Study, study, study!

We all start something new with the best of intentions, right? Well, I started 3 new things with the best of intentions all at the same time, and knowing my tendancy to favour doing nothing over doing something, I guess I was a little over-ambitious. New hobby nummber one, was to take up some serious Japanese study. Hobby number two was to pick up the running from twice a week to thrice a week. Hobby number three was to update this blog weekly.

The good news is that hobbies number one and two are coming along swimmingly! I'm actually paying money for lessons now, which is quite the motivation! So my little head is often stuck in my little 'Minna no nihongo' (Japanese for Everyone) text, trying to decipher kanji and strange Japanese-isms (literal translation is your enemy!!). And I even managed to run my way to shin-splints (not a good thing, but shows an increase in efforts!). The bad news is that there are not enough hours in the day for hobby number three. Well, that's just not true. Truth is that me and time management have never really been friends! But I'm trying...

So, only actually had one Japanese lesson so far, but my opportunities to speak Japanese have increased as I've had a few phone calls with the school (telephone Japanese - awful!), and I've recently started to do language exchange with a Japanese friend. So hopefully the confidence will grow! Last week's lesson was 'Hajimemashite' etc. etc. ('Nice to meet you' etc. etc.) and 'kono hon', 'sono hon', and 'ano hon' ('this book', 'that book', and 'that book over there'), which is nothing new but I still managed to mess up! This week is 'kaimono' ('shopping' - yey!), and 'jikan' ('time' - hate numbers!). Luckily my teacher has a sense of humour and seems to find my giggling endearing!

Wish me luck...