I’ll spare you the boring post for Saturday – just cramming vocabulary into my head and reviewing piles and piles of flashcards. Kuniko came through on her way to party in Takasago, and a few hours later came back with some rum raisin ice cream for us to share and a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Now my cold weather bar is complete!
We had the ice cream with some Bailey’s and then we hit the rack.
I was up early the next morning for a quick breakfast with Kuniko and then I left her to meet Yuri at Sannomiya station in Kobe. From there we went on to Konan University, the site of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. It was easy to find – there was a steady stream of foreigners heading that way.
They were very serious about the exam, with yellow cards, red cards, long explanations of the instructions, and of course everything was in Japanese. It was split into three parts – kanji and vocabulary, listening, and reading comprehension and grammar. I think that I did adequately on everything but the listening – that one was flat out tough. I need to find a way to practice listening more.
The results come back in the middle of February, and some people I was talking with theorized that they don’t want to ruin your holidays with a failing grade. I’ll just have to wait and see!
Yuri was taking the first level test – the highest one that they have. She has some Japanese heritage though, and she speaks great Japanese. I waited up for her to finish her somewhat longer exam, and then we went back to Sannomiya to meet up with Kuniko and Tamura sensei, who were shopping and having fun.
We met up and got dinner at Pastel, a pretty good Italian place. The food tasted great and wasn’t too expensive. We all got out of there for about $40. After that we walked over to the movie theater, but before we went up there was a boy band playing in front of the shopping center. They were lip-synching to their CD and they had people circulating in the crowd passing out flyers.
Upstairs we say “The Incredibles”, which for some reason is called “Mr. Incredible” here in Japan. My quick review is that it was right up my alley – great movie with so many salutes to my favorite movies – James Bond, Indiana Jones, Star Wars. I highly recommend it.
Now I’m back home and getting ready for bed. I’m giving myself five days off from hardcore Japanese study. I’m going to continue to memorize kanji (I’m up to four a day now) but other than that, relax and recharge.
