I think I'm learning Japanese,I think I'm learning Japanese,I really think so.

I've come to the end of my first week of Japanese 101 at Santa Barbara City College, and I have to say it has been almost everything and somehow absolutely nothing like I expected it to be! Surprisingly though, I'm already getting the hang of writing and reading hiragana (one "alphabet" of Japanese characters), and I even find it refreshing and relaxing to practice the different strokes of the characters. What's so shocking to me is not only how difficult it is to memorize the characters and be able to translate them into the syllables that make up a word, but then on top of that having to be able to memorize what that word actually means (and I'm only learning ONE of the alphabets so far! There's still katakana to learn!). I've definitely got my work cut out for me.

My professor is pretty great. She's a middle-aged woman from Japan who has definitely had a lot of life experience, and she's got some funny little quirks about her (like the fanny pack she wears while teaching and the Pokemon pencil pouch she leaves on the table in front of the class). She makes us sing songs about little bears rivaling against fried shrimp (?) and watch those oh so entertaining beginning language videos from the 80s. Class is always pretty amusing.

So I'm thinking about taking an additional 2 unit course that lasts 4 days (but all day long each day). It's almost like a full Japanese culture and language immersion workshop. The days include hands-on experience practicing and watching presentations about speech synthesis, origami, chigiri-e art, calligraphy, anime, tea ceremony, kimonos, flower arrangement, sushi making (and eating!), Japanese music and theater, and so much more! It's four full days of almost everything Japanese I've wanted to experience and try, so I'm hoping this will be a cool introduction to the culture before I go to Tokyo (and also that it's not too much fun so that it's spoiled for when I get finally there!).

Anyway, here's a few "fun facts" I learned this first week:
*The number 4 and the number 9 are the unlucky numbers (like 13 is to us). The reasons? The word for 4 can also mean dying, and the word for 9 can also mean suffering. Don't stay on either of those floors in a hotel!
*My name pronounced in a Japanese accent is cherushi raian. Ha!
*Santa Barbara City College is pronounced Santa Barbara Shitti College. Hehe.

We'll see how much I can actually keep stored in my long-term memory to bring with me to Japan, but I know even this little bit is going to make my transition so much smoother! I'm getting more excited now than ever!

A Quick Note

So I just found out during my stay in Japan, Sophia University hosts an annual music festival (student music groups) and a dance festival (student dance groups)! And I can join any one of 250 extracurricular activity groups, including filmmaking, Ikebana (Japanese art of flower arranging), modern dance, skiing, scuba diving, and travel groups, as well as a ton of volunteer opportunities! Okay, only I would get this excited over this...
Events & Organizations

One Step Closer

So, it's official now! I signed my contract to "accept" my acceptance into the program, and with $2000 down (eeek), I'm definitely going abroad! I think I've finally passed the extreme anxiety stage I've had about the trip for the last couple months, and now the excitement is resurfacing once again.

I also just finished writing a letter to my home stay family (whoever they may be...I don't find out anything about my living situation until I land in Japan) about my personality, lifestyle, family and friends, as well as what I hope to gain from the experience. It got me all excited, but this was definitely a difficult task, to explain myself sufficiently in one page, worrying not only how my personality could be interpreted on paper, but also how it would be once translated into Japanese for my family to read of course. It's really important that I be extremely honest about who I am so that I will be matched up with the perfect family for me, but it's difficult to reexamine who you are and portray exactly who you think you are in words. I'm sure I did a good enough job though, and this really got me out of the nervous slump I was in and made me realize I really am one step closer to this experience. It really just hit me that I've now reached out to my family in Japan, that they are a tangible entity and not just a dream, and that I will be meeting them and living with them very soon! Japan is real and all my daydreaming will be coming true before I know it! I almost don't want to count down the months...I'll get all nervous again!