Attempting to be social

Good morning.

Yesterday was Friday and I had class. After class, I went to Hiyoshi campus and read manga in the manga club. One of the guys in charge wants me to submit manga or an illustration for the monthly magazine so I think I will. The Korean exchange student I met last time invited me to play the board game they were playing, but unfortunately I had to leave right then to go to the conversation club kick off party.

The party was fine. We had to fill out a introduction sheet by asking people around the room so I was able to speak a little with lots of people. Actually, in my 7 level class, we're pretty much learning how to be social. At the beginning of class on Wednesday, the teacher set up a scenario where she and I meet on a train and I had to keep talking. But if I'm bad at talking to people in English, how am I going to be any better in Japanese? So we are being taught conversation techniques that can come in handy even when I go back to the United States...So using some of that, I was able to talk a little bit more than usual.

Then, I came home with Stephanie and we hung out in the 3rd floor kitchen and I talked a lot with this guy named Juan. He's from El Salvador so we spoke Spanish together. It had been a while since I had spoken so much Spanish...so it was practice! He's really nice. Plus, he's friends with Aoi Oppa~ who came later! And Aoi Oppa got hungry so I tagged along with Juan, this Brazilian guy, and Aoi Oppa on a midnight adventure to McDonalds.

Aoi Oppa got the big mac (which is actually tiny compared to America...) and Juan got an apple pie.

It was fun! I got to speak a lot of Japanese with Aoi Oppa and just speaking with him was really fun. Of course Juan and Mateus spoke Japanese with us too. Today was probably the most I've spoken Japanese in a while...Many Japanese people are antisocial, I think. Or rather, they are afraid/too proud to speak to foreign people. Aoi Oppa said that he tries to say hi to Japanese in the dorm and he's often ignored. Even though he's Asian, Japanese can tell that he's foreign? Perhaps because we were all foreigners, it was easier to talk. To commemorate our night out, I said k let's take a picture.

Juan, me, and Aoi Oppa (aka Soon-san).

And so ends my very busy, trying-to-be-social day.

Good night.