Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Outstanding Mentor-Mentee Award

(Jackie, Pring and me)

Tonight I accepted the Outstanding Mentor-Mentee Award from the Mentoring Center of Columbus! 

I was nominated through Healthy Asian Youth.  What is that, you say?  Healthy Asian Youth (HAY) is a program created to help kids from the Columbus West Side.  It focuses on education and good mentorship, which is why they are always looking for more volunteers to help with math, English and just being there for the kids.  I've been volunteering with this NPO for over 3 years now and I've love the kids there.

I have to be honest though.  Lately, I haven't been going to HAY so it felt wrong to accept an award like this.  But Jackie and Pring always tell me "You're the best volunteer ever!".  So I'm very thankful for them and to have this award now.  But seriously, they are some of the greatest teens I've ever met.  I'm lucky to have met them and get to hang out with such awesome guys.



Monday, January 19, 2015

Columbus State Community College (CSCC)

Winter semester has begun!  This semester, my classes are at CSCC's main campus.  When I went to campus for my first class, this was my first view of the college:


Isn't it amazing?  This bridge connects the parking garage and the student center.  I was blown away by the design and just the whole look of it!


This was the view from the bridge (I was walking from the parking garage).  Have to say, not sure if there's any other place I could take such a beautiful picture.

Despite being a community college, CSCC is surprisingly a very good place to get a good education!


Saturday, January 10, 2015

Meeting my friend Mr. Gohan

Today will be a memorable day.

I had my last lunch and conversation with my long time friend, Gohan-san.  (Gohan is rice in japanese.  Gohan-san is the nickname I came up with for my friend a long time ago, and so for his privacy I'm using it for this post . . . though anyone who knows him will know exactly who I'm talking about).

We had a blast talking about the past!  He revealed to me that we've known each other for more than 9 years.  I couldn't believe it - but it's true!  We first met 9 years ago freshman year in our first Japanese class.  Since then we've shared a number of experiences: going on a class trip to Japan, participating in theater club together and, of course, being in the same Japanese class for 4 years in a row.  ^__^  Yes, good times...

Tomorrow, Gohan-san will be moving to California to work at Intel.  Since his new job won't use his Japanese skills, he believes his Japanese skills will decline.  Unfortunately, that's the sad reality for us if we don't practice our language abilities.

In fact, that is my fear for my own language ability.  Especially now that I've embarked on a new career path into occupational therapy.  When I write my Japanese posts now, I have to constantly use various resources to write a short, simple paragraph!  T__T

But I can't give up.  Just because I've started studying to become an OT doesn't mean I have to stop my Japanese studies!  If I keep practicing, I know I definitely won't forget what I've learn!

Because I only have myself to blame if I forget my Japanese.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Hello There!

Hi everyone!  Let me introduce myself!

I began studying Japanese when I was a freshman in high school.  The biggest reason why I chose that language was because of anime and manga (like most American high school students who choose Japanese).  I quickly learned to love more than just that though.  I grew to love the complexity of the Japanese society, the subtle beauty and tranquility in its art and the Japanese people I came to know.

I am now a recent graduate with a BA degree in Japanese and Comparative Folklore.  After college, I quickly became stagnant in my Japanese studies.  Even though I could use Japanese at my first professional job, after a year the company began to fall into serious disarray and I quit.  I then embarked on a new career path (which I'll share in future posts).

Unfortunately, since then I haven't had many opportunities to use my Japanese skills I've been improving on since high school.  I started this blog primarily to help me maintain my Japanese writing skills.  My goal is to share with you what I'm doing post-college with a humanity degree, as well as share how I am doing now.  However, I felt it was unfair for me to only share my thoughts and my life in Japanese, so I am also starting an English version of this blog.

More to come later!  I'm not sure if I'll be able to post every week but I will try!

Sincerely,

Tiffany