Figured maybe I should write an update now, if by any chance anybody's still interested in what I am up to.
Firstly, I'd like to apologise for not updating my blog. I keep myself busy as always and when I do have time I have quite simply put priority on other things.
I returned to Sweden from Japan by the end of March last year and now live in Sweden together with my girlfriend (who is Japanese). Actually we're getting married here in Stockholm in May and then we'll have a Shinto style ceremony in Japan in July.
I'm currently studying economics and statistics at the Stockholm university and working part-time. My girlfriend is learning Swedish and doing research at a medical university in Stockholm.
I haven't had any professional use of my knowledge of the Japanese language yet. I guess I could find a job for the summer in the tourist industry if I wanted to, but I've got a part-time job I'm quite pleased with at the moment and the salary in the tourist business would probably be lower, which is a quite important point when you're working part-time to have money to survive.
Luckily I can get some training in speaking Japanese with my girlfriend and some Japanese friends sometimes at least, so I don't really feel like I'm forgetting Japanese that quickly. What I've noticed is that I'm slowly forgetting vocabulary and kanji, but I know it will all get back to me quickly if I just study it for a while again, which I will do at some point in the future.
It's quite interesting to follow my girlfriend studying Swedish now after I've been studying Japanese for two years. I realise how incredibly complicated and irregular the Swedish grammar is compared to the nice and simple Japanese grammar. On top of that, the Swedish language has pronunciations and a melody that makes no sense at all, especially not for Japanese people who have none of that in their language. Even if you consider the trouble for a westerner to learn kanji, I'm getting quite sure that Swedish is the more difficult language to learn.
I am of course missing Japan every now and then. Both Sweden and Japan has it's good and bad points, but I'd like to live in Japan again at some point in the future. I have some ideas what I could do over there in the future, but for now I'll focus on my university studies here and we'll see where we end up.
If anybody has got any questions about studying in Japan or anything, feel free to leave a comment, preferably with your email address and I'll get back to you!
One more thing, if you don't believe me about Swedish being more difficult than Japanese, I recommend you checking out this video clip!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Two tulips
Bought a pair of tulips for my girlfriend on Valentine's day.
I don't know much about flowers, but I find them having a quite interesting way of growing.
Together bending over, reaching out to get a bit more daylight from the window in order to prolong their lives.
Or maybe they're just trying to look at me when I'm sitting on the floor using my laptop.
If anybody wonders; I received the origami in the background when visiting an elementary school here in Sapporo, and the landscape photo is a place in northern Sweden :).
I don't know much about flowers, but I find them having a quite interesting way of growing.
Together bending over, reaching out to get a bit more daylight from the window in order to prolong their lives.
Or maybe they're just trying to look at me when I'm sitting on the floor using my laptop.
If anybody wonders; I received the origami in the background when visiting an elementary school here in Sapporo, and the landscape photo is a place in northern Sweden :).
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
JLPT 2008 test result
I got the result from the Japanese language proficiency test (JLPT) 2008 today and as I thought I passed it with a broad margin.
The passing score for level 1 is 280 points, 70%, I got 321 points which is about 80%.
While I had almost 90% correct answers on the most important part of the test, the reading and grammar, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed with the listening section of the test, only reaching a score of 67%. One reason for that is that the CD player broke down half way through the test, we had to listen to a bunch of questions another time, the CD player broke down again, causing people to get upset and some slight disorder in the hall and the staff had to get a new one. Also caused me to lose my focus totally.
Also I have to admit that I have a tendency to get confused easily during the JLPT listening tests. Even though I hear and understand what they say, the dialogues and following questions can be quite tricky and is not only a test of your listening comprehension, but just as much a test of your short-term memory. While I do have a talent for logical thinking and can usually get the gist of a long text very quickly, I believe that I also have a certain 'talent' for hearing things and immediately forgetting it or not really paying enough attention to it or just being lost in my own thoughts for a moment. It can be a useful talent when you're tired and spending time with someone who's constantly talking and you just don't want to hear it, but not when you're doing a listening comprehension test.
I also had my final examination at school a couple of weeks ago. Got 95,5% correct answers altogether on the four tests that we took (vocabulary, reading, grammar and listening). The best score in my class, which is the highest class in the school. In other words I can now leave Japan next month without any regrets regarding my studies. Ever since I decided to go to Japan to study Japanese, my policy has been that I'm taking big loans and using big money for my education here so I'm not going to let it go to waste.
Finally, I wonder how it can take more than two months for the guys at the Japan foundation, who administrates the JLPT, to correct the tests and send out the results. Especially since the tests are digitally checked by computers. Once you've finally received the result after more than two months of waiting, you just get a small note with your scores. If you want an A4 document with your result printed on you've got to make a photocopy of the small test result note that you recieved and send it back again to the Japan foundation together with 1000 yen. As if the 5500+yen that the test originally costed wasn't enough already.
To make things even more strange, people who take the test in Korea can pay some extra fee to get a code and check their test result on the Internet already a few weeks after the test. This is the one widely recognised test of the Japanese language and therefore very important when applying for jobs etc. Shouldn't everyone get their results at the same time to make things fair?
The passing score for level 1 is 280 points, 70%, I got 321 points which is about 80%.
While I had almost 90% correct answers on the most important part of the test, the reading and grammar, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed with the listening section of the test, only reaching a score of 67%. One reason for that is that the CD player broke down half way through the test, we had to listen to a bunch of questions another time, the CD player broke down again, causing people to get upset and some slight disorder in the hall and the staff had to get a new one. Also caused me to lose my focus totally.
Also I have to admit that I have a tendency to get confused easily during the JLPT listening tests. Even though I hear and understand what they say, the dialogues and following questions can be quite tricky and is not only a test of your listening comprehension, but just as much a test of your short-term memory. While I do have a talent for logical thinking and can usually get the gist of a long text very quickly, I believe that I also have a certain 'talent' for hearing things and immediately forgetting it or not really paying enough attention to it or just being lost in my own thoughts for a moment. It can be a useful talent when you're tired and spending time with someone who's constantly talking and you just don't want to hear it, but not when you're doing a listening comprehension test.
I also had my final examination at school a couple of weeks ago. Got 95,5% correct answers altogether on the four tests that we took (vocabulary, reading, grammar and listening). The best score in my class, which is the highest class in the school. In other words I can now leave Japan next month without any regrets regarding my studies. Ever since I decided to go to Japan to study Japanese, my policy has been that I'm taking big loans and using big money for my education here so I'm not going to let it go to waste.
Finally, I wonder how it can take more than two months for the guys at the Japan foundation, who administrates the JLPT, to correct the tests and send out the results. Especially since the tests are digitally checked by computers. Once you've finally received the result after more than two months of waiting, you just get a small note with your scores. If you want an A4 document with your result printed on you've got to make a photocopy of the small test result note that you recieved and send it back again to the Japan foundation together with 1000 yen. As if the 5500+yen that the test originally costed wasn't enough already.
To make things even more strange, people who take the test in Korea can pay some extra fee to get a code and check their test result on the Internet already a few weeks after the test. This is the one widely recognised test of the Japanese language and therefore very important when applying for jobs etc. Shouldn't everyone get their results at the same time to make things fair?
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Why one should never agree to having one's wisdom teeth pulled out
I had my widsom teeth pulled out on monday last week. My girlfriend, who's a dentist, recommended me to get them extracted, and since it's very much cheaper having it done here in Japan than in Sweden, I was foolish to believe that it actually was a good idea to get it done.
The clinic I went to (which is where my girlfriend works, but she's working under guidance from the dentist in charge since she started working as a dentist recently) actually has his own operation room. I had come from a quick walk for about 30 minutes to get to the dental clinic, on top of that already being quite nervous, so my pulses was already quite high. Arriving at the clinic I figured I'd lie on a normal dentist's chair for the extraction, so I was kind of surprised being told to put on a green shirt of the type that patients wear for a surgery, being led into an operating room and having a bunch of cables connected to my chest and a beeping pulse meter and being asked to lie down on an operating table. Lying there hearing that damn beeping of my own pulse of course made me even more nervous and the beeping became quicker and quicker.
The process itself was not too bad, just a strange experience. The dentist first started cutting away lots of meat in my mouth with a surgical knife, then taking out a small electrical saw to grind down the bone enough to be able to get a grip of the tooth. The first tooth had to be cut into two parts to be able to get extracted by some reason. At one point during the sawing I was convinced that he was actually sawing somewhere in the front of my mouth. I know that dentist are evil people, but I still found it a bit strange that he would be cutting my bone in the front of the mouth during the extraction of my wisdom teeth. Figured out after a while that due to anaesthesia, I couldn't feel at all what was going on in the back of my mouth, but my bone was vibrating from the sawing, causing it to feel exactly as if the non-anaesthesized part was being cut, just without the pain. Well, if it would be possible to get sawed in the mouth on a non-anaesthesized part without feeling pain that is.
Anyway, I can assure you that it sounds alot more nasty than it was. I had a green paper covering my face and kept my eyes closed so fortunately I didn't have to see what was going on. It was just about staying calm for the a bit more than an hour or so that it took.
What's been quite tough is the aftermath. Been waking up pretty much every morning for the first week like a soldier who wakes up on the warfield with both his legs blown off, dying for a dose of morphine. An intense pain starting from the back of my mouth and reaching out along the jawbone to the front of the mouth, a massive headache on both sides and a tense feeling in my neck. According to my girlfriend the different nerves are connected and brain nerve number 3 or some stuff like that does a good job in spreading the pain all over my head. Thanks for the info, sure helps me alot...
During the first 24 hours it made no big difference if I took painkillers or not, tried for one and a half hour to eat a bowl of soup but finally had to give up after eating half of it and went back to bed.
After withstanding the first day it actually got a bit better and the pain became quite manageable as long as I took painkillers, I'm just wondering how healthy it is to take painkillers three times per day for more than a week. My always troubled stomach has actually gotten a lot better after the teeth extraction though, so maybe I should stick to the painkillers. Or it might just be because I'm eating a lot slower and a bit less than before.
Now, a bit more than a week after the torture began, I'm actually getting better. I can survive with taking painkillers just twice per day. Still quite troublesome with washing the big holes left after the 'amputation' of my teeth and it will be like that for quite a while. Pretty big pieces of food gets stuck in there and I have this thing that looks like a syringe but without a sharp edge that I have to put into the opening of the holes to squirt in some water a few times per day, but I can live with it for a while.
So everyone, my advice is; if you're told by a dentist that you should have your wisdom teeth extracted, run! My girlfriend might not agree with me, but I am now convinced that dentists are evil sadist who loves to inflict a lot of pain on you and then take all your money. Sure, you MIGHT get caries and infections etc if you don't have your wisdom teeth pulled out, but to me it sounds like a piece of cake compared to having them pulled out.
I have to admit that it's quite cool to have your own big nice tooth in a plastic bag though, isn't it?
Finally, one should note that the text above is written after enduring a week of combined mouth, neck and headache, so if you really want to have your wisdom teeth pulled out, go ahead. Just don't come complaining to me afterwards.
The clinic I went to (which is where my girlfriend works, but she's working under guidance from the dentist in charge since she started working as a dentist recently) actually has his own operation room. I had come from a quick walk for about 30 minutes to get to the dental clinic, on top of that already being quite nervous, so my pulses was already quite high. Arriving at the clinic I figured I'd lie on a normal dentist's chair for the extraction, so I was kind of surprised being told to put on a green shirt of the type that patients wear for a surgery, being led into an operating room and having a bunch of cables connected to my chest and a beeping pulse meter and being asked to lie down on an operating table. Lying there hearing that damn beeping of my own pulse of course made me even more nervous and the beeping became quicker and quicker.
The process itself was not too bad, just a strange experience. The dentist first started cutting away lots of meat in my mouth with a surgical knife, then taking out a small electrical saw to grind down the bone enough to be able to get a grip of the tooth. The first tooth had to be cut into two parts to be able to get extracted by some reason. At one point during the sawing I was convinced that he was actually sawing somewhere in the front of my mouth. I know that dentist are evil people, but I still found it a bit strange that he would be cutting my bone in the front of the mouth during the extraction of my wisdom teeth. Figured out after a while that due to anaesthesia, I couldn't feel at all what was going on in the back of my mouth, but my bone was vibrating from the sawing, causing it to feel exactly as if the non-anaesthesized part was being cut, just without the pain. Well, if it would be possible to get sawed in the mouth on a non-anaesthesized part without feeling pain that is.
Anyway, I can assure you that it sounds alot more nasty than it was. I had a green paper covering my face and kept my eyes closed so fortunately I didn't have to see what was going on. It was just about staying calm for the a bit more than an hour or so that it took.
What's been quite tough is the aftermath. Been waking up pretty much every morning for the first week like a soldier who wakes up on the warfield with both his legs blown off, dying for a dose of morphine. An intense pain starting from the back of my mouth and reaching out along the jawbone to the front of the mouth, a massive headache on both sides and a tense feeling in my neck. According to my girlfriend the different nerves are connected and brain nerve number 3 or some stuff like that does a good job in spreading the pain all over my head. Thanks for the info, sure helps me alot...
During the first 24 hours it made no big difference if I took painkillers or not, tried for one and a half hour to eat a bowl of soup but finally had to give up after eating half of it and went back to bed.
After withstanding the first day it actually got a bit better and the pain became quite manageable as long as I took painkillers, I'm just wondering how healthy it is to take painkillers three times per day for more than a week. My always troubled stomach has actually gotten a lot better after the teeth extraction though, so maybe I should stick to the painkillers. Or it might just be because I'm eating a lot slower and a bit less than before.
Now, a bit more than a week after the torture began, I'm actually getting better. I can survive with taking painkillers just twice per day. Still quite troublesome with washing the big holes left after the 'amputation' of my teeth and it will be like that for quite a while. Pretty big pieces of food gets stuck in there and I have this thing that looks like a syringe but without a sharp edge that I have to put into the opening of the holes to squirt in some water a few times per day, but I can live with it for a while.
So everyone, my advice is; if you're told by a dentist that you should have your wisdom teeth extracted, run! My girlfriend might not agree with me, but I am now convinced that dentists are evil sadist who loves to inflict a lot of pain on you and then take all your money. Sure, you MIGHT get caries and infections etc if you don't have your wisdom teeth pulled out, but to me it sounds like a piece of cake compared to having them pulled out.
I have to admit that it's quite cool to have your own big nice tooth in a plastic bag though, isn't it?
Finally, one should note that the text above is written after enduring a week of combined mouth, neck and headache, so if you really want to have your wisdom teeth pulled out, go ahead. Just don't come complaining to me afterwards.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
So what's up 2009?
First of all, happy new year to everyone!
So what's been up lately?
Well I've had a long winter vacation, which ends today, so from tomorrow I'm back to school.
Did a trip over the new year's holiday to Hakodate on southernmost Hokkaido, from there we continued by train, passing through the longest tunnel in the world, which connects Hokkaido and Honshu, and went to the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu. Had a good time staying at nice ryokans (japanese style inns) and eating lots of good food.
The snow is pouring down almost everyday, as usual in Sapporo. Nobody feeling like coming over for a visit of the famous Sapporo snow festival in February and go for some skiing and hot spring bathing? It's the last chance since me and my girlfriend will be moving to Sweden by the spring. The amount of snow that falls here in Hokkaido is just incredible. The snow that falls during a whole winter in Stockholm comes pouring down about every third day here. The ski resorts here on Hokkaido are also very nice.
Currently trying to make some plans for the future; what to study when I get back to Stockholm, finding a place to live and hoping I can get back to my former job at the airport in Stockholm for the spring and summer. In other words, I have some stuff to take care of.
If anybody happens to have a sublease apartment big enough for two persons in Stockholm, preferably around the Solna/Norrtull area available from April, please let me know! I will most likely start working at Sas ground services again, so I need to stay somewhere from where I can get to Arlanda airport easily. Since I don't have a car and don't want to spend money for buying one, it pretty much restricts me to the areas where I can get on the airport bus early in the morning, which is in the city, Norrtull and Solna/Ulriksdal.
I really wouldn't mind staying longer in Japan and especially in Sapporo, it's a great place to live, but I want to study at university when I'm finished with my Japanese language studies and other than getting more practise of using the Japanese language, there's not really any good reason to study at a university in Japan. For those of you thinking about studying at a university in Japan, I'll give you my reasons:
Firstly, Japanese universities are expensive, Swedish ones are free. I'm already taking big student loans to be able to study at the language school and it would not be reasonable at all to take more loans for studying 3-4 years at a Japanese university, furthermore, due to the financial crisis the Japanese yen has become about 45% more expensive in relation to the Swedish crowns compared to half a year ago.
Secondly, there's a big difference between a good and a bad university in Japan. If you have studied at a not so famous university, you'll have a tough time finding a job afterwards. Practically all the big companies in Japan only employs graduates from universities with a good reputation. The famous universities in Japan is not very easy to enter, especially for foreigners. There's a lot of tests and examinations, both of the Japanese language and other subjects to pass to enter a university in Japan.
Thirdly, Japanese universities does in general not hold a very high level. Entering Japanese universities is often difficult, but once you manage to enter the university, the courses are not very intense. This does of course differ depending on what you study, but most of the university students in Japan appear to spend more time on part-time work than on studying. This is a well-known problem in Japan and there's a lot of debates going on on how to stop the decline of the Japanese students knowledge.
To summarize it, there's not really any good reason to spend alot of money that I don't have anyway on an education that most likely is of a lower standard than what I can get for free back in Sweden. I need to get something back for those insane taxes I've been paying while working in Sweden, you know. Also, if I study at a university in Sweden I have the possibility of studying as an exchange student in Japan. Exchange students don't have to pay any tuition fee and the Swedish universities only have agreements with the high-level universities in Japan.
My problem now is just to figure out what to study when I return to Sweden. Slightly regret that I didn't study much at all during high-school and therefore have not too good grades, but I'll apply for what seems interesting and if I can't enter I guess I'll just have to study for the university entrance test (Högskoleprovet) and give it a new try 6 or 12 months later.
In other news, I had my wisdom teeth extracted a couple of days ago at the dental clinic where my girlfriend works, the extraction itself was quite tiring and unpleasant, but thanks to anaesthesia, manageable. The pain afterwards for the first 24 hours or so was quite tough though. It's however getting alot better quickly and I hope my slightly swollen face will return to it's normal slim shape soon.
That's it for now, thanks to anyone who bothered reading this long post. If you have anything specific you want me to write about, post a comment! I've got lots of photos and stuff that I could post if anyone's interested.
So what's been up lately?
Well I've had a long winter vacation, which ends today, so from tomorrow I'm back to school.
Did a trip over the new year's holiday to Hakodate on southernmost Hokkaido, from there we continued by train, passing through the longest tunnel in the world, which connects Hokkaido and Honshu, and went to the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu. Had a good time staying at nice ryokans (japanese style inns) and eating lots of good food.
The snow is pouring down almost everyday, as usual in Sapporo. Nobody feeling like coming over for a visit of the famous Sapporo snow festival in February and go for some skiing and hot spring bathing? It's the last chance since me and my girlfriend will be moving to Sweden by the spring. The amount of snow that falls here in Hokkaido is just incredible. The snow that falls during a whole winter in Stockholm comes pouring down about every third day here. The ski resorts here on Hokkaido are also very nice.
Currently trying to make some plans for the future; what to study when I get back to Stockholm, finding a place to live and hoping I can get back to my former job at the airport in Stockholm for the spring and summer. In other words, I have some stuff to take care of.
If anybody happens to have a sublease apartment big enough for two persons in Stockholm, preferably around the Solna/Norrtull area available from April, please let me know! I will most likely start working at Sas ground services again, so I need to stay somewhere from where I can get to Arlanda airport easily. Since I don't have a car and don't want to spend money for buying one, it pretty much restricts me to the areas where I can get on the airport bus early in the morning, which is in the city, Norrtull and Solna/Ulriksdal.
I really wouldn't mind staying longer in Japan and especially in Sapporo, it's a great place to live, but I want to study at university when I'm finished with my Japanese language studies and other than getting more practise of using the Japanese language, there's not really any good reason to study at a university in Japan. For those of you thinking about studying at a university in Japan, I'll give you my reasons:
Firstly, Japanese universities are expensive, Swedish ones are free. I'm already taking big student loans to be able to study at the language school and it would not be reasonable at all to take more loans for studying 3-4 years at a Japanese university, furthermore, due to the financial crisis the Japanese yen has become about 45% more expensive in relation to the Swedish crowns compared to half a year ago.
Secondly, there's a big difference between a good and a bad university in Japan. If you have studied at a not so famous university, you'll have a tough time finding a job afterwards. Practically all the big companies in Japan only employs graduates from universities with a good reputation. The famous universities in Japan is not very easy to enter, especially for foreigners. There's a lot of tests and examinations, both of the Japanese language and other subjects to pass to enter a university in Japan.
Thirdly, Japanese universities does in general not hold a very high level. Entering Japanese universities is often difficult, but once you manage to enter the university, the courses are not very intense. This does of course differ depending on what you study, but most of the university students in Japan appear to spend more time on part-time work than on studying. This is a well-known problem in Japan and there's a lot of debates going on on how to stop the decline of the Japanese students knowledge.
To summarize it, there's not really any good reason to spend alot of money that I don't have anyway on an education that most likely is of a lower standard than what I can get for free back in Sweden. I need to get something back for those insane taxes I've been paying while working in Sweden, you know. Also, if I study at a university in Sweden I have the possibility of studying as an exchange student in Japan. Exchange students don't have to pay any tuition fee and the Swedish universities only have agreements with the high-level universities in Japan.
My problem now is just to figure out what to study when I return to Sweden. Slightly regret that I didn't study much at all during high-school and therefore have not too good grades, but I'll apply for what seems interesting and if I can't enter I guess I'll just have to study for the university entrance test (Högskoleprovet) and give it a new try 6 or 12 months later.
In other news, I had my wisdom teeth extracted a couple of days ago at the dental clinic where my girlfriend works, the extraction itself was quite tiring and unpleasant, but thanks to anaesthesia, manageable. The pain afterwards for the first 24 hours or so was quite tough though. It's however getting alot better quickly and I hope my slightly swollen face will return to it's normal slim shape soon.
That's it for now, thanks to anyone who bothered reading this long post. If you have anything specific you want me to write about, post a comment! I've got lots of photos and stuff that I could post if anyone's interested.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
JLPT level 1 2008
So 2 days ago was finally the day of the JLPT (Japanese language proficiency test), the test that's been the goal of my studies pretty much since passing level 3 of the test 1 year earlier.
I decided quite quickly to skip the level 2 and go straight for the most difficult level 1 test. It's been a really good way of motivating myself. Knowledgewise, the step from where I were by december last year until where I am right now is, if I may say it myself, freaking huge. But to achieve that I've practically been living a strictly disciplined Buddhist monk life the last 6 months. Waking up at 5 every morning, strict discipline, no blog updates, no alcohol and no sex.
....Ehm okay well that's not completely true, but I can say without exaggerating that I've been studying for about 8-10 hours per day for the last 6 months and about 10-12 hours per day pretty much 7 days per week the last 2-3 months. I guess it's because I'm that kind of person. Give me a challenge and I will do almost anything it takes to manage it.
I can honestly say that I've actually been enjoying it most of the time though. It's a nice feeling to notice how your brain quickly adopts to learning tons of new stuff every day. The problem now when the test is over is that I've fallen into some kind of weird anticlimax.
What am I supposed to do now with all my time when I don't have to study like a mad man? My brain's not used to not getting an overdose of information each day. I certainly do have tons of other stuff to do that I've put aside for many months because of my studies that I can take care of now, but it's quite simply more fun to have a goal to aim for and challenge yourself with. So in some strange way feeling kind of lost now the days after the test. It's also been a satisfying feeling over the last months how quickly I can catch up to the same level and even pass many of the Chinese and Korean students in my class, who not only comes from countries with similar languages (Korea) or already knows the kanji characters (China), but also have they been studying Japanese at university for 3-5 years, while I started studying from first beginner level slightly more than 1 and a half year.
About the test, I feel quite sure I managed to pass it, unless I messed up the columns on the answer sheets or something, who knows. The results are not made public until the middle of February and you're not allowed to bring the questions with you after the test, so it's a long wait. However the entire test and the correct answers were leaked on the Internet only a few hours after the test was finished, so had a look at it yesterday and tried to recall my answers to check up if I was correct or not.
I found the listening part of the test quite difficult, other than that the test was quite manageable I think. No part of the test was extraordinary difficult, it was pretty much in line with what I had expected. I'd say it was slightly easier than last year's test, which I did for practise about 3-4 months ago and failed with only a few points, which led me to make my monk lifestyle training even more strict.
Now it's just a long wait until the middle of February when I get the result, let's hold our thumbs that everything goes well!
I decided quite quickly to skip the level 2 and go straight for the most difficult level 1 test. It's been a really good way of motivating myself. Knowledgewise, the step from where I were by december last year until where I am right now is, if I may say it myself, freaking huge. But to achieve that I've practically been living a strictly disciplined Buddhist monk life the last 6 months. Waking up at 5 every morning, strict discipline, no blog updates, no alcohol and no sex.
....Ehm okay well that's not completely true, but I can say without exaggerating that I've been studying for about 8-10 hours per day for the last 6 months and about 10-12 hours per day pretty much 7 days per week the last 2-3 months. I guess it's because I'm that kind of person. Give me a challenge and I will do almost anything it takes to manage it.
I can honestly say that I've actually been enjoying it most of the time though. It's a nice feeling to notice how your brain quickly adopts to learning tons of new stuff every day. The problem now when the test is over is that I've fallen into some kind of weird anticlimax.
What am I supposed to do now with all my time when I don't have to study like a mad man? My brain's not used to not getting an overdose of information each day. I certainly do have tons of other stuff to do that I've put aside for many months because of my studies that I can take care of now, but it's quite simply more fun to have a goal to aim for and challenge yourself with. So in some strange way feeling kind of lost now the days after the test. It's also been a satisfying feeling over the last months how quickly I can catch up to the same level and even pass many of the Chinese and Korean students in my class, who not only comes from countries with similar languages (Korea) or already knows the kanji characters (China), but also have they been studying Japanese at university for 3-5 years, while I started studying from first beginner level slightly more than 1 and a half year.
About the test, I feel quite sure I managed to pass it, unless I messed up the columns on the answer sheets or something, who knows. The results are not made public until the middle of February and you're not allowed to bring the questions with you after the test, so it's a long wait. However the entire test and the correct answers were leaked on the Internet only a few hours after the test was finished, so had a look at it yesterday and tried to recall my answers to check up if I was correct or not.
I found the listening part of the test quite difficult, other than that the test was quite manageable I think. No part of the test was extraordinary difficult, it was pretty much in line with what I had expected. I'd say it was slightly easier than last year's test, which I did for practise about 3-4 months ago and failed with only a few points, which led me to make my monk lifestyle training even more strict.
Now it's just a long wait until the middle of February when I get the result, let's hold our thumbs that everything goes well!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Photos from the summer vacation
Did some travelling during the summer vacation in August.
Firstly, here's a few pics from the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu (the main island of Japan).
All photos are clickable for high resolution. Photos may not be used for any purpose without my permission.
A famous cave called 龍泉洞, Ryusendo. Pretty cool stalactites huh? (thanks wikipedia for reminding me it's called stalactites).
Signs in funny English are always appreciated. Luckily they can be found at many places in Japan. Even in caves!
Because of the high humidity and hot summers, the greenery in Japan is just incredibly dense. Just have a look at that tree, there's not just leaves on the branches, the whole tree is covered with leaves. The greenery on Hokkaido is a bit less dense because of the colder and more dry climate, but still more dense than in Sweden.
In the foreground, my dad, who came to Japan together with my brother to visit me and do some travelling together.
An interesting car in Morioka, the main city of the Iwate prefecture.
Two boys on bicycles in Morioka.
From Morioka we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto, the place where you will want to go to see the old Japan and visit lots and lots of temples and shrines. Here's one of the Buddhist temples and a more modern building in the background.
三十三間堂 The Sanjusangendo, a temple with 1001 Buddha statues lined up inside. Definitely a place worth visiting. No photos allowed inside the building. According to my brother, one of the monks inside the temple started hitting an old woman with a stick who didn't follow this rule.
My dad eating soba noodles. He clearly need to practise his slurping skills though.
Gion, the old parts of Kyoto.
Gion again. I have more nice, authentic looking where there are no cars to be seen. However I was really annoyed about Kyoto city allowing cars drive on these narrow streets with old houses packed with tourists. It's such an effective way to ruin the atmosphere that I just had to take a photo of it.
Gion, Kyoto.
Salarymen doing fishing after work.
Swedes eating their fill.
Number 1 selling sports bicycle at Bic Camera was a... Saab! Since when do they make bicycles?
Bamboo.
Kyoto station. Modern beautiful architecture in a city packed with old, beautiful temples and shrines.
The machine for cleaning the floors can be used in the stairs as well, how cool isn't that?
The Shinkansen.
Delays are unacceptable. We're setting off for climbing Mount Fuji, will upload photos from that adventure next time.
Firstly, here's a few pics from the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu (the main island of Japan).
All photos are clickable for high resolution. Photos may not be used for any purpose without my permission.
A famous cave called 龍泉洞, Ryusendo. Pretty cool stalactites huh? (thanks wikipedia for reminding me it's called stalactites).
Signs in funny English are always appreciated. Luckily they can be found at many places in Japan. Even in caves!
Because of the high humidity and hot summers, the greenery in Japan is just incredibly dense. Just have a look at that tree, there's not just leaves on the branches, the whole tree is covered with leaves. The greenery on Hokkaido is a bit less dense because of the colder and more dry climate, but still more dense than in Sweden.
In the foreground, my dad, who came to Japan together with my brother to visit me and do some travelling together.
An interesting car in Morioka, the main city of the Iwate prefecture.
Two boys on bicycles in Morioka.
From Morioka we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto, the place where you will want to go to see the old Japan and visit lots and lots of temples and shrines. Here's one of the Buddhist temples and a more modern building in the background.
三十三間堂 The Sanjusangendo, a temple with 1001 Buddha statues lined up inside. Definitely a place worth visiting. No photos allowed inside the building. According to my brother, one of the monks inside the temple started hitting an old woman with a stick who didn't follow this rule.
My dad eating soba noodles. He clearly need to practise his slurping skills though.
Gion, the old parts of Kyoto.
Gion again. I have more nice, authentic looking where there are no cars to be seen. However I was really annoyed about Kyoto city allowing cars drive on these narrow streets with old houses packed with tourists. It's such an effective way to ruin the atmosphere that I just had to take a photo of it.
Gion, Kyoto.
Salarymen doing fishing after work.
Swedes eating their fill.
Number 1 selling sports bicycle at Bic Camera was a... Saab! Since when do they make bicycles?
Bamboo.
Kyoto station. Modern beautiful architecture in a city packed with old, beautiful temples and shrines.
The machine for cleaning the floors can be used in the stairs as well, how cool isn't that?
The Shinkansen.
Delays are unacceptable. We're setting off for climbing Mount Fuji, will upload photos from that adventure next time.
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