Day 95 (Osaka) : Stand up comedy FTW!

I'm already regretting my habit of waking up early before kanji tests. I didn't sleep well last night and tonight I'll be keeping that routine up by setting my alarm for 5:00am. I'm still inching in the normal five hours or so of uninterrupted sleep between the constant tossing and turning that I do so it can't be too bad. I'm just going to need a ton of coffee in the morning or one of those super energy drinks.

Class today was pretty awesome. The second JLPT course that I'm taking covers material from level 3 - level 2. The idea is that we'll work through our level 3 material over three weeks and focus mainly on level two after that. The introduction test that we took for this one was much more helpful in assessing my current position. I scored roughly 27/50 which is 6% shy of the requirement for passing the JLPT exam in December. I say roughly because the new teacher didn't break pace to go through a listening portion which probably would have lowered my score considerably.

The material and the teacher today were a hundred times better than yesterday. Yesterday the teacher talked fast, said nothing interesting, and just read off the correct answers because after taking the entire mock exam there was no time left. Today the teacher talked at a much more reasonable pace. She was also very funny they way she acted out things she was explaining and emphasized different words to get her point across. It felt like watching a comedy routine so I didn't have to feel sleepy listening to her lecture. Most importantly she reviewed almost all of the material in her placement exam. She wrote the question up on the bored, explained which JLPT level to expect to see each grammar point and which Chapter in our text to review them. The difference between the two were day and night, so I'll be looking forward to Wednesdays.

Tomorrow I have the kanji test in the morning and conversation practice in the afternoon. I have mixed emotions about what to expect from the conversation class. Speaking is my weak point right now, so it has the potential to be the most practical and beneficial class that I'll be taking this term. However, conversation practice invites all kind of lame dramas and skits that we've been wasting our time with until now. Some how the teachers don't seem to make the connection that memorize a few lines and trying to spill them in front of the class isn't the same as carrying a natural conversation.

I had intended to work out everyday but I'm going with the more realistic approach of taking a day of on the night before kanji tests. If anything, I'll knock out a few sets of push ups between pages that way I won't have to feel too guilty about it.