Classes were once again a race against time to cram as much new stuff into my head as possible. That prospect is always daunting enough, but today seemed even more difficult than usual. It’s hard to accept that a month has flown by and I haven’t done everything I wanted to yet.

The afternoon was a tech-rehearsal for the speeches, which seemed kind of anti-climactic for some reason. The speech is really the most difficult part of the whole IJP experience, and causes quite a bit of stress and even consternation among the students. I myself am torn over how I feel about it: it sure takes a lot of time that could be used for other purposes and additional study topics, but I can also see the value of getting up and making a public address in Japanese. I guess in the end I sort of wish they would abandon it in favor of more class and practice time. Either that or drop the Kindergarten visit.

Had to do laundry and miscellaneous stuff this evening, plus study, study, study. It’s essentially all over tomorrow.