First Day of (Real) Class (Orientation)

For those of you just tuning in, my name is Jeff Wilson, and I am in Japan.

I am also terrified of a woman whose name means “sugar.”

Today we had our first real class session, which was yet another orientation. On Thursdays (because the schedule varies each day), Japanese class starts at 10:05 AM. First up is Enomoto Sensei, who is the most loveable, goofy Japanese professor in the history of loveable, goofy Japanese professors (of course, Meguro Sensei, my Dickinson College professor, still retains top honors in the overall Japanese Professor category). He’s energetic, excited, and the perfect replacement for a cup of coffee (or in my case, heavily caffeinated tea) in the morning. He bumped into a desk–twice. He’s in charge of our Reading Practice section, which is from 10:05 to 10:50 each morning. He’s also the only male professor in the Japanese language faculty, which might explain some of his behavior.

Then we have a short break until 11:05, when Tsuda Sensei arrives for our Writing Practice, which runs until 11:50 and includes Kanji writing practice (those 2,000-some-odd characters the Japanese borrowed from the Chinese). Already, we have a couple of homework worksheets coming down the line, and all on the convenient, newspaper-sized sheets I believe I mentioned in the first post. Awesome. At least they fold in half to form a normal-size four page booklet. Already I can tell I’m going to need more folders. We have to keep a journal for Writing practice as well. Do Japanese blog entries count? I wonder… We had a practice kanji quiz, and there were a couple I forgot–I’m such a bad ryuugakusei (international student). Tsuda Sensei is definitely quieter than Enomoto Sensei, and allows a kind of settling in after the sugar rush of the first session.

Finally, after another short break, Satou Sensei arrives at 11:50 (no rest for the weary) and we have speaking practice. And by speaking practice, I mean that tomorrow I have to have a 4-minute, one-on-one interview with Satou Sensei (Satou is the Japanese word for “sugar,” and I’m sure it means one or two other things as well, which are probably the actual meaning of her name). Yikes! Right off the bat, I’m going to have to talk for four minutes with a woman I only met today in a manner that will likely be graded. Serious buckling down will ensue. On the plus side, she is sunny and gentle, although not as crazy as Enomoto Sensei, though she seems to be a bit more lively than Tsuda Sensei. Also working in Satou Sensei’s favor are the vocabulary quizzes, which won’t be any trouble so long as I’ve memorized the lesson’s vocabulary. It was probably the only thing today that didn’t make me think “Wow…that’s a lot.”

So there you have it. Overall, however, I can’t complain. None of the teachers seem overbearing or overly strict, but they expect a lot. After all, this is Intensive Japanese 400, and I placed myself here on both tests. Did I mention the second test? Yeah, it was after the “Placement Test,” and it was designed to “make sure we’re in the right level.” Great for those that want another shot because they think they whiffed on the Placement Test, bad for anyone who placed up a level and then celebrated too hard, because if you fail the second test you drop a level. Ah well, everyone that got into 400 the first time appears to have made it the second time as well. Yokatta (good).

I think that about does it for now. Two posts in one day–huzzah. Now it’s time to head back home and study study study–already I’ve got homework and a quiz tomorrow! Leave a comment or a question and I’ll reply as soon as I can! Tomorrow, I get to hook my computer into the network at Nanzan–with any luck, that means I’ll have an easier time updating this regularly, and updating with pictures will definitely be easier.

Mata, ne!

Jeff