2 weeks over, a short review

I've been here in Japan for a little over two weeks now, in Fukuoka to be precise. Today I'd like to take a look back and tell you what the last two weeks have been like. I would like to talk about my language progress, school and leisure experiences. But first of all, I'd like to talk about everyday life in Fukuoka now that I've settled in a bit.

Everyday life in Japan, Fukuoka

I remember when I arrived in the evening a fortnight ago, coming out of the underground for the first time, dragging two suitcases behind me and walking about 15 minutes to my flat. It was a brief impression of the evening in Fukuoka, but I was immediately drawn into another world. Neon lights everywhere, amazingly lightly dressed women for a winter and a lot of peace and quiet. Lots of electric cars and no conversations to be overheard. I didn't know which side of the street I had to walk on either. I made every effort not to be a rude foreigner that others had to take into consideration.

That changed a bit over the two weeks. I am still very careful and make sure that I behave appropriately in every situation, but a certain automatism has set in, at least for certain things. Anyone who remembers my first shopping trip in Japan will know that I had a bit of a brain breakdown at the checkout and didn't know what to answer or say. Now I'm still careful about little things like that, but I no longer have any inhibitions or worries about what to say because I now know how to behave.

School and language

My first lessons were also an exciting change to my day. Having lessons in Japanese every day does something to you. You still don't understand everything, but you recognise sentence structures, words and phrases. You also understand some sentences a bit, even if you don't have all the vocabulary down. Sometimes I'm still as clueless as I was at the beginning, but my first sentences come out of me, which only require a little thought, as we are constantly learning more difficult things that become the current puzzles. The level is rising more and more, to put it simply, and even if you were always a week behind, you're learning as fast as the others. Let that sink in! That doesn't mean I'm a week behind the others any more, I think I've caught up a bit, but there's still room for improvement and I like to climb the ladder quickly.

I've also had a few small conversations in Japanese in my life outside of school over the last two weeks. But to be honest, it still feels just as bad as it did at the beginning. There are just far too many words and I still don't know enough. I think I could understand and speak a lot more with a larger vocabulary. That could become a little side project of mine. Reading is also still relatively slow and Katakana, one of the three alphabets in Japanese, is unfortunately still quite difficult for me. But not to digress too much into vocabulary, alphabets and grammar, I can say that things are going uphill. And that's the main thing. I'm learning and learning, and as long as I put enough time into this language every day, the results will come automatically, I'm confident of that.

Free time

Two weeks in Japan, two weeks in Fukuoka. To be honest, I haven't done nearly enough for a fortnight. But I'm not so strict about it, as I have three months. I'm still not quite confident enough to go on full day trips by train to another region on my own to marvel at the temples and hiking trails that are really worth seeing. My main mode of transport is still my legs and I do most of my exploring on foot. You can criticise that and I do a bit aswell, as it means my radius is a lot smaller, but I get to see a lot of my neighbourhood. I get to know the streets and paths a bit and I notice how some shops want to draw me in. I'm very curious to see where else I'll end up in the near future, but I'm currently finding my neighbourhood very exciting. In addition, the Tenjin area where I live is very popular and lively. It's very nice here and I enjoy going out.

Conclusion

The first two weeks in Japan were an intensive, exciting and sometimes challenging experience. I have familiarised myself with everyday life, developed my first routines and slowly adapted to the linguistic and cultural conditions. The uncertainty of the first few days is gradually giving way to a growing naturalness - be it when shopping, dealing with the language or in my new environment.

Linguistically, it's a constant up and down. As I see the first signs of progress, I also realise how much still lies ahead of me. But that's exactly the attraction: knowing that every day will bring me further as long as I keep at it. I'm also having my first conversations outside of school, even if they're still faltering. I'm planning to expand my vocabulary in order to become more confident.

I have deliberately taken my time in my free time. I'm discovering my surroundings step by step and feel at home in my neighbourhood. I have yet to go on any big excursions, but I can feel that I want to explore more soon. All in all, these first two weeks have been a gentle introduction to a year full of new experiences - and I'm excited to see where the journey will take me.