Start of classes and homework

 We have language classes I think every day from 9:30am to around noon. So pretty long, even though we get a small break in the middle. Since it was just the first day it was basically another orientation, with the teacher going over the semester's syllabus, blah blah blah. Then we had the placement test which determined whether we were placed in the right level Japanese class. I thought I did badly; I was able to complete neither the grammar nor the reading/writing tests fully. I don't know the results yet, but I hope I don't get demoted down to the 400 level :(
 On top of all this we got our first homework assignment, which pretty much took the entire rest of the day to complete. Of course I did it downstairs in the common room, so I had MANY MANY distractions, including dinner (palak paneer again heheh). The homework was 'review', but it was exactly my level, so that worries me a little. I really should have studied more for the placement test; I also need to study in my extra time because there are some basic structures I don't know that everyone has already learnt (the textbook we use at OSU is slightly strange.....)

During one of the breaks I took while doing homework, I practiced cooking some okra. It actually was a little spoilt, even though I bought it recently and put it in the fridge right after. The same thing happened to my carrots the other day. I think the fridges here are colder so maybe it's having an effect on the vegetables. Anyways I cooked the okra and tasted it, and I think I did a good job, just the taste was strange because they were spoiled to begin with. But then my Korean dorm-mate came and said she would try doing something with it since she's really skilled at cooking. Here's her fixing my okra, with my Holland dorm-mate making his own dinner next to her:




She added some spicy sauce plus some kimchi sauce, which completely changed and overpowered the taste of my indian-style okra. It now had a sweet and spicy taste, which was actually pretty good! Korean style bhindi! :D





I ate it all, even though I originally planned to cook for practice and throw it out. And yes I ate it with chopsticks :D





This is a short post since I really didn't do much else today, but here's my Japanese dorm-mate enjoying her belated birthday cake!