My roommate likes to use the word 'sassy' (although it might be a local thing - I've heard a few other people say it as well), and recently it's become my new favorite word. I sass people. It's lovely.
What was decidedly not lovely was my week, but I spent a good hour after work finishing off both my sushi and my absolute favorite book for the third time (the book, not the sushi). It might be a good thing that the library isn't open tomorrow; I'm already deciding on my next book and I have a lot of homework.
On the bright side, I am now an official cashier at my job.
However, I doubt they want me to fill that position again anytime soon.
Oh well. At least I have my ESL students!
I've been looking into next semester's classes, but I can't make very many solid decisions as I am waiting for information from several people involving my graduation. I'm not sure if I should graduate as early as possible and go home, which is extremely appealing right now as homesickness sets in with a vengeance.
I do love my Linguistics classes (much more than Japanese, I might add - my next level Japanese class conflicts with a class on second languages, which is SILLY) and taking Hawaiian, and my job as an English tutor, even if I can't explain things very well.
I've also starting diagramming and categorizing my sentences as I write them, which is annoying but helpful. I also correct people. That's more annoying.
And all of this must be decided on the Monday I come back from Oahu for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure who decided on that schedule, but I don't like them very much.
I AM ready for Thanksgiving, though. It's one of my favorite holidays... and I can start playing Christmas music. (Why does no one make Thanksgiving music? I would listen to it for all of November!)
A hui hou!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
On language
Well, it's been nearly a month (!!) since I got back from Japan, and I haven't mentioned it at all, so I figured I could start now. :)
I've been noticing that I am mixing up Hawaiian and Japanese (I get sentences like 'ke poho ga aru?') in inopportune moments. Luckily, it hasn't mucked up my testing yet, but trying to think fast in conversations is a bit more strained. Japanese is more natural for me, but Hawaiian is a more intense class... and it's also more fun. I really like my classmates.
Anyway, back to Nanzan. The main purpose of the GP program that did the exchange was to have Nanzan students do a joint research project with Hawaii students, but conduct everything in English! My buddies Miki and Eri were both into food, so that was our research topic, and in Nanzan we gave our presentation that we have been working on since about July, so that was pretty huge.
Not a lot of people were in the audience, BUT there was a television cameraman, which was rather intimidating. We went first and were relaxing during the other 4 presentations when Aya (the wonderful woman in charge) asked me if I would mind doing an interview with the cameraman.
In Japanese.
I managed two complete sentences in hopefully not terribly impolite Japanese on camera, on jet lag, and without falling over!
It was an achievement!
The language in general was interesting, since I don't get a lot of opportunities to talk outside of class. Having taught myself a lot of my Japanese, I love casual speech, slang, dialects, etc., so after visiting with Nagoya and hanging out with a lot of other girls my own age, speaking very casually, it's harder for me to switch back into the formal setting of our classroom. (For those who don't know, Japanese has two distinct styles of speaking - polite and casual. There's about a bazillion other levels of formality, but I like to think of them as two.) As if the class wasn't hard enough already...
Aside from that, my interactions with all the Nanzan ESL students has made me a lot more excited for my ESL tutoring job!
But I have just realized that having two jobs could be why my classes have seemed a lot harder. That and being gone for a week, being sick for a week, deciding not to study because it was my birthday...
Speaking of birthday, it was fun. We went to Black and White Night, a festival-type thing downtown, and got Thai food and drank... tea. I am 21 now, but I like tea. :) And there were a lot of cupcakes, so I was happy.
I've been noticing that I haven't been taking very many pictures in Hilo at all. I take a lot of food pictures, though.
Okay, that's all I have... until I think of something else that's interesting to blog about. Now back to trying to figure out next semester's classes... it shouldn't be this hard, there aren't that many to choose from anymore.
A hui hou!
I've been noticing that I am mixing up Hawaiian and Japanese (I get sentences like 'ke poho ga aru?') in inopportune moments. Luckily, it hasn't mucked up my testing yet, but trying to think fast in conversations is a bit more strained. Japanese is more natural for me, but Hawaiian is a more intense class... and it's also more fun. I really like my classmates.
Anyway, back to Nanzan. The main purpose of the GP program that did the exchange was to have Nanzan students do a joint research project with Hawaii students, but conduct everything in English! My buddies Miki and Eri were both into food, so that was our research topic, and in Nanzan we gave our presentation that we have been working on since about July, so that was pretty huge.
Not a lot of people were in the audience, BUT there was a television cameraman, which was rather intimidating. We went first and were relaxing during the other 4 presentations when Aya (the wonderful woman in charge) asked me if I would mind doing an interview with the cameraman.
In Japanese.
I managed two complete sentences in hopefully not terribly impolite Japanese on camera, on jet lag, and without falling over!
It was an achievement!
The language in general was interesting, since I don't get a lot of opportunities to talk outside of class. Having taught myself a lot of my Japanese, I love casual speech, slang, dialects, etc., so after visiting with Nagoya and hanging out with a lot of other girls my own age, speaking very casually, it's harder for me to switch back into the formal setting of our classroom. (For those who don't know, Japanese has two distinct styles of speaking - polite and casual. There's about a bazillion other levels of formality, but I like to think of them as two.) As if the class wasn't hard enough already...
Aside from that, my interactions with all the Nanzan ESL students has made me a lot more excited for my ESL tutoring job!
But I have just realized that having two jobs could be why my classes have seemed a lot harder. That and being gone for a week, being sick for a week, deciding not to study because it was my birthday...
Speaking of birthday, it was fun. We went to Black and White Night, a festival-type thing downtown, and got Thai food and drank... tea. I am 21 now, but I like tea. :) And there were a lot of cupcakes, so I was happy.
I've been noticing that I haven't been taking very many pictures in Hilo at all. I take a lot of food pictures, though.
Okay, that's all I have... until I think of something else that's interesting to blog about. Now back to trying to figure out next semester's classes... it shouldn't be this hard, there aren't that many to choose from anymore.
A hui hou!
Friday, November 4, 2011
November
I had a blog post typed out and ready to go, and then the thunder started, the lights flickered, and I decided to back away from any and all outlets.
I do NOT do well with thunder.
Of course it has also poured, which is nice when one has tea and cookies but not so great when walking to classes, work, etc.
But I did make soup out of my leftover pumpkin from Halloween! I turned out well enough, with some nice fresh bread to go with it... that burned my hand taking it out of the oven.
So now I can barely move my right hand, and I doubt there will be much homework finished. (I am alsotyping with one hand. Badly.)
Oh well. It was good soup.
Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow? :) Because it is.
I do NOT do well with thunder.
Of course it has also poured, which is nice when one has tea and cookies but not so great when walking to classes, work, etc.
But I did make soup out of my leftover pumpkin from Halloween! I turned out well enough, with some nice fresh bread to go with it... that burned my hand taking it out of the oven.
So now I can barely move my right hand, and I doubt there will be much homework finished. (I am alsotyping with one hand. Badly.)
Oh well. It was good soup.
Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow? :) Because it is.
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