てがみをかいました。

ポケモンの絵（え）を描（か）きました

私は絵を描くのが大好きです。先週の週末コンピュータでポケモンの絵を描きました。このビデオは絵のspeedpaintです。↓

おくりもの（gift）

みなさん、こんにちは！サンクスギビングの休みはよかったですか？The holidays are nearly upon us, so this post is a about gift-giving in Japan.



Gift-giving Occasions

• 御歳暮（おせいぼ）: Gifts that are given at the end of the year.
• 御中元（おちゅうげん）: Mid-year/summer gift
• バレンタインデーとホワイトデー： On バレンタインデー, women to give chocolates to men. The chocolates can be 本命（ほんめい）チョコ, the "chocolate of love" that is typically hand-made, or 義理（ぎり）チョコ, "obligatory chocolate." Men return the favor on ホワイトデー, March 14. Reciprocity is often seen in Japanese gift-giving culture.
• ご祝儀（ごしゅぎ）: At a Japanese wedding, this is gift money given to the couple. The average ご祝儀 is 30,000 JPY (about $300). It is also customary for the couple to give gifts to the guests, which is known as 引出物（ひきでもの）
• 手土産（てみやげ）: A gift that is given when going to someone else's house. Traditional Japanese sweets such as どらやき、だいふく（もち） are common as 手土産。おいしいですね。たべたい…

Etiquette

• Gifts should always be given and received with two hands.
• It’s common for the recipient to decline a gift up to three times before accepting it.
• Timing is important. If you just met someone and gave them a gift, it would seem like you are trying to rush the relationship.

Phrases to Use
With all that we've learned so far, we can actually translate these phrases ourselves!

• つまらないものですが…：The most formal way to give a gift.
• たいしたものじゃないんですが…: This is a little more informal, but it is still rather polite.
• これ、どうぞ：Less formal and should not be used with expensive gifts.
• えんりょなくいただきます: This is said when accepting a gift. Its literal translation is something like "I humbly receive without hesitation"

ポケモン・ムーン ☾

おとといポケモン・ムーンは届きました。週末たくさんしました。とても楽しくて、可愛いです！
フェスティバル・プラザに日本語のじゅぎょうがあります。やさしかったですが、おもしろかったです。It just involves finding other characters speaking Japanese :)

PE Reflection

Reflection from the first PE:

• I have been watching anime every week and shadowing various phrases. It's been useful for learning new phrases and improving my intonation. I'm also able to hear phrases and vocabulary that we've learned in class more easily, which is exciting!
• I've gone to the Japanese language table about 80% of the time. When I wrote my original activities, I thought I'd be able to make it every week, but the trek from Bloomberg to Mathey is a bit....too far...especially when I have a lot more work this semester than I anticipated (despite only taking 4 classes). I'm more comfortable speaking with others now, but that may be a byproduct of getting to know people better.
• I continue to self-study and review daily, and I practice vocab-specific intonation.
• I have gone to office hours once, but I think I should go more often for speaking practice. I need to improve my ability to have conversations and form sentences on the spot. To be honest, I think it's harder to practice this at the Japanese language table (perhaps the setting is too casual, or there's too many people?), so I will shift my activities focus a bit.

毎日とてもねむいです…
Goal Revision:

• Replace "converse more naturally with others" with "improve ability to have conversations on the spot". This means (1) thinking of the correct grammar structure faster, (2) thinking of the desired vocabulary faster, (3) being able to say it.
• My other goals will not change. I think I have improvement, but (unsurprisingly) it's nowhere near native-level yet

Activity Revision:

• Try to go to Japanese table at least twice a month rather than every week
• Try to go to (any) sensei's office hours more

ビデオブログ

どうぞよろしく！

一風堂（いっぷうどう）

せんしゅうのしゅうまつにニューヨークにいきました。はじめて一風堂にいきました。一風堂でラーメンをたべました。とてもおいしかったです！でもたかいです。
Ippudo is actually a chain restaurant in Japan! It was an interesting experience; the person leading us to our table said something about there being 2 customers, and the rest of the staff called out いらっしゃいませ (welcome). This happened for everyone else eating there, too. Ippudo NY normally has an hour long wait, so we went there the moment it opened ^^

そして、MSGでライブイベントをみました。よかったです！