I have a bike again

There　seems to be a trend with people coming here once, and then returning　again at a later point. This is my third time here. The couple I　visited at 10,000 Waves spa in Sante Fe have been here at least 4　times. My friend Alex in Kobe was here at least twice. There is another　student who started the same day as I who is on his second time here.　Lots of repeaters.

That reminds me - the second time I was here, some　of the teachers called me "Peter Repeater". I guess they liked how they　could make it rhyme.

When I arrived in the dorms, I walked down the hall and bumped into a　guy from Korea who I had met when I was first here and has also　returned for some more studying.

Unfortunately, he was just finishing　his session, and is leaving today. But, this also helps me in that he　has given me the bicycle he was using.

This bike looks like it is a better bike than the prior Grandma's bike's I have had. For example, this one has 10 or 12 gears, where the prior ones were at most 3.　And it is a Bridgestone - my friend Glenn really likes Bridgestone bikes.

Japan is a safe country, but these bikes do have locks on them. These locks would do nothing in America, as all they do is keep the wheel from spinning. But I guess they do well at stopping the average drunk Salary Man who is returning from a night of drinking and can't find his bike.

日本語：
勉強した人がもう一度来る流行のようだよ。この旅行は３回目だ。２年前に10,000 Wavesと言うスパーに会った二人は４回目も来た。神戸に住んでいる友達は２回目も来た。いっしょに同じ日に始める学生は前にここで勉強した。沢山もう一度勉強する学生がいる。

このことを思い出す。先生は私がここで２回目の勉強中に「ピーターレピート」と呼んだ。　脚韻のことが好きだろう。

先週寮に着く時、玄関を歩いて、３年前にここでいた会った韓国人を見た。彼ももう一度ここで勉強している。

あいにく、かれは勉強を終わっていて、今日帰る。　でも彼のママチャリをくれた。

このママチャリは３年前にママチャリよりよさそうだ。例えば、このママチャリは１０のギアがついている。３年前のは３のギアだけがついていた。そしてBridgestoneだ。Glennと言う友達はBridgestoneの自転車が大好きだ。

日本は安全な国だ、でも自転車はロックがある。そのロックはアメリカで役に立たないと思う。でも酔っぱらいサラリーマンが自転車を借りられることを核に立つ。

First day of class

Today was the first day of class. There are 12 students in the class. They are Americans, Israelis, Chinese, British, etc. 　

The subject level seems appropriate for me. I am quite a bit higher than when I first arrived and was learning words like "cat" and "dog".

Friday is the short day. We only had 3 hours of class today. On Monday through Thursday, we have 5 hours of class per day.

After class, I ate lunch with one of the Chinese students at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.　The food is Ok, but is inexpensive.

ps - sorry, no photos in this posting

pps - I just fixed a setting on this Blog so now anyone can write me a comment. I didn't mean to restrict it to Blogger members only. Sorry about that.

日本語：
今日は初めのクラスだった。　学生が１２人です。　アメリカ人やイスラエル人や中国人や英国人です。

主題は適切なようだ。３年前にここで勉強する時は「猫」や「犬」と勉強した。今もっと難しい言葉と文法を学んでいる。

金曜日は短い日だ。３時間しか掛からない。月曜日から木曜日まで１日に５時間クラスにいる。

クラスの後中国人と回転寿司屋で昼ご飯を食べた。 食べ物はまあまあだった、でも安かった。

On my way

英語だけーすみません。

I am writing this on my flight. It feels a bit weird to be headed to Japan again. Learning Japanese has been important to me for the last few years (and proving to be more difficult than I expected). But being away from the States and the opportunity to find consulting business or a "real" job worries me some. Am I making the right choice? I guess only time will tell.

Added to this, I jut moved out of my apartment in the States. So what I will do, where I will live, etc. when I return is all up in the air. This adds to the question as to whether I am making the right decision.

But I guess now I should focus on making this as useful a trip as possible. So time to start enjoying the trip - watch here for updates every few days.

Guest Book / 足跡著

You can use this posting as a guest book. Please leave a comment (by clicking on the "comments" word below) to say hi. I particularly love to hear from people who I don't know yet and just found there way to this site.

Of course, on all posts, feel free to leave comments.

そこで足跡著する。　ここの下に「comment」でクリックする。　特に知らない人が書いて下さい。

勿論他の日記でコメントを書いてもいいよ。