My first day of school Spring 2012

My first day of school and all classes are called off after 3rd period because of a crazy storm...
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-03/japan-s-strongest-storm-since-1959-forecast-to-slam-into-tokyo

I got home before any of the rain began to pour, but it's very windy outside right now. In Japan, class gets called off when it rains. Not when it snows.

I at least had my main class this morning, though.

My class consists of 8 people, all guys except me and Hinata. In walks our Tuesday teacher, and me and and Hinata turn to each other in shock: "IT'S A BOY"

His name is Tsugano-sensei and he's my first male Japanese teacher. Being that I think only about 3 teachers out of the Japanese program staff are male, this is a rare opportunity. Being surrounded by males is a little intimidating...Especially since I'm used to the opposite pattern--mostly girls, few guys.

But then, he opened his mouth and started speaking.....and I just about died. Because his voice is just so nice. It reminds me of a voice actor I know...At the beginning of the class, I was so enraptured by his voice that I couldn't concentrate on the lesson, but as time progressed, I was able to calm down and think school haha....

But putting all of that aside, he seems to be a really cool teacher. I especially appreciate the fact that he recognized at the beginning of the class that everyone in the class is intelligent and he treats us all as adults rather than looking down on us and treating us like little kids--as a foreigner, I get that too much here. But I suppose it can't be helped. Most people don't know what it's like to have to communicate in a different language in a different country and a different culture. And thus, I feel that Tuesday classes will be good.

Content-wise, the class is quite unique. We listen to a cd line per line without reading the textbook, but simply by looking at the vocabulary lists as cues. And the cd will say a line or two and the teacher stops the cd and asks, "ok, repeat what the guy in the tape just said; what's the subject, what's the predicate of the sentence?" Especially since my memory is so bad that I can barely repeat what I said myself just a few seconds before, this way of learning is torture. Hopefully with time, I can improve, though. And I can see how this learning method can be effective.

Tomorrow, I have no class, but it's time for crazy prep work for Thursday. Now I know what to expect, so I know a bit better how to prepare. This class isn't as overwhelming as level 7 was grammar and vocabulary wise. I felt we learned super fast in level 7 and I was thrust into a high level all of a sudden from my 1 year of study at UMD. Grammar and vocabulary wise, I've already learned most of it in level 7. I feel like this level 9 class is more focused on the organization of sentences. When you listen to something, think not only of the meaning, but of how the sentence is structured. If you think this way, you'll be able to think this way eventually on your own and reproduce sentences in a properly structured manner. I think that's what this class is trying to teach us.

It's a new style of learning for me and it's not going to be easy, but here I go~☆