So How Is Your Japanese?

Today was the inauguration of my alarm. Just in case it didn't work, I had my cell phone alarm ready a few minutes after the clock was set. Fortune would have it that I happened to wake up before either alarm went off. Being that I wanted to see how the alarm worked, I waited for the designated time to come, but nothing happened. I determined that the alarm had to be set so that the needle was pointing a little before the desired time in order for the alarm to work. Petty electronics aside, I had bigger things to do.

Today was the day of tests, where most everyone had to take a Japanese test to confirm that they were in the correct level. On the way to school, I met up with Jimmy, one of the people I met my first day here. We were in the same class at different times, so we discussed our thoughts about the impending examination. Once I reached the classroom, it was only a few minutes before the test began.

The test itself was much more relaxed than the placement test was. Instead of a book of test questions, there was a single page, front and back. Compared to what I studied for the test, there was maybe 1/3 of the material that I expected there to be. After finishing, I was able to leave.

The next event was meeting my speaking partner, Saki, for lunch. She brought her friend Chiaki along. Chiaki was a little better at English than Saki, but not by much. After we ate and had some sporadic conversations, we played some Japanese card games until I had to go to class.

I figured out why I hate my culture class lectures. Within a five minute time frame, my teacher said "uh" well over 200 times. If I were to put a mark on a piece of paper each time he said "uh," I would probably fill up three pages each day! On top of that, he was playing with the chair, the chalk he was holding, and his personal affects in the surrounding area the whole time! It seems apparent that this man has never taken a communications class before. Once the lecture was over and he started an interactive discussion, I was better able to pay attention. I really hope that we start talking about Japanese culture soon instead of the history of anthropology...

After class, I ran into Saki and Chiaki again, this time without a meeting planned. We talked in the McDonalds for awhile. When the topic of my hometown came up, I offered to show them the pictures I took the next time we meet. Eventually, the McDonalds closed and Saki and Chiaki went home. As I bid farewell to them, I met up with Albert, who also fell victim to the closing McDonalds. We went to the CIE lounge so that he could finish his homework. I checked my mailbox for any messages and found that my test from earlier had been graded and delivered. I had made a 46/50, which wasn't that bad for someone who had to catch up with the plain form verbs. After Albert finished his homework, we went to a ramen shop for dinner.

The shop continued the tradition of serving lots of food for an amazingly low price. For ¥598, I got a huge bowl of ramen (not like the kind you get in America), a bowl of rice, and a plate of chicken and thinly shredded lettuce (what they call salad). I was once again able to eat everything and, unlike American food, it did not make me sick to eat so much. I also forced myself to eat the seaweed, which, either from itself or the broth it was in, did not taste that bad.

After returning home, I got to watch Mitch freak out over his impending test tomorrow while I relaxed having finished my duties.