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| JET Adventures 29 - Japanese Proficiency Exam |
| Sunday, December 04, 2005 |
Okay, so not exactly an adventure as such. But the Japanese Language Proficiency Test is a pretty big event here because you can only take it once a year. Practically everyone I knew was taking it, at varying levels of difficulty. I was taking the easiest one *flex*, but if I do well in it and am still here next year I'll try for the next level up, which is rumoured to be hardcore. I only know a couple of people who have done the highest level where you're more or less fluent - although there is the legend of Lou who came here with zero Japanese ability and passed it with flying colours after only 2 and a half years.
Actually it went pretty well, considering I'd done very little studying. The exam lasted from 9.45am until 2pm, but there was only an hour and a half of actual exam time, the rest was - in traditional Japanese bureaucratic style - waiting around for absolutely no reason whatsover. Now I just have to wait until February for the results. The most entertaining part of the whole thing was the week leading up to the exam. I'd take my notes into school and the teachers would be fascinated by my awful kanji and terrible grammar. I'd ask them questions and they'd all have a big argument about god only knows what - Japanese teachers vs social studies teachers vs maths teachers, all good fun.
Although they don't really 'do' Christmas in Okinawa (it's a normal working day), they give each other presents, play godawful Christmas music, and have the most gaudy decorations possible:
This tree would play various Frank Sinatra 'classics' at top volume, cutting each one off halfway through to provide some kind of twisted Sinatra medley. My friend Jenny (the one in the picture) and I had to endure 10 minutes of this torture while waiting for Nick here.
The custom on Christmas day is to have a big bucket of KFC chicken and to buy a birthday cake for baby Jesus. This sounds awesome. I'm intending to buy the biggest bucket they have, with an icecream cake for Jesus, and watch the whole second series of 24 in my underwear. |
posted by Alice @ 2:32 pm  |
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