sometimes anger & frustration are the best kind of motivation

[ ughh... i keep breaking the language pledge for this blog ]

we received back our tests from friday this afternoon.  i was sure that my cumulative grade so far was around a C+. well during the short meeting with the head teacher, i find out that in fact, i have an A- right now. i apologized and asserted that i was a bad student. his response? my standards are probably really high. (i don't think so, but going by what past teachers have always said, i guess some things never change.) according to sensei, if i try really hard, i might be able to earn an A. i guess the other teachers also think that entering third-year was probably a good choice for me. that made me feel better. but only ever so slightly.

soccer practice. fun. as always. however, i must have stopped about ten times to try to alleviate the pain from the blister. (moleskin, advanced healing blister band-aid, more moleskin, and finally, athletic tape to hold everything in place.) i've come to really love soccer ~ even the hard practices. we have an important game against the portugese school this wednesday, but i really doubt i'll be close to 90%. the problem is, there must be two (maybe three?) female players on the field at all times, so i'll have to be on top of my game. i did order new cleats ~ but i won't have time to break them in---they'll be arriving just hours before the game. *sigh*

i've calmed down since this afternoon, but...

love the water...

[ again, in the interest of keeping the blog updated... english only]

because the blister had turned into an open wound, it's nearly impossible to wear anything but sandals/flip-flops. after dinner, i had planned on using the bike at the gym in flip-flops, but then decided it was probably a bad idea once i got to the fitness center. since danielle was going swimming, i entertained that possibility. even though i didn't have my bikini with me, we thought i could likely get by with shorts and a t-shirt. (we were right.)

i got a pretty decent workout in the pool, despite being a poor swimmer. actually, i'll probably swim as my main mode of exercise until my heel/back of the ankle gets better.

next game is wednesday against the portugese school. we'll probably have an unofficial practice on sunday, in addition to a scheduled practice on monday. i REALLY hope (with the help of band-aid's "advanced healing blister cushions") that i'll be close to 100% by game day. *crosses fingers*

やった！ 勝ち！

今日、サッカーの試合があって、ヘブライ語学校とあらそって、５対３で勝ちました！　楽しかったけど、スパイクで水ぶくれができた。
>_< 小さいすぎるかもしれないから、明日新しいスパイクを買おうと思う。

hooray! victory!
we had a soccer game against the hebrew school today and won 5 to 3! i had fun, but i got a blister from my cleats.
:(
i think i'm going to buy new cleats tomorrow because they're probably too small.

「可笑しい」をわすれられない

今本当に「おかしい」をわすれられない。

前に、わすれしてまったけど、「い」に「何か」を付け加えるなら、「私が考えている字」になる ~ これ、覚えた。　この「何か」はもう語だけど、どの字をわすれた。

「おかし」はおいしい食べ物の一種だ。　「おかしい」と「面白い」は大体同じの意味だ。

「おかし」。。。「おかしい」。。。

i can't forget the word "funny" now
i had forgotten the word for "funny", but i had remembered that if one added "い " to an already existing [common] word - sweets/candy, one would come up with "funny". however, i had forgotten the word for "sweets/candy" as well.

"okashi" is sweets, candy..... while "okashii" means funny, amusing, strange, etc

"okashi" versus "okashii"...

>_<

friends in this entry: danielle, elliot, and carter
context: i wanted to show them the personals in seven days, but they protested that doing such a thing violates the language pledge. i was trying to attest that it was "funny" (aka worth reading), but couldn't come up with the word for "funny". i then tried to explain my thinking process (in japanese), but they eventually just wound up laughing at how hard i was trying to get them to understand. it didn't take long for them to come up with the word "funny" for me, but it took the entire way from the gym to coffrin before danielle finally understood what i was trying to explain (and then found another way to say the same thing to the guys) *sigh*

a weekend of yummy japanese food, shopping, and dance parties

in the interest of [time and] keeping up with the blog, today's (july 1) entries will be written in english only...

on saturday, my teachers cooked dinner for 中級一 (equiv. of third-year). it was extremely yummy! everyone ate until s/he couldn't eat anymore, and then ate some more! cold noodles were served with our choice of vegetables, shrimp, and various other flavorings. i forget what dessert was called, but it was similar to something i have had during a chinese holiday celebration.

anyway, the weekend began with a trip to burlington. skipping out on lunch at middlebury, my friends and i went to the sakura bana restaurant on church street. i had the vegetable tempura and vegetable gyoza ~ it was absolutely delicious! of course, we were speaking in japanese the entire time (except when we had to communicate our orders to the waiter). because we adhered to the language pledge, we got strange looks and stares from passing people upon hearing us speak japanese.

after lunch, we split up into two groups---shopping in the mall vs. watching wall-e. i choose shopping, naturally ^_^ i had misplaced my water bottle, so i bought a new one from victoria's secret ~ it is perfect! i also had to replace my earbuds... long story involving theft a month ago... overall, it was an awesome time with my friends.

that friday night, my teachers threw us another party in coffrin lounge. マルちゃん, my friend melida, dj'ed the dance. the middkids and a few others danced the night away, but to my [slight] disappointment, everyone else stood around the perimeter of the dance floor. afterwards, we gathered a large group of people to go to the grille with us, including several friends who are working on campus over summer. my teachers later joined us too. it made for quite the interesting conclusion of the night, for copious amounts of alcohol were involved...

staying active!

i joined martial arts, soccer, and volleyball as planned from day one. so far, it's been incredibly enjoyable. martial arts is every tuesday afternoon at 2pm. today's class was led by my friend elliot, whose focus is kung fu. the sun was beating down on us, but i loved learning the various kicks and the introductory kata. it was very rewarding!

tomorrow, i have my first soccer match against the hebrew school. we've only had two official practices, but i've been scrimmaging with some of the guys from japanese school---so hopefully, we'll be okay. after yesterday's practice of running warm-up laps, doing drills, practicing [easy] plays, scrimmaging.... i realized that i really missed organized sports. these nine weeks are hardly any time at all, but i'll take what i can get!

i'm not an amazing volleyball player, but i can hold my own. although the volleyball club has a set practice time, one can usually find a group of people playing on the court at any given time. i've walked past with an agenda before, only to stop what i was doing and join in on the game. and i just want to note that my teachers are SKILLED.

when these clubs aren't meeting, my friends and i hit the gym and/or pool. lately, i've been warming up on the elliptical for about thirty minutes, and then do some lifting (up to 70lbs on the lat pull now!) and abs/balance/ flexibility exercises (for cheerleading). i have yet to conquer my fear of swimming in the deep end of the pool, but i hope to overcome that soon. just before language school, while swimming in the big eddy (bath, nh) with jen h. at one point, i found myself not being able to touch ground. however, instead of panicking, which i expected myself to do, i calmly treaded water (while yelling for jen) and got myself back into "swimming position". after this experience, i'm confident that i'd be okay in the deep end---but still, it's a psychological thing...

no more paperwork! for now, anyway :)

i have finished the card for my host family, the short essay for the freeman grant, and the other miscellaneous requirements. all my forms and materials for akp are sealed in an envelope, ready to go out tomorrow afternoon when i visit the mail center.

everything is also set for the freeman-asia award. i hope to receive as close to the $7000 award maximum as possible. the application process was a bit involved, but it wasn't difficult to complete. (it was definitely worth taking the time to apply.)

and now, i sit back and wait to hear about my to-be host family :)

trial & error

i received a "B" on the oral presentation, along with teacher comments. my strong points included all elements of a well-delivered speech (volume, speed, etc). my weaknesses had to do with my level of preparedness. because i couldn't interview 村松先生 [muramatsu-sensei] until sunday evening, i only had one day to write and memorize the script (and prepare a powerpoint presentation). next time, i'll do everything i can to commit my speech to memory.

my test score from last friday was subpar, but i'll redeem myself this friday. i lost valuable points to silly mistakes, such as rushing and carelessly confusing chinese characters with japanese kanji.

classes have been manageable and extremely interesting. i can honestly say that the four hours of instruction is often over before i realize it. (and then, it's lunchtime!) yesterday, fourth period was spent writing new lyrics to the song ありがとう [arigatou] using targeted grammar points. then, 高橋先生 [takahashi-sensei] played our new song on his guitar while 田中先生 [tanaka-sensei] sang it---it was hilarious and so entertaining. another day, we read a short manga and learned some examples of 擬音語 [giongo], or japanese onomatopoeia, which is heavily prevalent in the language. earlier that same day, we learned popular japanese abbreviations (as used in IMs, texts, etc) and created some of our own. the class' favorite was unanimously JBB, or じぶビ [ji-bu-bi], short for じぶんのビールを持って行く, the equivalent of our b.y.o.b. ^_^