ok, so i just posted my japanese post, and it was pretty frustrating. There are so many things I don't know how to say yet! And of course the proper word in chinese will pop into my head, but that doesn't do too much good. Oh well, I'm just relaxing now and listening to some portuguese music. The main reason I desire to learn portuguese is that it sounds beautiful. It really does-I highly encourage everyone to check it out sometime. In fact, here is a song my prof sent for us to listen to. It's worth checking out http://people.virginia.edu/~dth/Velha-Infancia.html



Here is an awesome video I felt was necessary to share with anyone who is interested in Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeudflWWr7c



ok, now the topic of last week. what makes a good blog? well, it should captivate the audience. No one wants to be bored. It should have variety-aka adding pictures, music, and videos. It should be visually appealing, or atleast not be hard to read. For example, I'm sure some people spent a ton of time perfecting their background picture, but it can make the text hard to read!

I prefer to write for myself, and not anyone who i think, or hope reads my writing. Its the only way I can really explore who i am and what I think. However, this is not the blog for that. Still, introspective thought can make a blog more interesting, as well as the fact that it helps you see how far you have come. At the end of the semester, when I look back on my entries about the thousands of homework assignments I did, I will feel accomplished, because I will remember that frustration and stress, and know that I came out of it alive. Well, the alive part can still be debated.

So the COD came out next week. I wonder how many of my classmates are going to continue with 102? Language classes are great because I really enjoy the bond that gets built between classmates. So, I will be a little sad to not have class with everyone now-we do see each other everyday. But...change is inevitable.

maybe if i have another attack of insomniacism, I will post again. but for now, it is 342am, and i still have a LOT of classical chinese homework to do. peace out homies

わたしはにほんごおかきます

こんにちは。いまごぜんんさんじです。でも、わたしはねません。どうして?あし
たさんのクラスがあります、だからべんきょうしますね。きょうのてんきはええ
です。とてもでひどりはrainをすきじゃない、でもわたしわoregonからきました。
だからrainはとてもすきですよ。when it rains,わたしはちゃおのみます。いま
わたしはかんごくのちゃおのみます。でもちゅごくのちゃものみます。 わたし
は2005におにさんとちゅうごくえいきました。わたしのおにさんはわたしのいい
ともだちです。 いま、おにさんはときょにいます。

I think Japanese is beating out my other languages. When I tried to answer a question at dinner tonight in chinese, my brain immediately went to Japanese first. Then to Portuguese. But Portuguese is close enough to Spanish, which can be similar to English, so it's simple enough to come up with an appropriate word. My mind is all mixed up.

I really want to just take a personal day, and relax. Wake up when my body decides to. And watch all my movies in my different languages, and pretend that counts as studying. My friend Natalia brought me Monsters Inc. back from Brazil, where she is from, and Portuguese is a language option. I have a few Japanese movies. Well, only Totoro is with me, but back home I have the entire Doraemon series, which is something I grew up on.
We talked about childhood times today, and what we used to do. Although this was just to get us to use the past tense, it got me thinking about my childhood, especially the part that happened in Japan.
I went to an International school where we learned in English, and in my house we spoke English. All my friends spoke English. So, how was it that i used to watch my japanese cartoons and understand everything? I watched Sailor Moon and Doraemon, and with my brother, Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk.

I guess another question would be whether or not I really did understand it all. Maybe my brain was still at that point in life where it could easily fill in the gaps so that I could comprehend those cartoons. Maybe I just made up what I didn't get. But on the other hand, what if I did understand it all. If I did, where did that japanese knowledge go? I feel like I can "hear" japanese easier than I can "chinese". Is that because more complex things are discuessed in chinese? or could i have (hopefully) retained some of that japanese knowledge of a 5 year old?

This week has been pretty intense, and it was only 3 days long. But between a midterm, japanese skit, japanese test, and another midterm coming up on monday, I've felt like I have no time in the world. I'm not really complaining tho, because I had a lot of fun working on my skit with my group, and this feeling that I actually know what is going on in Japanese class is awesome. I'm not sure if it's because at a really young age I lived in Japan, therefore it sounds right to my ears, but it just makes sense. But, of course, we are still working with relatively simple sentences, and there are really only so many things that we could say. I think I anticipate what is about to be said a lot, so right now that helps, but later on when I am expecting one thing, but hear another, it leaves me at like, what? wait, one more time? That happens in chinese a lot actually. Ijust think that the person is about to say one thing, and then get a little confused. Well, I really want to do better on this test then I have on the previous. I was having such a bad day last time, and really wasn't feeling well, so I kind of just wrote what I could and got out of there. Today I"m feeling good. Got more than 4 hours of sleep last night, which breaks my pattern for the last few days, and I'm feeling good.

For every day that you feel like you just don't get it, there has to be a day that you do, right? I took one of my midterms yesterday, and when I was done, felt pretty good about it. That's how tests are supposed to go. crossing my fingers about this one...

oh the mistakes we will make

do you ever have those days where school just kind of kicks you in the butt? yeah, that was yesterday.
I guess for every day that you get the concepts right away, there has to be a day where things don't come so easily, you stumble over simple phrases, and you realize that you spilled coffee on your shirt on top of it all.

For me,Japanese is one of those classes that is only 1/4 of the credits I am taking, but takes up 60% of my homework/study time. Unfortunately, I'm also taking Chinese 401, and that is exactly the same way. Besides that, Classical Chinese takes a decent amount, and so does Portuguese. Especially because its not a regular intro to Portuguese class, but Intensive, which means we are doing a whole year's work in one semester. So where does that leave me? At about a 70% deficit.
Of course, I shouldn't complain. Not because it's annoying and doesn't serve a purpose, but because the majority of students at UVa are in the same boat. I guess that's what I get for coming to one of the top ranked State Universities in the country. My favorite quote about UVa is, "The University of Virginia, where your best hasn't been good enough since 1819."

I really am enjoying Japanese tho. My mom speaks pretty well, and it's cure to hear how excited she gets when I call home and we have broken conversations. It mostly goes that she says something something something, and I answer with, aa, something wa nandesuka? and she explains, and we go on from there. Lucky for me, after those mini-lessons, she hands over the phone to my dad where the similar thing happens in Portuguese and Chinese.
Languages are fun. I wonder if I inherited that?

So, the other day in class, I made a small language mistake.
I was in a dialog with Sato Sensei about what time I woke up in the morning. That day I got up at 1030. We discussed and verified that fact, and then I asked her what time she got up. She got up at 7.
"At 7?" I asked.
"Yes, at 7" she replied.
"Oh, 7, is it" I verified
"7 it is", she (re?)verified.
So at that point I felt like mixing it up with a new vocab we learned. hmm, how do you say early, I thought to myself. ahh, yes, I remember now.
"Yasai desune" I said. hmmm, that sounded...not quite right.

oh whoops. wrong word. I def just called Sato Sensei a vegetable.....

Language mistakes happen all the time. A few years ago I would have been very self conscious, but it's happened so much that it just rolls off me now. I def. said some inappropriate things during my Korean class first year.

It reminded me of something my brother told me. He used to take Japaneses in college as well. one day during Japanese class, one of his classmates wanted to say, "there are seven people in my family".
he said, "My family is carrots".