Hellishly tired and would really like to sleep but here I am typing away on my netbook. I know I haven't kept this blog alive for quite some time and now I'm being active again.
I celebrated CNY last night at our temple in Manila and was taken by my friends on a road trip to nowhere right after. Slept in a car and I was glad I brought a tooth brush and some change of undergarments. It was only in the afternoon when I finally got back home. I'm happy about getting to spend some quality time with my friends and it was a blast, but it really does take its toll on the body.
Last year, I have decided to commit myself in learning Japanese. To really improve my skill from where I left it a few years ago and a Japanese friend recommended a teacher. I happily organized a small class out of my friends to learn it once a week but I found that it wasn't something that I wanted so I searched for another option, of course there are many ways to skin a cat, I decided to look for ads online of people willing to practice their language with someone. So I found someone in Sta Rosa who was a Japanese and was interested in learning Filipino.
It was something that I never really expect would bear any sort of fruit and it was just a try whether it would work out or not. It took a few days to get a response and just when I thought my message didn't push through, she replied and we immediately set a date to meet in my hometown, a rather convenient place for me and for her.
This is my first experience with utilizing online language exchange sites. I've read about it when I was in Taiwan, how foreign men would not only get a language partner learning Chinese but also a partner in bed... of course it is a mutual kind of relationship.
It gave me a few laughs back then because it was something I had no idea about. Back then I didn't need a language partner to practice my Chinese on, we had classes and was most of the time with people who speak Chinese and were willing to correct my sentences when I braved the atmosphere to say something.
I was finally getting the hang of it and memorizing characters wasn't a bad thing but I questioned my ability with languages and if there's a new language I would like to add to my arsenal of fluently spoken languages, Japanese won out. I had to turn my back on Mandarin.
"I think you're an Otaku" Shino said, my language partner gauged.
"Really? You think so? What are Otakus anyway?" I replied, though I had an idea of what an otaku is, a person who is probably a geek who is interested in geeky stuff. Honestly, she wasn't too far off...
"Otaku is a person who looks forward for the weekend to watch animes or play videogames. They just spend their money on their hobbies like that until they're middle aged. But it is alright, we Japanese are proud of our Otakus." Shino answered.
I simply agreed and continued our studies together, but being labeled as an Otaku was a bit unsettling but I was fine with it. I know in a few days, I must really become an adult, must make commitments and prepare for a lot of things. I am not always an otaku, or will be...
I meet Shino once a week. At the same time and at the same place. It's been going on for months now. I can say that she's enjoying herself because she asked me to have dinner with her on our second meet, I guess I'm good company. I find that she is an agreeable and pleasant person to be with. Shino is not an Otaku, she prefers to go out into the wild and explore things on foot. Her interest in culture and art is rather insatiable and she has traveled half of the globe to satisfy her free spirit.
I consider myself very lucky to have met her. I'm giving myself three years to master Japanese.
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