Batman the Cat

A few days ago somebody left an abandoned kitten on the stairs of our apartment. No one talked about it, but everyone just kind of got together to help take care of the cat. One guy put out a sofa for it, another guy gave it his shirt to keep him warm and a bunch of people kind of take turns buying him food and milk. However, I felt really bad having him sleep outside for multiple reasons. The biggest reason is that it's dangerous. The crows here are very big and we've seen them attack and kill full grown stray cats in a 1v1 fight. If a crow attacked the kitten, it would die for sure. Another reason is that on a cold day, some of the guys put the kitten in the hood of their car next to the battery to keep him warm. I thought that was fine, until I notice they would put him in there on really hot days as well and the kitten would just cry in there because it's so hot. That's why I bought a litter box yesterday and I'm keeping him in my room; at least at night. That was the crows won't get to him and hopefully the guys who like to put him in the hood of the car will already be at school by the time I let him out of the house in the morning.

We named him Batman cuz he has black ears that resemble the Batman mask.

JLPT n3 prep

The other two exchange students and I decided that we will take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) in July. The test is offered twice a year, having 1 in July and the other in December. There are 5 levels with 1 being the most difficult and 5 being the easiest. We decided that with our level of Japanese skill it would be best for us to take the n3. All of us are pretty bad with kanji and that is a huge part of the test. Because of that we've been struggling lately. As I'm sure anyone who has studied Japanese or Chinese would understand, you frequently forget new kanji that you have learned. Anyway, we're studying and plan to do our best on the test!

Exchange student BBQ

Last week we had a bbq with the English speaking exchange student from the other university. It was really fun! Some of the guys took a trip to Misawa a bit prior to this and bought lots of American food in advanced and so we had burgers and hotdogs and steaks. There were also a couple of Japanese friends who came and so it was nice sharing American food with them. We ended up eating a lot and taking a lot of pictures so it was a really fun day with a nice balance of both English and Japanese speaking.

Music club

Yesterday there was a mini concert put on by the music club in the studio. No one told us when the concert started, so by the time we got there we were only able to see the last band perform. However, since we know quite a few people in the club they invited us out to their dinner party. We went to a place called Bancho, which is a pretty great all-you-can-eat place with quite a bit of variety and only cost about $20. After dinner we all went out for karaoke. The music club members are a great bunch of people and I'm really glad to have met them.

Cherry Blossoms

It's cherry blossom season right now. This year is exceptionally cold, and so they bloomed a few weeks later than they normally do. They also didn't stay pink for too long and quickly turned to white, but they're still very pretty to look at! Yesterday I went to Goryokaku Park with some friends. There are so many cherry blossom trees there it's awesome! The park is a really popular place for cherry blossom viewing. Not only is it a nice park with lots of cherry blossoms, but you're also allowed to have a bbq and little parties there as well! They light up lanterns at night so that's pretty cool as well. Too bad it's too cold at night to stay out and enjoy the night view.

Nice people

I noticed that the middle aged group and older people are about 100x nicer than the younger people. For example, the other day I was walking home and I passed a place where I got my haircut once. The hairstylist who was in his 30s invited us to a party he was having that night. We stayed for a long time and there was a lot of good food and we made lots of new friends. And I've only met this guy once! One of the student teachers at the adult school for learning English gets taken out to dinner by his students all the time. If you're looking for really nice people, looking for the ones that are older than you!

Brain farts

I've had so many brain farts since I got to Japan. They happen really frequently now. Simple Japanese that I use all the time will sometimes not come out at all. It's a really discouraging thing. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that even though it may not feel like it, your brain is working very hard to be able to speak in another language. Your brain never stops working if you're always speaking in another language and if it doesn't get any rest, it will just stop working when you need it to. If you ever study abroad in a place where English isn't spoken, make sure you give your brain ample rest time! But at the same time you can't give it too much rest time and allow it to become lazy. You need to find that perfect balance or work and relaxation.