It’s summer break now. My Japanese class actually ended in the beginning of last May. I mean, I should’ve written about this sooner but my hand was kinda tied. Last semester might have been the toughest semester for me. I had to do comps and I even had to skip my Japanese classes for a week for that. But I’m not going to talk about my comps, so let’s just talk about my Japanese class.
The teachers? Well, there were only two teachers this time, just like in JPN 102, one of the sensei-s was new, the other used to teach me in JPN 101, let’s call them Sensei F and Sensei B respectively. But I cannot write much about my teachers, though, now that it’s been a while since the class ended. However, I can tell that I really love them, especially Sensei F, the main teacher. She’s smart and understanding. When I was doing my comps, she even let me take the quiz and test individually in her office. Well, I know that’s because I told her accordingly, but it just felt good to be able to do it 😊
Well, I learned more in JPN 201. I learned so much that I forgot a lot too. Haha I mean, a foreign language is like that, right? At this level of mastery, if we don’t keep using it, we’ll tend to forget it. I feel like I cannot remember a lot of words I learned or memorized in JPN 201 now. If I had been an advanced speaker, maybe I wouldn’t have forgotten what I’ve forgotten now. I mean, sometimes I’m amazed at myself for still being so fluent at my native languages – and even English. But with Japanese, I feel like I have to re-start from zero every time I “had some break.” Like after I skipped a week to do my comps and went back to my Japanese class, I felt so left behind. It felt like I’ve forgotten everything I’ve learned prior to skipping the class. And it’s just a one-week break! Gosh. I don’t know how much I should re-learn and review what I got in JPN 201 class before I start my JPN 202 class later, which might be the last time I would be able to audit Japanese classes :’(
ところで、talking about skipping the class for a week, when I returned, it’s already a new chapter, the last chapter. And as usual, just like my previous Japanese classes, we changed and rearranged our seats after each Chapter Test. However, because I skipped the class for a week, during which the sear was rearranged, I didn’t get to pick my own seat randomly. The teacher arranged it for me, and I had to take whatever seat available. Apparently, I was assigned a seat with no partner. So I kinda joined other groups whenever there was a group/peer/pair practice. I was usually partner with whoever whose partner was absent. That’s not fun. I mean, why would I be given that seat when I always came to the class except when I was doing my comps? But I couldn’t complain. It’s my own fault. But thankfully, nearing the end of the semester, I consistently joined the same group, so it’s three of us. They were great, smart, and kind, so I was happy 😊 And, oh, that was actually the only time I sat in the middle. I usually sat either in the first or second left row of the class, which I preferred. And oh, I also got partnered with one of my previous partners in the JPN 102 class. But even my classmates did not change much. I mean, most of them were also in my JPN 102 class, so I know many of them even though I might have forgotten some names.
Then about my grades, well, I still did great I guess. I mean, almost all of my grades were A, except when I missed some assignments while skipping the class for my comps. I also joined the cultural presentation to earn extra credit. I merely told my experience when I had a transit in Japan last year 😀 I realize that somehow I love making power-point presentation. I mean, I’m not that expert in creating such artsy slides, but I guess I love decorating and designing my slides in such a way that serves the purpose in a functional and interesting way. Well, at least to me 😀 And, as usual, we also made an origami after the cultural presentation. We made Pikachu 😀 But we ran out of the time, so Sensei F asked us to just made it at home and uploaded a picture of it to earn an extra credit. I really loved it 😉
Other trivia… Well, I went to the Asian Festival in my campus. I went with my friend (remember the one who also loved One Piece?). We went to the Japanese booth. I tried to wear a Yukata, it’s one of traditional Japanese clothing. The sensei said that people usually wear it in summer or for festivals. I felt really happy 😀
I also went to one of the events held by the Japanese department. It’s Onigiri making. You know, one kind of popular Japanese food. I usually watch it in anime, movies, and dramas, so it’s really amazing to finally being able to make one myself and eat it 😉 It’s really easy. We watched YouTube video about how to make Onigiri, then we executed it. The sensei-s provided everything, the rice, the filling, the nori (the seaweed wrap), etc. We were even given some soup. It’s delicious. 本当に美味しかったですよ。
What else? I still use Hello Talk, but I don’t post as often as I used to be. But it’s still fun. I exchanged postcards with one of my language partners. She’s really kind. I also shared some of my e-books with her. I hope they could help her study and improve her English better 😊 She said she wanted to share a book with me as well. I am happy but I also feel bad at the same time. I mean, I don’t want to make her feel like she has to return the favor (me sharing the e-books with her). I shared my e-books because I had them, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have shared them with her. Am I actually doing a bad thing? Sometimes I’m really questioning what I do, like, I’m scared that even when I intended to do good, it’s actually burdensome for others. I mean, sometimes I feel like I’m too dense to understand all of that, so I hope she does it because it makes her happy and I hope it doesn’t burden her at all.
But, anyway, sorry, I am going astray. Haha But I guess that’s all. I mean, everything looks pretty similar. My kanji is fading, I really can’t remember them all :’( But I keep watching Japanese dramas and listening to Japanese songs so I can remain used to Japanese ^^ Well, hopefully I can master Japanese the way I master English. Not that advanced, but enough to understand people and make them understand me. Wish me luck 😊
