Current mood:	amused
Current music:	Vibrate- Outkast

Caligraphy!
Today I went to Japanese and there was a calligraphy writing class. All the old ladies ooh and aaaahed at my writing and I thought they were just bull shitting until the instructor checked my writing and wrote notes on it. I was the only person in class who got notes from the instructor. I was sort shocked that she wrote such nice things so I didn't show it to anyone and pretended like I didn't understand what she wrote ^^ I was being Japanese and being humble but on the internet, I can be American and show all my friends! XD I'm in a rush so I didn't put the writing in order and I didn't flip one picture. I've gotta get to work but I wanted to get this up because I know I wouldn't get around to it later when laziness sets in ^^ My romaji SUCKS so even though I can read it and say it I may have written in Janglish incorrectly. lol.

This is the character for fire written twice. I forgot how to pronounce it but when I said I wanted to write "Fire" (hi) they gave me this instead. I'm not sure what the significance is either but the more fire, the better! The instructor wrote, "You write the characters very well."


This is the character for the word "star" (hoshi). It must have sucked because I didn't get a comment. It was the last character I painted.


This is the character for "water" (suyu). This one got the best compliment. I really was surprised she wrote what she did because it's difficult to gain praise from instructors of this level. She wrote, "Your writing (looks like/is better than/is as good as-- the word 'yori' always trips me up. I have a difficult time translating it) as a Japanese person's."


And here they all are. I'm going to nab some black construction paper from work and mount them ghetto style tonight. Then I'm going to hang them in my living room.

I wish I had the money to take Japanese culture classes. I love traditional writing and kimono and I wish I could take classes in both. Oh well, if I get stuck here I probably will have time at some point...heh. I'm already half way stuck here. I left and came back. There's only one more step involved in being stuck here for good. I dunno, I love Japan and yet recently I've found myself hating it too just because of the stigma that comes with being a foreigner and being completely on the outside of everything always. I think I just need to take some classes and study the language more but even then I'll still be on the outside, just not as much.

Oh well, Japanese culture is fun. I wish I had more time and money and language skills to enjoy it. If I get a 2nd job I won't have time but at least I'll have money and that's a start...

OK, I'm going to work and then I'm going to e-mail my pictures to Masa because he'll think this is cute :)