Not much has really been happening lately. I go to class, come home, take a nap, and then I read, write, study, or a combination of the three.

The creative juices have been flowing lately, which is very good. They’ve been brewing in my head since February, and they’re finally making their way out to my fingertips. It’s a nice feeling. I think in the next week or so, I’ll have some short stories written for my fantastic friends to enjoy.

Classes are starting to get a tad bit harder. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m learning vocabulary I didn’t learn in the states. The format of the class is the same as it was the first week - daily quizzes, dictation, so on and so forth. We watch dorky videos with extremely awkward actors in them. It’s quite fantastic, really. There’s always a guy named “Miller-san” in every Japanese/English textbook, and this Miller-san is extremely KY (in other words, AWKWARD!).

Today marks the start of Golden Week. Golden Week is a week of government holidays that all happen to fall one day after another. Today is… Nature day? It used to the Emperor’s birthday marked the start of Golden Week. Sunday is “Constitution Day” and May 5th is Children’s Day, also known as Boy’s Day.

All governmental business and such shut down for the week, and we get a week off from school. Thursday to next Wedesday, I think, is our little holiday. I plan on using this week to write and see several live shows. Two shows I know I can go to, the third… hm, it’s gonna be tricky.

I can’t remember if I’ve complained about this here or not, but Japan likes to use a lottery system for very popular shows. I signed up through a commonly used vendor, Lawson, but it turns out that they won’t tell you that there’s an error with your method of payment until AFTER the lottery completes and you are NOT picked. Thanks!

Luckily there’s a fantastic thing called ONLINE AUCTIONS, which is how I’m going to be getting my tickets from here on. =B

Here are a few random pictures for you.

Japanese keyboard, and some really bad Engrish! Pictures of FISH GALORE!!, and a few from a park.

Our particular group has three different teachers. Monday we have Oka-sensei, Tuesday and Friday we have Ozaki-sensei, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays we have Fukuda-sensei.

Monday started out with a tiny little lady who is probably in her late forties or early fifties. She has a perky personality. This first week was mostly full of review. Monday was spent going over simple things like “I will go to the hospital by train.” Etc. etc. We did simple exercises that were very engaging, and she actually made us THINK of our responses when she asked us questions. I’m not used to having to use my brain so much in Japanese class!

Tuesday we had Ozaki-sensei. She’s an adorable woman in her thirties, who brought pictures of celebrities including Ichiro, Brad Pitt, and to our dismay, Britney Spears. We went over the next section of chapter 5 that Oka-sensei did not cover. She asked us our birthdays, and told us what our zodiacs are called in Japanese. I very much enjoy Ozaki-sensei, as she is willing to teach us little bits of Japanese that aren’t included in the lessons. And she writes in Kanji.

Wednesday and Thursday we had Fukuda-sensei. She’s a strange woman who likes to follow the schedule without straying. She refused to write in Kanji, and overall her method is for students who may not have had Japanese as long as us. It was kind of frustrating, but in the end I think it’ll be good when we finally get to things that I may not already know.

Fukuda-sensei will be the woman who teaches us and tests us on Kanji. She also goes along with the book, like the other two teachers. We started on Chapter 5, and when the week was over, we were just getting into Chapter 7.

Our days consist of daily quizzes in different formats - whether it be in listening and dictation, things straight from the book, or tiny kanji quizzes. The sensei will ask us questions in which we need to respond about US personally. For example, “What are you doing this weekend?” Response: “This weekend I will go to Shinjuku by train.” Stuff like that.

We read from the book. We write on the board. We do assignments in class and have them checked the same day.

Everything is done IN Japanese. There has been no English whatsoever, past the teacher asking “(Something) in English is …” and we respond.

We use four books: a Lesson book, a grammar and vocabulary book, an exercise book, and a Kanji book.

Honestly, I LOVE these books. They’re engaging, they MAKE you think, and it’s a good way to learn. If I were to teach Japanese, these are the books I would use.

It’s only been the first week, and there have been only a few new vocabulary words that I have learned - things like “scissors” and “egg” - which I should have known long before this point, in my opinion. I’m not really going to use this first week to gauge how easy or hard the classes are going to be. Once I get about three weeks in, then I think I’ll be able to tell.

But as far as I’m concerned, this has been the best course of action I’ve taken in order to learn the language I fell in love with 10 years ago.

Sorry I haven’t written lately. I’ve been just lounging around mostly and have been too distracted to write.

Let’s see here…

Thursday we received our results for our placement test. Of course, ALL THE AMERICANS were placed into the lowest class - D class. We got our textbooks and was dismissed. Fun.

Friday, Chris, Asuka, another girl named Yuuka, and I went to see the Tokyo Tower. Here it is! Plus views from the observation deck.

In the bottom level of the observation deck, you could “look down!”

Stairs for GO UP! The second picture was taken at Roppangi Hills.

We walked around Roppangi for a little bit. The idea was to let time pass so we could see how awesome Tokyo is at night. Unfortunately, I had to go to a dorm party - which ended up being yummy and fun. Before I left for the party, we once again did PURIKURA!!

I made some new friends at the dorm welcome party, most of whom are also gaijin (foreigners). Several girls around me were Chinese, and another girl I made friends with is from Korea.

I won something at a bingo game (so did everyone in the dorm) that I have yet to redeem. I think it’s a sort of Febreeze-like thing. *shrug*

Saturday, I journeyed to Ikebukuro to see OLIVIA! She was having a mini-live at a place there, to promote some new game I think. She played 3 songs - one of which I knew, the other two are off her new single coming out TOMORROW (4/15). She has a fantastic singing voice, and she’s small and absolutely GORGEOUS in person.

Here’s a song she played that I really enjoy:

Sunday, I went to Kichijoji and bought a couple of bags. I spent the rest of the day lounging around.

Monday was the first day of class. We have three sensei (teachers). Monday was Oka-sensei. She’s this cute, tiny little lady that’s maybe in her late 40s. She refused to write any kanji on the board, which made us sad. But she was fun nonetheless.

Today we had Ozaki-sensei. She wrote on the board in kanji, and she taught us a few new works - some of the zodiac symbols, and other miscellaneous words. So far she’s my favorite.

Mostly what we’ve been doing in class is very much review, though I find myself highly intimidated because of my lack of speaking and listening skills. Seriously, it’s embarrassing to go through two years of Japanese and NOT have these VERY IMPORTANT skills. WTF.

And Dad, as for the boyfriend question, the answer is no. Kevin and I are going to stick with each other for a while.

P.S. I’ve been putting pictures HERE when I get some interesting ones. Maybe eventually one day I’ll put them up on FLICKR too.