In English, i.e. my everyday life in America, there came a point that I looked at how I spoke. I was always inserting hyperbole to emphasize my statements, sometimes to the point of lying. Saying, "My boss makes decisions I disagree with" would become, "My boss is the biggest asshole. He is an idiot, too. Dumb as a tree." Now none of these are true on many levels, I have never worked for an animated rectum. Nor was my boss an idiot, in fact that word applies to no one in this day and age.

I'm listening to a recording I just did on my digital camera of myself giving a speech. I think it's making my spine oscillate.

I have to give this speech in front of 1000 Japanese Language students on January 31. Oh my god. Perhaps it's time to go back to America and get a job at the Burger King. Just fade into the woodwork...

Ganbarimasu.

I have held off on posting Ikebukuro, as I come here every day for school, and wanted to think of something profound to say about the place. Now, having given up on that I will go ahead and add it.

雨にも負けず
風にも負けず
雪にも夏の暑さにも負けぬ
丈夫なからだをもち
慾はなく
決して怒らず
いつも静かに笑っている
一日に玄米四合と
味噌と少しの野菜を食べ
あらゆることを
自分を勘定に入れずに
よく見聞きし分かり
そして忘れず
野原の松の林の陰の
小さな萱ぶきの小屋にいて
東に病気の子供あれば
行って看病してやり
西に疲れた母あれば
行ってその稲の束を負い
南に死にそうな人あれば
行ってこわがらなくてもいいといい
北に喧嘩や訴訟があれば
つまらないからやめろといい
日照りの時は涙を流し
寒さの夏はおろおろ歩き
みんなにでくのぼーと呼ばれ
褒められもせず
苦にもされず
そういうものに
わたしは
なりたい

Often, I hear words in conversation that I know, yet I am unable to recall. If someone else uses them, I know immediately, but I don't think I would be able to spontaneously insert into a sentence. Today it was "誤解", a mistake. A good word for me to know.

Studying Kanji too, I have become very familiar my memories capabilities. Memorizing is actually a pretty exact science. If I have a certain amount of words, I can fairly accurately determine how many days of study I need to remember them. That's just for test prep. I have to read the Kanji pretty regularly or I'll forget it.

Japanese is full of homonyms. English is too but I wonder who has more? Japanese has a rather small sound pallette, so it's full of words that sound different to native speakers, but very alike to my Western ears. Plus, there are many similar sounding words, where you have to differentiate between "go" and gou" or "kyu" and "kyuu". One of the first I remember was:顔ーKao：Face　＆　買うーKau－To Buy

When I was learning to ride a motorcycle, the most important thing my teachers taught me was, while turning, not to look in front of me, but look at where I was going, i.e. the end of the curve in the road. We had to drive around a square lot, and at each corner, we had to learn to turn our heads away from where we were headed at an uncomfortable angle, then proceed into the turn. After a few weeks of practice, my turning became less wobbly and nerve-racking.

Sometimes as I try to speak, I find myself trying to take an English sentence in my head and convert it verbatim to Japanese. At dinner one night, I wanted to say something to the effect of:
"The immigration issue in America is different (than Japan) because as polarized as it is, every single (Non-Native American) citizen came from somewhere else a few generations ago."

So while I have a month off I am focusing on preparation and review. In America, review (復習-fukushuu) is a common study method, of course. But here in Japan, equally ubiquitous is yoshuu (予習) or studying ahead. At first it seemed kind of strange to study lessons I hadn't worked on with the teacher, but it's become a necessary tool. At the rate we study, the only way I can survive is to come into class with a fair idea of what we are going to work on. If I have any questions, I can ask, but during the class, we practice the pronunciation and usage. The rules, etc. I work on at home.

I was talking to a couple of aquaintences, one of whom is an English (ESL) teacher.  I was telling the other about  the differences in  grammar. The English  teacher remarked that Japanese grammar is much easier than English. Now he doesn't speak Japanese, but does speak Spanish and teaches at a reputable school, so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I am not so sure I agree.