May 7th, Classes Begin・５月７日、授業の開始

Interesting day, to say the least. Took the placement test, finished in about an hour, came back afterwards for the beginner Japanese class all the students who just took the placement test would jump directly into (basically just to put us in a class for the time being, because I think pretty much all of us BSU students are above that level) only to be told I was being taken to another class. Teacher who took me there questioned me on how long I've been studying Japanese, what textbooks I used, where I studied, etc etc etc. Was put in a level 3 (I believe? out of 4 total levels) class with a new teacher and they had me introduce myself and everyone else ask me questions etc. About 5 minutes after I arrived, another different teacher came in and whispered with the one teaching that class for maybe a minute, then the main teacher told me/the class that they were discussing my classes and asked how good I am at kanji, to which I stated not so great and it became immediately clear that that presented some difficulties in my class placement. The introduction/questioning continued and then class returned to standard programming.

Following the class, the teacher met with me and had me try reading a passage to gauge my kanji understanding, to which she gave basically the same reaction as before - though not stated directly, it was clear my kanji isn't good enough to take the level of classes they were hoping I could enter based on my language skills otherwise. Even so, it looks like I'll be placed in higher level conversation and grammar classes, while reading and writing may have to be on the same level as the conversation class I attended today. Or maybe not, who knows. I'll find out tomorrow when I meet with my advisor and sign up for classes.

Spent a bit of the afternoon meeting various new people, making plans, etc, then went and checked out the nearby Book-Off (for like the 4th time haha), picked up the book I ordered the other day, did some looking around at a big department store called Aeon? I think? and went to try the first of what should be many ramen shops. Check the album here for updates on my ramen-tasting adventures :P

今日は特に面白い一日でした。初めてアカデミックの事を札大でやって、日本語のプレースメント試験を受けた。１時間ぐらいで終わって、４０分後に今日みんなが取るBeginnerの日本語のクラスに行ったら、先生に別の授業に行くと言われてあの授業まで移動された。移動中は「どのぐらい日本語を勉強してる」、「何の教科書を使った」、「どこで勉強した」、などを聞かれた。新しい教室に入ったら自己紹介してから他の生徒（知り合いでもw）に質問を聞かれた。質問タイム中、また別の先生が入ってきて静かな声で先生と１分間ぐらい話して、終わったら僕の授業の事についての話だという事が分かって、「漢字はどうですか」と聞かれたら一番苦手だと答えたらやっぱりそれは困るのがすぐ分かった。それから、また少し聞かれたりしてから普通の授業に戻った。

授業が終わったら先生と話して、漢字のレベルを評価する為に短い件を読ませた。前と同じ反応で多分大学の方々が僕に取って欲しかった授業は全部取れないというのが空気で分かった。それでも、会話と文法は今日より高いレベルのを取れて、今日と同じレベルのリーディングとライティングの授業を取るかもしれません。明日授業のスケジュールを作る時に分かる。

それから、SUICCで色々な人と会ったり、予定作ったりしてから買物。近くのブックオフでゲーム見て、アニメガで注文した本を買って、Aeon（名前は合ってないかも）で見たりした。買物終わったら、この札幌にいる時間にしてみたい「ラーメン冒険」と呼んでるのを初めた。あの詳細はこのアルバムに。では、また！