Nothing special to report today. I’ve settled into my regular schedule already, and it seems both like I’ve already been here for ages and that the time is flying by way too quickly. Every single class is filled with so much, and it’s a constant struggle to try and remember it all—I haven’t succeeded yet.

Our first corrected homework assignments have been returned, and mine had a certain amount of “blood” on it. My first test was also less than stellar—I’m actually quite famous for my stupid mistakes, though Kishi Sensei and Ikushima Sensei are less likely to let them slide. If I could just remember everything that I did wrong and then actually not do it again, that would be a major milestone.

Yasu (my CP) met me for lunch a bit late since he was coming from a class. It also took him ages to get through the line and buy his lunch so we didn’t have much of a conversation, but at least I felt like I seemed a little more awake and able to talk. He was wearing a suit (which seems crazy in this humidity) since he was off to his internship in the afternoon.

The afternoon class was spent getting ready for our Kindergarten visit. I seem to draw bad luck, since I was once again elected spokesman and “chairman” for the event and have to do the initial group introduction. I guess everyone wants to keep me on my toes. Alia, Kevin and I will be playing Simon Says with the 5 year olds—about 50 of them—and we’re going to do it in both Japanese and English (kids learning English at age 5? Wish I’d done the same with Japanese…). It’s gonna be crazy but no doubt a lot of fun.

We wrapped up with an in-room practice session for tomorrow’s visit to Nishiki Market. The CPs all took the roles of shop owners, and we went round to each of them asking the name of the store, what various things were, how much they cost and what they were used for. After wrapping up my tour of the 6 shops, I spent the next 15 minutes or so chatting with one of the CPs and for the first time didn’t feel completely tongue-tied. I actually felt pretty good abut my [very, very basic] conversational abilities.

When class was over, I went to the 100 yen store (like a Dollar store) to buy some indoor slippers (try doing that with American-sized feet), a new wallet (my US one was too small to hold the larger yen bills properly and a pair of chopsticks (oddly enough, there weren’t any in my room). At dinner, I sat with Kishi Sensei and Ikushima Sensei—and sadly felt terribly incompetent again all of a sudden. My brief 15 minutes of success had taken it all out of me I guess…

Tomorrow will be fun with the Nishiki market field trip, so stand by for more new photos!