I'm starting a new leaf. My notes and whatnot were scattered all over the place and I thought, "well, it's time to be organized, eh?" so I simply decided to discard the ol' blog and put in er new one. . . . Don't fret; I still have those silly pictures of me in my camera. Also got a few on the facebook, so if you're a facebook denizen, don't be shy and [friend me and] take a look!
It seems that the classes are getting harder, but getting funner (if that's a word). My grades are a little subpar but with a little elbow grease and a lot of praying I should be able to stay in shape with the class. The kanji classes, though, are those in which I excel. I feel a little weird because everyone's a little jealous of me for excelling in that class, but whatcha gonna do about it, huh? The top picture shows my result from the latest test I took; yea, don't hate. It's the second picture, by the way.
So, who's that silly kid with the earphones on his head? That's my homestay brother. He's a young, crazy chap who plays on his town baseball team. He sings really funny but he's got an athletic prowess like MJ (the Jordan) when he was little. I watched him play baseball a few times and he's hell energetic on the field. It only makes me long to play for the school hockey team more. Can't wait, seriously.
I only went to one hockey practice so far and even though the time constraints are really taxing, I'm willing --- with the graces of God --- to get this through. It's a challenge that I'm here without my biological parents, so I'm taking things a step above what I think I could handle to see if I'm ready for the real world. So far, everyone's been supporting me, saying
ganbatte ne (good luck) or, "we're with you all the way, man" and even the people at CIEE (the agency that sponsors me) really want to see me play. When my equipment comes in the mail, I'll be:
- excited because I can really see myself play, and
- anxious because I won't know what lurks around the corner (literally and figuratively)
And props would go to my parents for making the sacrifices for me (for coming here). They've come a long way to place their children in the situations they're in now and I feel that I'm constantly told that I can never thank them enough though they say that my appreciation for them suffices. . . . Today, in anthropology class, I learned the different kinds of transaction in terms of thankfulness, doing favors, and whatnot, and this thing called
on is something that the Japanese take seriously. One of the remarkable points about this term is that when it involves having one on your parents (your parents raise you, so you have the burden of
on), you can't repay in full that "gift" --- so to speak --- because what you give will never transcend what you get. Even if you become a parent yourself, you'll never pay back what your parents gave you. So I feel that it is all true.
So, thanks mom and pop.
In other news, I went to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Roppongi (a tourist trap-y area), a
gaijin (foreigner) supermarket, and this week I'll probably go back to Roppongi again to get another movie ticket for this young Japanese lass I have a crush on (shhhh!) but it's okay since everyone
except her knows that I like her. Accordingly, I beat you to the punch, sucker. Until next time, eh?
