Oh, For the Love of the Japanese Language!

Disclaimer: You might want to read the entry before this one in order to understand the craziness I am writing of below.

The afternoon was gorgeous, so I went to Heian Jingu (the topic of another post about cherry blossom madness). Afterwards, I had some green tea/vanilla swirl ice cream, and started to head back to my apartment.

My bike had other ideas, though. Before I realized it, I was passing by the intersection of Marutamachi-Higashioji and heading to the Kamo River, making a left and going down to Sanjo.

My destinations were Ogawa and Meidi-ya. I had spoken of Ogawa Coffee before: they make REALLY REALLY good coffee and their coffee beans are better than Starbucks. I got some of the strong blend coffee for my new (free!) French Press as I had run out of the blah stuff I got from Starbucks. I swear, I plan to come home with a kilo of that coffee - the Ogawa Strong Blend that is.

Meidi-ya is a foriegn import food store. Some of the stuff if priced ok and the other stuff (meat, bread, veggies) are atrociously priced. They have good whole wheat crackers, Canada Dry Ginger Ale and the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. However, those cookies are my downfall (when I had my craving for pizza, I proceeded to eat a half a bag of them orange flavored ones) I don't get those.

I parked my bike at Starbucks, and spoke to Mame-chan (he is a bird at the bean/cracker store next to Starbucks, speaks Japanese and English with a Japanese accent). My phone began to dance - it is VERY rude in Japan to have it on the ring in public places. Consequently, I always miss my calls and get to my messages way later. But I am getting better at noticing the vibrations.

It was Ristumeikan (:::cue the collective sighs, seriously I have so many issues in terms of them driving me up the amn wall because there is NO INFRASTRUCTURE to deal with students like me:::).

Get a load of THIS! I either did poorly enough deliberately, or I did well enough to not be in the two higher levels, but I am not in Lower Intermediate (probably Intermediate I at Kyodai which is what I did last semester, since both Kyodai and Rits have three levels of intermediate, then one of Advanced) - I am in regular Intermediate!

But blah, what about the Kyodai classes that I happily signed up for and was going to take the placement test next Friday?

Well, I did something rather stupid - I tried to tell the person (same one that called me about the placement test earlier this week) that well, I can also take classes at Kyodai, can I take the placement test and then decide? Bad move on me; I KNEW that in American standards I was pushing the envelope. In terms of Japanese standards, I pretty much did something very taboo.

In essence, I had to decide that-very-minute for either Rits or Kyodai. I was kinda flustered, so I said I will call her in 10 minuted. I then calld Colleen who said, "Well, you can always drop the Kyodai classes."So I called back the lady and said that I will take the Ritsumeikan classes. The wheels were rolling in my head at that point, further confirmed by my Rits schedule right in front of me:

If I place in Intermediate II in the Kyodai placement test...
and if there are no conflicts in terms of the classes to choose from at Kyodai, since I can choose as opposed to a set schedule at Rits...
since no one will REALLY know except for me and a few of my friends...
why not take Japanese at both schools for this semester?

I am nuts. This is how determined I am to get at much in before this coming fall at least because I am not sure if I can continue at Rits - maybe I can into Upper Intermediate since I will be at the school already and be registered before the other kids come in. And for sure I can't take classes at Kyodai this fall - only for one more semester. I took a look at the Rits and Kyodai schedules - it would only be an extra two or three classes in the afternoons of Monday, Friday and MAYBE Wednesday, since that is Listening and I didn't like my Listening class last semester. Rits language classes all end by 12:10, with Thursday ending at 10:30. Kyodai classes don't have that much homework anyways - that was one of my complaints, but for now that might be a blessing in disguise. Plus, language classes at Kyodai don't start till the 16th.

But this is contingent on me being in Intermediate II. If not, then I might consider re-doing some Intermediate I classes, depending on conflicts (I really liked my Intermediate I reading teacher, and that class doesn't conflict on Fridays).

And I still have time to a) go to the gym, b) participate in the Classical Music Club (that will be the ONLY one) and c) take those two classes with regular Japanese students.

Even better news: I had tickets for the Miyako Odori with Ingram this Monday and we have to be there at 2:30. I was worried that I would miss class the first day because the Rits classes would be in the afternoon, but everything works out.

This is going to be ONE hell of a semester.

Maybe I should go to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine - Kitano Tenmangu is the patron saint of students, and I am going to need all the help I can get.