vlog update – goings and comings

Summer in three parts

September is here, and that means a few things, but mostly – it’s back to school.

This year’s summer vacation was Busy.  Hot.  Exhausting.  But good 😀

For most of my summer I’ve had guests visiting, because it was pretty much my last chance to have people stay before I leave Japan sometime next year.  From now on life in Japan for me will be focused on passing the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) level 2, and then selling my stuff before moving, and I just won’t be able to dedicate myself to visitors like I usually would.

For the first part of summer I had Angus visit, which I talked about in Blessed are the geek, D-days, and Gundam is Back.

On the day Angus left, I started working for a friend, covering his lessons while he was overseas.  It was really refreshing to teach students who wanted to study English, unlike teaching at a school were they are forced to learn.  It was only night lessons, so during the day I had time to chill out, watch tv, and sort out my house a bit before my next set of guests.

For the final part of the vacation I actually had my friend Michael come for a week to climb Mt Fuji, followed by my father visiting for 10 days just because.  By the end of August I had been expecting the weather to start cooling down, but this year has been most unusual with temperatures continuing to reach up to (and occasionally over) 37 C even into September!  It’s actually been the warmest August in Japan since 1946, so I had started to slow down a bit because of exhaustion.

Shibuya Crossing

Despite slowing down a little, I still did a lot of sighting seeing with Michael and Dad.  With Michael we went to Shibuya and Harajuku to see the cosplay kids hanging out there, and Asakusa and Odaiba to see a bit of Tokyo’s history and skyline.  With my Dad, his main requests were to go to Tokyo Tower and Odaiba, so we spent a couple of days doing that.  We also saw Inception, went to the National Nature and Science Museum in Ueno, and probably most exciting for me – went to Disneyland for my birthday!

Rainbow Bridge and Himiko Ferry

So, overall, this vacation was busy, hot, exhausting, but fun!  (and I went to Disney 3 times! win!!)

tuesdays with michele

Well, its been a while since I’ve done a proper blog.  And boredom is really hitting me this afternoon (or should I say procrastination).  Hence a bit of an update.

December 7th was the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), so leading up to that much time was spent on studying, not that I have much of a chance of passing.  This year I took level 2, for which I should know about 1000 kanji, 6000 words, and have studied for around 600 hours.  I probably have studied for about 600 hours, but languages are hard for me.  I don’t like memorizing, and really, thats what languages are about (or should I say a big part of learning them).  Don’t get me wrong.  I love Japanese, and I can function in society, but I really should try and learn new words and kanji, and use correct grammar.  Anyway, now I have a better idea of what I need to do to pass level 2, so next year fingers crossed!

On the subject of the JLPT, they are actually restructuring the format of the tests, which while I think is a great idea, hopefully won’t affect me one bit.  What they are going to do is insert another level between level 3 and level 2.  This is to make the jump to level 2 a bit easier.  Compared to the figures I quoted above, for level 3 you only need 300 kanji, 1000 words, and approximately 300 hours of study.  So this new level is a good idea.  Hopefully it wont affect me because they are introducing it in 2010, and by then, I hope to have level 2.

So, my Japanese teacher has recommended that I start reading Japanese books.  She says this will help a lot with the kanji and vocab problems I have.  Soooo, when I was at a book store the other day I picked up a book and a magazine.  Both, and if you know me well you won’t be surprised, about walks.  The book I am pretty excited about.  Its a guide book about walks near and around the Tobu Railway lines.  As I live on the Tobu Isezaki line it’s perfect for me.  Heaps of interesting walks near, or easily accessible to me.  The magazine is about strolls around Tokyo, but it’s more of a guide book, recommending things to see or eat (in the Japanese tradition).  Anyway, plan to do some walking on days with good weather this vacation.

Speaking of walking.  You might have noticed the maps I’ve been posting.  Sorry, but this blog has become a bit of a dumping ground for the maps I make at work.  Anyway, what I am going to do is actually start my own homepage eventually for walks and hikes around Tokyo.  Hopefully that will be happening sometime soon.

As for work, well, I’m pretty much on winter vacation already.  Tomorrow being the last day I have to go to work this year.  I don’t have many plans for the vacation, but the big excitement is I will be having a Christmas lunch at my house this coming Tuesday.  I’m really excited, and I have some grand plans for what I want to make.  Cooking, as well as hiking and reading, is one of my favourite things to do.  Even better if its for friends and yummy!  The plan – Roast Chicken breast, boiled pork, roast veggies and gravy, stuffing, rumballs, fruit mince tarts, and Christmas pudding.  Its going to be great!

And lastly, had a straight perm the other day.  Don’t really look like myself at all.  When I take a picture I’ll link it…  its really really straight.   

Yatta!

that clip seriously cracks me up.  But, I am saying ‘Yatta!’ for a reason –

my results for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) came…  I passed!  Yatta!  Huzzah for good measure!

oh, and if you are interested in seeing the original clip for the yatta song, thats below and possibly very scary…

just a quickie…

gee, i cant believe how behind i am….  well anyway.

Sunday was the JLPT so now that’s all over I can move on to other things.  I think I did alright.  Will get the results in mid-Feb.  TouDai was similar to QUT in that the campus was just full of buildings.  not all that exciting in the end.

This morning I woke up and had nothing to do.  Felt strange.  but Im sure I’ll put something else on my plate soon.  Still, twas nice to have no study that needed to be done..

went to the dentist yesterday becuase I was worried about one of my teeth.  and my worry was founded.  I have a cavity.  blah.  thats going to be fixed on friday morning.  But the troubling thing is that its close to the nerve tissue, so it’s possible that I might have to get a root canal done.  Pray that’s not the case please!

I’m going to Toudai!

 hehe, okay, TouDai is short for Tokyo University, and its the top university in Japan.

Alas, I am not going there to study, but to take the JLPT in December.  But I’m getting a kick about going there, you hear so much about it, so Im looking forward to poking around one of it’s campuses.

now I just need to buckle down and study.  ugh.

A quick update about the last week for you – its been halloween costume week at work, so I’ve put some photos up on flickr.  I really enjoyed the week, its not like we have much opportunity to dress up for halloween in Aus.  So I had 3 costumes – a pirate, death and Goku from Dragon Ball Z.  When I get more photos I’ll link you. 

the most memorable kids costumes would have to be a mini-Jack Sparrow, a sad clown and Spiderman.  But all the kids were so cute!  And the funniest moment (in a sick way) was when one kid saw me in my death costume and screamed, ran out of the school and about 50m away from the school….  in retrospect it was funny…..

On the otherside of the holiday, Im kinda glad its all over, it was a bit emotionally tiring.  And i was actually glad to wear a suit to work today, because I could then easily go outside for food.  (doing that in costume was a little daunting…)