But I feel great!
I had a schedule planned, right? Well, it kinda didn't work out for me lol
Waking up at 5am to walk was a great idea and all, but after a week I decided that 5am is wayy too early for me to wake up on this vacation. I mean, I was waking up at 5:30am MONDAY-FRIDAY (sometimes weekends too) when I was in Albany just to get ready for work. Not to mention I did the same thing while classes were in session. NO. I'm done with that bullshit. I rather stay up late and wake up sometime between 9am and 10am.
So I quit that.
As for jogging with my dog, I think it's been going on two weeks now. Yep, I'm still at that one! At first I wasn't doing it in the morning though, and instead waiting until around 6pm to take her. But now that has changed! Believe it or not, I always told myself that 'I hate to run, jogging isn't even an option', so I never have gone and done it. And what even surprised me, I actually LIKE to jog!
So with my own free will, I'm actually jogging with my dog TWICE a day. Once in the morning as soon as I wake up around 9-10am and then again sometime between 4pm-7pm. I actually want to jog. What annoys me though is that my dog is beginning to give up on me. Since I wasn't used to the whole jogging thing at first, I began to pace myself and my jogs gradually became longer. Now when we reach the last stretch, I have to pull her along which is just more pressure on my end to keep up my pace without slowing down. She needs to exercise, whether she likes it or not, she's coming with me and enduring the jog. lol
Studying Cantonese.... ahaaaaahaa...
Let's not get into that topic.
See, I kinda figured myself out in a way. I need more than just self-help.
I either need to be in a classroom with a teacher and interactive learning or I need to be immersed to the point I have no other choice but to do it myself and HAVE to use it. This is how I was before I went to Japan as well. And that's what I remembered.
Before the Rotary Club's exchange program became a thought in my mind, I wanted to learn Japanese and so I tried to teach myself. Even after that, when I was accepted, I got Rosetta Stone, tried to study again on my own.... but other than the basics, I couldn't retain anything. I wasn't using the skills I learned nearly enough and had little to no interactions with native speakers. So, I just couldn't do anything.
And that's what I feel it is now.
When I was studying Cantonese a few months back, I tried hard to keep the words retained. I reviewed my flashcards, posted entries in Lang-8, I really tried all I could. But I couldn't get it to stick. It really hurt to feel like all these goals I wanted to be able to reach when I get there, like getting a part-time job, etc. couldn't really happen right away.
But what I also noticed is how easy I can retain new information after the point of learning more than the basics. I remembered back to when I was in Japan and when my host mother asked me something, I was using the correct intransitive/transitive verbs that I studied so hard. But the one thing that surprised me the most was when we were cleaning the classroom after school and my homeroom teacher asked me something. I responded 「二番めの...」(the second one...).
And I didn't even realize what I had done until he mentioned it. And I'll never forget that, because I was so proud of myself, I felt so happy that I did something I didn't prepare myself for.
It might sound like nothing to you, but it meant a lot to me. What I did was use the word 「め」(me). Using it in this way indicates a specific place. But, I never taught myself how to use that. I must have adapted it from listening to the people around me. And that's when he said to me, "Your Japanese has really improved, hasn't it."
I felt so fuzzy and happy when he said that to me and also realizing why that was.
So, I decided to let the Cantonese be for now. When I get there I'll be able to catch on, and with enough hard work, unlike what I did in Japan, I can learn a lot more faster. What's instead more important is to concentrate on studying more Japanese. I'm trying to enter into a 400 level class in HK which is probably out of my league considering how tough language classes are over there, along with their pre-knowledge of a large amount of kanji since birth. I might have to drop to the 300 level, but I want to at least give it a shot. Japanese is easy for me to retain once I put my heart into it, unlike the lazy studying I did for the classes and tests. And I have the perfect solution.
I'm not only writing my blogs in Japanese for my Japanese friends, but also for myself as self-improvement. I learn new vocab and grammar structures, and I'm keeping up with it. The new thing that I've started, today is day4 of it, is reading my entire collection of my Sailor Moon mangas. I've had my collection of the Japanese mangas for a while now but I've actually never sat down and seriously read them. And I AM a huge Sailor Moon fan. How can I live through this if I haven't read the mangas once? ESPECIALLY IN JAPANESE!
So I planned it out. Everyday I will completely translate one book. There's 18books total in the series plus an additional SailorV manga that is complete with 3books. Then I have one "omake" book which I may or may not get to. I was watching the entire series over again, but then I thought I could just watch those in HK since I have them downloaded but what I can't do is take my books with me. If I do take a book, it will be the 'omake' book. I have 22days left in America and a total of 22books to read. I'm already on book4 though so that makes 18 more to go. I'm writing down every word I don't know and/or can't remember and then making flashcards for each volume.
I'm a slow reader at manga. Even when I read English manga it would take me about 3hrs because I take in every detail. So considering this is being translated (looking up the word I don't know then writing it down with its meaning, rereading the sentence/speech bubble more than once to make sure I fully understand what's being said), it's taking me a really long time to do. It takes up most of my day, actually. So all I do is wake up, jog, eat breakfast, read, eat lunch, read, jog, take a shower, eat dinner, read, sleep. And it continues into the next day. I would also like to mention that my portions of food are also small (sometimes I skip lunch though) because of my lack of movement and because I am trying to lose weight. And because it takes me awhile and if I have any other distractions throughout the day, I tend to stay up till 3am-4am until I finish the book.
But it's so worth it.
I've never felt so happy than I have been these past four days this entire summer and I feel so much more accomplished than I have been because I'm learning so much too and working out for my body, it's amazing.
I woke up today so excited to start translating again. I went for my jog, and now I'm quickly typing this up to explain why I feel so great. I love Sailor Moon so much, and the manga is so different, it's actually a very addicting read, I'm not getting bored at all! The manga has a slightly different story line (but kinda better compared to the anime) and it is soooo much more romantic too!! It actually might be a reallyy bad thing for me ahahaaa, I tend to dream a little too much.
My favorite is Sailor Venus, Aino Minako♥ She really is my role model. I know that's really crazy to say but I love her personality and I feel like my admiration (or probably better to say 'boy crazy') for guys probably came from liking that quality of her's too. We're kinda similar in the end. I want to be like her. Funny, (sometimes perverted), easily love-struck, and cute. And in the manga she's a much stronger leader than they portray her to be in the anime! I want to be like that too, strong and more leader-like instead of a follower. Unfortunately she is fated to have a cursed love life just like me too ahahahaaaa
(That's what the psychic told me when I went to see one in Albany).
And another awesome thing is looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking, 'wow, I'm getting thinner and healthier, my body looks great (except for the part where I lack the presence of a 'womanly' chest....).'
Watch out, HK! UWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA
lol ;p
Watch out, HK! UWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA
lol ;p
It's a good thing I decided to quit smoking. If I was still in Albany, I probably would have gotten much more addicted that I should have been, since I was always smoking with my co-worker. My lungs would probably not handle the running after so long^^
I really do hope I can keep jogging in HK. I'm just worried about the heat. If anything stops me, it'll be that. But I would reallyyyy like to continue this habit and jog the track field every morning if I can, you know, meet some cute guys ♥lol
But I'm wasting too much time here! I have to read!
This screenshot is from the SailorStars (5th) season. moments like this, is why I love her :)
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