and the results are in...
So, it's been a crazy 2 weeks. I remember very little of it, to be honest (the days just blur in my head, honestly) so basically I would just recommend you read my friend Kevin's blog HAHA here. Kevin is the only UBC student who came this term, and he also happens to be living at I-House I with the rest of us awesome people :) Yay! Very little new students seem to have come this term due to the circumstances, but I'm really happy to see new faces at I-House and around Rits since it's been rather... empty.
Regarding my last post, I didn't manage to even get an interview for the job since my Japanese was deemed too immature. It was a quick knife thrust to my heart to read that email, but after reading my application (which I write after reading multiple Japanese resume help sites and whatnot...), I can't even disagree or agree because I can't even tell :( I really wish we did more keigo writing and speaking in class, but it couldn't be helped since I was only in B class (upper intermediate). I was a bit depressed after, but these things can't be helped at all (actually they can, but I'm just a failure in general now anyways) :)
However, I was able to spend a week tutoring 2 children who came to Kyoto for a 2 week long vacation. Their mother had contacted me via the helpful website FindStudents.net (useful for finding students when wanting to teach/tutor a language ie. English). Luckily I was well paid for my time, and made some spare cash towards living expenses :) Yay! The kids were a handful (5 and 9 years old... at the same time @@), but I really enjoyed working with them. At times it was trying (and even the mother wanted to know if I needed a break before switching between the two girls), but I can see why people stick with being teachers because it can be really rewarding at other times :)
Orientation was boring as usual (though as a continuing student I only had to attend very little of it, YAY!). We were fortunate and lucky enough to be invited to the 2011 Ritsumeikan Entrance Ceremony for new undergraduate and graduate students, but... I was a bit (very?) disappointed with the ceremony itself. Someone said it had to be toned down due to the earthquake and tsunami situation, but I still felt like it was a bit of a waste of time. It was ~2 hour ceremony, with the first part being ceremonial with speeches and the second part being the "festive" portion. I'll write a post on this later.
Placement test wasn't as hard as I dreaded it to be, though the listening portion of the test was just... I think my listening is fine, but there's something about the JLPT style that just irks me (is it really an accurate way of testing listening???). However, I apparently did decent because the results for the placement test were in today, and I was put in A2 level :) Yay, got into advanced Japanese! I'm honestly a little disappointed in myself because while I could have made more effort last term (as I was told by my teachers... twice), I didn't and therefore I'm paying for it HAH. I've been split off from some of my friends as the advanced level is divided into A1 and A2, but I guess I'll just have to treasure the memories, get off my butt and move onto the new term. It's going to be intense though- T^T Thursday alone, I have classes solid from 9am to 4:10pm (except for a lunch break, yay!) Booo D:
The JLPT will take place in early July and I hope to take N1 by then. My mother has made a bet with me: if I pass N1 then I won't have to pay her back all the money I owe her (which is frankly.. a lot @@) otherwise I will be slaving away at 2-3 part time jobs in the future when I return LOL Will I win this bet?? I hope so, so I gotta work hard >__<
I guess I should update tomorrow too, just to get my thoughts down (though this could turn into an angry rant just oh too easily). For now... looking forward to 1, 2, 3, and 4th period classes tomorrow followed by some picture taking at the Kyoto Imperial Palace (because the sakura have bloomed there) and more English tutoring until 9pm :) Yay for staying busy, I guess :)
Regarding my last post, I didn't manage to even get an interview for the job since my Japanese was deemed too immature. It was a quick knife thrust to my heart to read that email, but after reading my application (which I write after reading multiple Japanese resume help sites and whatnot...), I can't even disagree or agree because I can't even tell :( I really wish we did more keigo writing and speaking in class, but it couldn't be helped since I was only in B class (upper intermediate). I was a bit depressed after, but these things can't be helped at all (actually they can, but I'm just a failure in general now anyways) :)
However, I was able to spend a week tutoring 2 children who came to Kyoto for a 2 week long vacation. Their mother had contacted me via the helpful website FindStudents.net (useful for finding students when wanting to teach/tutor a language ie. English). Luckily I was well paid for my time, and made some spare cash towards living expenses :) Yay! The kids were a handful (5 and 9 years old... at the same time @@), but I really enjoyed working with them. At times it was trying (and even the mother wanted to know if I needed a break before switching between the two girls), but I can see why people stick with being teachers because it can be really rewarding at other times :)
Orientation was boring as usual (though as a continuing student I only had to attend very little of it, YAY!). We were fortunate and lucky enough to be invited to the 2011 Ritsumeikan Entrance Ceremony for new undergraduate and graduate students, but... I was a bit (very?) disappointed with the ceremony itself. Someone said it had to be toned down due to the earthquake and tsunami situation, but I still felt like it was a bit of a waste of time. It was ~2 hour ceremony, with the first part being ceremonial with speeches and the second part being the "festive" portion. I'll write a post on this later.
Placement test wasn't as hard as I dreaded it to be, though the listening portion of the test was just... I think my listening is fine, but there's something about the JLPT style that just irks me (is it really an accurate way of testing listening???). However, I apparently did decent because the results for the placement test were in today, and I was put in A2 level :) Yay, got into advanced Japanese! I'm honestly a little disappointed in myself because while I could have made more effort last term (as I was told by my teachers... twice), I didn't and therefore I'm paying for it HAH. I've been split off from some of my friends as the advanced level is divided into A1 and A2, but I guess I'll just have to treasure the memories, get off my butt and move onto the new term. It's going to be intense though- T^T Thursday alone, I have classes solid from 9am to 4:10pm (except for a lunch break, yay!) Booo D:
The JLPT will take place in early July and I hope to take N1 by then. My mother has made a bet with me: if I pass N1 then I won't have to pay her back all the money I owe her (which is frankly.. a lot @@) otherwise I will be slaving away at 2-3 part time jobs in the future when I return LOL Will I win this bet?? I hope so, so I gotta work hard >__<
I guess I should update tomorrow too, just to get my thoughts down (though this could turn into an angry rant just oh too easily). For now... looking forward to 1, 2, 3, and 4th period classes tomorrow followed by some picture taking at the Kyoto Imperial Palace (because the sakura have bloomed there) and more English tutoring until 9pm :) Yay for staying busy, I guess :)