Wow where did all of the time go? Like really not that long ago I was counting down the days until I went to Japan and now here I am with just over a month until I return from it. Its a weird feeling because I feel like I have been here so long I don't remember exactly what home is like but at the same time it feels like just yesterday we were having out orientation. I am excited to go home to see my family, hang out with my friends, be able to enjoy everything being cheap, and all of the cool movies and games that came out while I wasn't paying attention to them. I'm not looking forward to going back to work. I'm not looking forward to loosing what little Japanese practice I get in my normal day, but I'm really not looking forward to leaving this country. I don't know why I like Japan. If I wanted to say some complaints I could come up with a good size list but there is just something about this place that has a real charming atmosphere about it. I ask myself why I want to come back and its not just the anime goods shopping, which is a huge perk, its something that I can't quite explain.
Classes are wrapping up and fair well parties are happening left and right. In about 2 weeks all of the kids from Hawaii are going home and in all reality I'll probably never see them again. I've made really good friends with Jay and Courtney but I just don't see myself getting out to Hawaii too much. I guess there might be a chance with Jay if I ended up in California for work and he goes back home or something like that. But life is just full of those sort of short term friendships and you just have to learn to enjoy them while you have them and move on when they are gone I guess.
So I am once again changing my plans for school. I emailed a few teachers trying to figure everything out and it turns out there simply isn't ANY Chinese studies class this summer so that forces me to not have a free schedule in the fall so I might as well just take all of my classes then rather then some in the summer. The more I think about it the smarter decision it really is. I am getting grant money for the fall and spring semesters so school is not only going to be free but should make some money actually even after buying books and what not. The little problem is that the priority registration already passed while I was set on taking a summer semester so some of the classes I wanted are full. I signed up for Chinese writers and society 341, Japanese 421 (I don't really know if this will be a more difficult class or not) and I am going to try and get into Japanese civilization 272 to fulfil my history requirement and modern east asian history 270. These classes have a lot of students in them so there should be lots of people who drop so as long as I just keep checking up on it I should be able to get in no problem. I actually dont need Hist 270 but I need to be at 12 credits to get the money so its just about being full time with that class. I wanted to take an easier class then Chinese 341 because I have already taken all of the hard ones I need and I have had professor li for three other classes. I know he is good but he is going to work you.
So one of my more interesting teachers is Koji Nakamura. He teaches the Japanese education class and he is the one who has had the class be all over the place in terms of what we cover in class. He also teaches regular konan students classes and he invited all of us to come to his class. I was free today and saw him during a break in class so I decided to go later in the day. He said the class was taught in all Japanese which I thought all the more reason for it to be interesting. So I go to the class room and he tells everyone that their will be a ryugakusei so think of a question to ask and he had me go in front of everyone and do a self introduction and I was doing ok in my Japanese but he kept asking me more and more questions and then everyone took turns asking me questions. It was so weird being on the spot lot like that saying everything in Japanese and making mistakes left and right in front of a group of native speakers. I only go to sit down after an HOUR. I held a Q and A in Japanese, in front of Japanese people, for a solid hour! I can't believe I got through it. Now that its over I feel glad because I certainly could not have done anything like that before I came here. And this is another example of how I am constantly forced out of my comfort zone. Like if I can do this then like really their is nothing I can't do.
There is a lot of free time coming up, tomorrow is some sort of holiday and I'm thinking of going to Takarazuka. Next week is golden week (a week where a bunch of holidays fall one right after the other) then an odd week of having only my elective classes and finally the two weeks of no school at all before I go. I really need to get working on exploring. I want to stay mostly in Kansai but thats still plenty to see and do.
---Ben
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