HELP ME OUT, SEARCH MY LIGHT, PLEASE TAKE ME BACK HOME

After studying (read: reviewing) 150 kanji all week for my Advanced Japanese midterm, I've somehow lost the ability to talk in English.

Okay, so it might seem like hours of thinking in another language would push your native tongue out of your memory (temporarily, of course), but usually speaking and writing in Japanese only furthers my consciousness of my own language.

Not today. The first signs of trouble? Prepositional phrases. Being "in" work instead of "at," for example. This wouldn't have been so bad had I not needed to schedule interviews for the Daily News' "Best of BSU" issue. I probably sounded like a bumbling idiot who couldn't speak English.

Sigh. The disadvantages of working two different majors - both somewhat time-consuming - in two different languages.


HOWEVER, for my friends who think learning Japanese is much too difficult to even consider, ponder this: The Japanese have borrowed thousands of words from the English language. By being a speaker of English, you automatically have a Japanese vocabulary of more than 6,000 words. Granted, you'll need to know how to tweak the pronunciations so that the words fit into the Japanese katakana writing system (which indicates that a word is not of Japanese origin), but hearing someone say "HAM-BAA-GAA" shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

Just in case, it means "hamburger."

On the Sapporo front, I'm still waiting for my student visa certificate. Until then, Jessica, Kellie and I will be hosting a Japanese movie and snack fest soon. Fifty-two days until our flight leaves. I WANT THIS SEMESTER OVER NOW.

Right now, I feel like I'm grasping onto whatever I can find that reminds me of that favorite foreign country of mine. (NOTE: I have an obsession with the narrow streets in Japanese neighborhoods. Is this a random fact? Yes. I just want you to be warned if I get too excited while watching a J-dorama.)


And finally, as usual, my current ear (and eye) candy: KAT-TUN's "Rescue."

Click here for the HD version on YouTube.