学期終了感想

寒かった二ヶ月は速く過ごして、第一学期は終わりました。まず一番自分に出した質問は「この二ヶ月にわたって、どのぐらい成長してきたか。」という質問でした。実際にわからないので、答えにくいですが、成長したことは確かにあると思います。たとえば、試験から評価すると、期末試験、学校標準試験に悪くない成績を取って、まああ、悪いことではないと思います。クラスのスピーチミニ大会も優勝しました。全体的に、日本へ来る前に持っていた能力と伴ってこちら習ったことを使って試験に合格することですね。しかし、本当にいっぱい習ったんですか。正直に言うと、二ヶ月はたくさんことを習えないと思って、実は前習ったことを復習したり、基本を強めるということです。「ああ、この文法はそうのように使うのか」といった考えがよくあったんです。ですから、成功と言えるんですね。

今、気になるのは会話力です。あまり日本語で話さなければ、ほとんどスムーズに話せなくなり、表現力も下がってきた。どうしようかなと思っていて、やはり会話相手が必要だと考えられます。今その方に調べています。もひとつ気になることはやはり今の文字語彙が足りなくて、表現するときうまくいけないと思います。そのところ頑張らないといけないんですね。

頑張ります。

Exams, Trains, Thoughts about future

Apologies for the non existing updates. Felt quite lazy at times haha. My term exams are on next thursday and friday. I have been enjoying my class, classmates are a bunch of funny people, and i managed to make some friends. well i do not know if can consider as friends but at least we talk and laugh together.

So far I have been through a few train delays here, sometimes during peak, majority during off peak times. the delays are on average 30 to 45 mins, imagine your journey plus 30 to 45 mins. I cant help but think about the train delays in SG. Yeah true that while the train stopped here there is ventilation, no one broke the glass, everyone just kept quiet and waited. But when we are in SG, 10 mins delay people started complaining. is it because we are so used to everything being run smoothly and efficiently? or is it that we are expecting too much from the service providers? are we as consumers demanding too much. from our society? I too, am part of the demanding consumers that gets unhappy and complain about even 10 mins delays. so while on the delayed train here, i reflected about this. perhaps we are taking for granted the things around us. we have no natural disasters; our welfare system is not that bad; our crime rate is relatively low etc etc... we may not have give a thought about these things around us; we are overlooking a lot of things i think.

I have been thinking about my future for the past week. Should you decide what you want to do, and start working towards it(further studies, self learning)? or just apply for any jobs that you might be interested and give it a try, while seraching for what you really want to do. these had been on my mind. talked to several people. Now searching for my path of destiny.

on a side note, today is crazily cold, 4 degress highest, 0 lowest. Just came back and wah kao its freaking cold... so far coldest night i have experienced. haha

2nd month, tests, exams, speech

feb is the month, with a lot of events. standard exam on 2nd week of feb, valentine's day in class, revisions for final exams, finals exams on last week of feb, speech on last day of feb.

Have to memorise the whole speech, with no notes at all. wow, first time attempting it, really need a lot of time to practise. not just to remember the words, but the pronouciations, and the flow of the speech. will try my best.

everyday is just study for me. yes its boring, but thats the whole point of me coming here. shall not waste time relaxing, but put the time into good use. already wasted time in Uni, now cant afford to do so.

for the bright future ahead.

今月は本当に大変だよ。いろいろ試験が行われるし、覚えなければいけないスピーチもあるし、ただ時間がないもん。
久しぶりに日本語でブログを書いて、やってみようかと思っていたから、そうしちゃった。

今内容がないけど、三月になると休み時間に書くよ。

4th week

It has been 4 weeks. I honestly do not know if i really improved. It seems that i have not learned much. hope can see more results in a month's time. It is a fun class i must say, i enjoy the lessons, must i need more discipline to do my self studies. same problem with me lol.

past week was eventful. Went for yodogawa high school band concert, it was fantastic and all the audiences enjoyed themselves very much. Its not just a plain concert, it was interactive. Conductor talked to the audiences, introduce some members of the band, crack jokes; the atmosphere was great. good learning point here i think. Sharing the joy of music making.

before the concert, i had some time to kill, so i went to the Shitennoji Temple(四天王寺). Its one of the oldest, and famous temple. The calming effect this temple gave was amazing. Im not a fan of temples, but i do like visiting the buddhist temples, see how is it like and compare to the ones in SG. I also enjoyed the calmness, and one can certainly leave the temple feeling more refreshed.

sometimes I wonder why are they so polite, in their services, and do they take it for granted.but i think it definitely is a nice country to live in, money aside. Oh, Osaka hardly snows, but one night its snowed heavily here, not in the city though. Interesting, but global warming problem caused this to happen haha.

now here are the pictures:











Yodogawa concert, The Symphony Hall.




Turkish coffee and guest







SNOW!

lost track of time

3rd week here.. been busy with class, and some other stuffs, but basically nothing interesting really happen. everyday routine. 615 wake up, 7 leave house, 8.35 reach school, lesson 935 to 1435, self study till 1700, reach house at 1830, dinner at 1900+++, free time from 2100, sleep at 2300++

well.. i do find it interesting that i saw some people that resembles alot to people i know. so i kind of believe that someone that looks exactly like u, exist in some other parts in the world.

i stopped listening to music for a week. yesterday i took out my earphones again and listened. I realised music is part of my life. it felt very good to listen to your favourite songs again.

oh we have a speech to do, and come end feb, to give the speech to 3 classes. BUT with no notes, supposed to memorise all! wth. 800 words. my class is upper intermediate, they learnt alot of things already. i feel quite lagged behind, hmm... test is coming somemore.

anyway i think that, actually Japan is a place one an easily get used to. probably same asian roots, with some small difference in culture, but hey, we still have rice as main source of food. I kind of gotten used to living here. I like it that people just squeeze into the train, pushing himself in, yet, people around wont give that 'why you like that' face, as its normal to them.

oh and something interesting happened this morning haha, a good morning indeed lol

day 8 and 9

nothing much about day 8, spent the whole day in the room, revising, watching drama and stuffs. got abit bored but, must set in the study mode. How nice if i have 3 months of tour haha. well dinner was okonomiyaki, i had 3, plus a bowl of rice plus miso soup. not that i wanted to eat so much but.. jinhai and justin should know why haha.\





Day 9 aka today
Start of school! came early so went to the Mac for a cup of coffee. The Mac here has cubicles, for individuals to do their work/stuffs, powerpoint attached. Well if SG has this, 24 hrs sure full to max, our students are too much, me included haha. so i kind of found a place i can chill at, BUT no free wifi. haha nevermind then. connectivity not really needed at this point in time/ time of the day. I probably will stay in sch till 5 to study everyday. (there is a classroom for ppl to self study opened till 5) thereafter i will head back for dinner with homestay family.

class was quite tough. their level quite high. class is made up of chinese, taiwanese, korean, vietnameses, thai.

Mochi day

Interesting day today. Its mochi making day!
Friends were invited to join, and this also became an international exchange, as students from the CENTRE(the one i went to 1 yr plus back), were also invited. People from korea, china, indonesia, thailand, QATAR were also here. 3 japanese girls came haha.

11 plus to 3 plus were mochi making/eating, Katana tryout session.
The bowl im holding, is this miso soup, with pork or chicken, and in that they add mochi in too. Its very special and tasty!

Day what?

today slept till 10 am, quite nice to sleep in. HF going out in the late morning, so i suggested i go out at that time too, at least a ride to the station. actually i want to stay back, to read abit or watch some drama. going out means spending, and today i spent quite a bit haha. being adventurous, i went to somewhere quite far away, to donki hote mega store. WOW, they sell almost everything, and at a better reasonable price. I think i will be getting a pair of shoes there? bought inner wear from there though, i think i need more given that its going to get colder.

first went to this nice cozy cafe for brunch.






of course end it off with a cup of hot tea.



now some photos from the megastore haha
I want to buy the bag, but haha nvm la luxury good.




oh i bought a day pass at 600 yen, so i explored further, trying to maximise its use haha, went to the port city.





The mansion looked very nice and classy... want to live there hahaha

as usual i went to the standing noodle bar for dinner, budget coz spent alot of money. oh i cut my hair too! haha and u know what, i couldnt say properly what kind of hairstyle, just one line one line. and he got it. the best part is in SG, no matter how i describe, they couldnt get me the hairstyle i wanted LOL.

here is my added collection of books. bought at Book Off, 105 yen each, good buy haha


Densha Otoko original version haha.

and the concert DVD that i wanted to get from online, very ex for 1st hand, but 2nd hand its more affordable! this one i must buy haha, i like all the enka songs.