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.