Currently concurrent currents with blackcurrant curry

Tongue twister of the day. Hehe I made it up.

Anywho-way, here I am after more-than-a-half-year's absence. And yes I have a reason, although I'm not sure if it's valid. This here's a gist of what I did...

• March - Where I last left off, I was on my way out of my previous job. March 28 was my last day at the office and that day I had 2 parties: from my project team and with my friends. I had to make a speech in Nihongo and all I managed to say was "Osewa ni narimashita~" which means, "Thanks for everything~". And then I left. Now you might ask why I stopped posting after this... well all of these posts were done during officehours, which is why since I'm not in any office no more, obviously the posting stopped. Silly you.
  
• April - The adventure begins; the first week was hectic for there were lots to do: passports, clearances, permits, miscellaneous paperworks, and shopping. Lots of shopping. Not that I spent anything, my family bought it all for me... aww. And by week 2, my Jap classes began and thus I was away all day and back home with lots more to do, which were assignments, but mostly I was procrastinating...
  
• May - Still with the Jap classes and other paperworks. Tiring as it may be, they were all necessary. Opening bank accounts, getting stuff from college, submitting documents to the new job, and printing study guides. Not for me though, I need no guide to nothin'
  
• June - I think by this time me and my batchmates were getting the jibbers (is that a word? No? Well it is now). This was the month we got interviewed by Jap folks in Japanese! The month which held the deadline for the submission of documents, packing our suitcases, studying for the final exams (take note of the plural), and saying goodbyes. Did I mention June 26 was our flight sched?
  
• July - For now we'll skip the part about the flight, landing in Japan, first impressions, the gasps and the 'oohhhs' and 'aahhhs', the food, the apartments, and the quirky things which makes up 99.999% of Japan. That's for other posts (as it is, there are a lot of things for other posts... shucks I can feel the memories flooding in). July is the month of extreme excitement; the kind where you'll burst and still be able to laugh. It is also the month when Japan's summer began to sink in. Boy, those cicadas are quite the silence-killers.
  
• August - August is now. And now I'm busy. So I'll just continue next time.

That is all... is what I wanted to say, yet it is not. For I have to perform the acts of perilious blogging to record my adventures and to recap what had had happened during my more-than-a-half-year's absence. Do keep up with me for I am sure to grab hold of your interest, which I'm sure is very valuable and time consuming, but nevertheless quite interesting.

And thus I am rambling. So I'll cut this short: Ja ne~!

Osewa ni Narimashita~

I had my last Nihongo lesson today.

I won't be able to stay with my classmates after midterms because of the Intensive Nihongo class the Jap company will provide us. So I guess this is it~ *sniff*

I don't know if it's a coincidence, but that day we watched a video that was about saying goodbyes. It was a conversation between a foreigner and his Japanese friends, where they congratulated him for his transfer, and told him to never forget and that he's always welcome to come back.

Even though my class started only January, it feels as though everyone has been my long time friends. It's really hard to imagine that we won't be able to laugh together again, ask each other questions, and squeeze inside the cramped elevator just to buy snacks during break time.

Osewa ni narimashita minna... Thank you for everything you've done for me. Sayonara~

Level Up~!

My hard work paid off!

Yesterday, the results have finally arrived. I've passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test - Level 4! (1 is the highest and 4 is the lowest level)

I took the JLPT examinations last December 2, 2007 and have waited up till now for the results. Wow, it really took them a lot of time to actually send them out, must've been a lot of answer sheets to check.

The certificate itself was verrry ornate; Lots of wavy lines, designs, stamps and authorization seals, and there were even a couple of hidden kanjis as well. It's so beautiful and very official that I'm thinking if I should frame it.

Hmmm... maybe I should collect them all and line them up in a wall (woot for rhymes).

I plan to have it photocopied and submitted along with my other documents because I've heard that Japanese companies give a salary raise to people who have accomplishments in JLPT certifications. Which is why a Level 1 certificate is such a tangible victory, the rewards are so juicy~

I'll put up a copy of my certificate when I get the time to scan it at home. Yum yum, Level 3 here I come!

Long Saturday ~Part 2~

Okay, we left off when we finished our glorious lunch with my batchmates. Afterwhich, it was time for my Nihongo class. Well actually I still had an hour to burn, and since I wasn't able to attend a couple of my previous classes I decided to use that time to catch up on my Nihongo. Good thing Kubo~sensei was there to give me the handouts and the kanji lessons I've missed.

The class was really fun (and kinda difficult), so I feel kinda sad that I'll be leaving everyone soon. I announced to the class that I might not be able to be their classmate anymore by midterms. It was a bit surprising that they were all smiles and they were even excited for me when I told them about the Japan job. They gave a lot of tips and other things to watch out for in Japan, and sensei even shared on how to take a bath, Japanese style~ Who knew entering a bathtub required so much rituals?

All the Japan talk and the excitement that tagged along with it kinda gave me a craving for something Japanese. So I suggested to my friend (more about my friends in some other post) that we go and try to eat at a Japanese restaurant I visited with sensei and my classmates before. So after my class, we got out and decided to walk all the way there, which in turn brought us to a Japanese grocery store. It was a bit out of the way but everything were just for $1.50 each, so we went inside and gawked at the weirdo items stocked on the shelves. It was kinda hard to pick between the black chunky stuff and a brown wobbly thing, so we settled on a cup of chocolate pudding and a pack of meat dumplings (uncooked).

Satisfied with our pickings, we went on our way to the Jap restaurant, it was just behind the grocery so we didn't have to walk far. It was a bit hard to locate it, considering that I only visited it once almost a year ago. Good thing the windows were big enough for me to peer inside and recognize the place.

It was so Japanese! Each booth were screened by lacquer-like grills, there were Jap newspapers, magazines and mangas (comics) available for reading if you can read it anyway. Even the girls who served the food were wearing short shorts and aprons~ And the TV was showing Japanese shows! And of course, the menu and anything that was written there were full of kanjis. We had a blast trying to read them for about a couple of minutes or so, then we turned our attention to the food.

We ordered something called the Hanchan Set. It was a meal of vegetable fried rice, gyoza (meat dumplings, cooked), a platter of mixed vegetables with mushrooms, a huge bowl of ramen, and a bottomless glass of tea that tastes like coffee and looks like beer. The tea was revolutionary! Actually I had it before when we ate here last year, but it tasted like smoke back then... hmm.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to digest it all and we got depressed; thinking of all the starving children our leftovers would've fed (it was a really morbid thought, probably caused by a slight indigestion). We were supposed to eat our pudding for dessert, but considering that we can't even sip our coffee tea, we put the pudding off till later. And then we went home.

Hmm, I feel like this entry has gone on for too long. To make it short, I'll just summarize the rest of the day in a paragraph: After the belly-busting feast, we dropped by the local mall to rent a VCD and a DVD ('Step Up' and 'Hairspray' respectively). After getting back home, we watched 'Step Up' and danced along with it, mostly because we want to burn off the fat that the glutton-fest gave us. Although we ate the choco pudding while watching the movie... meh.

Then I went to sleep.

So much for just one day ne? I thought so too~ ^__^