Nihongo

Japanese is difficult! I'm glad I'm working from a textbook, otherwise it would be hard to see the actual progress I'm making. It's so slow. I want the whole language! I want to say anything! I want to understand everything I hear! Sometimes, I feel like I'm not moving at all, just flipping through my text and emptily listening to the people around me. That's the most frustrating thing, that I can't understand everyone. Sometimes, I want to scream "SLOW DOWN!! One sentence at a time, dude!" Every morning, my homeroom teacher reads the announcements, and every morning, I almost understand them. But not enough. Never enough.

Nakai Sensei told me some frustrating news today. He said that I shouldn't expect to go home fluent and that I should focus on being able to make myself understood and to learn the rhythm of Japanese. He said it'll be much easier to learn the language when I go home if I have the rhythm down. He also said that I'm learning much faster than most exchange students he deals with (he has one every few years for twenty years, maybe), my pronunciation is great, and that if I keep up my work I will go home with a working knowledge of Japanese. He also says that these next few months will probably the most difficult, especially linguistically and that I shouldn't get frustrated. Only they talk and talk and I catch glimpses of phrases I know, but I can't understand. Every successful conversation is something I take pride in, and I usually have a few a day, but I want MORE! Every book promises that it's can teach me the language in a few short weeks, but it's been two months. I know, I didn't expect to be fluent in two months and it's ridiculous to be disappointed that I'm not, but it's getting old.

My next family knows no English, I hear. Good. And I'm going to make Nakai Sensei talk to me more in Japanese. And I'm going to study more.

Today, despite the negativity emanating from this post, was fairly good. Kendo was a little slow but that'll change when I get my gear. Oh, we're going to a tournament somewhere maybe west of here. I can't participate, but it's an overnight trip and I'm invited. I get to stand on the sides and scream "FIGHTO! FIGHTO!! NICE-O FIGHTO!!" I absolutely love that. I think it's one of the funniest things ever. I didn't know what they were saying the first time I heard it and when I finally figured it out, I cracked up. It's a fairly common cheer here. Even the kendo no Sensei screams it somethimes.

And my host ma's mother came over today to celebrate her 58th birthday. That was fun. She said she's really impressed with my Japanese. I tried denying it, but she pointed out that the last time she came, I could barely speak to her and now I can keep up in conversations and make myself understood fairly easily, and it's only been a month. I said I wasn't good enough yet. I hate denying compliments. I wanted to run into her arms and tell her that really made me feel good. In the end, I smiled and thanked her. How American am I allowed/supposed to be? Zen zen? A little? A lot? I don't know.

Tomorrow (Friday) is a holiday, but I have kendo practice for a few hours. Afterwards, I'm either going to try to do something with my friends or go searching for a camera card reader and a notebook. Saturday is kendo and Obaasan's house and my phone home day (hurray!). Sunday I meet my next family. Yikes. I hope they're nice. But I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun and I've already met the father. Oh yeah, and I'm meeting them at the dog party they're throwing. I asked my host parents what happens at a dog party and they laughed and said they had no idea. How amazing is that? They're throwing a party for/in honor of their dogs. They can't be too terrible.