Day 69 and 70: Shinjuku with Jimmy and getting a bank account

Hello!

Wednesday 15th of April

So today I had two classes of Japanese, which went very well. We finished unit 2 and 3.

Unit 2:

• （Aより)Bのほうが X です = (B is X than A)
• X（のなか）でAが一いちばん Y = (A is the number one among three)
• AはBより X です = (A is X than B)

Unit 3

Noun-modifying clause

• 明日、見る映画　(The movie that I am going to watch tommorow)

Ekpression for "to put on"

• put on something over your head = きる
• put something from below = はく
• put on a hat = かべる
• put on glasses = かける
• put on small accessories = する

After school I went home and did some homework, ate lunch and cleaned my room. Then I filled out some papers that had to be delivered by mail, before I went to Shinjuku to meet Jimmy at 17:30. We went out to by new Sim cards for our phones. It's called "Travel Sim" which gives you 2 GB of internet data for 3 months. So either you use up all the data and have to buy new, or the 3 months pass and you have to buy a new one. My 3 months are almost up (and my data) so it's good to have a new on hand in case you run out and need to contact someone. My phone doesn't work here so internet is the only communication I've got while in Japan. I'm planning to buy a japanese phone very soon.

After buying the Travel Sim we went out to eat

After eating we went back to my places and watched a movie.

Thursday 16th of April

So today dear Kazuki went with me to get my address registered, get a health insurence and get a japanese bank account. It would be impossible to do it without him so I was very thankful!

First stop 08:30:Register my address + health insurance. We took the bus and were the first customars there! It's alway good to be first so you hopefully won't have to wait too long. First I got the adress on my card then I got a health insurance. I already have an insurance from Norway, but it makes things a little easier when I pay in adcanced. I only have to pay 30% of the bill/for medicin when going to a clinic or a doctor. I'm not 100% sure what my insurance from Norway covers, but in the worst case I only have to pay 30%. Often when you have a cold you go to a doctor to get some medicin, and this may not be covered from norway as we maybe don't see it as a necessity... I should check it out...haha

Then we went to UFJ bank in Seiseki Sakuragaoka to open a japanese bank account. At this point I'm hating my name soooo much because I had to write it so many times! I think I wrote my WHOLE name around 10 times, both in Norwegian and in katakana ( japanese). And on one of the papers I wrote my name in the wrong order and I had to start it all over again! WHY JAPAN!!?? But I finally got my bank book and then later I'll get a card.

 This is all my papers I got today, too much! (not my TMU card thou...)

 This is my sign which I got to use for the first time today! It's the kanji "美" (read as "bi") which means beauty. It matched the start of my name "Vi"beke (because they don't have "vi" they write "bi"). It was actually my friend Dave's idea! 

 On top is my japanese bank book, on the left it my address and on the right is my health insurance.

 I put in 10,000 yen (about 650 kroner), and I'll get my card in the mail in about a week.

 When I got home I prepared myself a cup of tea, toast, scrambled eggs and smoked salmond!

 So delish~

 I listened to norwegian music while enjoying my lunch in the awesome hot weather :)

 じゃ、またね！

*ビッキー*

Day 68: Sushi date with Anika + more tests

Hello!

So today I only had the first period 08:50-10:20, which was Global Mindset. We were many in the class, maybe 20 students. The teacher was very nice and the course seems very interesting. Especially the homework seems interesting. We have to write two entries a week, in a journal. One is "inside-out" and one "outside-in", which means one is going to be a personal mind map and the other is experiences in the everyday life. So today was an introduction and we got to know the classmates a little better. I think this is going to be a good class for discussions! I already did my homework after class, so that's done at least :)

I want to join a club, but haven't decided yet. The weather is so bad so for now I haven't been thinking too much about it. Maybe some of this clubs will be cool?

 I had a lunch date with Anika at 12:00 :) We went for sushi in Hashimoto. 

 My beloved ebisushi!

I'm so graceful!

Tako!

 Anika and I:

 So much sushi for lunch!

After the sushi I kept Anika company while she was looking for a birthday present for a friend :) So we went to a couple of malls and looked around. After that Anika went back to TMU for classes while I went home. I took the train first, then switching over to bus. But the bus stop had moved and I didn't figure out where according to the sign. So I asked a japanese lady and she explained, but she seems unsure if she could explain good enougn so she followed me there instead! She was so nice! Because of her I managed to catch my bus :) When I got home I worked out and studied for my test tomorrow. 

Tomorrow Jimmy is coming to visit after Uni  :D 

じゃ、またね！

＊ビッキー＊

Day 62 and 63: First Japanese Class and study group

Hello!

Wednesday 8th of April

So today I had my first proper day at TMU! Yay! Too bad it was soooo cold!!

But before I got that far I was late for school, haha! Since I take the same japanese class as 3 other at the Share Place we took the train together, but we somehow messed up. We took the wrong type of train, got off, but then we should have stayed on either way because the next train didn't go far enough... Yeah..

The fact that it was raining a lot and later snowing didn't help the situation... After finally getting to class we were 20 minutes late! Opss...

So first period is from 08:50 to 10:20 and today it's Japanese 4D. The teacher kind of scared me, because she was going so fast in class! That may be more of an issue for me, because I'm the one with the least amount of Japanese skills. We didn't have much time to think before anwering, and she decided who to answer next. A good thing is that we're not many in hte class, but it's no fun being called out to answer when you feel you need more time. It's a good thing to be pushed, because it forces you to pay attention and to try, but sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable. We went over many tasks and it seemed she didn't get to finish everything before the class ended (actually 10 min. over). So after the class, was a new Japabese class: 4E. I was thinking how this is going to go if every class is going to be this stressed. But for my relief the next class was a lot better! The teacher was calm, used her body language to explain (and a little english!) and we repeated the examples together and I really feel I had enough time to think. Luckely, we're having her 2 out of 3 classes :)

While having our lunch break for one hour we started on our homework :) I though I was going home, but  the others were going to a third class, that is not connected to the other two (D,E and A is connected). So I decided to join. This one was a talking lesson, because we got paired up 2 and 2, and then talked with a japanese person. But it was a little weird, because I didn't learn anything.. If you're going to learn through talking you need someone to correct you. But this didn't happen, and I KNOW I said a lot wrong... So I don't know if I'll join that class for credits...

After third period I went back to home and I was very tired! I did some more homework, and made some notes. Jimmy was so nice to keep me ompany while doing my homework ^_^

Urgh...So messy!

 Should probably write in hiragana to practice, but...oh well..

Some of my homeworks:

Since some of us don't have classes tomorrow we decided to have a study group tomorrow at 10:00 :) That I won't get too lazy~

Thursday 9th of April

Hello!
So today I was SOOOOO tired! Had some crazy nightmares.. But I still got up for our study group. Ate some breakfast and did some homework :)

This is the reading practise where you talk to a person on the other side of the room:

 This is actually a picture after studying for 2 hours, and I was about to take a nap. That's why my cute things are all neat and stuff. I got to do almost all my homework, I think I have 3 more tasks to do. I also need to study vocabulary for my test on monday!

Then I took a 2 hour nap, which was a very bad decicion... I was even more tired when I woke up. I tried to do some more Japanese tasks, but my brain didn't function properly... So after being braindead I decided to use my body instead and exercise :) I went for a jog which lasted about 50 minutes. I took some cute pictures along the way:

After jogging and taking a shower I met Jimmy at the station. We bought some dinner, cooked that and watched Supernatural in the teather room

Tomorrow I have 2 classes that are 4,5 hours apart...yay... 2nd period is Sustainable studies and 5th persiod is Social change in Japan. So between this classes I'm going to get a library card, which my mentor is going to help me with, and I'm having a health chech-up! Later we're going to have a party at the school, which actually collides with the 5th period....yeah....haha!

じゃ、またね！
*ビッキー* 

Day 61: Orientation at TMU + movie night

Hello!

I had toast and cereal for breakfast, because I'm addicted~ Then I made lunch for school; egg and salad sandwich. Then we headed for school 08:30. The train route sucks:

  I want to buy a bike and cycle to school instead. Too bad the weather is sucky too lately...

Either way...Today we had an orientation at the school that was from 10:00 - 11:40 and then a campus tour from 11:45 to 13:00. We got a lot of information, not too interesting and looked around at campus to see where the main things we're going to need is located.

This is the library:

 We went as a group, and I'm not going alone because I'm going to get lost...

After this we ate lunch, and the cafeteria here is pretty nice! They have many dishes to choose from and it's cheap.

But because I were a proper girl, I ate my homebrought lunch, haha! After eating some of us went to Tama-center station to stop at the super huge daiso (100 yen store), bought some stuff and went home. On my way back I bough dinner and breakfast :) Then I made chechen and vegetables for dinner, worked out in my room and watched "Whisper of the heart" with the other in the teather room at 20:00. 

"Whisper of the heart" is actually based on the location of Seiseki Sakuragaoka, which is super cool! 

Tomorrow I'm going to attend the N4 Japanese Class. I'm pretty sure it's going to be too difficult, but I don't have anything else at TMU tomorrow, so why not try? If it's difficult I'll just attend the N5 from now :) Too bad I have to get up super early...