Monday, September 21

This week is known as Silver Week in Japan because there is a three-day holiday from school and work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I, however, had two classes yesterday. All the foreign exchange students from my program were required to attend Japanese language class yesterday morning. I received Friday's test, and with it my grade. I am slightly disappointed, so I will have to study more. I realize now that some of my mistakes do not occur when I use newly learned grammar, but when I use grammar concepts I learned a year ago. I guess I am learning everything thoroughly right now, but grammar concepts I learned in the past have not all stuck in my mind, and that is the sort of subject that I need to improve. It's difficult for me to study previously learned grammar concepts, so I'll try to use them in everyday conversation to improve my skills.

I was so tired this morning because I was up late the night before finishing my Japanese language class homework that I did not complete during the entire weekend. But even though I was tired and it was getting late, Ryosuke asked me to go on a walk with him, and I couldn't refuse. I really enjoy talking with him, and who doesn't love taking walks? He led me to this park high up on the mountain side and it has a very nice view, so I got to see Kobe at night. We also told each other funny stories about our travels to other parts of the world. He told me about a day when he was in elementary school and he became lost in a rather international district of Kobe. He was so naive at the time that he thought he had crossed international borders and entered various European countries. It was absolutely adorable. I told him about some of my adventures at Kruger National Park in South Africa. Even though I was really tired, we stood outside the house talking until Okaasan ordered us to go to sleep at midnight.