My Weekend at Japanese Camp - March 14th / 15th 2003

My Weekend at Japanese Camp
by Tamaso Johnson (Senior, Roosevelt High School)


 As our car pulls up the muddy dirt road, I can feel a lump in the pit of my stomach. Looking around at my other friends in nervous anticipation, I feel like it’s the first day of high school all over again. Everywhere I look, there are unfamiliar faces speaking another language. Arriving early, we unpack and carry our sleeping bags and backpacks to the main room. Slowly more and more students arrive, and the crisp spring air fills with the sounds of greeting and laughter. Initially, the thought of speaking only Japanese for two whole days was not a pleasant one. I love studying Japanese and consider myself a fairly good student, but none-the-less I expected the next few days to be very silent for me. These fears were soon put to rest. The camp got on its way with a lively reception where the director, Hayashi Sensei welcomed us, and wished us good luck.  

 A highlight of my experience was the excellent language classes. After a brief warm-up, we jump into a visitation dialogue. As a third year student of Japanese, I have memorized my fair share of dialogues, but never like this. The class splits up into pairs, and we are given a few minutes to work on rehearsing our parts. After this, we performed the roles we had learned in front of the class. By the time class had ended, we could all recite a page of complex dialogue. The fast pace of the class wasn’t easy to get used to. However once I adjusted, I found that the challenge kept me on my feet and helped me learn.
 
 Mealtime was something I always looked forward to. The food was quite delicious, but that was not the only reason I enjoyed meals at camp. The random seating for each table meant that at every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I got the chance to meet new people. We were all out of place in the Japanese language environment, so it felt easier to connect with otherwise total strangers. The senseis at our tables were curious about our lives, and asked good questions that lead to some meaningful conversations in Japanese. The camp exceeded all my expectations. When the time came to pack up and go back home, a part of me was a little sad. The structure, and strict “Japanese only” policy made me realize how much I know, and how much there is still to learn. There were even times when I found myself spouting out coherent sentences in Japanese before I even knew what I was saying. Even now, many days after camp, I find myself replying “hai” when a friend asks me a question, or saying “sumimasen” when I bump into someone. My only regret is that as a senior, I won’t be able to attend camp next year. I’m still not sure what subjects I want to study at college next year, but after by experience at Camp Don Bosco, I know Japanese will be one of them.