能力試験、終わった。

結局、I never really wrote an entry about the Kii Hantou trip. I guess what I said before, which is that was simply one of best weeks I hope to ever spend, is enough.

Highlights from June, based on other things I've been writing down:

• Saw the movie 告白 (Confessions) in theater. It was quite good! Though totally different from what I expected (I think the movie posters were intentionally misleading - but I think I like the kind of movie it was more than sort of thing it was advertised as, anyway). That I was able to understand it so well was even better.
• More earthquakes~
• Carpal tunnel auuugh studying hurts so many parts of my body
• After much sweating, as Yaguchi sensei didn't reply to my email, and still didn't, and still didn't, I finally ended up going with Robert (of Chicago, not of AIKOM) and his mother to Takayama for a couple days. Included were exciting times at Nagoya station, finding that the last direct train to Takayama had already left, three-story portable shrines, a Higurashi-esque village, a lot of cicadas actually crying, onsen, snow-capped mountains, wasabi-flavored soft-serve, the longest ropeway (cable car) in Japan (in Asia?), and much more.
• Robert then stayed in the dorm with me for six days or so! Highlights include karaoke (kind of a failure, but kind of a success), my (and his, I guess) first real venture to Akihabara (...kind of a failure, but kind of a success), a return to Kasai-Rinkai Kouen (and its Ferris Wheel), and spending, together, over 8000 yen at Book-Off.
• Getting a little more decisive about the future, and finding that law school is probably not where it's at.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y77_v4WgAGk There's been a lot of talk about goodbye parties and the end of the AIKOM 15 exchange, etc. lately. Bawwwwww
• Heiwa Nakajima decided to give me another month of scholarship money, since I decided to stay until the middle of August. Unexpected 120000 yen? Yaaaaay~~
• It was kind of close (only a day or so to spare), but I met my goal of 2000 Anki cards (my main [and pretty much sole] engine of formalized Japanese study) by the end of June. +D
• Went with Chabashira to Kawagoe. +O It was... Not very impressive. XD+ I had a good time talking to people, though.
• Went with Bocca-sensei to Yokohama. Very much fun talking with people.
• Went with Boccha-sensei (actually my group was with Arai-san) on the "Magical Mystery Tour" yesterday, which turned out to be to list of sites in Shitamachi. The place Boccha-sensei recommended the most on our list of destinations was closed for renovations, but we got to eat local specialty cuisine, as well as popsicles in the park, so that was nice. Before this, I'd only ever really talked (or tried to talk, anyway) with Arai-san when he was drunk, and though he was still Arai-san when sober, I got to know a much more おとなしい side of him, which was nice. XD
  
• Talked a lot with Hatakeyama lately, and also made plans to go to Disney Land, about which he is apparently very 詳しい (he has a season pass +O )
• Was supposed to go Firefly viewing with Chabashira tonight, but it rained. D+

Also, today I wrote two short things in Japanese.
The first, written for fun (...holy cats, getting to a point where I can write for fun like this? FFFF)

先週、傘が壊れた。
友達が新しいのをくれたのに、
それも電車に忘れてきてしまった。
それから、試験の勉強で忙しくて、新しい傘を買い に行かなかった。
で、今日、
雨に降られた。

おわり。

Translated (needless to say, not as fun in translation, since nothing is):

Last week, my umbrella broke.
Although my friend gave me a new one,
I forgot that one on the train.
Since then, busy studying for a test, I didn't go to buy a new one.
And, today,
I got rained on.

The end.


And, second, about the test I took today that I've been studying for for so long...

今日、初めて日本語能力試験を受けた。気づいたらそんな公式な試験は４年ぶりだった。

いつも日本語で書かれている漫画を読んでいるおかげか、文章の理解はあまり難しくなかった。
よく日本人の友達・サークル のメンバーと飲み会に行っているおかげか、聴解も難しい問題はなくて済んだ。
でも文法・語彙はちょっと。。。　まじめな勉強は不足しているせいか な？笑

試験をとる前には、一番心配になっていたのは聴解だった。普段は読むことなどより、聞き取りが弱いと思うからだ。でも、取ったら、 逆に聴解は多分一番よくできたと思う。意外だったけど、文句はない。笑

多分（そんなに自信はないけど）合格ぐらいはできたと思うけど、合 格してないかもしれないし、合格だけじゃなく、点数も結構大事だそうだから、それはちょっと気になっている。でも、９月に結果がわかるから、その時まで、 今回の試験はともかく、勉強でがんばり続こう！

今日はN2（前の制度の２級とほぼ同じはずの）を取ったが、もし落ちても、１２月の試験 は、N1を狙おうと思っている！（間に合うかな？いや、信じればできるから。。。）

Translated:

Today, I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test for the first time. Thinking about it, it was the first time in four years that I'd taken such an official test.

Perhaps it was thanks to the fact that I'm always reading manga in Japanese that the reading comprehension section wasn't too difficult.
Perhaps it was thanks to the fact that I often go drinking with Japanese friends and club members that I also managed the listening comprehension section without any great problems.
The grammar/vocabulary section, though... Perhaps because my "serious" study is lacking? XD

Before taking the test I was most worried about the listening comprehension. This was because, usually, I think that, more than reading and such, my listening skills are weaker. But, after taking it, I think that I probably did best on the listening comprehension section. Unexpected, but I'm not complaining. XD

Probably (although I'm not all that confident), I think I at least passed, but I may not have, and besides passing, I've heard that the actual score is also pretty important, so I'm somewhat concerned about that. But, I'll know the result in September, so until then, putting this time aside, I'll continue studying hard! [argh there is no non-weird way to translate this into English that I can think of]

Today I took N2 (which is supposed to be about the same as 2kyuu in the old system), but, even if I failed, I now want to aim for N1 in December. (I wonder if I'll make it in time... No, if you believe, you can do it!)