Yesterday was my first Japanese class. I had fun and didn't feel behind at all since there were even a couple people in the class that had never taken Japanese before. First of all for background the class is run by the Japan-America Society of Colorado and is held in the Buddhist Temple in downtown Denver.

I had to go into work early in order to make the 5:25 start time for the class and I was a little concerned about finding parking near the temple, but not to worry the Denver Buddhist Temple has it's own parking garage which happens to be free after 5, score. I think it is pretty close to a bunch of bars downtown too, so needless to say this knowledge will come in handy in the future. A couple days ago I got an email from the girl who is organizing the class giving detailed directions on how to get to the classroom. I felt like I was heading to some clandestine meeting. The directions told me that the main entrance to the temple would be locked so I would have to enter the building through an unmarked orange door from the parking garage. Then I proceed through a short corridor and into a dark empty gym. After the gym I would find myself in the lobby and should proceed up the stairs where I would find the classroom on my right. As I followed the directions I was concerned that the building seemed completely empty and almost all of the lights were off in the place. I don't know what I expected a Buddhist Temple to be like but it wasn't like this. The place seemed like an elementary school during summer vacation. Small carpeted halls and an old school gym complete with those blue wall pads that small children enjoy running into at full speed.

I was also surprised at the average age of the class. Most of the people there seemed to be about my age, a sharp change from the class I took in Arlington, where the average age was in the mid 40's. In Arlington the main reason for taking Japanese was because the person's spouse was getting relocated there either due to business or military. In this class most of the people seem to be taking Japanese for the fun of it. A couple of the guys are preparing to enter the JET (teaching english in Japan) program in July and there is even one guy taking it to better understand Japanese carpentry. The Sensei is a Japanese woman who's english has such a thick accent that it's hard to tell which language she's speaking, but she seems nice and I assume I'll get used to the accent soon enough. I'm excited it's a woman Sensei since I've heard that women and men speak japanese slightly differently and there is definitely a difference in tone and the way the language sounds.

All in all, I think that the class will be fun even if it is mostly review.