Christmas break is finally upon us! Though we only get 3 weeks, as opposed to every other course in the UK that gets a whole month. Meh. But I can finally sleep and do stuff without this feeling of dread or guilt. I slept for 12 hours last night. I want to bake lots of bread and caked and have dinner parties and watch a million films and catch up with anime and get back to doll work. I hate not having time to do anything creative, it IS all I live for and when it’s taken away from me everything feels so wrong.

今日から、冬休みが始まります。＾＾やっと、よく寝ることや楽しいことができます。色々なパンを作ったり、アニメを見たり、友達に会ったり、人形の洋服を作ったりしたいです。勉強してばかりいるのは本当につまらないです。T＿T　でも、冬休み中、一所懸命がんばって、今まで習った漢字をよく覚えるようになるつもりです。留学試験は２月の予定です！こわいな〜。

Last week Momolita visited London for the first time. Though I’d met her many times in Tokyo, it was very exciting to meet her over here and take her to my favourite places. We worked on a little something together that will be on the upcoming issue of Dolly Dolly.

先週、モモリータさんはロンドンへ来ました。もう東京で会うことがありましたが、ロンドンで会うのはすごく楽しかったです。＾＾いいプロジェクトでいっしょに働きました。新しいDolly*Dollyを楽しんでください！

Left to right, Georgia, Linda, Bethany, Momolita and Holly. Lovely dolly ladies.

(The five photos above were taken by Bethany)

After a visit to World’s End in Chelsea we went to Brompton cemetery, one of London’s “magnificent seven” Victorian cemeteries. I’m determined to visit all seven this summer, though considering how incredibly gothic they are, bleak wintertime is certainly best.

Brompton cemeteryではカラスがたくさんいました。Daisy D/ひろこさんのことを考えました。<3 ひろこさんがいなくて、寂しいです。

I’m nearly finished with exams, I have one last on Friday. It’s been HELL, without wanting to sound too dramatic! I think everyone’s physically and mentally exhausted after this ordeal. “Difficult” doesn’t even begin to cut it. For the most part there wasn’t even enough time to finish the whole paper. For the theoretical papers for example we had 2 hours to write three essays. And for the translation paper that was three hours, I didn’t stop writing for a single minute and I STILL didn’t finish part of the last question. Some people didn’t even go near it.

I really think they’re designed for someone with perfect knowledge, like a japanese person, to be able to finish within the time frame, and from there, everyone else gets points cut off. Our teachers kept joking that if anyone did really well they’d get fired for making exams too easy!

Now the papers will go through THREE different examiners, some of which are external. So the results will come out mid July. That’s one hell of a wait there. You need to get 50% to pass the year, while all other language courses at SOAS like Arabic, Chinese etc require 40%. I used to think 50% is ridiculously low, as if knowing half what you were taught in one year is acceptable, but after seeing what exams are like it doesn’t sound that bad at all!

I am in dear need of a holiday. Hopefully I can go to Japan later, still don’t have any solid plans. One thing for sure is I’m flying to Osaka to see the Kansai area first and then heading to Tokyo.

I have an awful lot of anime to catch up with too. Currently I’m watching:
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Deadman Wonderland
Ano hi mita hana no namae o bokutachi wa mada shiranai
Steins; gate
Ao no exorcist
Sekai-ichi hatsukoi
Hanasaku iroha
and Fireball Charming
Well, what can I say, the current season is pretty good.

Haven’t touched the sewing machine in months. I’ve laid out a ton of lace and fabrics today to start doing some work again. I’ve missed it!

今日は学年末試験が始まりました。ロールプレイをして、縦書きの手紙を書きました。あまり難しくなかったですから、安心しました。敬語を使わなければなりませんでした。「あのう、いろいろな質問がありますので、できれば直接お会いして、かかりの方とお話したいんですが。」
　
次の試験はリーディングで、一番難しいです。まだ漢字が下手ですから、とても心配です。もしかしたら、この試験をしっぱいするかもしれません．．．。　T＿＿＿T　とにかく、がんばります。

Ok student loan installment is in which only means one thing: Japan tickits buying tiem!!!1

This is what I’ve been thinking about all day but instead of being excited about it, I’m a bit stressed. All year I’ve been saying that once exams are over, I’ll reward myself with a month long stay, to cool off from this year’s stress and put to use what I’ve learnt. I’m starting to think though one month might be too much. Which might sound weird for someone that wants to live there, but living somewhere and being a tourist there are two different stories, especially when you go for the 9th time.

While I’m there I’ll only be spending money (a lot of it) and making none, while also paying for a month’s rent back in London that will go to waste, so overall it will be quite the financial ruin. I really want to do lots of work over the summer and save up. Apparently you need £8000 in your bank account to get a student Visa for the third year, which they don’t tell you until the last minute (they probably think everyone has that kind of money just lying around).

And then there’s the current situation. I’m not afraid of radiation but earthquakes terrify the life out of me which again of course sounds weird for someone that wants to live there but the way I see it is that I could live with the long term threat of them if I lived there permanently, but going for leisure at a time when they get a big one per week and many small ones inbetween might just be a bad choice. Once this crisis is over, they might not get another for a century. I always stay in this rickety hostel I love, with rooms illegally built on the roof (my favourites!) and can easily imagine my nightmare scenario of the shower unit flying off the roof with me in it finally materialising. Though apparently the house has gotten no damage so far…

Another thing I wanted to do was finally see other places like Kyoto and Osaka and especially check out our sister universities I should consider for the third year placement. So if I’m going to Kansai, that should be in the beginning of the trip so I don’t have to carry around a crazy heavy suitcase packed full of my shopping, and I have to consider a JR pass which is another £200. D:

Lots of stuff to consider. But for now I need to get back to revision.

It’s been a while once again. I feel I don’t own my life this year. Spring break has gone by in a wink, and it was hardly a break when we have exams right after! I submitted all my essays late. T_T I went to Athens for a few days, where ironically the weather was terrible and I caught a cold, while London is burning hot and the sun is shining.

春休みは短かったです。もうすぐ大切な試験や一年スピーチ会がありますが楽しみにしていません！T＿T
夏休み、早く来てくださーーーい！

I’ve made up a little garden on my window sill that makes me happy.

金曜日の朝、この翻訳の宿題のとき、地震のニュースを聞きました．．．。

みなさんだいじょうぶですか。ぼくの友達はみんなだいじょうぶですが．．．おおぜい人がなくなってしまいました。心が痛いです。日本語が下手ですから、話したいことが話せません。でもみんながんばってね。日本人はほんとうに強いと思います。

I was doing this translation homework on Friday morning when I got the news of the earthquake. Horrible horrible irony. Facebook was useful for once, in getting updates from almost everyone. I don’t know what to say that will not sound trite, and I’m not interested in jumping on this bandwagon of sensationalism that is all over the media, when the japanese themselves are so composed at a time like this. I was really disgusted by how people jumped on this and made it all about themselves, like the reports on western media, constantly talking about our contributions to the disaster relief instead of reporting on what was actually happening in Japan.

I’d urge everyone to try and donate a dollar or two instead of posting facebook updates that they’re praying for Japan… Let’s get real. I’ll do my best too.

Hello everyone, long time… School’s been crazy. I’ve fallen a bit behind, with the kanji mostly. My god it’s hard! No wonder the dropout rate is so high. What I’m finding the hardest to be honest, is getting used to the idea that if you want to do well, you have to have no life. Theres’ no such thing as enough study as far as this course goes.

I need a trip to Japan to gain new strength but that will have to wait until the exams are over in June. I’m thinking of staying for a month or so. The Blythe 10th anniversary is on the 23rd of June!

Much much needed Christmas break! Three weeks as opposed to the usual four the art courses get. :P I was actually looking forward to this not as much to relax but to be able to revise without having MORE work added on top every day. We’re getting into some incomprehensible grammar. :-S It’s not the sentence patterns and verb forms that are difficult to learn – it’s the logic of it. For example, to say “I must take a shower” you say “If I don’t take a shower, it won’t do”. It’s a bit difficult to get used to this. We also learnt plain form of verbs so now we can sound casual and Natsuko can stop making fun of me for sounding too formal. :P

Last kanji class Kashiwagi-sensei got us to write our favourite kanji on a piece of paper and take a group photo. I wrote 電 which means power/electricity, which is quite uninteresting but it’s pretty. I’ve always liked this kanji, it looks like it has a little devil’s tail.

先週、かんじのクラスでみんな一番好きなかんじを書いて、グループフォトをとった。（この文はいい？たぶんよくない。T＿T　日本語の文法はホントウニむずかしいーーー。ますフォーム、てフォーム、ないフォーム、たフォーム、じしょフォーム…たいへんだよ！）ぼくは「電」を書いた。かわいいかんじ！

金曜日、雪だった！うれしかった。

今、クリスマス休みだ。ゆっくり休んで、勉強して、新しいふくを作りたい！そしてたくさんアニメを見たい。＾＾

There had been much controversy in recent times over a proposed bill to cut down public funding of universities in the UK and allow them to charge up to £9000 in fees per year, an increase from the maximum of £3200 that it is now. There’s been quite the uproar, protests, occupations etc, but ultimately the bill passed today. I still find it hard to believe that they’d so unashamedly strike such a blow on education, of all things.

This doesn’t only make university entirely inaccessible to some people but will also lead to the closing down of smaller specialised courses that are not money makers for their universities. My university has tons of these and apparently they’ve identified 90 of them to cut. I really think the UK has shot itself in the foot with this decision…