Sho mo nai!

Surprisingly well, I think

Is how I intend to answer the people who ask me how I did on the J-test today.

What is the J-test?
It's meant to be a practical test of your Japanese, an alternative to the government run JapaneseLanguageProficiencyTest, which is the more respected test, though it may not really show how communicative your japanese really is. The j-test is also cheaper and more frequent. four times a year versus once a year.

There are only two tests, and different from a pass or a fail, you get graded based on your ability to answer questions, and how well you answer (given that some of the questions have more than one right answer).

I had a late night friday at open mic, then an early morning saturday for PTA day, then out for dinner with Tsubaki, the rocker guy from my local Lawson's (think 7-11) and his friend. Then it was Ingrid's birthday party, and i had to show my face, how could I not? but I left at 11-ish and was home and in bed before one. Up this morning at 7:30 and I was actuall alright. I didn't feel drowsy in the test and the 2 hours weren't really a problem.

I even anwered most of the questions. There were some things I just really didn't know, but those were far fewer than I expected. I think the test will show that I am at the level I think I am. There's a lot of stuff I still dont know in the language, but I am far from lost when it comes to japanese. I feel like I was able to do my best and wasn't overwhelmed, so I am happy with how I did.

And for those of you who don't live in Tokushima, Ingrid is the owner of a little bar in the clud district that is frequented by more foreigners than probably any other bar in town. She seems to know everyone, and everyone seems to know her. Her birthday party was a swanky-ish formal dress affair at a largish club (by tokushima standards). LOTS of people were there. I was glad I turned up for my two little hours, and a little sorry that I couldn't have stayed longer. Oh yeah, and there was food which included chicken wings and tacos. Now, that was to my mind weird food for an event that asked for formal clothing, but when you consider how rare chicken wings and tacos are in Japan, or at least our corner of it, I guess that makes it swanky-ish food after all.

posted by Fletcher @ 9:26 p.m.