HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We're having a quiet one here in Plymouth but however the rest of you are greeting 2009 I hope you have a ball.


       

Hey folks. It's time for a new layout. I thought I might be more inclined to visit if the scenery were a little different.

Today I taught my first English lesson and found myself being called 'Sensei' for the frist time. In Japan sensei is applied not only to teachers, but to doctors, lawyers, novelists, musicians, artists e.t.c - basically to people who has acheived a level of mastery in their profession. I always hoped to be called sensei in relation to my writing one day but I'll admit, I never saw myself as an an actual sensei sensei. Very bizarre. Having said that, I did toy with the idea of taking a TEFL course before I came here (even just one of the shorter ones) in case this situation arose. Now that it has, I can certainly see how such a qualification would have been advantageous but I think I fared fairly well today none-the-less. Luckily my new student knows the basics at least.

In other news, the weather has taken a wonderful turn for the chilly recently. Actually it was as if someone flicked a switch on Wednesday last week. Just like that I stopped using the air conditioner, stuck my duvet back in the sheet I'd been sleeping under, and even had the heating on low for a brief period. My room which feels like a cell in the Summer feels almost cosy in the Winter so this change is more than welcome. On the other hand the colder it gets the better I sleep and the harder it is the leave my bed in the morning.

And we're off! Today was the start of my 4th term at Yamasa and having gone from 'Q Class' to 'M Class' to 'K Class' and finally, to 'J Class'. Almost all of the people I've been learning with up until now will be leaving after these next three months so it will be interesting to see how the lack of pressure to pass or excel effects their work ethic. I know I'm going to up my game a little but then that's the same every term.

My new classroom is on the 1st floor (as apposed to the 3rd) which is much more convenient. I'll definitely stand more chance of getting one of the kitsutsuki bentos before they sell out now. Fingers crossed I can get my sleeping pattern back on track now school has started again. For the last 5 days I haven't been able to sleep before 5am and last night was one of those ones where I'm not 100% sure I slept at all. At least I've had the benefit of sleeping in for the latter half of the blessed 20 day holiday.

It's a good thing it was 20 days too because the first week was rather disastrous. We went to the hot spring ryokan I've been rabbiting on about and while my boyfriend fell violently ill on the morning of the 2nd full day (Boxing Day) I fell ill with the same thing very early on the 3rd. So that cancelled out those two days. We attempted a day trip to Gifu on the 4th day but had the worst luck imaginable and still weren't really well enough to cope with it. We came home to miserable Okazaki a day and night early in a fairly depressed state which we didn't really get over until New Year's Eve when we braved the rabid mob in Takashimaya to buy the ingredients for a good old fashioned roast chicken dinner which turned out beautifully, although my attempt at Mum's gravy was somewhat fraught.

We almost missed the actual turning of the New Year though. We were watching Hidalgo - me replete with good food and my boyfriend merry on French wine - when he suddenly said 'Hey what time is it?' The last time I checked it had been 11:40. I checked then and found it was 30 seconds to midnight going by his clock so he quickly went to fetch the mini-champagne bottle while I turned on the TV to see if there was some kind of countdown (no Big Ben for me :o( The moment I turned the TV on I realised the clock had been a few seconds slow since everyone on the screen was already hugging eachother and tinsle was falling and what-not. So I grabbed the boyfriend, stole a kiss, cheered, and forced down the obligitary two sips of comemorative alcohol. It was good fun.

Shame about the holiday though. It really did put a dampner on things for a while. Happily I've discovered that the next school holiday is another long one and since we're planning to spend that in Boston (with a shopping trip to New York thrown in) hopefully I'll get my lovely holiday then. Minus the chronic vomiting and crippling back pains.

Remember me? I figured since my last post (*cough*three months ago*cough*) was about starting Minna no Nihongso II, I should post today about starting the New Approach. Already I miss Minna no Nihongo with it's English definitions and grammer explanations. It took me quite a while today to grasp the very simple concept of 'hodo'. New Approach does seem a lot more structured than Minna no Nihongo though, and I can see my Japanese improving in the coming weeks once I've got used to the format.

In fact, since New Approach is so structured, I've decided I should try harder to organize my after school study time as well. Now that my listening comprehension has improved and I've been doing A LOT better on the listening tests, I've decided my main focus should be on reading. I'm not taking the Japanese Language Proficiency test along with the rest of my classmates this year but I'm certain it will stand me in good stead if I start trying to improve my reading speed now rather than later. Any tips on that from other Japanese students would be greatly appreciated. In fact any study suggestions would be useful.

By my reckoning it's officially winter here in Okazaki, as of Sunday when I was forced to don my winter coat and gloves. Now it's even harder to get up in the morning but I still prefer it to the sweltering summer. There's only a few weeks until christmas now and I'm as excited as a child now that I've finalised where I'll be spending it. No, I'm not going home, I'm spending it at a hot spring ryokan in Gifu, above the famous Gero onsen. A whole 6 days of eating and bathing until I'm bloated and wrinkled beyond recognition. I can't wait!

Whoops. I meant to post ages ago about finishing the first Minna no Nihongo book but apparently I forgot. Then, far more importantly, I meant to post that I had the new Harry Potter novel and that I'd seen the new Harry Potter film but...yeah, same old excuse I'm afraid: I just didn't have time. Which is why, even though I got HP7 the first Monday after is came out, I've still only read the first two chapters of it. Now I've got another new book called Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer which I'm also desperate to read. In fact, I think I'm more desperate to read that than HP...

My God, did I really just type that? This is Harry Potter 7. I've been waiting for this since...well, since Harry Potter 1...

I guess the upcoming holiday will be a test of my loyalty as I decide which to read first. Unless I don't read either and just spend the whole five days in my usual sleep coma...

Besides that riveting information, I thought I'd fill you in on the hanabi festival last night. I went with a group of friends from school, although we lost half of them within fifteen minutes of arriving. Most of us wore yukata, including me having spent that same afternoon racing around trying to find one and eventually shelling out rather a lot of dosh in Seibu. It was worth it though. I figure I'll probably never buy another one so why not buy a nice one that I won't mind wearing repeatedly? At least that's what I'll tell my mum if she ever wonders where my money went.

Anyway, since I have no idea how to tie an obi the lady in the shop dressed me. Which meant walking home in geta which absolutely killed my feet. Plus I got lots of stares which was embarrassing. Anyway, by the time I got home I was melting and red-faced with no time to cool down because I had to meet my friends in ten minutes.

The bus to Okazaki Jou was packed with people wearing yukata which was pretty surreal, and then we arrived and it was amazing. The women looked so beautiful in their yukata, and once my face had returned to it's normal colour I was feeling pretty Cinderella-like in mine too.

There were lots of hanging lanterns around but it was still daylight so they weren't as obvious or pretty as they became later. There were stall everywhere selling all sorts of food which was pretty tantalising since I hadn't eaten all day and didn't until 11pm that night for various reasons.

Anyway, most of the fireworks were launched from two boats/floats on the river. At first me and the friends I hadn't lost seated ourselves on one of the wooden seating areas along the bank. Then it eventually dawned that these were reserved for people who were paying to see the hanabi in style, rather than us free-loading commoners who were consigned to craning our necks and killing our feet along the pavements.

The fireworks started at 7pm and apparently continued until 10. I wouldn't know because after the first 45 minutes we were sick of standing still and went in pursuit of food. That's when things got kind of scary because by that time there were even more people than when we first arrived and policemen everywhere shouting orders through megaphones. The food stalls were ridiculously set up and I was petrified someone was going to spill something on my yukata. I've never been is such a swarm of people before, even at school where it was a miracle no one died in the corridor crushes. And then the typhoon came. Yep, one minutes it's the perfect whether for fireworks and the next we can hear thunder amongst the bangs and the rain is slating down, There wasn't much choice but to run along with everyone else, otherwise I imagine we'd have been trampled underfoot. It was absolutely manic.

Luckily we managed to find our way back to the bus station and elbow our way onto the first bus, even though we didn't know at that time if it was going where we needed to go (luckily it was). We also lost another of a number along the way so I hope she made it home safely. Through all of this the fireworks (which were pretty spectacular going by the 45 minutes I watched) kept going off.

All in all it was a very...strange day. But that first hour of just walking around in my yukata and watching those fireworks was pretty special. I would definitely go again. I'll just have to remember to take my umbrella and some running shoes next time.