6.29.2010

誕生日おめでとう

Last year my birthday was my first day of Japanese class at Soko Gakuen.* I was in Beginning 3.

This year, my birthday was the day of LA's pre-departure orientation for departing JETs. I got to dress up,


and eat a fancy lunch with people from my region in Japan (including two going to Niigata Prefecture).


Sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm moving forward at all in life, but sometimes I'm surprised by how far I've come. 25 days till Japan.

*I highly recommend Soko Gakuen for anyone wanting to learn Japanese in San Francisco! The books they use (Basic Functional Japanese and Situational Functional Japanese) are a little ridiculous, but the class sizes are quite small (7-12 people) and the teachers are great. They're quite reasonably priced, and not nearly as overwhelming as the 5-unit classes at CCSF and SFSU, for people who want to learn but aren't able to devote their ENTIRE LIFE to studying.

6.14.2010

Whenever I get a card from someone I haven't spoken with in a while, I can usually tell before I open it if my parents have already told them I'm going to Japan.


My aunt makes beautiful cards like this one by hand. I think I'm going to use the crane ribbon as a bookmark.


The package also included some stationery to keep in touch. First assignment: write to my dad to get him to stop laughing at my aunt.

Japan is becoming more and more real every day. I just received a welcome letter from the Joetsu Board of Education--including me, there are 8 new ALTs coming to the city this year and they haven't figured out our specific assignments yet, but they said it should come in the next week or so. Pre-departure orientation is in two weeks (on my birthday!), and I'll be putting in my two weeks' notice at work soon after that. I'm buying clothes for school and starting to think about packing. Everything is coming together.