Learning Japanese I think I'm learning Japanese I really think so

My language materials from CLAIRE came in the mail today. Beforehand I had been doing a bit of review here and there from my old course materials and reading some of the books left behind from previous ALTs. Still, my grammar continued to disintegrate, though my vocabulary grew.

If anything good came from my monitor being down for a month and a half, it was that I watched a lot of Japanese TV. While low in nutritional and entertainment value, most of Japanese television is subtitled in one way or another, which means that you get the benefits of listening and reading. I picked up a lot of combinations of kanji I already knew as well as common words.

There are free Japanese lessons offered in Kaibara out of a volunteer's home. I went to a lesson yesterday. While the material is review for me, well, I need it desperately, as well at the listening and speaking practice. I do a bit of speaking at the school with the office staff and some neighbors, but not often enough.

Hopefully everything combined will show some results. I signed up for the intermediate course materials with CLAIRE, which may or may not have been a mistake. Before signing up I looked at the material covered in the beginner course and it seemed like I wouldn't have any problem skipping it. However, there is a fair amount of vocabulary and some grammar that I didn't learn at university, so I'm playing super catch-up with this course. I guess it'll just be like an excelerated course.

My next step is to maintain my German! I know of one German speaker in the area and hopefully I can get in contact with her sometime soon.