It’s been a while since the last update, and for that I apologise profusely - I’ve been really busy as a big essay was due this week and I hadn’t really got to grips with it until the last moment. Hopefully I managed to cobble something together that’s at least in English.

Last week we learnt about relative clauses, which means plenty of potential for hilarity. This is probably my most insane essay yet. Enjoy!

これは私の家でしたパーティーのしゃしんです。

私の家ぞくは4人といっぴきです。父と母といもうとといぬです。あかげの女の人は母です。今年、43さいです。週末子どもに花火をあげるしごとがある。来年のなつ休みにはちをはっしゃすることができる車でもんだいがいっぱいある友だちのエヅガーさんとカナダに行くつもりです。

母のとなりにたっている人は父です。3週前から、しろにすんでいます。父のしゅみは泳ぐことです。よくあひるをとることができる川で泳ぎます。父は泳ぐことを私におしえました。

ゆびわをしているいもうとはローズです。ゆう夜、私たちはスペイン語でアンジェリーナ・ジョリーさんと話すことができるクラブにいきたかったですが、ローズさんは16さいですから、クラブに行くことができません。ざんねんですね。

このいぬは海の中に生まれたケーピです。いつもげんきボーダコリーです。みどりのしゅくだいを食べることが大好きです。

私の家ぞくがいつもしんせつです。

This is a photograph of the party that was at my house.

There are four people and one animal in my family. My father, my mother, my younger sister and my dog. The redhead woman is my mother. This year, she is 43 years old. She has a job giving fireworks to children on weekends. In the summer holiday next year, she plans to go to Canada with her friend, who has lots of problems, in a car that can shoot bees.

The person who is next to my mother is my father. For the last three years, he has been living in a castle. My father’s hobby is swimming. He often goes swimming in a river where you can steal ducks. My father taught me to swim.

My sister Rose is wearing a ring. Last night, we wanted to go to a club where you can talk to Angelina Jolie in Spanish, but my sister is only 16, so we couldn’t go. It’s a shame isn’t it?

My family are always helpful.

It’s a little short this week, but I was up until about 1am the night before writing it, as I spent ages trying to work out how to sign plagarism forms for the essay I mentioned. This is however week 10 of 12, so in just two short weeks I will be free to run around like a stolen duck. Hurrah!

After not recieving an essay homework last week, I felt as if I’d let you, the reader, down, as I know everyone loves nothing more than sitting down on a Sunday evening and reading about what insanity Mike has got himself into this week. To redeem myself, today’s essay has two whole seperate parts! This week we learned about the plain form, which is a more colloquial speaking manner, as well as a style of writing commonly found in diaries. Our task was to write a diary for two days, and I thought I’d do it in my usual insane fashion. Nothing too bizarre this week.

Before I begin, I have good news. I was worried about the midterm exam, but I managed toget 86%, which is a First (The top grade, I’m not sure what it’s called in the US). Hurrah!

木曜日 、

毎週木曜日 、私の日本語のクラスは11じにはじまる。たいてい、あるいて行くが、きのうかぞくのうちにとまったから、バスで行った。でも、私のめざましが1じ間おくれているから、私はおくれた。
8週間おくらないでクラスに行っている。でも、今週の木曜日に、 ながい先生のクラスを休んだ。12じ10分前にクラスについた。はずかしかったよ。私には木曜日のぶんぽうがとてもむずかしかったから、クラスの後でともだちにきいた。
それから、ともだち ときっさてんに行った。きっさてんにかわいい女の人がいた。かの女はかみが長くて、ちゃいろかった。かの女と話したかったが、かれしがいた。ざんねんね。
6じにパブに行った。パブでベンさんにあいた。パブはあまりにぎやかではなかったが、とてもうるさかったから、好きではない。でも、パブの食べ物はやすくて、おいしい。私たちはカレーをちゅうもんした。でも、午後7じの後で、たくさんちんぴらがとうちゃくしたから、カレーを食べないで、パブを出た。

Thursday,

Every Thursday, my Japanese class starts at 11. Usually, I go by foot, but last night I stayed at my parents house, so I went by bus. However, my alarm clock is an hour slow, so I was late.
For eight weeks I’ve come to class without being late. But on this Thursday, I missed Ms. Nagai’s class. I arrived at 10 to 12. It was really embarrasing! For me, Thursday’s grammar was very difficult, so after class I asked my friend (about it).
After that, I went with my friend to a coffee shop. In the coffee shop there was a cute girl. Her hair was long and brown. I wanted to talk with her, but her boyfriend was there. It’s a shame.
At 6 I went to the pub. I met Ben there. The pub isn’t very busy, but it is incredibly loud, so I don’t like it. But, the pub’s food is cheap and tasty. We ordered curry. However, after 7pm lots of hooligans came into the pub, so we left without eating the curry.

金曜日 、

今日のじゅぎょうが1じにおわる。それ後でインフォメーション・コモンズで一人でピンクのしゅくだいをした。きのうのじゅぎょうを休んだから、とてもむずかしかった。それ後で、ともだちとゆうめいなクラブに行くつもりだったから、フランクさんはねこがびょうきだったから、くすりを買ったから、フランクさんのうちに行った。うちでテレビを見た。おもしろかったが、クラブに行ったことがありません。来週行くつもりだ。
フランクさんはりょうりが上手だから、おいしいピザを食べたから、さらをあらった。
しゅうまつしゅくだいをしたり、プールでおよいだりするつもりだ。

Friday,

Today’s class finished at 1pm. After it I did the pink homework on my own at the Information Commons. Because I missed yesterday’s class, I was really difficult. After that, I planned to go to a famous club with my friends, but Franks’ cat was sick, so we bought some medicine and went to Frank’s house. At his house we watched TV. It was fun, but I have never been to that club. I plan to go next week.
Frank is good at cooking, so we had some tasty pizza, then we cleaned the dishes.
On the weekend, I plan to do things like do my homework and swim in a swimming pool.

Some what of a random ending there, but I like it. None of this is true, of course. If it was, I’d be too busy performing emergency cat surgery to write this update.

December 2nd: Wow, I made a lot of spelling mistakes on this… I changed the ones I could find.

Having just completed week seven of my course at university, it’s time for us to face the ultimate challenge - the midterm examinations. On this coming Monday and Tuesday, I will be tested on listening, comprehension, grammar and Kanji. It’s somewhat worrying then that everything I seem to attempt to memorize goes in one ear and out the other.

Thank goodness, then, for jMemorize, which is a fantastic free flash card program. Basically, if you are willing to take the time to create ‘cards’, you can then flick through them relatively quickly, checking your knowledge of grammar and so on along the way. Whilst it is quite a simple program, it does have an awful lot of flexibility and various options to help you focus on particular parts of language.

Here’s an example of it in use. I’m using Darren’s flashcards, who is a guy from my course with far too much dedication and not nearly enough slacking off…

So there you have it. Sorry about the length of this update, it was just a break from copying out thousands of symbols over and over. If you’re wondering, the DIR EN GREY review will come very soon :)