 (Osaka) : The quotient of all fears
Probably the worst news all year. Hitler sensei told the class that she is making the questions for the placement exam. She's the one teacher who really takes pride in marking correct answers wrong and making questions with no right answer. I'm not really sure what her angle is, I just can't figure it out. She even marked two of the questions on my kanji test today wrong even though they were exactly right. More over, I was checking my classmates tests for the correct answer and they had theirs marked right even though my hand writing was much better. I hate to say it, but I really think Rob is right about her having some problem with Westerners.
Tomorrow were going to do the little kiddie drama skit and finish writing the little kiddie story that we started today. We actually spent three hours of the five hour class writing a children's story. It sounds good if you're at the level to do that kind of composition, but it was just a huge waste of time. The story, the drama, the picture puzzle the other day, and it just keeps adding up. I got myself hyped up on Monday because of the focus on the exam and the comprehensive review we were doing but that seems to have been a fluke.
Nothing positive to say about this week. I'm expecting more of the same bogus routine tomorrow so I'm just going to wait and hope that I'm surprised.
Tomorrow were going to do the little kiddie drama skit and finish writing the little kiddie story that we started today. We actually spent three hours of the five hour class writing a children's story. It sounds good if you're at the level to do that kind of composition, but it was just a huge waste of time. The story, the drama, the picture puzzle the other day, and it just keeps adding up. I got myself hyped up on Monday because of the focus on the exam and the comprehensive review we were doing but that seems to have been a fluke.
Nothing positive to say about this week. I'm expecting more of the same bogus routine tomorrow so I'm just going to wait and hope that I'm surprised.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Day 80 (Osaka) : The cure for insomnia is...
Old Lady sensei! I don't really remember her name but she's the oldest teacher that I have so I call her Old Lady sensei. It seems like no matter what material she has to cover or what we do in class, I want to go to sleep when she is teaching. I never actually go to sleep since I'm paying for it though. It's like when you pay out for a movie ticket and the movie is really lame but you don't want to sleep because you already paid up front. This is the same thing but with education and homework at the end.
Old Lady sensei started this new drill where we start her day off with a three minute conversation that we make in pairs. Basically, you shoot the breeze with the person sitting next to you and then after three minutes you explain to the class what you talked about. It sounds cool but Old Lady sensei picks the topic for the day. Today she told us about how tadpoles and small fish were seen falling from the sky in rain in another prefecture of Japan. It's supposed to be some big mystery and she wanted us to talk about it. The topic was absolutely terrible because I didn't watch the same TV show that she did and the guy sitting next to me is completely mum to boot.
We had about ten minutes left before lunch when we finished the basic morning routine that most teachers finish just after the first break. To make even less use of the time before the exam our afternoon teacher gave us a picture puzzle. You know the kind where you have two identical pictures but very small parts have been changed. We spent the last hour or so in class just looking at cartoon cats and a zoo to figure out which animals lost their tails or had bigger eyes. Time ran out before everyone could finish so I never got to see what that had to do with learning Japanese. The funny thing is that all the students were so busy staring at the pictures that they actually talked less than usual.
The only productive note I have is that I paid my school tuition for the summer semester and completed the form for my elective choices. Once the summer semester starts we will be able to go to elective classes after lunch for two hours, three days out of the week. The other two days will be regular class like now. So basically I get to diversify six hours out of my week. The problem is that the elective classes are relatively limited and I have to choose my top 5 so that when the class I really want is full they can dump me into a different class.
So far I picked two elective classes for the JLPT preparation courses they offer, a course on essay composition, conversation practice, and I think the last one was grammar and particle review. It's kind of silly to pretend like I'm picking anything since their are five choices but I should only get into one of the classes. They may as well just assign people at random, I would have almost the same chance of landing the class that I want. Anyway, I have a kanji test tomorrow so I have to hit my early to bed and early to rise routine.
Old Lady sensei started this new drill where we start her day off with a three minute conversation that we make in pairs. Basically, you shoot the breeze with the person sitting next to you and then after three minutes you explain to the class what you talked about. It sounds cool but Old Lady sensei picks the topic for the day. Today she told us about how tadpoles and small fish were seen falling from the sky in rain in another prefecture of Japan. It's supposed to be some big mystery and she wanted us to talk about it. The topic was absolutely terrible because I didn't watch the same TV show that she did and the guy sitting next to me is completely mum to boot.
We had about ten minutes left before lunch when we finished the basic morning routine that most teachers finish just after the first break. To make even less use of the time before the exam our afternoon teacher gave us a picture puzzle. You know the kind where you have two identical pictures but very small parts have been changed. We spent the last hour or so in class just looking at cartoon cats and a zoo to figure out which animals lost their tails or had bigger eyes. Time ran out before everyone could finish so I never got to see what that had to do with learning Japanese. The funny thing is that all the students were so busy staring at the pictures that they actually talked less than usual.
The only productive note I have is that I paid my school tuition for the summer semester and completed the form for my elective choices. Once the summer semester starts we will be able to go to elective classes after lunch for two hours, three days out of the week. The other two days will be regular class like now. So basically I get to diversify six hours out of my week. The problem is that the elective classes are relatively limited and I have to choose my top 5 so that when the class I really want is full they can dump me into a different class.
So far I picked two elective classes for the JLPT preparation courses they offer, a course on essay composition, conversation practice, and I think the last one was grammar and particle review. It's kind of silly to pretend like I'm picking anything since their are five choices but I should only get into one of the classes. They may as well just assign people at random, I would have almost the same chance of landing the class that I want. Anyway, I have a kanji test tomorrow so I have to hit my early to bed and early to rise routine.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Day 79 (Osaka) : Review day, hellz yeah!
Today was the first day since I took the original placement exam on April 2nd that we stopped covering new material and started reviewing all the stuff we've covered in the last two months. Ironically, after lunch we did end up covering a new topic on how Japanese handles transitive and intransitive verbs. Even that was done in a review fashion with group review of a few hand outs instead of frantic note taking for two hours straight. They did pull one shiesty trick. Apparently there is a 1G class above mine that we couldn't test into. It's kind of a buffer over flow for students who score high enough to move up but not well enough to clear the lump that hits 2A~2F.
Basically, each class seats about eighteen students and if twenty four students score well enough to move to second year the lower scores will get dropped back into the first year buffer class that is 1G. The really frustrating part is that I'm spinning my wheels studying the class material because no matter how well I know it, I only know the material we've covered in class. Since the placement exam is comprehensive and covers all three years the only way for me to have exposure to the second year material is to actually be in a second year class. It's a little late to be figuring that out, so I'll have to spend the next four months doing my own study on the side in more advanced textbooks.
The previous entry was done on the fly. The picture was taken with my cell phone, attached to an e-mail through my AU service provider, and sent directly to Blogger. How cool is that? I can basically post any crazy thing that I see at any time without even being near my computer. Technology pwns!!1
Basically, each class seats about eighteen students and if twenty four students score well enough to move to second year the lower scores will get dropped back into the first year buffer class that is 1G. The really frustrating part is that I'm spinning my wheels studying the class material because no matter how well I know it, I only know the material we've covered in class. Since the placement exam is comprehensive and covers all three years the only way for me to have exposure to the second year material is to actually be in a second year class. It's a little late to be figuring that out, so I'll have to spend the next four months doing my own study on the side in more advanced textbooks.
The previous entry was done on the fly. The picture was taken with my cell phone, attached to an e-mail through my AU service provider, and sent directly to Blogger. How cool is that? I can basically post any crazy thing that I see at any time without even being near my computer. Technology pwns!!1
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Mobile Entry #1
When it's hot out nothing beats a cold Plussy.
This tastey beverage is basically a vitamin enriched bottle of Tang. (It does claim to be made from real mikan oranges though.)
Day 78 (Osaka) : One more week
The placement exam should be next Monday and sometime around that day I have to pay tuition and rent. Lots of crap to do and lots of time to do it in, so not a bad situation just a whole lot to keep juggling in my mind. Maybe I'll take care of the tuition payment Tuesday if I can remember to gather everything. One of my classmates mentioned receiving a form for the onsen trip next month and how the payments were due sometime soon but I have no idea what she is talking about. She even said that the teacher recommended paying early because the tickets sell out. Isn't that weird? A school function selling out and leaving students out in the cold? (Figure of speech, it's going to be dead summer here so there won't be any cold.)
I got into the meaty part of my Genki drill book and I've only started deciphering the answer key that came with it. I thought it was going to be copies of all the work sheets with answers, but it's just every answer in block format with no spacing at all. It kind of makes my head hurt just trying to look at it. Oh, I'm putting a lot of time into my DS game. I'm recognizing a lot more of the Japanese since I've been covering it in school. Hopefully with the added practice in games and studying I can really commit it to memory.
This video is surprisingly bad ass.
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/sports/Amazing_Basketball_Trick_Shots_Ranch_Edition/
I got into the meaty part of my Genki drill book and I've only started deciphering the answer key that came with it. I thought it was going to be copies of all the work sheets with answers, but it's just every answer in block format with no spacing at all. It kind of makes my head hurt just trying to look at it. Oh, I'm putting a lot of time into my DS game. I'm recognizing a lot more of the Japanese since I've been covering it in school. Hopefully with the added practice in games and studying I can really commit it to memory.
This video is surprisingly bad ass.
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/sports/Amazing_Basketball_Trick_Shots_Ranch_Edition/
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Day 77 (Osaka) : Bail out, bail out!
I'm not talking about the government bail out. I was invited to a b-day shindig today that was basically going to be a house party with way too many people. Last time we stuffed eight people into a 1R apartment so this time they were aiming for 13. To top it off, we were supposed to meet up at 2:45pm to start eating and sometime "later" we would start drinking. From my perspective that just messes the whole time line up. In the ideal situation you spend as much of the day being productive as you possibly can and at night you do dinner and start drinking. That way you only lose a few hours at the tail end of the day when you're already too tired to study or work.
I woke up early, did a quick grocery run, washed my laundry, shaved my head, cleaned my apartment, and read through about half a chapter in my Genki textbook. When my classmates finally got around to calling me I was lounging in my couch listening to Pimsleur and napping. I shot a few e-mails off when I found the message but no one got back to me. I'm guessing they were too busy with their crazy teenage hi jinks. (Is that even a real word?) It's not a big loss, I can't really carry on a conversation in Japanese yet so I would have just spent the day in my own private drinking marathon.
I guess things work out for the best. I got a lot of practice with potential forms today so if I can just cover the passive forms tomorrow I should be better prepared for the exams that are coming up.
I woke up early, did a quick grocery run, washed my laundry, shaved my head, cleaned my apartment, and read through about half a chapter in my Genki textbook. When my classmates finally got around to calling me I was lounging in my couch listening to Pimsleur and napping. I shot a few e-mails off when I found the message but no one got back to me. I'm guessing they were too busy with their crazy teenage hi jinks. (Is that even a real word?) It's not a big loss, I can't really carry on a conversation in Japanese yet so I would have just spent the day in my own private drinking marathon.
I guess things work out for the best. I got a lot of practice with potential forms today so if I can just cover the passive forms tomorrow I should be better prepared for the exams that are coming up.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Day 76 (Osaka) : I'll take "Things I miss most" for $500 Alex
What is an American drying machine? Yes, that is the correct answer and the daily double. Geez, doing laundry in Japan is a marathon of washing and hanging that lasts all day. I'm even boggled by the bars they put on the patio for hanging my clothes. Most people in America would expect to find clothes lines or bars at about chest or shoulder level so that your clothes have ample room to hang. In Japan they are just below waste level which makes almost everything except for my boxers drag on the ground. The only reason I can guess for that is the privacy it gives by keeping your clothes behind the balcony wall, but who really cares about that? If it's behind the wall it's also out of the sun and will take three times as long to dry.
Friday has already passed in the traditional temporary coma that I slip into every time the week ends. I think it has something to do with all the new material I'm processing at school but when I get home at the end of the week I just become brain dead for the first 24 hours. My bro recommended Fired Up and He's Just Not That Into You, but I only made it through the first one. It was a pretty decent one shot movie but I don't think I'll watch it again. Blades of Glory on the other hand is up to a six count, so if you haven't seen it I highly recommend that movie.
Friday has already passed in the traditional temporary coma that I slip into every time the week ends. I think it has something to do with all the new material I'm processing at school but when I get home at the end of the week I just become brain dead for the first 24 hours. My bro recommended Fired Up and He's Just Not That Into You, but I only made it through the first one. It was a pretty decent one shot movie but I don't think I'll watch it again. Blades of Glory on the other hand is up to a six count, so if you haven't seen it I highly recommend that movie.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Day 75 (Osaka) : Scraping the bottom
I got my graded lesson 10 test back today and I only missed the bottom of the class by maybe two people. The whole class average dropped by about ten points, but I don't think the material we covered was all that hard. It leaves me feeling more than a little confused. Maybe the teacher that made the test is just being a Nazi. But get this, we had the zoo yesterday and spent two hours in class today making a stupid poster out of construction paper, glue sticks, and crayons. I kid you not. I couldn't make stuff like that up if I tried.
Yet some how with all that wasted time the our assignments aren't getting done fast enough for the teachers, so they're "increasing" the pace. We basically have to do the entire workbook for Lesson 13, three pages of drills, and a kanji test by tomorrow. All this so they can try to pinch out Lesson 14 before the placement exam. The problem is with all this rushing through the new material I really don't know what the deuce we're supposed to be learning. It's all a big blur to me and I'm pretty sure my conversation level is actually dropping since we started the new pace.
My classmates invited me to a birthday party shin dig on Saturday but it looks like I'll be stuck trying to fill the gap between my grades and the rest of the class. It's just lame that I can't at least pull out a decent B average on these tests considering how much effort I've been putting into it lately. Anyway, no time and lots of work to do.
Yet some how with all that wasted time the our assignments aren't getting done fast enough for the teachers, so they're "increasing" the pace. We basically have to do the entire workbook for Lesson 13, three pages of drills, and a kanji test by tomorrow. All this so they can try to pinch out Lesson 14 before the placement exam. The problem is with all this rushing through the new material I really don't know what the deuce we're supposed to be learning. It's all a big blur to me and I'm pretty sure my conversation level is actually dropping since we started the new pace.
My classmates invited me to a birthday party shin dig on Saturday but it looks like I'll be stuck trying to fill the gap between my grades and the rest of the class. It's just lame that I can't at least pull out a decent B average on these tests considering how much effort I've been putting into it lately. Anyway, no time and lots of work to do.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Day 74 (Osaka) : School is for zoosers
We went out to the zoo just like they said we would. In the steady rain that had been going on all day long. The funny thing was that the tour guide took us around to three or four places where there were no animals at all. I'm thinking because of the rain they were hiding inside their exhibit somewhere, but it was just creepy. I'm not sure how the teacher expects us to get any kind of report done since she told us to plan for the Africa safari exhibit and it was closed today. WE walked around and looked at some other animals but it was all at random so none of the students really know what they're responsible for writing about.
That silly project and the goofy drama aside, our placement exam is in twelve days. You would think we could get a little more time to study for that and a little less time to pretend like we're in middle school again. It really bugs the piss out of me since the teacher came in with her patented "all of my assignments are easy, you guys are just stupid" pep talk. She even bragged about how she had decided to increase the pace to cover more topics before the exam instead of actually teaching us the points we've already covered.
I finished up 11 episodes into season 7 of Scrubs, so I'm officially scrubbed out. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was because the show was dropped during season 7, but the continuity just went out the window. One episode Kelso was retiring, the next episode he was walking around like nothing happened. It was difficult to follow. I'm curious to see how Season 8 played out if I can track it down someday.
That silly project and the goofy drama aside, our placement exam is in twelve days. You would think we could get a little more time to study for that and a little less time to pretend like we're in middle school again. It really bugs the piss out of me since the teacher came in with her patented "all of my assignments are easy, you guys are just stupid" pep talk. She even bragged about how she had decided to increase the pace to cover more topics before the exam instead of actually teaching us the points we've already covered.
I finished up 11 episodes into season 7 of Scrubs, so I'm officially scrubbed out. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was because the show was dropped during season 7, but the continuity just went out the window. One episode Kelso was retiring, the next episode he was walking around like nothing happened. It was difficult to follow. I'm curious to see how Season 8 played out if I can track it down someday.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Day 73 (Osaka) : I miss my talking bath room
My old apartment had a fancy gas control in the kitchen and bath that would read out the temperature in a robot voice. It was pretty awesome because I didn't have to leave the bathroom if I forgot to hit the gas when I was still in the kitchen. Other than that, there really isn't much to catch up on today. Just struggling with being tired in the sweltering class room. It's something about the combination of heat and lack of oxygen that makes me want to pass out during class. I'm not sure when the teachers will finally start using the AC, since it was probably over 30 degrees today.
The variety show that I was watching today passed off this commercial as a home video. The reactions in the staged audience were priceless. I mean, if you watched it without the slogan at the end it's easy to think it's real... kind of.
The variety show that I was watching today passed off this commercial as a home video. The reactions in the staged audience were priceless. I mean, if you watched it without the slogan at the end it's easy to think it's real... kind of.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Day 72 (Osaka) : This school is hard core
I was all psyched up for my kanji test today, but I found out that it isn't actually until tomorrow. So I spent the better part of my afternoon scribbling kanji all over one of those giant yellow note pads. I'm not sure why I still have those... The teachers reviewed our plans to tour the zoo like lil' children. The funny part was that they aren't even phased by the fact that the weather report is calling for some pretty heavy rain. They just said that we have to bring umbrellas or walk in the rain, our call. Sounds like some kind of forced walk you would expect at a fat camp for over weight kids.
I found out that one of the weird asian guys that doesn't talk much is leaving in two weeks. I didn't notice when I was signing up but apparently this school offers short courses for 6 months. So anyone who enrolled last cycle for the six month course will be leaving this month. The weird thing is that I can't really understand why someone would drop the cash to study a foreign language for only six months. Especially when they're at my level. I mean, if you were business level and needed to brush up to get a job that would make sense. But just coming to learn how to build basic sentences? That seems like a whole lot of effort for a small reward.
Rob was telling me that he ran into more problems with his teachers. That happens a lot with him because he likes to be blunt when he talks to people. In this case the teachers were unhappy about the fact that he didn't like the kids in his class. He told them that he wasn't a anime geek or manga fanatic like 80% of the people studying here and he didn't want to talk to them. It's a little rough, but I can agree. I just don't see any real reward from getting to know someone who is my age and thinks Lilo and Stitch is the greatest show in history. (By the way, a guy in my class really said that... yes a guy.)
My kanji test routine includes waking up at 5'ish in the morning so I'm going to get my bath and turn in for the night.
I found out that one of the weird asian guys that doesn't talk much is leaving in two weeks. I didn't notice when I was signing up but apparently this school offers short courses for 6 months. So anyone who enrolled last cycle for the six month course will be leaving this month. The weird thing is that I can't really understand why someone would drop the cash to study a foreign language for only six months. Especially when they're at my level. I mean, if you were business level and needed to brush up to get a job that would make sense. But just coming to learn how to build basic sentences? That seems like a whole lot of effort for a small reward.
Rob was telling me that he ran into more problems with his teachers. That happens a lot with him because he likes to be blunt when he talks to people. In this case the teachers were unhappy about the fact that he didn't like the kids in his class. He told them that he wasn't a anime geek or manga fanatic like 80% of the people studying here and he didn't want to talk to them. It's a little rough, but I can agree. I just don't see any real reward from getting to know someone who is my age and thinks Lilo and Stitch is the greatest show in history. (By the way, a guy in my class really said that... yes a guy.)
My kanji test routine includes waking up at 5'ish in the morning so I'm going to get my bath and turn in for the night.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Day 71 (Osaka) : [Insert witty title here]
Not much to report today. Went out for some eats with people and came home to study. The only thing I feel really confident about right now is the kanji that I'm reviewing. The funny part is that the average Japanese person automatically assumes that learning kanji is the most difficult part about studying the Japanese language. From my perspective kanji is the easiest part of the language to study. It only takes a few minutes each day to drill out some writing practice before characters and their meaning become locked into muscle memory and the brain takes care of the rest.
The really difficult obstacle to over come is the grammar and sentence structure since it is so different from English. The style of instruction at the school is what I like to call the "hit and run" method. Each day we cover six kanji, about ten minutes of pronunciation practice, and then on to the text book to review some new grammar or sentence structure. Since there is zero review, you pretty much have to commit everything to memory in a 24 - 48 hour window before you move on to the next lesson. I think they would be much better off including a separate work book, answer key, and audio tracks like any of the other major text books in circulation.
The really difficult obstacle to over come is the grammar and sentence structure since it is so different from English. The style of instruction at the school is what I like to call the "hit and run" method. Each day we cover six kanji, about ten minutes of pronunciation practice, and then on to the text book to review some new grammar or sentence structure. Since there is zero review, you pretty much have to commit everything to memory in a 24 - 48 hour window before you move on to the next lesson. I think they would be much better off including a separate work book, answer key, and audio tracks like any of the other major text books in circulation.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Day 70 (Osaka) : Scrubs marathon
I think I watched two full seasons and some change of Scrubs. I ran into a problem with the last season because I dragged the episodes into my play list but the brain child that formatted them used extra doodles in the titles. The result was me watching two or three episodes in sequence, skipping to the season finale, and back into mid season. It's not too terrible since the episodes for Scrubs are very well written and for the most part each episode is self-contained but several plot lines run throughout the series and seeing one patient die and in the next episode they're still running around... well that can be confusing.
The rant about a re-run marathon should emphasize just how little I have going on in my weekends. I've been doodling the kanji for our next test that we should be having Tuesday. Tomorrow I plan to get started in my Genki text books to get a little stronger on the grammar points we've been covering in Japanese only. Plus, if I can cover topics that are easy I can score points that are outside of my current class level which should push me into a higher class.
The rant about a re-run marathon should emphasize just how little I have going on in my weekends. I've been doodling the kanji for our next test that we should be having Tuesday. Tomorrow I plan to get started in my Genki text books to get a little stronger on the grammar points we've been covering in Japanese only. Plus, if I can cover topics that are easy I can score points that are outside of my current class level which should push me into a higher class.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Day 69 (Osaka) : ソフトボール大会
In spite of moderate rain throughout the early morning and rain coming down through out the entire day, the school pushed through with their Sofuto Bouru tai kai. (Literal translation: Soft Ball big meet) This was a real pain for me because I had already brought all of my books and things to school looking forward to finally getting a decent grasp on the material we've been covering for the last week.
The whole event was much less interesting than I was expecting and to be honest, my standards were already set incredibly low after having the baby'fied rules explained last week. The actually event was a series of 30 minute games but because no one knew the rules and none of the players actually understood how to pitch a ball most of the matches lasted only one or 1.5 innings. Oh, another important point was that the field we played at was like four foot ball fields put together and filled with sand. If you can imagine it, each of the four corners had a baseball diamond spreading out towards the other three fields. The effect of having all sand and no grass was that even ground balls would roll to the opposite fence if you got it well enough.
During two matches, I only batted three times and I was third in the batting rotation. On the bright side I did smash a ball into the opposite fields game, almost hitting their in field. To really save the moment I hit the slow motion run from second base JD and Turk style. (Scrubs reference) The funny thing was that even doing a slow motion run that looked like a re-enactment of the lunar landing I still touched base, high fived my team and caught my breath before the ball made it back to the pitcher. So the first game was an easy win for us after only two innings.
The second match we would have one, but the MWL (most worthless loser) screwed up twice in a row. First when we had bases loaded I was coming in from second base and he was behind me on first, the MWL decided to bee line across the pitches mound and skip third base. On top of that he ran up on me so fast that he ended up completely rolling over my shoulder. Now don't get this wrong, it wasn't some major sports impact. It was more like someone throwing a body pillow at your back as hard as they can. It was the only thing that kept him from touching home before me and I'm not even sure if there is a rule for what to do if a runner over takes the person in front of them without touching all the bases. The rule that I do know is that because he didn't touch third he was out and the guy who hit the home run was also out turning our four point lead into a two point loss.
Oh, but the MWL didn't stop their. He let a ground ball to second that was dropped, rolled to third, thrown to the pitched, dropped, and rolled to the first base line where I was positioned turn into a home run. Because when I picked up the ball and prepared to beat the runner in he decided to stand up from his crouching position as the catcher, turn around and look at the fence. I should have just tagged him in the back of the head. I mean he was a real piece of work. He even held the bat backwards. Stood in a right-handed position but had his left hand in front and on top. It looked like he was pretending to be a samurai warrior or something.
Anywho, we were on the field from 10'ish until after 2 and it rained on and off the whole time. I've been recovering at home every since because the punishment I dealt out to myself the night before during my PT session was killing me all day. Only sixteen more days to the placement exam.
The whole event was much less interesting than I was expecting and to be honest, my standards were already set incredibly low after having the baby'fied rules explained last week. The actually event was a series of 30 minute games but because no one knew the rules and none of the players actually understood how to pitch a ball most of the matches lasted only one or 1.5 innings. Oh, another important point was that the field we played at was like four foot ball fields put together and filled with sand. If you can imagine it, each of the four corners had a baseball diamond spreading out towards the other three fields. The effect of having all sand and no grass was that even ground balls would roll to the opposite fence if you got it well enough.
During two matches, I only batted three times and I was third in the batting rotation. On the bright side I did smash a ball into the opposite fields game, almost hitting their in field. To really save the moment I hit the slow motion run from second base JD and Turk style. (Scrubs reference) The funny thing was that even doing a slow motion run that looked like a re-enactment of the lunar landing I still touched base, high fived my team and caught my breath before the ball made it back to the pitcher. So the first game was an easy win for us after only two innings.
The second match we would have one, but the MWL (most worthless loser) screwed up twice in a row. First when we had bases loaded I was coming in from second base and he was behind me on first, the MWL decided to bee line across the pitches mound and skip third base. On top of that he ran up on me so fast that he ended up completely rolling over my shoulder. Now don't get this wrong, it wasn't some major sports impact. It was more like someone throwing a body pillow at your back as hard as they can. It was the only thing that kept him from touching home before me and I'm not even sure if there is a rule for what to do if a runner over takes the person in front of them without touching all the bases. The rule that I do know is that because he didn't touch third he was out and the guy who hit the home run was also out turning our four point lead into a two point loss.
Oh, but the MWL didn't stop their. He let a ground ball to second that was dropped, rolled to third, thrown to the pitched, dropped, and rolled to the first base line where I was positioned turn into a home run. Because when I picked up the ball and prepared to beat the runner in he decided to stand up from his crouching position as the catcher, turn around and look at the fence. I should have just tagged him in the back of the head. I mean he was a real piece of work. He even held the bat backwards. Stood in a right-handed position but had his left hand in front and on top. It looked like he was pretending to be a samurai warrior or something.
Anywho, we were on the field from 10'ish until after 2 and it rained on and off the whole time. I've been recovering at home every since because the punishment I dealt out to myself the night before during my PT session was killing me all day. Only sixteen more days to the placement exam.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Day 68 (Osaka) : Pep talk, Poe style
The teacher explained how the placement exams work. They're given four times a year in and two of those exams are used to decide whether you move up a year from 1 - 3. The other two test are more like "displacement" exams. They're cumulative reviews of the material covered for your grade level A - F. During any of the four exams you can bomb and drop down several grades but only during two of the exams can you actually advance to a higher grade and level.
Okumura-sensei emphasized how we were really struggling with material she thought was too easy for us. I swear, when she was reviewing the test she was intentionally trying to make us feel bad. She told us that she was busy so she gave us the same test as her 1D class so she thought it would be too easy for us. She must have said simple, easy, and lower level at least twenty times in five minutes. But on the bright side I'm not at the bottom of the class. She gave out the results of the last test. The lowest grade was a 53 and the highest was a 91, the class average was 73.6 and I scored a safe 79 which isn't much to brag about but it's above the curve.
She said that people who get over an 80 can safely expect to move up to second year students. I'm not quit at that level and with the recent topic really kicking my ass I'll have to pull some long study sessions this weekend and next to get ready. At any rate, I can't possibly score lower than the 27/200 that I got on the original placement exam. How's that for positive thinking?
Okumura-sensei emphasized how we were really struggling with material she thought was too easy for us. I swear, when she was reviewing the test she was intentionally trying to make us feel bad. She told us that she was busy so she gave us the same test as her 1D class so she thought it would be too easy for us. She must have said simple, easy, and lower level at least twenty times in five minutes. But on the bright side I'm not at the bottom of the class. She gave out the results of the last test. The lowest grade was a 53 and the highest was a 91, the class average was 73.6 and I scored a safe 79 which isn't much to brag about but it's above the curve.
She said that people who get over an 80 can safely expect to move up to second year students. I'm not quit at that level and with the recent topic really kicking my ass I'll have to pull some long study sessions this weekend and next to get ready. At any rate, I can't possibly score lower than the 27/200 that I got on the original placement exam. How's that for positive thinking?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Day 67 (Osaka) : Are you kidding me...
Yeah, so the school announced that next week we have a school play and a trip to the zoo. Woo hoo! Umm, not. On top of that we have a "big" play where they want to make a movie to share with the teachers. Worst part is we can't do something legitimate like learn a class Japanese play that has some cultural significance. They even emphasized that we have to use body language and act out garbage to participate. I'm looking forward to skipping that crap because I'm not a little kid anymore.
The problem with skipping is that they kind of hold it against you when it comes time to move around after a placement test. For example, Rob skipped is big play event and ended up being held back a year. It's not the same as being held back a year in high school but it can make studying at the school redundant after two years. So I'm going to have a little chat with some of the teachers and see if I can't try to emphasize learning Japanese over playing house with all the old single ladies that teach there.
The problem with skipping is that they kind of hold it against you when it comes time to move around after a placement test. For example, Rob skipped is big play event and ended up being held back a year. It's not the same as being held back a year in high school but it can make studying at the school redundant after two years. So I'm going to have a little chat with some of the teachers and see if I can't try to emphasize learning Japanese over playing house with all the old single ladies that teach there.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 66 (Osaka) : /tired
Slash tired isn't a typo, it's an emote. Lately I've been completely worn out between working hard trying to learn Japanese and relaxing hard trying to recover from all that studying. Today was a whole lot of catch up in the midst of a completely near grammar obstacle. We have to learn how to use two forms of give and one for receive. It sounds pretty simple in English but the Japanese depends on who is talking and who they are talking to so the point of view can change the sentence structure completely.
On top of that tomorrow is the kanji and chapter review tests I mentioned before so I'm trying the early to be, early to rise method that worked out pretty well for me last time. There is a lot of complicated stuff to cover and I was passed out during one day of reviews so I'm going to have to set my alarm for 5'ish if I want to come out on top.
On an unrelated note, I started into Season 4 of Scrubs which is kind of a good thing for my studies. The sooner I complete the series the sooner I can have more free time to study with. I still need to explore my neighborhood for a legitimate park with a decent set of parallel bars so I can do some curl ups. Mostly I just jog around the block and lift weights at home but I'm not getting the results that I want. As soon as the paper work for my part time job is approved I'm going to start hunting for part time work at the local gyms. Cleaning down the gear and getting my sweat on after the gym closes will be pretty sweet.
On top of that tomorrow is the kanji and chapter review tests I mentioned before so I'm trying the early to be, early to rise method that worked out pretty well for me last time. There is a lot of complicated stuff to cover and I was passed out during one day of reviews so I'm going to have to set my alarm for 5'ish if I want to come out on top.
On an unrelated note, I started into Season 4 of Scrubs which is kind of a good thing for my studies. The sooner I complete the series the sooner I can have more free time to study with. I still need to explore my neighborhood for a legitimate park with a decent set of parallel bars so I can do some curl ups. Mostly I just jog around the block and lift weights at home but I'm not getting the results that I want. As soon as the paper work for my part time job is approved I'm going to start hunting for part time work at the local gyms. Cleaning down the gear and getting my sweat on after the gym closes will be pretty sweet.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Day 65 (Osaka) : Long day, good news
I have never wanted to sleep so badly as I did today. Luckily for me when I managed to get home I had hit my second wind so I wasn't able to enjoy a good nap. (Sarcasm) I was also having a really long crop dusting session. Anyone who has been out drinking beer all night knows the woes of the beer farts that come the next day. Luckily the eight foot tall windows in the class room provides ample air circulation. Class was difficult though because I didn't have the energy to really concentrate on what was going on or take legitimate notes.
We also have a kanji test and chapter summary test on Wednesday so it's going to be a pretty heavy study night tomorrow. The big thing coming down the line though is the placement test on 6/22. It will be my first chance to move up or down to a different class and shuffle some of my classmates around. Some of them are really becoming annoying because the honey moon period where everyone was new and didn't know anyone so they were too shy to talk. Now that they're in their comfort zone some of the people who should never talk are talking all the time.
The problem is everyone seems to think they're in the same group so there is no proper separation going on aside from the natural racial ones. To clarify, people who aren't obsessed with cartoons and J-pop singers can't be invited out to have a normal drink without the lil' children wanting to tag along. It feels like walking on egg shells talking to these people and some really high school crap is going on too. Since I was the special guest for 20 million questions at the house party this weekend the class decided that I was going on a date with the Japanese teacher/student that came over to class last week.
Never mind that I already have a girlfriend and that I haven't even talked to the other girl since she visited the whole class. On top of that she is eighteen and that's just young enough to be a little creepy at my age since I'll be 10 years her senior in September. But I guess kids at school like to gossip about crap like that. I just wish I knew how they got the idea that I had some kind of date set up because if they create bad vibes and I can't get in good with the Japanese teachers-to-be because they think I'm trying to nampa the place it's going to ruin my good mood.
I almost forgot my point. The good news I got today was that the softball match will only be postponed one more time and it's gone for good. So if we have rain on Friday I can enjoy a normal education experience instead of a kiddie P.E. class.
We also have a kanji test and chapter summary test on Wednesday so it's going to be a pretty heavy study night tomorrow. The big thing coming down the line though is the placement test on 6/22. It will be my first chance to move up or down to a different class and shuffle some of my classmates around. Some of them are really becoming annoying because the honey moon period where everyone was new and didn't know anyone so they were too shy to talk. Now that they're in their comfort zone some of the people who should never talk are talking all the time.
The problem is everyone seems to think they're in the same group so there is no proper separation going on aside from the natural racial ones. To clarify, people who aren't obsessed with cartoons and J-pop singers can't be invited out to have a normal drink without the lil' children wanting to tag along. It feels like walking on egg shells talking to these people and some really high school crap is going on too. Since I was the special guest for 20 million questions at the house party this weekend the class decided that I was going on a date with the Japanese teacher/student that came over to class last week.
Never mind that I already have a girlfriend and that I haven't even talked to the other girl since she visited the whole class. On top of that she is eighteen and that's just young enough to be a little creepy at my age since I'll be 10 years her senior in September. But I guess kids at school like to gossip about crap like that. I just wish I knew how they got the idea that I had some kind of date set up because if they create bad vibes and I can't get in good with the Japanese teachers-to-be because they think I'm trying to nampa the place it's going to ruin my good mood.
I almost forgot my point. The good news I got today was that the softball match will only be postponed one more time and it's gone for good. So if we have rain on Friday I can enjoy a normal education experience instead of a kiddie P.E. class.
Day 64 (Osaka) : Back to the Future
This is the post that was started and forgotten about Sunday night when I got home. I met up with Rob to check out the park around Osaka Castle park. I was a little disappointed after the hype that he gave me because it's not nearly as awesome as Yoyogi park. It probably has about the same number of people, but it's ten times bigger so it looks empty almost everywhere you go. That and there was some kind of drummer/bell ringer convention going on. Every few steps you took were another three guys banging on some mini-gongs and metal rings.
After walking our asses off for an hour or so we headed back into town to look for a joint that I really can't recall right now. Maybe Toriyakizu or something like that. The big theme is that every thing on the menu is 280 yen, which is just about three dollars. The interesting catch is that the normal beer is the same as the BAM. (Big ass mug.) It sounded cheap in theory but we ran up a $40 bill in less than two hours and it's not like we were going at it hard. We just ate a lot of tastey treats.
I ended up drinking a little more after that which kept me out way later than I should have been. The repercussions are definitely going to be felt at school tomorrow.
After walking our asses off for an hour or so we headed back into town to look for a joint that I really can't recall right now. Maybe Toriyakizu or something like that. The big theme is that every thing on the menu is 280 yen, which is just about three dollars. The interesting catch is that the normal beer is the same as the BAM. (Big ass mug.) It sounded cheap in theory but we ran up a $40 bill in less than two hours and it's not like we were going at it hard. We just ate a lot of tastey treats.
I ended up drinking a little more after that which kept me out way later than I should have been. The repercussions are definitely going to be felt at school tomorrow.
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