I have to MEMORIZE this paragraph?!?

If I make it through tomorrow, I can do anything.
Tomorrow, I have an oral test in Japanese where I recite FROM MEMORY this huge paragraph I wrote. IMMEDIATELY following that, I will drive BY MYSELF to UMD so I can attend the very end of their Maryland Marquee Day (and maybe chat up some Arabic/Persian/Hebrew students).

AAAAAGGGHHHH.

This is nuts.
Also. This is the paragraph:

みなさん、こんにちは！私の名前はソフィアです。１７歳で高校の四年生です。私の家族は四人です。母と父と弟がいます。そぼの家も近いです。母の家族はイタ リアから来て父の家族はプエルトリコから来ます。スペイン語とイタリア語を話せません。スペイン語はにが手全くです。でも、日本語を勉強するが好き。母は ギターをえんそうするのとどくしょがしゅみです。母はバンジョもひくのはほとんどだれにもは知っていません。けどちちは家具をつくるのはみなはしります。 父もギターをえんそうするがしゅみです。弟のしゅみはだいにじせかいたいせんについて読んで学ぶのです。それでも私たちは Mad Men を見るがだいすき。聞くのは本当ありがとう。

Should have capped it at 10 sentences.

Tongue Twister

So the kids of the Night-time JPN201 class got bored yesterday and came up with a nonsensical tongue twister in Japanese.

Some Things You Need To Understand
kami = hair
kami = paper
kami = god, divine (as in kamikaze, divine wind)
hana o kamu = to blow one's nose, which conjugates to "kamimasu" (see where I'm going?)
kamoshirenai = might or might not

and thus, we get:

神の髪は紙があるのはよく鼻を嚼むかもしれない。
かみのかみはかみがあるのはよくはなをかむかもしれない。
Kami no kami wa kami ga aru no wa yoku hana o kamu kamoshirenai.
As for the god whose hair is made out of paper, she may blow her nose often.

I'm 100% sure that this is 93% right.

Also, we came up with the Japanese word for "weave" (as in the hair thing). and that is 
ウイブ　or "uibu" which sort of sounds like it. In Japanese, everything is written in syllables, and there is no character for the syllable "wi" or "wee". Also, the "v" sound doesn't exist.

Go figure.

 

A Japanese Post?? What A Curious Idea!

じゃあ、
今日は、日本語でポストしています。
ええ。
私は日本語でポストしています。
日本語が少し分かって話して書くできますから、このポストはとても長さが短い。

あの〜〜〜。。。

さあ、書いてみる！！
 日本語でブロッグすることは難しいだよ！

Transcription:
Jaa,
Kyou wa Nihongo de posuto shiteimas(u).
Ee.
Watashi wa Nihongo de posuto shiteimas(u).
Nihongo ga sukoshi wakatte hanashite kaku dekimasu kara, kono posuto wa totemo nagasa ga mijikai.

Anooooooooo .  .  .

Saa, kaitemiru!!
Nihongo de buroggingu-suru koto wa muzukashii.

Translation:
Well,
Today I am posting in Japanese.
Yep.
I'm posting in Japanese.
Since I speak/understand/can write a little Japanese, this post will be short.

Sooooooooo  .   .   .

See! I'm trying!
Blogging in Japanese is hard.

日本語のテスト ー＿＿＿＿ー

Blogfriends: 

So yesterday, I was enjoying myself

 
But then I remembered 

That I signed up for the Japanese SAT II Subject Test

And I was like

So I ran to the bookstore and bought a huge book of grammar.

All I did yesterday was study

cause I was really nervous

and halfway through my study session I fell asleep

This? Already?

On Sunday, my friend Kana Takio and her father visited us. Besides being a really good friend, Kana also tutored me in Japanese for three years. (5th-8th grade). 

At one point, Kana whipped out her camera and aimed it at me. You should know that I downright hate impromptu pictures of me. Like, a lot. I will always reject a photo op, simply because I am not Gisele Bündchen and my face does not look good in pictures. 

Anyway, in embarrassment, I covered the lower half of my face with my hand. It was a reaction. I didn't think anything of it. From across the room, my mother was pointing to her teeth and covering her mouth, then shrugging her shoulders. She did this a couple of times before I ignored her. 

Later, when my mother and I were washing dishes:
"I saw you cover your mouth when she wanted to take a picture."
"Yeah, I did."
"Didn't you tell me it's impolite for Japanese women to show their teeth when they laugh?"
"I might have, but that was eons ago. Why?"
"You covered your teeth."
"...."
"I think you're absorbing that culture."
"But I'm not even there yet."
"Doesn't matter. You just did a very Japanese thing as a reflex."
"....."

COOOOOOOOL. 
 

GIFs EVERYWHERE!

I just did the Carlton dance.

Insight Everywhere

Yesterday, I stopped by Mr. Bob Behr's house (whom I call Be'ah-sama) to talk to him about Japan, since he had opened the invitation a few days ago, and also he's hilarious.

It's interesting to hear from people who know what to expect but who are still just as excited as you about something . 

Things I Learned:
"If you like their food, and are able to enjoy it, they will LOVE you."

"Japanese words do not have gender, but slang-y sentence endings and pronouns do. Try not to speak like a guy. And do NOT teach your friends the feminine endings. Guys who speak like women in Japan sound ridiculous. It's....weird."

"Just know this: you are going to be stupid for quite some time while you're there. But don't think that just because you can't understand your biology teacher that you are not learning. You are always learning. You're just learning something different from your classmates."

"Sever as much connection with The West as you can. The only way to pick up your language skills is to be stubborn. If people want to speak English, pretend you don't know it. You went all that way to learn THEIR language. If you can memorize a sentence that says that, people will understand. DO NOT GIVE IN." 

"Join a club. Don't do the sewing club or something meaningless, unless you are sewing your own kimono, because that would be fantastic."

"It will be hard, but you will remember those 6 months for the rest of your life."

どうもありがとうございました、ベア様。
Thank you so much, Be'ah-sama.:)