The Studies Continue...

      Well, this is going to be a short entry, since I have actually been pretty busy with my studies.  The first week has come and gone, and I apparently did well on my test.  On the written test, I only got an 85.  I should really read the questions more carefully, since there were pitfalls engineered into the test and I fell into every single one of them.  On the speaking test, I thought I did absolutely horrible.  I felt like I was forcing the grammar points we were being graded on (well, I was forcing it) and I stumbled more times than I cared to admit.  Coupled with the fact that I was being recorded the entire time, the entire affair seemed like a train wreck.  Somehow or another, though, I managed to pull a 94 on the speaking test.  I wonder if maybe my sheet got mixed up with someone else, though, because speaking is my weakest ability, and after spending a week in Japan I have become aware with exactly how much I don't know about Japanese.  Seriously, I can't even order food at a restaurant without stumbling, yet somehow I am "intermediate".

This graveyard is actually right down the road from our villa

  
  Anyways, yesterday we went to the Aeon Mall to buy yukata for the summer festival this weekend.  I would have loved to post pictures, but that will have to wait until the actual festival since you cannot take photographs inside of Japanese stores (or museums).  Tomorrow we take the Shinkansen to Tokyo, kicking off the weekend, and it looks like beautiful weather in Tokyo all weekend.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to go to the Ghibli Museum, since apparently I did not actually complete the purchase for tickets while in the US, and right now tickets are completely sold out every day until September.  It probably has something to do with summer vacation -- next week we will no longer see junior high or high school students in sailor outfits everywhere we go as everyone will be on their one-month vacation.

   It was my birthday today, however here in Japan that day is coming to a close (although in Virginia it is still the 26th for another 14 hours).  Kenneth made some spaghetti with home-made meat sauce (it was extremely delicious), I received a jigsaw puzzle from 耳をすませば (Whisper of the Heart) from Erica, and our esteemed 先生 (teachers) gave me a 500円　gift card that I can use at several different places around Okazaki (truth be told, it'll probably get used at the Daiso, which is the 100円 store near our villa).  I know it is late, but I'd like to wish a happy birthday to James as well (hus birthday was on the 22nd).  お誕生日おめでとう！

 That is all for tonight, be looking for my posts from Tokyo!

じゃまたねぇ・・・