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I had such a lovely time at the onsen and was so relaxed afterwards that I apparently forgot to set my alarms properly last night; this morning, I woke up at 8:10, the time I should have been leaving for work. Fortunately, I spent such a long time soaking yesterday that I could skip my usual morning shower and managed to be out the door by 8:30. Even though I was twenty minutes late to work, the only people who'd arrived before me were the director and two of the kids. Seems that something was wrong with the Chuo line at Nishi-Ogikubo, which made all of Tokyo (or at least my part of it) late.
This was something I'd heard of as being common in Japan, but it had never before happened to me (mainly because I stocked up on this stuff at Costco before leaving Canada, so have only bought some here a couple of times): when I was paying for my purchases at the drugstore, the clerk wrapped my panty liners in a brown paper bag before putting them in the bag along with the shampoo and the paper towels. Because heaven forbid someone should get a glimpse of them through the plastic and be confronted with the fact that I'm a woman with a reproductive system. XD
Today, I received the test vouchers for both the actual 日本語能力試験 and the "New Practice Test". I'd forgotten that I'd sent a picture along with my application, so was momentarily surprised to see a small black and white me staring up from the card.
The practice test will be good practice (obviously), and will no doubt precipitate a flurry of last-minute cramming for the actual test. Would that I'd kept up my self-study since coming to Japan, but I've been quite the slacker; reading manga and doujinshi doesn't really count for much.
To motivate myself, I've decided to get an electronic dictionary for Christmas. Because buying stuff is the solution to all problems!
In an effort to Be The Person I Want To Become, it's time for some end-of-year resolutions. Small though they be, it's a start, right? The greatest journey begins with a single step, and all that.
To be done by the close of the year:
- complete NaNoWriMo, though it may quite possibly kill me. I'm too ashamed to admit how low my wordcount is at the moment;
- mend my clothes that need mending, sew on buttons, etc.;
- mail cards and packages to friends and family;
- clean up my pictures of France, Taiwan and Hokkaido and at least get them to interested parties, though I would like to post on Travelpod;
- write up all my book, movie and tv reviews (at this point, a repeat of last year's daily review is the only feasible option);
- sew myself a jacket;
- find some decent work pants;
- stop being lazy and start walking to work at least 4 times a week again;
- start doing ballet in my kitchen.
* * *
This was something I'd heard of as being common in Japan, but it had never before happened to me (mainly because I stocked up on this stuff at Costco before leaving Canada, so have only bought some here a couple of times): when I was paying for my purchases at the drugstore, the clerk wrapped my panty liners in a brown paper bag before putting them in the bag along with the shampoo and the paper towels. Because heaven forbid someone should get a glimpse of them through the plastic and be confronted with the fact that I'm a woman with a reproductive system. XD
* * *
Today, I received the test vouchers for both the actual 日本語能力試験 and the "New Practice Test". I'd forgotten that I'd sent a picture along with my application, so was momentarily surprised to see a small black and white me staring up from the card.
The practice test will be good practice (obviously), and will no doubt precipitate a flurry of last-minute cramming for the actual test. Would that I'd kept up my self-study since coming to Japan, but I've been quite the slacker; reading manga and doujinshi doesn't really count for much.
To motivate myself, I've decided to get an electronic dictionary for Christmas. Because buying stuff is the solution to all problems!
* * *
In an effort to Be The Person I Want To Become, it's time for some end-of-year resolutions. Small though they be, it's a start, right? The greatest journey begins with a single step, and all that.
To be done by the close of the year:
- complete NaNoWriMo, though it may quite possibly kill me. I'm too ashamed to admit how low my wordcount is at the moment;
- mend my clothes that need mending, sew on buttons, etc.;
- mail cards and packages to friends and family;
- clean up my pictures of France, Taiwan and Hokkaido and at least get them to interested parties, though I would like to post on Travelpod;
- write up all my book, movie and tv reviews (at this point, a repeat of last year's daily review is the only feasible option);
- sew myself a jacket;
- find some decent work pants;
- stop being lazy and start walking to work at least 4 times a week again;
- start doing ballet in my kitchen.
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Last year everyone had to go to Chiba for the test. This year they have a test centre in Mito...WIN!!! But my application was really late so I didn't get asked about the practice test. What level are you taking? I'm taking level 4, suspect I may fail spectacularly!
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I'm doing level 3 -- though according to their guidelines, with the number of actual hours of study, I should really be doing level 2. However, most of that study was done back before I came to Japan, and I've been lazy since then and haven't kept up my kanji. Hence the cramming. :P
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Sorry this reply came through to my spam...weird, so I only just saw it.
You should see my apartment I have vocab cards stuck everywhere and grammar tables went up this week!
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