Yesterday I went to an Italian Cafe with 3 other Korean classmates. My friend since my first day of school came, while she waited for her husband who is in the afternoon class. Her Japanese is a little better than mine, but we are used to each other, so we understand each other well. Or, I understand her, at least.
A new girl came out, whose Japanese is pretty amazing, maybe the most fluid in the school, but doesn't feel comfortable at a higher level. I can't imagine her being in my level next semester. If she becomes 10% more confident, she could jump 2 levels.
Another new student, a mid-40's guy came. I think Korea has mandatory military? Several of the Korean guys in my classes have mentioned their military history at some point. Anyway, he's in the Navy, and seems like a nice guy, but the four of us put together, made for a marvelously awkward lunch. I'm not really sure why.
I was happy to try and get people talking, but I think the girl who speaks really well causes my rather shy friend to clam up, so she said almost nothing. To compound the issue, my friend's spaghetti came with a big raw egg laying there like a - well, a raw egg on a plate of spaghetti. So she spent most of the time scraping it off her plate like it was an errant sneeze.
Talking with the new girl is great practice, even though sometimes she goes way over my head. The patience and willingness to help each other at school is pretty amazing, so I don't hesitate to stop her and say, umm, what? The guy is about my level, but he's on the quiet side. This is where beer usually saves the day, but not on a Monday at 2:00 p.m.
Afterwards, we split up, and my friend and I went to a cafe and did our homework and studied. It's surprising to me to see my fellow students, who are clearly better than me, get to a restaurant and point at the menu, because they are too shy to talk. I have 10,000 more mistakes to make, I want to make them all as soon as possible.