joy

after a muddled week last week, feeling under the weather and generally not all that great; (I had thought of posting a blow-by-blow account of the procedure of going to the doctor's here, but think that might wait for a rainy day.), I am now having a most joyous week.

many thanks to those who have been praying for this to happen. well, not so much that i'd have a good week, but that's come as a result of other stuff.

I've decided not to go on holiday down south in Japan after all. I've cancelled & despite a charge for that, I might well be putting the rest of the money towards a car - watch this space! I've just started reading Richard Foster's, "Freedom of Simplicity". I'd lent it to a friend just before graduation & was glad to receive it back in January, I hadn't really expected to. I hadn't read it before, but it's exactly what I needed - well, need right now. It confirmed to me to cancel the trip down south. (After all, I can picture what another castle and hot springs would look like.) And whereas thinking about it left me anxious and thinking that I wouldn't be physically up to it anyway; despite a car costing the same amount more or less (more, i am sure!), having one would enhance my remaining time in Japan. I could go to the onsen after school; go swimming at a time that doesn't have to be 4:30pm after school; visit friends; go to the sea; drive along the coast; go to the countryside- oh the opportunities are endless! Just hope it'll work out.

I've started the procedure by getting a Japanese translation of my UK licence- today. Next step is getting a Japanese licence. I may have already slipped up a bit. - I had some photos taken the other day for it, but I'm smiling in them. You're not meant to smile in serious photos in Japan.

Anyway, more to follow possibly.

But another cool thing is - surprise surprise, I've passed JLPT level 3 (that's the Japanese Language Proficiency Test) for those who don't know. Level 3 is kind of intermediate - maybe like oh i dunno, year 11 or 12 of British schooling foreign language. Well, it seemed do-able, apart from the fact that i never really studied for it except for just about a week before the exam which is quite unlike me. So my score (336/400) is helping to quash doubts that I'm just blonde and not at all clever. Next time, 2 kyuu! [Which -congratulations - Chantelle passed! wahoo! If you have 2 kyuu it means your Japanese is well good and you can apply for Japanese-speaking jobs!!]

I cheekily asked a JTE to a lift to the place where I could get my driving licence translated earlier this afternoon. I hadn't realised how close it was- which I was v relieved about - we were there and back, within an hour and a half. On the return journey, she was saying that she wants to improve her english etc etc. I got her thinking about goal setting and remembered Mrs Millar from Coopers' old classic piece of advice. "You cannot eat an elephant all at once. You have to break it into bitesize chunks." This was around the time the BBC had revision TV programmes on called "Bitesize". So I was encouraging her to break her English study into bitesize pieces & realised I too should do the same with my japanese.

To be honest, I haven't properly studied regularly in about a year. I had a 1 week course at the OMF languge centre in Hokkaido in the summer, which was great. BUT I've only moved onto the next chapter of the text book. I.e. I've done one chapter of 'Minna no Nihongo' book in 6 months. One chapter is meant to take 2 weeks. Oh dear.

Bitesize chunks!

I've got in touch with my tutor - hopefully we can meet up next week and get started. In the mean time, my mini goal is to learn the Bible book names in Japanese- kanji and their furigana readings. I'll give myself until March1st, but really think this is too long. Then I'll tackle another goal. Feel free to pester me about this.

After all, i now hope to sit a Japanese test in London on the first weekend of December 2007!!!!!

yeah!

celebrate with raw fish!

I later received an orange from a teacher at school (as well as some cream-filled pastries and cakes), to celebrate passing the exam. The orange basically says "you passed!" (well i'm sure 'proper' Japanese students would be able to say that's a very liberal translation, but take a look-).