Back from Japan

I've been back in California for about one month now...I had such an awesome experience in Japan, and I really felt like I got to experience a bit of slice-of-life sort of trip. Sometimes the feeling of wanting to return is somewhat overwhelming. I'm trying to channel this feeling into my studies...maybe it's working? xD;

I feel like I still have so much left to experience in Japan. I still want to check out all the major cities, geek spots, and vacation get-aways. But I suppose I'll have to leave that for another time.

Right now I've returned to my job. I work at a LAN center. Basically a place of computers and video games. In September I start college at UC Irvine. I'm very excited, but also super nervous! >___< Right now I'm Undeclared/Undecided, but I'm going to be pursuing Japanese and Business degrees. I recently took a placement test for Japanese and got placed (tentatively) into Japanese 2B. Essentially it's Japanese 5, exactly where I felt I'd be perfect (so that's good).

I do feel like I'm forgetting what I learned in Japan. Comprehension and intonation can only slide back so much, but I'm definitely forgetting vocab. Recently I've been focusing on Kanji...maybe I should focus more or grammar and vocab again. But I'm using Heisig's Remembering the Kanji and it seems to be working...

Other than that, I FINALLY found an anime I'm into! It's been soooo long. It's called Jellyfish Princess (Kuragehime) and the other one I forgot. Something about the daily lives of boys? Anyway, hopefully that'll keep me busy as well.

I can't wait until I'm in Japan again. Future plans include studying abroad during college and maybe a vacation of some sort. And who knows, may end up living there ;)


Until next time,
                    Emily


もう一ヶ月前にカリフォルニアに帰った。日本に行った時はただ日本の生活を経験した。時々日本に戻りたい気持ちが強くなるばっかり。日本語を勉強するためにこの気持ちは刺激となった。良いかな。（笑）


まだたくさん日本の生活経験したことが無い。都会にも行きたいし、オタクの場所にも行きたいし、ただ旅行にも行きたい。でも、今行けないので、未来にまた行ってみるつもり☆


最近バイトで働きつつ"けた。コンピューターセンターで働いている。基本的にお客さんが来て、ビデオゲームをやる。九月からカリフォルニア大学アーバイン校に通う。とってもうれしいけど、緊張している。^^;　専門はまだ分からないけど、たぶん経済と日本語。先週プレイスメントテストを受けて、中級の授業に参加できる~　このぐらい難しい授業に入りたかったから、超安心した。：）


だけど、日本に行った時の習った物を忘れているって感じ:( 聞き取りとイントネーションはどれぐらい時間を過ぎても大丈夫と思うけど、単語を覚えにくい。最近漢字に集中している。また文法と単語に集中するべきかな。けど、今使っている漢字のテキクストは良いと思う。漢字が分かるようになりそう。


それより、やっと好きなアニメ見付けた。２年ぶりかな。海月姫というアニメと・・・なんだけ、他のアニメの名前忘れちゃった。筋書きはただ男の子の生活。まあ、とにかくこのアニメを見るから、忙しくなると思う。アニメを見ながら、日本語を勉強する。これは中学校の夢。懐かしい！


ではまたね
えみりー




P.S. My host sister is coming from Japan to California for 10 days! Soooo excited :D

Nagashima Spaland (Amusement Park)

Long time, no post! To be honest, I wasn't planning on updating this blog again until I returned home...but I figured I'd throw you guys one more bone :)

Recently the rainy season has started in Japan. I don't know how I managed to forget, but yeah....the rain be a comin'.

Today is Saturday, but there was school...agian. For some reason, recently we've had school on Satrudays a lot recently. Usually it's only twice a month at most, but this month in particular every Saturday there is school. 

Anyway, today I helped out with the middle school English class again. We performed "Head, Shoulders, Feet and Toes" for the parents. It was really cute and fun!

After that I saw the last half of a guest speaker's discussion. It was about taking care of unhealthy babies around the world. Turns out he studied abroad in America for a month, and just happened to study at UC Irvine...which, shockingly enough, is the college I will be attending starting this September! So that was pretty exciting.

Next week on Wednesday we have another Sport's Day Event. This time the schools being divided into volleyball teams (we've all been practicing during P.E.) and we're having matches. I'm definitely looking forward to it :)

Also, tomorrow is Eiken, which is an english test with different levels of difficulty... Japanese students take this test to prove their level of English efficiency. In other words, it's just like the test JLPT test I want to take later this year! 

Tomorrow it looks like I'm going to an Onsen again (public bath)...Now, those of you that know me, know that I'm huge on 'em baths.. Hell yeah

Anyway. I have just two weeks left in Japan. My Japanese has improved a lot... Most noticeably, I can speak casually/ UBER HIPPIN' HAPPENLY. Okay not really. But sort of :)

And my listening comprehension.  Which I'm pretty happy about! I definitely need to focus on expanding vocab, but more than anything else is grammar. Especially formal grammar, the stoof you get tested on when you take the JLPT test -__- The thing is, when you speak casually in Japanese, a lot of the times particles are dropped. But that's definitely not the case with more polite speech. 

Anyway anyway anyway. Still having a great time here. I still can't seem to make up my mind...Was three months too long? Too short? Regardless, I know I'll definitely abosolutely positively will be back. When, and for what reason, well..I don't know xP

This will probably be my last post until I get back home. 

P.S. I messed up a previous post. I said the castle I went to was Gifu Castle, but it actually wasn't. I know this because recently I went to the real thing haha.. I gotta fix that later and post the new castle pictures xD

So, on to the pictures. About a month ago I went with my host sisters to the closest amusement park. It was about an hour a way by car, and tickets for one day ran you down about 55 bucks (if I remember correctly)

 HEY LOOK GUYS IT'S PETER THE RABBIT

 This ride is called Viking..in Japanese バイキング　Yup, that's read bai-kin-gu...yeah this stuff just becomes noraml after awhile. As a side note, this word is the same as the word for "all you can eat"..like a restaurant bauffe place

 CAN'T DECIDE IF CUTE OR WANTS TO KILL ME IN MY SLEEP

 his pants are WAY cooler than your pants ever will be

 お化け屋敷！！Yeah, a haunted house! It wasn't scary, but it was interesting :)

 All the ride names were written in English..?

 WHATISTHISIDONTEVEN

SIR

SIR

YOU HAVE BUT ONE EYE

 Like a coo coo clock!

;

 The "lady" in the background's neck grows long. I feel like I've heard this folk tale before. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but I also saw a lady with no face. I think the story goes like...well she steals your face or something

 yeah the camera did this on it's own.. creepy

 Super colorful Ferris wheel :)

 Taken from the top of the Ferris wheel!

 AMURRICA

Yup. Miss you guys! Hope you enjoyed the post :)