Back From Golden Week

Hello Everyone,



Today is my first day back in the office from Golden Week, the week-long Japanese national holiday. Now, I want to tell you all of the things I did, but, truthfully, the impetus for writing in my blog comes from something much more mundane.



I'm learning kanji right now. You know, kanji, the about 50,000 characters that exist as pictures, used instead of an alphabet. It's past time to start learning the "necessary" 2,000 for daily life. THEY ARE KILLING ME. I just got back and started reviewing on the kanji website I've been using. I'm "at" 534 kanji, but as of 2 minutes ago, I forgot about 112 out of the 254 I'm reviewing. Do you know how frustrating this is? Let's practice with your mental imagery. Imagine trying to butter a piece of toast. Now, pretend that the toast is actually a cat with camouflage running around a forest. That's how I feel. It's SO FRUSTRATING right now. And the part that makes it even more frustrating is that I'm just learning to recognize their English meanings, not the two different ways to read them, nor their changes when placed next to other kanji. I'll let you know that this is alphabet number 3 I need to learn for this silly language. FRUSTRATION!

Ok, now that that is out of the way, let me write about my awesome trip. I went to Yokohama (near Tokyo), Kyoto (the old capital), Nara (deer park -yes, I got attacked), Kobe (had some beef), and Osaka. It was a hell of a trip. And now I'm tired from all of that traveling.

**Author's note: I didn't realize I clicked the "save" button instead of the "post" button, so this wasn't put up when I wrote it last week. Gomen ne!