Around 8 a.m., Jack, Maureen and I left for Odori (via Tsukisamu Chuo bus and subway), stopping at a 7-11 to buy breakfast (pasta salads). Although we confused ourselves about where the test building (a dental college) was and backtracked a few blocks, we managed to arrive with an hour to spare. Not that we really needed a map. In the end, we just followed a group of Chinese students whose faces were lodged in Japanese language textbooks to a group of about 100 other foreigners (speaking Chinese, Korean, French and English) sitting on the sidewalk for last-minute cramming.
None of us had brought our textbooks, so we stood behind one of the building's pillars and ate our 7-11 salads. The doors opened half an hour later than the time written on our registration vouchers, so the 100-or-so test takers rushed to the elevators, kicking off their sneakers and cowboy boots and pulling slippers out of their bags on the way across the lobby. By the time the three of us reached the seventh floor, most of the others had already settled in their rooms.
Maureen and Jack shared a classroom while I was two rooms down the hall. Each test taker was assigned a desk according to registration number, so I sat in the back next to two Chinese girls and a Korean man. Very few "Western-looking" people were taking the exam in Sapporo, apparently, as I was one of three in a room of about 40 test takers.
And then we waited. The Level 2 JLPT's three components (reading/grammar, kanji/vocab, and listening) total 2 hours and 25 minutes, but because of breaks between each round and instruction reading time, the test lasted from 9:45 a.m. to almost 3 p.m.
How did I do? I have no clue. Check back in February when I receive my results. Until then, I have hope.
BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Yuna Ito - "Koi wa Groovy x2"
No comments:
Post a Comment