Not so happy studying…

Studying is not going well. How did i manage to forget so many kanji in the year i did absolutely no study!!!!

Yesterday i had the day off, and had no plans….let me tell you there aren’t many days in my schedule that are completely free, but yesterday was one of them. So i decided to go to my old university and visit my old kaikan housekeeper nakamura-san as well as my old language teachers.

It just so happened that James was going to be in Kichijoji yesterday afternoon too, so we ended up meeting at the kaikan ( our old living place…) and seeing nakamura. She hadn’t changed at all, we sat down and had a bit of a chat, and we updated her on what was happening…who was back, who was where, who had graduated and who was moving to other countries for work or boyfriends. It was actually quite nice to go back there, (i hadn’t been back to the actual kaikan in almost 18 months…not since the day i left on February 15th 2005). I live in kichijoji, a 15 minute walk from where i used to live, but i hardly ever go over that side of town…and considering i was there almost everyday for a year, it was funny to see what had changed on the walk there, and around the university.

After that, we thought we would go surprise the teachers, and they were quite surprised i must say….there was a lot of ” ARE?? ARE??” and “Bikurishita” going on. But we settled in for a chat. When i arrived in Japan March 2004 i really didn’t speak any Japanese…sure i had studied briefly in Australia, but it was nothing compared to what everyone else knew, and i think the teachers when they met me really had no idea what to do with me because they only offered intermediate and advanced classes and i really wasn’t more than a beginner…I actually had private classes with two of the teachers for my first half year here. Then summer came, my translater (catherine!!) went home, and i was stuck still not really knowing what was going on. But it really was the best thing for me, because over the summer my Japanese improved immensly, even if i ended up speaking like a boy. I went back to school after summer and was in intermediate classes with everyone else…

By the time i went home, while it didnt’ seem like i had really worked THAT hard at improving my Japanese it had just kind of happened. As i made my speech at graduation, it was hard to say goodbye to what really had been the best year of my life. The teachers, Nakamura, my Japanese friends all congratulated me, and reminded me of when we had all met and hadn’t spoken a word.

Now, i have started studying again, i can’t remember it being this hard. While visiting the teachers yesterday they were surprised to hear i hadn’t already done the next level up on the proficiency test yet…and the reason i hadn’t was because of the kanji…the listening and grammar parts i would be fine in…but then there is kanji, which i would almost certainly fail i think. I have been studying recently but had avoided the kanji parts like the plague…After seeing them yesterday i guess i felt a bit slack…sure i can speak Japanese fine, i live with my Japanese boyfriend and we communicate just fine in Japanese, but i really hadn’t studied at all seriously since last July when my last university exam in Japanese was…. They convinced me to sign up for level 2…and start working my way towards level 1 for next year….So i have an application form, which i will fill out in the next week and take the plunge at learning all the kanji which i know i will probably hate. Fukaya-sensei did give me a grammar book that she and the other two main teachers had written together which has the grammar for the next two levels in it….but it is the kanji i am really dreading…It just doesn’t seem to want to stay in my brain, not matter what method i try whether it is flash cards, repetition, excersises in books and beleive me i have tried them all. I know it is something i just have to work at in my own time…but sometimes it all seems so hopeless!!!!!!

At least i know most of the kanji in the box above….it is the other like 950 i have to worry about…Well technically i suppose i have about 400 to go…not to mention the couple (ok probably more than a couple) in the 600 i am supposed to know that i have probably forgotten. ARGHHHHHHHHH………..

I think i have done enough for today perhaps…will get started on it again tomorrow!

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