Interview & test

It was a busy weekend last weekend, so I didn't get a chance to post anything.

On Saturday, I visited the next prefecture, Aichi, for an interview at a university there called Aichi University. Since I know a few friends who work there, I had heard good things about working there. As for the interview, it was similar to others in that I was well prepared, but still nervous, and so answers came out not exactly as planned, but my main ideas were still there.

I guess my answers and ideas were alright, since I was offered a job there as an English lecturer starting in April. I'm looking forward to visiting the university a few times before I start to see what the school and the students are like.


On Sunday, I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), level 3 (level 1 being the most difficult and level 4 being the easiest). It was my first time trying the test, but I had been studying for a number of months beforehand. I had tried a couple of previous years tests and got 80% on both of them. On the real test, I felt it was at the same level of difficulty, and so I'm guessing i got about 80% again. Since you only need 60% to pass, I should be fine.

There were about 2000 people taking the test at the test site in my city and so it was the most foreigners I've seen in one place in Japan. In the classroom where I was taking the test, there were 50 people and I was the only one who was from an English-speaking country. The majority of people were from south-east Asia. Since more than 80% of the foreigners in Hamamatsu are from Brazil, I was surprised that there weren't more from there.

I'll find out my results in February, but I'm not too worried. I'm glad I did some hard studying before, but I'm glad it's finished. I can now read simple Japanese books and watch simple Japanese shows. When I visited Japan 6 years ago to visit my cousin, Jeff, he had just received his results from taking the level 1 test. Now I can realize how high that level is and that it will take a long time before I reach that level.