First Day!

Today was the first day of classes.  On Fridays, there are 3 hours of class.

I am in Class SC, which I think is the highest one before the conversation level.  Besides me, there are three other students:  a man and woman from Brazil, and a man originally from Hong Kong, but most recently going to college in Korea.

We could choose between pronunciation/intonation or kanji for our optional classes.  I really want to learn kanji.  However, I can study kanji somewhat at home, but not pronunciation, so that's what I chose.

Today we covered one the ways to say, "if/when A, then B" in Japanese.  The grammatical term is "conditional".  So far I know of three ways to express the conditional in Japanese, and the difference mostly centers on whether a person's will is involved and how inevitable B is, given A.

One of our activities reminded me of "Shark Tank".  We had to come up with a product, draw a picture of it and describe it to the class.  Everyone else would ask questions, then give constructive criticism, like, "If it was cheaper, I'd buy it" or "If it was pink, I'd buy it".  Two of us tried to sell a kotatsu (a table with a heater underneath and quilt on top).   I guess we are all feeling a bit chilly!

Picture is not mine.  You sit at the table to stay warm.  Cats like them, too!

After class, the four of us met with two other people (Czech and Australian) to eat lunch.  Our first restaurant choice didn't have room for all six of us, so we went to a ramen restaurant.  I had very good gyoza and a beer.

After that, we lost one person, met up with another student (French Canadian) and went to a coffee shop.  I had an interesting conversation about world politics in general, movies, and why we were all in Japan, in a mix of English and Japanese.  Fun!

One of the neat things about Yamasa is that the students aren't all college age.  I was the oldest in our group but not by much.

Isn't this the cutest little milk pitcher?

Here's the cheesecake souffle I enjoyed.

Afterwards, I went to the ￥100 shop, for laundry supplies.  Oops, I accidentally bought detergent with bleach in it, so I have to go out to get something else.

Before class, I purchased a SIM card for my phone.  Now I have to put money into my account.  Then I'll be able to get internet access (Yay -- maps and train schedules!) on my phone.  I have free WiFi on campus and in my dorm, but there will be times when I'll want access while I'm out and about.