-= English Below =-

３月８日２０１１年　　火曜日

私の日本語のクラスでは先生が学生に日記を書かせる。 でも、二週間に四つだけが先生に提出する。私はこのブログがあるからこのブログで書いて私の４最高のエントリーを選択するのが先生に提出する。だから、間違えば修正するおねがいしゅます！

でも、今、ことを書くがなちゃった。今日は日本語を勉強したりしごとで働いたりビデオゲームをしたりした。ちょっと楽しくない。。。

またね！

So I’ve had my first week of university – and it’s good to be back.

First thing i’d like to mention is my Japanese classes.  I was awesome enough to miss my first class on Monday – i got my times mized up… *facepalm* However, I managed to turn up for the second class.  It was scheduled to be a 2 hour class, but when I turned up the teacher (who didn’t actually tell us her name) handed out a test and told us to complete the test, then have a 1-on-1 consult with her, where she would mark our tests and give comments, then we could leave.  I had no idea we had a test! ARGH! However, i’m sure its safe to assume that I would have known had I turned up to class on Monday…

Anyway, I looked at the test.  First page: Translations.  I looked at the 5 phrases I needed to translate and immediately felt like an idiot.  I translated a grand total of 1 out of 5 phrases.  Not at all off to a good start. It was quite simply due to the fact that there were kanji in these sentences that i’d never even seen before – Ever.

Second page was grammar. No problems with that.

Also on second page, a thank you letter to a friend in Japan who sent me a Christmas present. No problems again (apart from an embarassing katakana error… guh… so out of practice).

So I’ve finally created a Facebook page for Road to Japan.  If you guys are frequent visitors or just want to keep up-to-date with what’s going on with me and this page, then go ahead and like the Road to Japan Facebook page!

You can do so by clicking the following button:

I’ll be looking to add extra content there, you know, spontaneous photos and updates, things that i don’t feel like sitting down and publishing an entire blog post for.  So it might be worth your while!

Ciao for Now!

I’ve had one hell of a time with my Sony Playstation 3 ever since I got back from Japan – the damn thing kept breaking down!

I remember my first day playing my PS3 since I returned from Japan, I was sitting down, playing me some Final Fantasy XIII.  I then decided to call it a night, saved my game and switched off the PS3 and went to bed.  The next morning I thought i’d play again but my PS3 wouldn’t read ANY discs!  I tried DVD’s, Blu-Rays, other games.  Nothing.  So i called up Sony and asked what they could do to repair it.  They told me that I was able to send the console back to them and either have them repair it (which would take 4 weeks), or replace it with a remanufactured console (2 weeks).  I opted for the replacement since it meant i’d have a console back with me quicker.  Oh, and since the warranty ran out, they were gonna charge me $250, which would come with 3 months warranty on the replaced console.

I sent my console away, a couple days later I received an email saying that Sony has my console, a week later I was told it was being sent to me, and I received my remanufactured console in a couple weeks.  About a month after I had received it, the console started overheating.  I could play a game but at any moment it would just shut off and 2 red lights would flash.  And apparently that meant it was overheating.  But, the odd thing was that I could switch off my PS3 for an entire day, then sit down and play it only to have it overheat within 5-10 minutes!

I got onto Sony again and they said for me to send it in again and that they would replace the console again – free this time as it was covered under the warranty that i received when i paid my $250.

In my last post i mentioned that I was going for my “Japanese Placement Interview”.  The word “Interview” was the word used by Dr. Nagata and so i prepared myself for an interview.  I went through some listening excercises, went over some grammar and vocab…. I didn’t bother with too much kanji practice as I figured speaking would be the primary focus in this interview. I’m already pretty confident with my pronunciation.  And generally, with vocab and grammar fresh in my mind i’m generally pretty ok at speaking, i mean, i’m sure to the Japanese I probably speak like a 5 year old child – a 5 year old JAPANESE child! And so i’m happy enough with that for the time being.

I was set, I was pumped, I was only a wee bit nervous, and really, most importantly, I was open to whatever result I would receive.  So I turned up, there were a few people in the room and so I immediately thought that this must be like a group interview thing.  I didn’t know if I should wait before going in or what, and there were some people sitting down outside so I took a seat and waited for a bit.  I also had a bit of a chat with the people outside, they were also there for either the interview or just to gather some information.  One girl had already lived in Japan for a year, and one of the guys was fresh out of highschool and had never studied Japanese before.

I walked in and told one of the Japanese professors that I was there for the interview to which she replied (in her Obaachan-like Japanese accent): “Oh, you’re here for the test!” then she hands me 2 bits of paper and tells me to sit down and get started (politely of course).

This wednesday i’ll be journeying to the University of Queensland campus at St. Lucia to attend a Japanese placement interview.  I requested (and… actually I’ve been approved for) Japanese 3 – which is essentially the beginning of the 3rd year of Japanese language studies at UQ.  That’s all really meaningless to me and I suppose the studies I have taken part in are meaningless to the Japanese language faculty which is why I’m attending this interview to figure out if this really is the right level for me.

I haven’t really studied or prepared for it yet.  I did a bit of study over the December-January New Zealand trip but, oddly enough, I haven’t found time to study now – although, that has to be an excuse because I reckon there was time for it.

Whenever I do study Japanese I surprise myself with what I already know AND how quickly I relearn stuff that i’ve forgotten. I still kinda think Japanese 3 will be the right level though…  But i don’t really have my heart set on any particular level because essentially the numbers tacked on the end of the class are irrelevant – i’m more particular about being placed correctly in a way that I will be able to relearn and review a bunch of the stuff I’ve already covered as well as push on and learn more.

First of all Dreamworld have cinemas.  They do.  You didn’t know that? No you didn’t.  If you did… You probably work here or know someone who does.

Last week Dreamworld gave out a bunch of free tickets to see The Green Hornet in 3D last night.  A couple guys in the IT department and I knabbed some tickets and went along last night to check it out.

The Green Hornet is the second Seth Rogen movie that I’ve seen ads for and thought to myself “Wow… that looks shit.”, the other movie being Pineapple Express.  However, as with Pineapple Express, I immensely enjoyed The Green Hornet! It was seriously funny, and I loved Seth Rogen’s support, Jay Chou.  I expected Jay Chou to act as Seth Rogens comedic springboard however I really felt that the two of them really split the comedy 50-50.

If this place exists, I need to check in.  I believe I have a problem with impulse buying plane tickets when I don’t have the money to do so.

Example #1: My friends and I had the idea to travel to New Zealand last December.  So I saved up my money.  A month or two later I had enough for the whole trip! Yay! So what did I do now that I had the money? I bought a return flight to New York. Blast! Wrong “New [location]“! Then I had to scrounge up money for New York AND start from scratch for the New Zealand trip.  Not smart – but I did it (to some extent… we were homeless for a few nights in New Zealand)

Example #2: The flight to Japan that I just booked for April.  I had the money to do it – awesome, but… That money wasn’t exactly meant for Japan… I was meant to use that money to fix and register my car (currently running on 3 wheels – badly, as you would imagine). Now I’m STILL without a car and relying on everyone else to drive me around! But I have a flight to Osaka booked =) <– see that smiley face? That’s Example #3.  I shouldn’t be smiling.  But I am… … … =) (#4)

Priority issue? Maybe…