This is the last full week for the American students who are just staying for the summer. They will take their final exam on Tuesday, and a lot of those who I’ve talked to are leaving Japan on Wednesday. The actual final exam is on the 25th. Once again, I say that I would be pretty upset being pulled from the program at this stage in the game. Things are just starting to get interesting.

All the Americans (including me) are taking a short Oral exam this week that will count as 10-20 percent of your grade, depending on your level. Mine is tomorrow. Also, on Saturday, there is a “special class” which turns out to be a test preparation class for American students. So, it’s not going to be loads of fun, but it could be a nice chance to get some questions answered in English. Also, it will be my last chance to see the American students before they take off. The dormitory will be a little more empty.

But I’ll only be in this dorm until October 2nd. That’s the day that my host family has scheduled to meet at their closest train station. So, yes, it’s finalized. I talked to Michiko-san on Wednesday and she gave me some details and promised to email me some more later. First off, it’s further away of course, but it could be a lot worse. I’m still able to use the Tokyo metros the entire way, I only have to change lines one time, and I’ll actually pass the station I get off at for work, so that’s nice. Whereas now I just go two stops to get to Shinjuku san-chome, I now have to go seven stops, change lines, and then go twelve more. No more waking up at 8:25 and still making it to the classroom before 9:00. According to Google maps, it takes 33 minutes on just the trains, I was told it’s about a 12 minute walk from the station to the host family house, and I know it’s about that same distance from san-chome to school. So, about an hour commute, which is really okay in Tokyo.

Other than that, I don’t know a whole lot. It’s a husband a wife with two daughters (one seven years old, one newborn). The wife is a nurse. That’s really all I know. I’ll update more when I learn more.

More exciting things that are going on… well, tomorrow is my first payday. The last payday was during my hiatus while waiting for my permission to work paperwork, so I’ll have two (incomplete) months worth on this one. I’ll probably celebrate by buying a JLPT preparation book or two at Kinokuniya. I know how to party.

I found a chain of used book, dvd, and cd stores that have dirt cheap products. I bought a couple of albums for an average of 150 yen each. These are things that would cost about $40 to import, so I’m pretty happy.

Well, it’s Thursday, which is the day of the week I don’t work so I can concentrate some effort on studying. My last few tests were a little disappointing (I’m stuck in the 83-85 range), so I need to pick it up a bit. The fact that we’re now learning kanji that I hadn’t already studied in America is one challenging thing.

9-11: Oral Exam
9-12: Special Class with Americans
9-19 through 9-23: Consecutive holidays
9-25: Final Exam
9-26: Ghibli museum
10-2: Move into homestay