Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Still Alive (#1)

Hello dear readers!

  
Well, if there are any of you, I just figured I'd let you know that I'm still alive.  No, I haven't yet choked on Miso Soup or died as a result of underdone Sushi; in fact, the food here is amazing.  Just sayin'.


I will keep this post brief, as it is almost 2:00 (that's AM for my 12-hour clock friends) and I haven't the will nor the patience to put together a proper post.  However, I thought I would share a little something with you guys.


On Friday of last week, one of my teachers, Okada-sensei (岡田先生), pulled me aside between classes to talk with me.  He spoke to me only in Japanese, which I often fail to understand completely.  He was saying something about the school's speech contest, and how he thought I would do a good job at it.  I was surprised - I looked at him and said 「本当に?」 (hontō ni), which basically means "Are you serious?"  Still, at this point, I thought he was telling me that he was just considering me, and that he was going to think about it.


So I went back to class at the end of the break.  I took a seat at my desk, only to hear Okada-sensei ask me to stand up, at which point he announced to the class that I would representing our class by writing a speech for the school's speech contest.  I'm sure the look of shock and horror on my face spoke volumes to the rest of the class - I often feel as though I am the weakest Japanese-speaker in my group.  Nevertheless, Okada-sensei was adamant that I would be presenting.  So, on top of my regular homework, I have to write a speech - in a language I can barely speak - about what the future means to me, and how I think we can make it better.


Yeah - I have my work cut out for me.

5 comments:

  1. Use this to present the Gospel to them bro.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The teachers have to check the speech. Plus, I don't know how to say that in Japanese. XD

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks for posting Matt! It's good to have some news, but what is the bug about... is he a room mate?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats and good luck with the speech. You'll do great. Suggestions: understand the audience, pick three main points, start strong, finish strong, and don't bore them in the middle. Don't write the speech for you, but for them. And remember to smile and have fun. I'm proud of you my Son.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why am I not surprised that this is happening to you? :)

    ReplyDelete

Leave your comments here, if you have that much time.

You can use HTML tags like bold, italics and links if you get really bored.