Where to begin...

[penny4em]

I know this update has been a long time coming but I'm afraid you'll be disappointed if you're expecting anything indepth or insightful. I've just finished studying, it's past my bedtime, I'm wearing black, yaddayaddayadda.

Golden Week has been and gone since the last time I posted and it was fantastic. On the first Golden Sunday I went to Gamagori

Comments

[lurpakz]

so i've been wanting to send you a message for a while but this livejournal thing gets the better of me, I hope this comment isn't on show to everyone... im sorry if it is. :S

I've just arrived at Yamasa! Im British! I'd been reading your blog before i came... Im in residence K just up the road from the student village. My japanese is about as good as my clngon... yuh. Dont know many people. It'd be lovely to get an e-mail from you and say Konnichiwa at hajtheelephantking@hotmail.com (dont ask)

love
Liam
X

[penny4em]

Hello Liam. It's nice to know someone is reading my blog :o) I hope Yamasa is treating you well so far. Feel free to ask me about anything you don't understand. Not that I can guarantee I'll have the answer mind you...

[lurpakz]

Yeah Yamasa is lovely... haha. Im starting from scratch on the SILAC programme. I think your studying AIJP acceleration? what level are you at?(i.e.how good are you!? ha

[penny4em]

Hm. I think I saw you today. Are you in Arkansas's class? (a.k.a. David from Arkansaw who wears a cowboy hat that we all like to steal). Are you in the classroom with the microwave just outside?

I'm in Q class which is the bottom so I started from scratch too. Your Japanese level shouldn't really limit your social life as most of the students at Yamasa speak English. It would probably be easier for you to mingle if you were in the student village which is where most short term students stay and where the failed barbecues and drinking games occur.

We have yet to find anywhere to truly party but we're still looking so I'll let you know. We think Nagoya is probably the safest bet but you might get ID-ed.

As for recognising me, I have very long hair and often hang out with a girl with dreads and another...without dreads...>_<

Good luck at Yamasa! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have so far

What's a few thousand characters ...

[deivizu]

Yamasa, indeed, does not give much time to kanji, under the pretense that the best kanji studying is done on your own (it's said) and through studying in class (which is true). I think kanji are very interesting and beautiful in a way, but it is a ridiculously complex system. You'll likely learn a lot of your kanji during normal classes, if you pay attention to them. After Kanji 1, your kanji class time is halved, so enjoy it now. Once you get more used to them, though, it becomes a wee bit easier (in some vague sense).

"[A] bird fell dead from the sky the other day just as I and my friends walked by."

WTF ...

Re: What's a few thousand characters ...

[penny4em]

Hopefully I'll find the best way for me to revise them soon. I've ordered some flashcards from amazon.jp and bought a mini whiteboard to practice on from Daiso.

It's true. One minute the aforementioned bird was flying and the next it dive-bombed and landed, or rather bounced, with a soft kind of...plop...

It was pretty traumatic.

[bluegoo0]

Yay! I actually know what denshya means #^_^# *yahoo*.

That all sounds so awesome... =__= *envy*

P.S. I believe I'm channelling some of your bad luck for you. I was walking around with pigeon poop in my hair for three hours - *three hours*! - without even noticing -___- fuuuture....

[penny4em]

3 hours? I hope no one who matters saw you in that time >_<

So come on, what does densha mean then?

[bluegoo0]

... that depends on how you define 'matters'. Since I was sitting in a quiet lecture theatre (don't be fooled; we were watching anime, not learning) at the time someone pointed it out, and I burst out laughing, it is a safe bet that most people in the room noticed. And I was mocked. Oh, yes I was mocked...

Quite a good icon for it, actually.

Erm... Denshya... means... uh... Wikipedia, aid me!
Train, yes, it means train *saved* ^^.

[anonymous]

Oddly enough, the dead bird thing happened to me too. A pigeon just fell from the sky onto the road as I was cycling. Really spooky!! I wonder if it had bird 'flu - or a heart attack at the sight of its ex.

Hang in there, and keep writing!
S-L xx

Yeah I am leaving, a message from OkazakiJapan

[anonymous]

I am pissed off at this school, they killed my motivation. I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your study.