Today is my 101st Day in Japan
Ha I'm terrible at posting entries. Ok well, I've gone to Kyoto a few times to see Amanda and she's come to Tokyo once since we went to Nagoya a month ago. The first time, I spent Thanksgiving with her and some good friends (Ashley, Vicky, Eri, and I finally got to meet Naoto!). We also saw amazing red leaves and ate strange Kyoto-style burgers and made our own sushi and watched Vicky's Chinese horror film and everything was great.
The second time, last weekend, we went to a mock old-style village where they used to film samurai movies, and went to a couple parties involving China/Japan (who left a few days ago, on Monday). It was great to see them all again before they left, because now it'll be another 3 months. Grr. At least Naoto, Kan, and Liu Min will still be here :)
On weekends when I wasn't in Kyoto or Amanda wasn't in Tokyo, I tried to explore my city a bit. I went to some obscure museums with Sam when he came here (the Communications Museum and the Criminal Museum) as well as the Imperial Palace, and I went to Shinjuku Gyoen (Shinjuku Park) another day, spending 2 hours in awe of how they managed to merge garden styles from across the world into one stunning force of nature in the middle of skyscrapers.
Other than weekends, life has been pretty standard. School is still going, although after tomorrow I'm on Christmas break for 2 and a half weeks. Classes aren't too difficult, but not easy either. Vocab is always being thrown at me left and right and I have to make sure to study it all to retain it, and grammar is still weird and hard to click in my head. But overall I feel like I'm improving a lot, and I understand a lot more than I used to. I think that what needs work the most, for me, is grammar and speaking. Grammar is essential, because sometimes it affects whether or not I can even understand the person I'm talking to, let alone respond. My speaking is.. eh. Could be better. I'm hoping that I'll have a lot more chances this upcoming January, February, and March to practice with friends like Naoto, Kan, Paku, Ryo, and Liu Min in Kyoto (score, Liu Min speaks Chinese too!). I made plenty of friends here in Tokyo, like Ayano, Yuri, Atsu, Zoro, Timing, Nozomi, etc., but they're always so busy and I see them so little that it's hard to hang out with them on a regular basis. Things have to be planned far in advance, and I've refused to go to the $30 drinking parties that they so love to throw. But Kyoto friends seem different, less busy. Maybe because it's a suburb in a mountain rather than the middle of the biggest city in the world? Maybe.
Tomorrow morning Amanda arrives in Tokyo! I don't really have anything planned for the weekend, so let's have impromptu fun, ok? And then on Sunday the adventure starts; at 11 am we take a plane from Tokyo to Fukuoka. From the 21st to the 26th we'll be staying with Sarajane, eating Karatsu Burgers and going to Christmas Eve church services and baking cookies (right? right?) and feeling the Christmasness of it all. Then from the 27th to the 30th we'll be exploring the rest of Kyushu (well, Nagasaki and Kagoshima) and hopefully be seeing Midori, from my days in China last year. Then we come back to Tokyo, spend New Years Eve karaoke-ing with Ashley and New Years Day traditional Japan-style, going to a temple with Eri and Casey (hopefully). And still more time after that until school starts on January 7th. Soooo excited!
The second time, last weekend, we went to a mock old-style village where they used to film samurai movies, and went to a couple parties involving China/Japan (who left a few days ago, on Monday). It was great to see them all again before they left, because now it'll be another 3 months. Grr. At least Naoto, Kan, and Liu Min will still be here :)
On weekends when I wasn't in Kyoto or Amanda wasn't in Tokyo, I tried to explore my city a bit. I went to some obscure museums with Sam when he came here (the Communications Museum and the Criminal Museum) as well as the Imperial Palace, and I went to Shinjuku Gyoen (Shinjuku Park) another day, spending 2 hours in awe of how they managed to merge garden styles from across the world into one stunning force of nature in the middle of skyscrapers.
Other than weekends, life has been pretty standard. School is still going, although after tomorrow I'm on Christmas break for 2 and a half weeks. Classes aren't too difficult, but not easy either. Vocab is always being thrown at me left and right and I have to make sure to study it all to retain it, and grammar is still weird and hard to click in my head. But overall I feel like I'm improving a lot, and I understand a lot more than I used to. I think that what needs work the most, for me, is grammar and speaking. Grammar is essential, because sometimes it affects whether or not I can even understand the person I'm talking to, let alone respond. My speaking is.. eh. Could be better. I'm hoping that I'll have a lot more chances this upcoming January, February, and March to practice with friends like Naoto, Kan, Paku, Ryo, and Liu Min in Kyoto (score, Liu Min speaks Chinese too!). I made plenty of friends here in Tokyo, like Ayano, Yuri, Atsu, Zoro, Timing, Nozomi, etc., but they're always so busy and I see them so little that it's hard to hang out with them on a regular basis. Things have to be planned far in advance, and I've refused to go to the $30 drinking parties that they so love to throw. But Kyoto friends seem different, less busy. Maybe because it's a suburb in a mountain rather than the middle of the biggest city in the world? Maybe.
Tomorrow morning Amanda arrives in Tokyo! I don't really have anything planned for the weekend, so let's have impromptu fun, ok? And then on Sunday the adventure starts; at 11 am we take a plane from Tokyo to Fukuoka. From the 21st to the 26th we'll be staying with Sarajane, eating Karatsu Burgers and going to Christmas Eve church services and baking cookies (right? right?) and feeling the Christmasness of it all. Then from the 27th to the 30th we'll be exploring the rest of Kyushu (well, Nagasaki and Kagoshima) and hopefully be seeing Midori, from my days in China last year. Then we come back to Tokyo, spend New Years Eve karaoke-ing with Ashley and New Years Day traditional Japan-style, going to a temple with Eri and Casey (hopefully). And still more time after that until school starts on January 7th. Soooo excited!