一寸涼んで来い (chotto suzundekoi)

Sensei forgot the "late" homework in his office, so today started off with a group exercise followed up by a quiz. The exercise had each group respond to various questions about knowing certain things like The Ring, Miyazawa, etc. Our answers are as follows (sorry, I'm not writing the questions):

１） ホラー映画です。
２） どうがかです。
３） オリブガーデンはイタリアﾉのレストランです。
４） どんなか知っていません。
５） 何処か知っていません。
６） 女の人です。
７） Ｓｈｙ　Ｐｅｒｓｏｎ
８） マニアックな人です。
９） Ｌａｚｙ　Ｐｅｒｓｏｎ
１０） いなば先生は優しくて飲むのが好き先生です。

When we got to number 2 about Miyazawa, people started recommending anime by him. I was just too late to recommend the Castle of Cagliostro Lupin III movie.

The rest of the class period was used up by the kanji race. 無敵　（むてき） went up three times apparently >_> In the end it was a tie. That's like the third in a row... wtf?

Since AJ was absent today, there isn't a picture today. Sorry.

全速力 (zensokuryoku)

Once again, the day started off with a quiz. We've used ぶちょう so many times in this quiz already that it surprised me that I didn't remember the kanji for it at all. I'll practice more so as to not let down that one group in the back corner next time.

AJ brought up a good point. We're both starving and the water I'm drinking just doesn't cut it. I'll probably get some pesto from sbarro's (sp?) later.

We're currently going over page 170 exercise 4 right now in the textbook where we have been involved in a car accident and have lost our memories. When the doctor is asking us questions, we're supposed to respond with "I have no clue" using ～かどうか.

９）どこに住んでいますか。
どこに住んでいるか分かりません。

Nancy got Mango Mantra from Jamba Juice. She thinks they gave her the wrong one though (mango a go go). Damn, I should get some of that later, but curry house is having a 4.99 special later today...

Now we're doing something involving gipsy's. I tried asking our fortune teller Nancy what kind of future AJ was going to have, but she kept saying that we're supposed to ask about ourselves... yes, on a blog post like this that question is pretty ambiguous, eh?

AJ's question after that was "What am I going to eat for dinner tonight."

Now he's giving me crap about drinking water and it not being filling at all. What a jerk.

Before class ended, discussion changed to the という mechanic which is used to relate new things to people who may have never heard of something before, etc.

And, as a closing, here is a picture that relates our group's current condition:

Mr. Drinking Piss Water blah blah blah....

... is the quote of the day thanks to our gracious spokesperson.

We got our tests back today, Nancy got a 98... damn her... Renee and I both got the same, below average score... and AJ didn't fare so well so perhaps that will reflect in his drawing today.

The lecture today primarily discussed usage of "~という" to describe things. It's used to clarify things and shouldn't be used to say "I like the food called bread. It's great! We eat it! We love it!"

Following that was pre-masu "～やすい" and "～にくい":

「あさ」はいいやすいです。
「あたたかい」はいいにくいはずです。

Next up was last Friday's homework "～ないで':


Laziness counter:
Renee:
I
Nancy:
I
AJ おじさん:
III
AJ :
I


I had a feeling that today's drawing had something to do with me so I intentionally messed with the focus!

Humble Expressions -- 2

I ended up missing hangman because I overslept =\

Contributions from our group today:

20-3 (I) Nancy (親分)
4. When the department manager goes on a business trip, I lend my camcorder.
部長は出張に行く時、ビデオカメラをお貸しします。
行く－＞いらっしゃる時　- Because it's the 部長's action, it should use honorific.
は－＞が - Something about changing the first part into a subordinate clause.
部長が出張にいらっしゃる時、ビデオカメラをお貸しします。

Neat little tidbit: humble form of aru "ある"
X おありになりますか (as stated in book)
O～がおありですか
O～（を）お持ちですか

Sorry, no pictures today - AJ didn't draw any.

See you next week.

Having Lots of Orgies

We started off today by reciting introductions for a company.

Brandon listed the title as one of his "hobbies".

Discussion transitioned to usage of the humble form (eg: お会いします).

WE DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ALL DAY!

Renee wants to point out that Takeshi's boss sexually harasses him. The following picture is proof!


And of course, a drawing from our group's spokesperson...

Sadistic Bastards

We started class off today with everybody in class attempting to murder some poor bastard in a game of hangman.

As we try to delay his execution by requiring random features like eyes, mouth, hair, etc, I began to wonder if people realized that they were calling out the same syllables or not.

It was only when the poor bastard had almost no parts left to draw that it was found out that our teacher neglected to put a crucial き on the board when it had been called earlier. So thus, the man with a death sentence lived due to a technical error.


The main discussion today are Extra-modest Expressions (ていねいご).

AJ needs to find Japanese study sessions so he can study. He has a bunch of Japanese friends but they don't have time for him, apparently.

Renee hates her used book... because all the answers are written in it. I wouldn't mind if the answers were all in my book...

AJ is once again going off on a tangent about random crap and money. ("WHATEVER!")


While practicing these expressions, Renee noticed something interesting in this picture. I'll just leave this here.








Up next we practice asking and saying things politely. I made the mistake of using extra-polite when I should have been using honorific verbs to ask what a person's name is:

お名前はなんと申しますか vs. お名前はなんとおっしゃいますか

Somehow discussion shifted to ask (politely) if someone has an older sister. It became only slightly awkward as discussion drifted to asking for her number and if she has a boyfriend. To make it slightly less awkward we are supposed to say "do you have siblings" "兄弟がいらっしゃいますか'

AJ is drinking some disgusting sewage water known as Ramune. I'm surprised he hasn't choked on that marble yet. It's all good though, water is better for us anyways... right, Nancy? Nancy? ...

As a closer, here is another drawing from our group's picasso.

Friday the 13th

We started class off with a test.

It was easy for the most part except the matching was a pain and I couldn't remember the bottom part of 夏

AJ was D average for all his tests before.

We are reviewing a letter right now on page 287 in genki.

小野様 = ono sama

1)The person says the weather in london is continuing to be cold and asks how the weather in tokyo is.
(Weather - Mine -> Yours)
He was thinking of writing sooner but, because of classes, it ended up taking 3 months.
(Apology - Present/Past)

2) While studying abroad he was greatly in xyz's care. He didn't know japanese at first and it was an uneasy experience, but thanks to the host parents he got good at japanese. Thank you for teaching me about the japanese language and lifestyle and various other things.
(Debt + Thanks + Change)

Wow, time's up. We're pretty slow at this.

3) Reminiscence, ongoing, value.

4) Plans, building, laying groundwork, future.

5) Hello to ereryore (yes, that's what's written on the board - something about kanji and bits and pieces...), take care.

Now we're going over another letter on 289...

AJ didn't learn any kanji in his last japanese class so he's getting destroyed, apparently.

1. Self-intro, apology, reference
2. Purpose/Background
3. Questions/Concerns
4. Apology/Plea

Also, AJ stole my workbook some time last week and neglected to mention it until today. Thanks.

Homework is 20-1 and 20-2 for monday. Letter is due friday.

AJ + 3

Today in class, we started off with checking kanji cards.
Nancy, Renee, and AJ all had these flash cards on keyrings.
Despite that, AJ remembered only 1 and 3/4 of the kanji on the quiz today.

After that, AJ started drawing.
Instead of doing work as usual.













We're currently working on a seemingly hard worksheet and Nancy is writing all these crazy kanji so nobody else can read it according to AJ.

Just now, AJ confirmed that you aren't supposed to use めしあがる for the keigo verison of "to drink" but rather お飲みにいらしゃる.

AJ messed up with the report because someone forgot to write the last part down...

That's all for today. Excuses are flying around the group. good night