Secondary Language Learning Sympathy (Tuesday, April 12th)

One thing that's great about this accelerated language learning, is it's giving me perspective and tips that will surely help me when I begin to teach English in Japan.  It's a very dis-empowering feeling to be unable to understand basic instructions, and the sensation of foolishness that goes with it (and don't get me wrong, I am used to behaving like a fool, but just not this time of foolishness) is definitely a challenge. Again, everyone is very patient with me... though they still keep pushing forward!  

Slack-jawed and Open-mouthed (Monday, April 11th )

It's my first full week, and I soon realized upon starting the vocabulary review test this morning that it is expected that we write out the vocabulary words in hiragana right from the get-go.  

Over the weekend, I got pretty good at recognizing what each character meant... but it takes me a long time to do so, and I certainly can't write them worth a damn yet.  Needless to say, I wasn't able to come up with much, but the sensei reassured me that we'd do the same quiz tomorrow... as well as a grammar test.  After that, according to the schedule it looks like it will be at least one new vocab test per day for the rest of the week... hoo boy!

I somehow muddled my way through the day, and while I must reaffirm my view that the instruction and classes are extremely well done, I end up embarrassing myself with constant wrong answers and inappropriate silences and slacked-jawed, open-mouthed looks of confusion 90% of the time.  Still, the sensei are very patient and I know that immersion is the best way to learn, so I'm all for it.  Here's a shot of my schedule for the week!  Now if only I could read it!!  I didn't manage to flip the photo the right way, so you'll just have to look at it sideways.

Recycling (Sunday, April 10th)

More studying.  I'm including another shot of my residence to give you some idea of the exciting life I'm leading here.  As seen in the photo, you must take off your shoes at the door and put on slippers, for anyone not in the know.  

I can't get over how amazingly well people follow the rules here.  I have seen several occasions where a pedestrian will stand waiting for the light to change red for the oncoming traffic before crossing an empty street.  Even when there's no car in sight, people don't jaywalk.  

The city is so well maintained, and talk about an amazing recycling program!  At our orientation, the guy spent 20 minutes telling us about how to recycle, since there's good dozen different bins for you to sort trash into depending on the type.  Everything gets recycled, and even though it takes time to do it properly, the locals all follow the complicated instructions (such as washing empty toothpaste containers, and cutting off the ends before putting them into the right bin).  Failure to comply results in an individual's particular part of the city getting less frequent trash/recycling pick-up as a punishment, and the disapproval of one's neighbours since it usually becomes clear who slipped up.  

Consequently, there is a strong motivation to recycle properly.  Unsurprisingly, the community takes a dim view on foreign students who aren't as motivated to get the recycling sorted properly, and I can't say I blame them.  We talk about how great BC's recycling is compared to what we witness down in the US, but we've got nothing on Japan!  Sure, I know it's more of a necessity here given the huge population, but it's still impressive. 

Index Cards (Saturday, April 9th)

I spent today primarily studying and getting set up for the week.  Fortunately, there's a huge "Daiso" dollar store close to where I am living, where I picked up some blank flash cards.  I plan to write all the hiragana and katakana characters on them to help me review and quickly learn them.  There they are in the picture below, waiting to be filled out...

My study area.  I've got a phone and a remote control for the funky looking air conditioner on the wall.

The grocery stores have really good produce (though it's expensive), and their bento "box" lunches are good.  I haven't been preparing many lunches to pack with me yet for while I'm at school.  It seems that a huge number of students aren't doing so either, as at noon, students from all the various programs converge and scramble to get the best bento boxes as soon as they are put out.  I can see though, that despite the good selection, it will be easy to get sick of them soon!  

First Full Day of Classes (Friday, April 8th)

My first real day of classes, and boy did I get my ass handed to me!  When I signed up months ago for a program here at Yamasa, I went for what was recommended as the "fastest way to gain language proficiency in a short period of time," the ACCP or acceleration program.  Boy they weren't kidding about the fast pace.  We have six fifty minute classes a day (9:00 - 3:30), five days a week, and they are packed with content. 

I am very impressed with the teachers.  They are patient, friendly, know what they're doing pedagogically, and use a variety of learning techniques.  I must say, we cover more content in a fifty minute class than I've ever experienced in any other form of academic course I've taken (and I've taken quite a few). I definitely feel I'm going to get my money's worth.  Whether or not I will be able to survive it is more the question.

Also, given the fact that there's only two of us in the class, I am going to get a huge amount of personalized instruction.  The acceleration program is more expensive than other Yamasa offerings, due to the generally lower class sizes (they promise no more than 8 students per intake), but I think due to the earthquake and people's fears in traveling to Japan at this time, coupled with it not being a "peak" season, the numbers are even lower than usual.  Much better value though, for me! 

It does mean that I am going to have to study like crazy, beginning now!  There's a large focus on conversation, but grammar, reading and writing is also included, so I am going to try and memorize as many hiragana and katakana characters as I can this weekend.  No going to the Hanami festival to see the cherry trees tomorrow for me!

First Class (Thursday, April 7th)

Today brought my first meeting in my primary classroom in the Aoi building for my program.  There's only two of us in the class!  Talk about small student to teacher ratios.  The other student is Chinese, and seems to have a pretty decent grasp of Japanese already, but she explained that she was weak in the "conversation" area as shown on her placement test (they didn't make me write one since I am so obviously starting from scratch), so she was placed with me in the absolute beginner class.  It seems a shame that so much of the early days will be rehash for her, but they seem to know what they are doing around here, so I'm thinking she's in the right class.

My dorm room has a heater/air conditioner mounted on the wall.

The school seems very well organized; most of the difficulties for me have been as a result of my not understanding Japanese.  A very nice Portuguese member of the support staff is the only one who seems to speak any English in the main office, and I met him yesterday at the orientation.  He very kindly takes it upon himself to help me out whenever he happens to run into me around campus, the past few days; however, most of the time (such as today), the end result isn't so helpful due to the fact that he has only been working at Yamasa for three days, and that his English is pretty minimal.  At first he tried to tell me that the 1:00 appointment written down for me on a paper during yesterday's orientation by a non-English speaking staff member wasn't correct.  I had my suspicions though, and thankfully showed up for the meeting in my classroom on time; he had the best intentions though!

Orientation (Wednesday, April 6th)

I had an orientation session in the afternoon at the school campus, which is about a fifteen minute walk through Okazaki streets from the residence.  I tried to get myself as sorted out as I could, in terms of getting some groceries, and needed supplies, etc., but of course found language to be a barrier.  I'm hoping that will change over the course of the three months I'm here, of course.  

The orientation session was a bit on the not-so useful side.  It was in English, but the twenty or so people who were there for it were from a variety of different programs, backgrounds and nationalities, and no-one seemed to be in my program (ACCP) as far as I could see.  Much of the information involved student visas and things that didn't apply to my situation, but it was helpful to get a tour of the campus.  Apparently, tomorrow, all the new students will participate in a short ceremony involving planting trees. 

Looking out my residence window.  I paid extra for the parking lot view.

On Saturday, there's some kind of Yamasa organized optional outing to see the cherry blossom "Hanami" festival.  Darned if I don't just think that might be worth checking out!