Tuesday, April 27, 2010

おはようございます! 

Im up early again.. you know what that means right? .. School!!!

Last semester I was in shock at the number of classes I had to take in English despite having worked really hard just to come to Japan. I don't feel like i improved as much as I could have so this semester im taking a whopping 7 classes just in Japanese! and only one intercultural communication class just for practical purposes. Anyway, from now on I hope I can post more frequently, its been so busy around here with all the new and confusing things the school is making the students do this year that even the Japanese students are confused by it.

Anyway, as short as this post will be, I wanted to introduce what ive been up to during my free time these last few days. 炊飯器焼き物!!Thats right.... to make up for the lack of an oven the last 6 months, the moment I realized I could bake things using my rice cooker, I went crazy. Up to now I've made cheesecake, chocolate banana coffee cake, quiche and beer bread! Dont believe me? see for yourself...


My first experiment.. the Cheese cake!!

Banana Choco-Coffee cake

Guiness Bread. Actually, all of the breads Ive made so far are made with different beers, I still need to try making a normal bread with milk!

The Quiche..

Saturday, April 10, 2010

お酒を飲むと日本語ができます

In the last few weeks, i've met so many new people. In between riding my one speed bike to Beppu and meeting the new exchange students moving in to the Kaikan, its been exciting. I've definitely been putting to use everything I've learned so far in Japanese... and its not easy. I was somewhat of a shy person before I came to Oita, but with how things have been as far as starting a new life, ive had to get rid of some old habits and make new ones. I could say that I'm actually pretty happy at the moment with being able to use the language ive been studying for two and a half years. I know I have a long way to go too.

Also, im pretty happy about the new ryugakusei. We have new students from Britain, Australia, Korea, Norway, and of course the US. Just over the last few days, some of us old timers have been spending time getting to know the new people and just tonight we had our first nomikai. As crazy as its been.. still with the obstacles of getting to know people from other countries, its been fun. I feel its safe to say im happy with the new people and look forward to being friends with them and sharing more interesting Japan experiences.


Its always good to see people making new friends .. Japanese phones are great too.. you can just send your profile over infrared.



Nomikai!

Some of the original crew..

Plus.. some of the new crew!