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I Passed 3級!!

I passed level three of the JLPT!! (ok, yes, so the results came in a while ago, but I just now realized I had written this teensy blog all up and saved it as a draft…only to be forgotten to time).

And if I remember correctly from a previous blog, I said that if I passed, then the test must be fundamentally flawed. But let me tell you! It knew that I knew only just enough to pass. I needed 60% to pass, and I got, what…a 63%? Something horrid like that.

…

But I passed, so woo!

Now I need to start studying for level two. Or rather, all the stuff I didn’t know from the first test (shame they don’t tell you what you got wrong…).

I Can Use My Computer Again!!

“At home”, is what I’m talking about. I absolutely HATE how the work computer deals with WordPress, so I’ve been AWOL for a moment.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t just pay my bills, I’ll tell you why. It’s because I DO pay my bills. What I don’t do is look where I’m stepping. I crunched the end of the internet cable that plugs into my computer. It had been laying around lately ever since I’d started swapping between my new and old computer for internet purposes (did I tell you I got a new laptop? can’t remember off the top of my head…). But yeah. Details. Problem is fixed, and with a cable I had in my house the entire time!

I didn’t slack with picture-taking, though, and I have several awesome vids taken while in Arita, home of Japanese porcelain. One in particular is a tour of the small porcelain factory that has supplied the Imperial family with everything porcelain for hundreds of years. Pretty cool, that.

Anyways, back to *sigh* school for now. Wanted to send this out as soon as I was able (found the new cable during my lunch break).

バイバイ！

Journal Writing in Japanese

And while we’re on the subject (of wizened learning), this is a book I’ve been carrying around with me, trying to figure out how best to go about using it.  It’s a book geared towards Japanese people who want to write a diary in English.  And I, like many (I’d hope) other Japanese-learners, have used such English conversation books to learn more colloquial Japanese.  AAND they’re far more creative in their layout, since the majority of people learning English outside of formal institutions of learning are doing this as a hobby (I hear that’s why TOEFL scores for Japan are so abysmal…because people are just taking it for their own personal interest as to what they’ll score, and not out of necessity for a job or school or whatnot), and therefore don’t need a textbook, but something fun and happy (and it helps us visual learners, too!).

Anyways, just what I heard.

The book is called 「英語で日記を書いてみる」　(eigo de nikki wo kaite miru->”Let’s Try Writing a Diary in English”).  You can buy it on Amazon.co.jp…though I don’t know about their international shipping procedures.

Here’s a pic…

As you could probably guess, the majority of sentences are in the past tense, and involve a storytelling approach, with lots of examples.  The later part of the book has example after example of short journal entries.  They’re great at showing how sentences work with each other to explain a story, idea, or opinion.

They’re also great as templates.

Templates are nice.

I’m Sure I’ll Get Tired of all the Driving

I will be going to my first real private Japanese lesson today.  I say “real”, but only because I’m forking out money for this one (I attended one two weeks ago as a free trial lesson).  It’s located waaay out in the Big City (Fukuoka City, if you will).  Takes me about an hour and a half in total transit time to get to Tenjin (the part of town where my lesson is located…along with Fukuoka’s lovely nightlife).  Blame rush hour traffic, because it usually doesn’t take that long to get there…and that’s without taking the Urban Expressway (toll road…bah!) that cuts across town.  What would make my day, though, is finding a parking garage I like that is located closer to the building I need to go to.  My favorite parking garage in Tenjin (yes, I have one…) is close to the main, fun part of town, but a 20-minute walk to class.  Which would be ok if that didn’t make me late.

Though the excercise would be welcome.

I will also start going to weekly group lessons that are far cheaper (only 千円 a month…about 9 bucks US with the current exchange rate), that a lot of my friends attend.  Really looking forward to that (starting next week).

Oh, the cost of transit!  But least I’m driving a kei car.  Good mileage and a small discount on tolls.

And yeah, I will still be writing Japanese blog entries (posted to my ~*secret*~ Japanese blog) using what I learned in my lessons.  That resolution has yet to be considered FAIL, unlike some of the other ones I made, so I’m still innocently hopeful and enthusiastic…

…just like a little child right before school starts, knowing that this year will be different (she can feel it!), and that homework will be be like a fun puzzle, projects will be informative and done early, and classrooms will be nests of knowledge. This year will be HER year!!!

Yeah, I’m kinda thinking on those lines.