Elementary Japanese B?

I'm trying to decide if I should take Elementary Japanese B next semester. Japanese is my favorite class this semester, both because it's fun and because it's the only class on my schedule that's not a requirement of some kind. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if my schedule will allow me to take another semester. I think, by the end of the semester, I'll know at least enough Japanese to hold up a decent (or semi-decent) conversation. Obviously that must seem strange since I'm still writing my blog all in English...

I'm curious about who's going to win the competition for the spring festival. I wonder how many people are going to vote for their own letters as the best! I thought it was funny that we could actually do that! Of course if everyone did, then no one would win. Well even if everyone votes for themselves (and I doubt that they will), at least my vote will tip the scale. Unless the person I voted for happens to vote for me...

はるやすみ

はるやすみにハワイへいきました。たのしいでしたよ。

There were so many new experiences in such a short time! I actually have a friend who attends the University of Hawai'i and I only managed to see her an hour before I flew back to New York, because I'd been so busy for the whole week. I went scuba-diving and hang-gliding for the first time, went hiking on volcanoes and through the rainforest, and so much more! I also spent a day at the Polynesian Culture Center (which was amazing) and went to the Big Island for a day.

I didn't manage to use the little bit of Japanese I've learnt while I was in Hawai'i, even though there were so many Japanese tourists around. I did spend some time studying katakana while I was there, but otherwise I was trying not to think about classes and studying.

Even though the visit was shorter, I think I may have enjoyed it as much as my visit to Japan last summer. What I enjoyed most about my visit to Japan, though, was that I was able to visit so many cultural sites (especially in Kyoto). I know that there were a number of temples on the island of Oahu, but I was told that there weren't any tours that go to them.

This was probably the last big adventure I'll get to go on for a while. From now on I plan to use most of my breaks for volunteering and hopefully some internships to gain experience for medical school and everything beyond that. I hope that eventually I'll have enough time (and money) to go on adventures like this more often.

composition

こんにちは。はじめまして。わたしのなまえはジェラミーです。にじゅうさいです。わたしはコロンビア大学のがくせいです。にねんせいです。せんこうはしゅうきょうです。いまにほんごをべんきょうします。アメリカじんですとナイジェリアじんです。わたしのがっこうはスイスのジェネーブです。わたしはきょねんにほんのとうきょうときょうとにきました。にほんはきれいくにです。ほんとあにめをよむのがすきです。かくのもすきです。これからおせわになります。どうぞよろしく。

rambling...

Unfortunately I don't have much to write about this week soo I'm just going to talk about food. It's definitely more fun than talking about midterms and papers anyway...

I discovered a little Japanese restaurant close to campus a couple of weeks ago, but I've only been back once since then. I had forgotten how much I love Japanese food! I had the most amazing chicken and avocado salad ever. We haven't learnt much food vocabulary yet, so I don't know how to say that in Japanese. I think chicken is "toriniku," but I could have made that up. I figure names of foods in Japanese are useful things to know, especially if I plan to eat at Japanese restaurants more often. I can imagine myself trying to translate the menu, even if everything is already translated for me. It's always fun to try it yourself and see how close (or far) you get to actually figuring out what you're about to order.

I figure I should try to type in hiragana as much as I can, but I had a little trouble figuring out how to set my computer to hiragana. I'll work on it again this weekend when I have time...

oops...

I forgot to write on my blog last weekend! That should be taken as a sign of how busy things are starting to get...and that I'm getting old and forgetful...

Our compositions were due on Tuesday, so we can probably expect comments from Sato-sensei today. I thought mine was too short (especially after seeing how long my group members' compositions were), but I just didn't know how to say many of the things I wanted to. I doubt that it's competition-winning material, but the effort involved in writing a composition (of ANY length) entirely in hiragana was much more important to the learning process. Sato-sensei was also reluctant to answer all of my many questions about what I could and couldn't say, and that encouraged me to think for myself. Hopefully I won't find out today that thinking isn't one of my strong points...

I wonder if maybe I should have been more creative and just made up things about myself for my composition. It would certainly make it more exciting to "perform" in front of people if it had all kinds of crazy and outlandish facts in it...

SMAP

I looked up SMAP on wikipedia, just because I was curious. The groups members are in their mid-30's now, which surprised me. Western boy bands never last that long (not that I'm complaining). Plus, Sato-sensei didn't seem to have much confidence in their singing abilities. Oh, well - they must be doing something right...

chigai!

This week, while I was skimming the romanized translation of the textbook, I saw the word "chigai," and that it meant "you're wrong." We also learnt it in class the next day. As I mentioned in my last posting, I'm a fan of anime, especially the ones with psychological or philosophical themes. Most of the time, there's a scene, usually around the climax, where the main character will be confronted with someone who reveals secrets about him/her that he/she would rather not admit. That's where the word "chigai" also comes up, usually despserately screamed by the unfortunate character. I had an idea of what the word meant from the english subtitles, but it's still interesting to learn the real meanings of words I've heard before (especially words that seem to have such dramatic implications!) Yes, I know I'm a geek...at least, I'm having fun! :-)

I went to Japan for two weeks last summer, and brought with me a little booklet I made with a few useful phrases in Japanese. I found them on the internet, so the only ones I actually knew how to pronounce were those I'd heard before in anime. Once I arrived in Japan, I was too shy to actually try using any of them, so I just let the friends I was visiting do all the talking. I hope to go back again someday, and hopefully this time I'll be able to do more than smile and nod when someone asks me a question or tells me something that's probably very interesting (if only I could understand what they're saying). Aside from that, I'm just hoping to have fun in Elementary Japanese. It's a good break from the Core and the Premed Curriculum, which (sadly) are normally the sum total of what goes on in my life.