Long time no blog

I'm now settled in to my new home in Japan but have been much too busy to update this blog...

I have been focusing instead on my Japanese-language blog (unfortunately only accessible if you have a Japanese cellphone email). Working 9-5 5 days a week entirely in Japanese is making me realise that my kanji and more technical vocab knowledge isn't as good as it should be. Also, right now I have a lot of free time at work so I've decided to dedicate this to studying Japanese.

I'm planning to take the JLPT N-2 next July. If that goes well, I'll go for the N-1, the highest level. The reason I'm not going for N-1 straight away is because my kanji is really weak, and I need to build up with studying the lower levels. the JLPT works on a cumulative scale like this.

There's also a speech contest in November I'm thinking of entering (althought I usually hate public speaking...) I think it would be good experience.

I'm already thinking about work post-this and if I want to work for a Japanese company, JLPT N-1 is going to be essential. If I can add other things to my cv as well, so much the better.

I've just gotten back from a weekend seeing friends in Tokyo! there was yakitori, izakayas, purikura, harajuku shopping, crepe eating, karaoke-ing and lots of drinking. I also got to see my friend's band practice. It was refreshing to hang out with Japanese friends again. Where I live is pretty inaka (rural) and sadly the only Japanese people who will talk to foreigners want to talk to us because we're foreigners. It's hard to get to know someone in that situation. I can't help feeling disappointed when they come out with 'can you use chopsticks?' 'do you have four seasons in America?' why is it that only with my Tokyo friends can I have a proper conversation, in Japanese, about normal things? Oh well.