経験の報告書／Study Report

国へ帰る前に一年間の日本にいる経験について短い報告書を書かなくちゃいけませんでした。日本語でも英語でも書いていて、よかったら、見てください。

Before I leave Japan, I've had to write a short report about my experience in Japan the past year. I've written it in both Japanese and English. Take a look if you'd like.

日本にいる一年間、私は大体嬉しくなくて緊張していました。日本人とも他の留学生とも、誰ともといい友達になっていませんでした。どこへ行っても、日本人が私をじろじろ見るので、自分が部外者のように感じられて、どこかおかしいという気分にさ せられました。授業の大半は面白くなくて、専門と関連がありませんでした。日本にいる間、何度も人生の一年間を無駄していると思いました。

しかし、一年間日本にいたことを後悔していません。私はもっといい人になれたし、以前とは別人です。一人でアパートに住んだことがあったので、どうやって自活するか、どうやって難しいときを扱うか学びました。また、私のアメリカにいる友達をもっと尊敬します。

自分の成長に加えて二つの目標を達成しました。まず、日本語の能力を高めたかったで、そうできたと思います。まだ日本語の全部をはっきり分かりませんから、日本語の能力が増えることに気づきませんでした。しかし、今、日本に来る前に勉強した内容を見ると、あの頃の日本語がとても簡単に見えて、自分の能力が上がったことに気づかされます。

二つの目標は直接日本を経験することでした。多くの人は本やテレビ、映画などで外国について習います。そして、私は日本について教科書の内容以上のことを習いたかったで、それを達成することができたと思います。しかし、外国を分かるために一年はすごく短い期間です。それで、まだ理解していないことがたくさんあると思います。また、アメリカ人の観点で日本を見ていると分かって、実は日本について自分の目で見て学んだことは真実ではな いかもしれません。もっともっと学びたいので、また日本で生活する機会があるといいと思います。

I was generally unhappy and stressed out during my one-year stay in Japan. I didn’t become good friends with anyone, whether they were Japanese or another international student. Japanese strangers stared at me wherever I went, which made me feel like an outsider and made me feel like there was something wrong with me. Most of my classes were uninteresting and weren’t related to my major. A lot of times, I felt like I was wasting a year of my life by staying in Japan.

However, I don’t regret studying in Japan for a year. I’m a much more different and better person than I was before I came here. Now I’ve had the experience of living by myself and relying on myself. I have learned how to deal with unhappy times, and now I appreciate my friends back in the US even more.

In addition to personal growth, I was able to accomplish the two main goals I had when I came to Japan. First, I wanted to strengthen my Japanese language ability, which I have done. I couldn’t feel like my Japanese ability was getting better because there is still so much I don’t understand. However, when I look at the things I was studying before I came to Japan, they seem so easy, and I can realize how much my language skill has grown.

The second goal I had was to experience Japan firsthand. Many people learn about foreign countries only through books, TV, or movies. I wanted to learn more about Japan than the things written in the textbooks I had read, and I feel like I have been able to do that. However, one year is a very short time to study a culture, and I know there are still so many things I haven’t learned about Japan. I also realize that I’m seeing Japan through the eyes of an American with my own biases and that what I think I’ve learned about Japan may actually be untrue. I hope I have the opportunity to live in Japan again so I can keep learning about this country.

I know I'll miss Japan, and I already can't wait to come back, but without a doubt, I need a break from Japan. I leave in exactly one month from tomorrow.

Today is mine and my boyfriend's 2½-year anniversary. :)

Andy Williams is the Background Music of My Christmases

What a productive weekend! Finished my homework, studied Japanese, scrubbed down my entire bathroom, mopped my apartment floor, sewed a couple of things, did laundry and dishes, and still managed to have fun, like watching TV and movies. Tonight might be the first school night in Japan that I get a full eight hours sleep. It's the little things in life, really.

Christmas is coming! I'm starting to miss certain aspects of being home for Christmas, or having Christmas in the US in general, but I'd still much rather be here in Japan. I have a small plastic tree that my boyfriend and I decorated with red and silver ornaments. There are four presents under the tree right now, all for my boyfriend from me. Lucky guy. :P

He and I are trying to make plans for a short trip to Gifu after Christmas and before New Years. I want to see some snow and have a short vacation with him. We're also planning on going to Hokkaido mid-February to celebrate our two-year anniversary, but we'll see what happens. He's been so busy that we haven't been able to make any reservations yet. (God knows I can't make any by myself -- I can't speak enough Japanese, which is frustrating.) So, everywhere may be all booked up before we get a chance to make a reservation. Oh well, things will work out for the best.

I'll be spending New Years with my boyfriend and his parents. When my boyfriend told me we'd be making mochi, I pictured some big, traditional family effort and got excited, but then he told me we'll just be using a machine to make the mochi. Not as exciting.

I'm bringing up my New Years plans, though, to talk about spending time with his parents, who don't speak any English. When I saw them three months ago, they expected me to understand Japanese more than I did, and the more they tried to get me to say something, the further I retreated into my shell. I could understand almost nothing that they said, not only because I was still a beginner, but also because they're rural people that speak in Nagoya-ben and very colloquially and lazily. It was so frustrating to be expected to understand the mush that was coming out of their mouths. What's worse, I felt like they were making fun of me every time I couldn't understand them. My boyfriend says they weren't, but I don't trust him. He's Japanese; he has to be polite. Anyway, I didn't mean for that to turn into the rant that it did. I planned to say that I'm going to work extra hard these next three weeks so I can have a better chance of understanding them. I think my Japanese has improved a lot already since I've been here, but I really want to impress them even if they don't deserve it. (That's the bitterness talking.)

My hands are so cold. I'm making an effort to not turn on my heater unless I need to. This past month, I've been turning on the heater instead of adding more layers, but I just got the electricity bill, and it's more than I care to pay.

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm going to drink something warm and read a book until it's time to sleep. Good night!

One Week to Go!

I received more information about my upcoming year in Japan! Yayyy! I emailed the university and (politely) reminded them that I leave in a week, and they sent me all the information I'd been waiting for. :)

I've been assigned a studio apartment in a building about three kilometers away from campus. I have some issues with the distance (I'm used to living right on campus), but, to be honest, living in a cramped Japanese apartment is a dream I've developed over the past year, and I'm so glad I'll be able to experience it. I'm even looking forward to commuting on a bike... once I get over initial fears of 1) navigating a bike on streets (cars are big and metal and scary!), and 2) navigating a bike on the left side of streets ("OMG, all my knowledge of how to legally move on a street is now backwards!") I also have the option of taking the 地下鉄 (ちかてつ, subway) to school, but right now I'm partial to investing in a 自転車 (じてんしゃ, bicycle). It seems like the price of a bike and occasional maintenance would be a lot less than a year's worth of daily subway tickets.

I want to say more about the apartment, but I'm sure it's just a standard apartment, haha. I can't stop myself from saying this, though: I'll have a TV! I grew up having a TV in my bedroom, but I lost that luxury once I got to college. So, after two years of missing all my favorite shows (except one: LOST), I'm excited to once again have my own TV, even if all but a few of the shows will be in a language I don't understand well. :P

My level of Japanese comprehension is low, but I've made sure to review Japanese this summer. I've actually been studying a lot, so please forgive me while I toot my own horn for a little bit. I've been reviewing vocabulary, grammar, and kanji every day. Unfortunately, my speaking and reading (outloud) abilities have gone downhill, but now I know all but six of the vocabulary words in Genki 1. I know that's nothing to people who have studied Japanese longer, but I've been worried about not testing into the level of Japanese I should be in. Someone who studied abroad last year told me he tested into a class way lower than his actual level. (But I don't know how much he reviewed the summer before he went and if that could have affected his results.)

Speaking of studying Japanese, here's a website recommendation: readthekanji.com. I love the site. It's such a great way to learn and review kanji. They're broken up into the JLPT levels, and it's great motivation to look at your stats and see the number of kanji you know grow. Okay, I'm sure I sounded really nerdy just now....