6/6/12

My Experiance as a Living-in Nanny (for a Japanese Family)

 I might have mentioned in a previews post that I was going on working holiday to Utah.
Which is why I've been absent these past few weeks.
 I am still here until June 12th.
 I'm here to take care of a 3 year old for two weeks.
 (My previous teacher's son)
 He only speaks Japanese and understands very little English.
This forces me to speak in Japanese, but really just the basics.

 I have however, memorized words from constant use. Either new words or a conjugation of an old one I studied but never used. For example, I now have no difficulty to remember how to say 「上げて」
 I hear Japanese all day long between him and his mother.
I can understand a lot more now then when I arrived, but I still feel my speaking ability is just the same.

My flow of my reading-aloud ability has improved a bit from reading to him at least 30 minutes a day.
With some of the books I understand what is going on, while with others I'm not sure.
That's still a big improvement!

I don't think I'm learning as much as I could for a couple of reasons
. I can't always ask or look up words I'm constantly hearing.
 I don't have time to write them down. I hesitate to speak only in Japanese to his mother.
 I planned to study grammar and vocab with Erin's challenge while I'm here, and review Genki in my short breaks. My laptop went bust so those things are inaccessible. (I'm writing from an iPad)

 As important and great as it is to be immersed in a Japanese environment, I feel it can't work fully on its own. At least not for me. I need to study grammar and understand sentence structure.
And I always need to review. I need to look things up when I write in my journal.
I suppose I'm a little frustrated that my pre-study plans back fired, and that I will feel more behind when I begin my summer challenge when I return home.
And that I rely heavily on books. (and that I can't afford a new laptop)

 One cool thing though is that I've been going to a Japanese church here every Sunday.
 The meeting is a mix of Japanese and English, and the church community is made of not just Japanese. There's a lot of interesting people there. From people that experienced being in the Japanese camps, ni-sei and san-sei, Japanese major students, exchange student, and interracial couples.
I can see that even though most have forgotten how to speak Japanese, they are still very in-tune with their Japanese heritage.

 Everyone here is also very nice! I've been able to make a couple of new acquaintances, and have similar interests beyond Japanese. Yai!
 Tomorrow I will be meeting another Japanese.
I feel I won't speak out of hesitation. (story of my life)
 I have filmed my stay here so in some distant future look forward to that.