Things are going up and down these days. After the incredible UP I had last Monday, the DOWN followed almost immediately…
First of all, I receiv
ed the result of the Japanese test I took in December – I did not pass. Well, that did not really come as a huge surprise, but still, I had not expected to fare that badly on the first two parts of the test, where I scored just a third of the total points. My lack of vocabulary affected mainly the score of the reading section, so even had I been better in the grammar, it would not have made a difference. In the listening section I scored almost 50% though, which is surprisingly high given that towards the end of the 25 minute recording my brain shut down and I could not make out a single word any longer.
Second, my future business partner has turned into my ex-future business partner. We had diverging ideas of the business: He wanted his business with me working for him in a sense, while I wanted my business with me working for myself and no further interference. As not even the business ideas could have been made congruent in the long run, he decided to pull out. I cannot blame him, I would have done the same, so it is much better this way anyway.
Finally, I had to go out yesterday – the one day in the week when it was raining. I hate going out when it’s raining…
But, you are never down for long: I went to see a friend of mine in Osaka and we spent more than two hours catching up and talking about all sorts of stuff, including the business. He gave me tons of good advice and promised to introduce me to dozens of people who may be able to help me further in one way or the other. And if not, they will at least be interesting to know.
Also, I have found a very nice young man for a Japanese-German language exchange. He is very educated, speaks several languages, and is good in explaining grammar and Kanji. I will have to make quite an effort to meet my (or his?) expectations, and it’s great to be challenged!
And the main reason for going out yesterday was that I picked up a picture Honjo san made expecially for me Monday afternoon – and it turned out absolutely beautiful!
I’m not discouraged still – the more it rains, the nicer the rainbow afterwards. Besides, I brought tons of Austrian chocolate for emergencies like this.