Today’s big task for class came in the afternoon where we had to go out and do interviews of five random KSU students as research for our oral final presentations. It was scary!

But before that, it was work, work, work. Usually Thursdays are slightly easier, since we have tests on Friday, so it wasn’t quite as tough as usual, though I can’t help feel that I’m not picking things up as fast as I should be nor am I retaining and remembering as much as I need to. But then, you’re probably getting tired of hearing that—I’m certainly getting tired of saying it (and feeling it)…

The photo above is of my twice-weekly lunchtime CP Keiko (on the right) and her friend Emi who also usually comes with her. I still feel like an idiot trying to make conversation, but it’s getting better. We talked about a variety of things including Disneyland (Emi had “Minnie-chan” and “Donarudo Dukku” charms on her cell phone), hobbies and the speech contest. They’re both great and very patient with me and my awkward babbling.

In the afternoon we did another rehearsal for our Kindergarten visit next week, and got some good feedback. I’ve rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed, but not enough apparently—I still fudged a couple of things. It’s gonna be fine, though, and Paul-san gave us some tactics to use in talking with the little kids and good advice (keep it simple—words to live by).

And then came the interviews. My presentation topic is on the study of Foreign Languages, so my interview had questions like are you studying a foreign language, which one, why, how many times a week do you speak it, etc. One of our classroom CPs, Asako-san, went with me to lend moral support and help out if necessary. It was kind of funny: the first 4 people I interviewed all happened to be studying Indonesian—I’d inadvertently run into the Indonesian Language club! Since we only did 5 interviews, it sort of skewed my research, but it’s OK. I managed to get through them pretty well, and understood most everything in the replies the students gave me. We then talked a little about other things like me being from California, studying English, etc. So in the end it wasn’t too bad, though certainly raised my stress and anxiety levels.

We had free time after that, so Eric, Kevin, Heather and I went into town to the big Junkudo bookstore to do some shopping. They were interested in dictionaries and the White Rabbit Kanji cards, and I bought a 5-volume set of Japanese History books for kids—all in manga format. I had also wanted to look for 501 Japanese Verbs, but it completely slipped my mind and I’ll have to go back. We returned for dinner and to study for the test tomorrow. I hope I do better than I did on my first test!