Progress

I was organizing my apartment today when I stumbled upon the Japanese textbook for first graders that my first Japanese teacher gave to me back in September or October last year.

I opened it up to that hateful Mr. Fox and Mr. Bear story that made me cry, and wouldn't you know, I read the whole 9 pages (of really big type and colorful pictures) in under ten minutes. And I understood the whole thing! It's amazing what a few months of study can do. But I remember how much that damn story frustrated me back when I knew nothing, and it feels so good to be able to kick its ass now. (フランス語ごめん.）

In other literary news, I just finished wading through six months of "Umi to Kontakuto", a 124-page upper elementary school book, in June, and that felt good, too. I didn't understand about 40% of it, but I was able to follow the basic gist all the way to the end, page by excruciating page.

If I'm going to be taking N3 in December, I need to get on the ball! But at least I know I can hold my own against a Japanese six-year old. Let's do this thing!