Thank you for the recommendations, I love history museums. I’m particularly interested in the Blitz, probably because of that story I mentioned. The title is Fire Watch, and it’s a short story by Connie Willis, an American author. She was visiting St Paul’s and when she heard about it’s history during the Blitz she felt compelled to write the story. It appears in a couple of her short story collections (all of her short stories are fantastic) and was later turned into a longer series. If you like time travel stories at all I highly recommend it.
San Francisco is actually about an hour away from my home town, so I visited plenty of times as a child. It’s a very unique city with lots of character and history. Beware though - it’s very hilly. There’s actually an amazing book series about San Francisco mostly set in the 1970s (can you tell I’m a reader) that I’d recommend. It’s called Tales of the City, and it focuses mostly on how San Francisco used to be a haven for gay culture back when it was still relatively taboo in most places in America. It’s a fun read if you want to get a sense of the history of the place.
I’m a bit jealous that you have such easy access to a native speaker who can help you learn and correct your mistakes. It’s so important to try speaking as soon as possible to get a handle on the language.
@sagestruggler, so true. It’s already reaching towards the 90s. I’ve lived in places where it gets much hotter though, so I’m hoping I’ll be okay. I have a basement apartment and so far it’s stayed pretty cool even when its hot out. And I really hope I can go to the beach later this summer. Do you have any recommendations for fun things to do in Portland? I just moved here in March and everything has been shut down so I haven’t been able to explore much.
Oh count me in as well please (sorry to join a bit late).
I might not make it, but it will be great to see if I can get that far or go slower once I hit level 10…
I made it to level 18, burned out, started over like 4 time (well went back to level 14, then level 12, now back to level 1 after a 2 year break I believe hahah). But it will make a nice reminder of how far along you all are
Good luck guys!
@tankwidow Portland Japanese Garden, for one! I’ve never been but I hear it’s beautiful. Also Uwajimaya is a super cool Asian grocery in Beaverton. It’s not as big as the one in Seattle but I almost always ended up spending a ton of money every time I go there.
Tbh I spent most of my time in Portland working a lot so I didn’t do much but my favorite parts were the parks, bars, and Mexican food. It’s a beautiful area. After my two years at language school in Japan, I’d like to settle down in Vancouver, WA permanently.
(ok ok I’m derailing this thread a little bit sorry but I could talk about my love for the PNW forever hahahha)
I can’t wait for everything to open up again so I can go see the Japanese Garden. And Forest Park in general. Thanks for the recommendation about Uwajimaya, I’ve been thinking about buying a rice cooker. My apartment is right next to Hmart but they don’t have them at our location for some reason.
Would love to hear more about your favorite parks. I’m quite impressed with what I’ve seen so far.
I tried to make a leaderboard in the first post in this thread and turn it into a wiki so everyone can edit it. If you want to, please add yourself to the leaderboard and let’s all race to level 21!
Yooo, that’s a massive post! Thanks for the recommendations! I used to spend a lot of time listening to similar music. Recently I’ve been listening to Sheena Ringo too. Not at all the same style but some pretty cool music I think.
Oh no, the Natural History Museum might not be your cup of the tea, it showcases exhibits of really early history - like dinosaurs and minerals. But if you’re interested in World War II era stuff, I’ve been told that Bletchley Park is a really fun day out of London (it’s about an hour away by train). Fire Watch sounds interesting though, I might check it out! I like wibbly wobbly, time wimey stuff.
Ah nice, I’m excited to go now! Hope I’ll be able to travel by September. Tales of the City also sounds like a great read. I’ll jot it down. I really don’t know much about the city except what I’ve seen on TV, and some Silicon Valley knowledge. So would be good to educate myself before I go!
Yeah I’m pretty lucky in that regard. And even though I’ve lost a lot of the Japanese I had when I was younger, I don’t think I’m back to square one. I can still distinguish the different particles and words that make up a sentence even if I don’t know what all the words mean. It gives the sentence more meaning than a bunch of random noises, which is what it must be like for someone starting from scratch. I tried out the JLPT sample questions the other day and was surprised to find that I got 4/5 of the N2 listening questions right. But I could barely do the N5 kanji and reading. So I guess that means I need to keep up with my kanji studying!
I was excited to reach level 4 today. I’ve now fully committed and paid for a year’s subscription. みんながんばりましょう！
I’m using the same materials as you. I’m trying to find a way to watch anpanman tv show. It is recommended by a wanikani article as a good alternative to more advanced anime since it is aimed at kids. I signed up for Hulu japan but VPNs are not working.
Misa from ammo recommends watching TV ( she used how I met your mother for English), tv is also recommended by other sources.
I have the same question as hydra. how is the 80/20?
Also, there is animelon (not working right now but hopefully it will be soon) they not only provide Japanese subs but the give you translation and definition when you hover over words.
Oh, I would absolutely love to see Bletchley Park. My senior project was actually on mathematical code breaking, so Enigma feature heavily in it. I’d like to see the Natural History Museum as well, I’ve heard good things.
Happy reading! I thought the Tales books were especially addictive. I’d recommend picking up a lifetime WK subscription when they do the Christmas sale. They’ll refund you a portion of this year too. Unless you’re going to spend hours on WK every day it’s the best deal overall, and then you don’t have to stress about whether you’re leveling up fast enough.
