約束しました！

 

 

My classes are slowly winding to a close and the term’s end is in sight.  This is a welcome thing as there are so many projects left undone.   But time has been diluted.   It has been fragmented into several areas, all at once.  Yet all  I want is to do is lock myself into an office and write.  That’s all I want. 

But when you are part-time, and have a family, that is a luxury that has to be fought for.  Sacrifices must be made.   Still, stolen time is something you have to accept, and last weekend, instead of spending Saturday revising for the following days test, I had to make a presentation for a staff meeting at one place of work.   It scuppered my plans to do practice tests for the Japanese language test which I took on Sunday.

I think I may pass, but even if I haven’t I will take the next level in July 2009, because in all the practice tests that I took, I attained a pass grade.   But to do this, I need to do lots of reading,  ensure that my ability to write improves, and learn how to use one thousand Chinese characters in context. 

So, I returned to the Intermediate Kanji Book (Volume 1) published by Bonjinsha Co., Ltd.   I originally bought it in 2005, but today I used it on the bus and on the train.   From now I have to use it daily (and then finish Volume 2) before the next test.   The stakes are high, and they aren’t merely financial.  

Some foreign teachers are content to rely on English and ignore the need for Japanese.   But it minimises the experience of living abroad and gives our individual power away.  I can’t live in this country anymore without an advanced ability to understand the language.

I have to go to the top level, or bust.   Such feelings inspired the promise in the uppermost photograph, that I will do a Japanese language diary from January 1st 2008.